Marc does DIY better

As anyone who’s ever read this blog will know, it is nigh on impossible for me to just Leave Stuff Alone when it comes to clothes bought off the rack – not that I buy much brand new anyway! But when I do, I usually feel compelled to alter it in some way. Sometimes it takes me quite a while to work out how to alter it, as was the case with this Gap logo T-shirt that I bought on sale when I was still living in Tokyo (so at least eight years ago) and have never worn except occasionally as exercise gear when my other stuff was in the wash.

The problem was the logo… I mean, why would I want to wear a T-shirt with GAP emblazoned on the front (who knows what I was thinking when I bought it!). The logo was stamped on in white, so even tie-dyeing wasn’t going to disguise it (the dye probably wouldn’t take to the printed section). Unless I wanted to applique or somehow cover the logo with fabric, I had to think of a way I could work GAP into my design. That’s when I decided to ask myself, what would Marc do? Marc Jacobs, that is.

He would print his brand name over a Paris tourist T-shirt, that’s what. Now I don’t necessarily want to wear my own name on my chest, but this T-shirt gave me an idea. What three-letter word could be worked over GAP that is extremely relevant to me?

Yes, you guessed it…

This project actually was not too difficult, just a little bit time consuming. I drafted up some letters in a similar font to the one used for GAP, cut them out and traced around them in fabric marker (no step-by-step photos for that as I needed both hands and didn’t want to smudge the ink!). And then I turned GAP into CAT. (If you’re going to attempt something similar, make sure you pad out the T-shirt to about your size, especially if it is a stretchy fabric, and then slide something flat like a magazine underneath to use as a work surface.)

You can still see GAP underneath but that’s kind of the idea, as Marc would probably agree. If we were having a contest, his design would win over mine, but DIY is not about winning, right?

The question is whether I would wear this in public. Hmm. I’m still undecided on that one. Maybe when I’m in the mood for a particular style challenge, it will get a go (perhaps with the leather pants I recently bought at a church fete for $2 so it doesn’t look too sporty?). If not, I know someone who will appreciate me wearing it for slobbing around the house…