ripping shirts by Amber V. '24

and other clothing mods

February 1, 2024

Clothes are so fun! I love tailoring my outfits to whatever is happening — baggy metal shirts for long hours in shop, sleeveless shirts for the forge, cropped ones for social events that don’t include bits of flying steel. One of the major joys of MechE for me has been the ability to shape the world around me, and clothing mods are a great part of that. So here are some projects I’ve done over the past year — most of them quick and dirty little bursts of creativity as the mood strikes and party-o-clock hour encroaches.

sewing shirts

Est. time: 1 hour each

Shoutout to Metropolis for the use of their sewing machine, and for the friends who showed me how to use it!

I cut this from a full t-shirt, hemmed it, and added some cutouts to the back. The long strings are for tying together

this one i just sized down by placing a smaller shirt on top and tracing it

rapid-fire crop tops

est. time: as fast as possible because i was already late to the events

B1⁠01 Burton One, my living community in Burton Connor throws one campus-wide party per semester, and we always have fun themed shirts! The designs are by students on floor. These mods were done in about 15 minutes with sharpie, scissors, and trust in the iterative process.⁠02 cutting more and more strips of fabric away until it fits the way I want

B1OHAZARD

ME1TDOWN

misc other cutting and tying t-shirts

est. time: 30 min

#1 marketable skill

bc rex shirt

there were cool designs on the front and back so I had to do stuff to the sides

b1 had a craft REX event (tie dye and embroidery)

est. time: 60 minutes

i tie-dyed this shirt b1ner b1ue (and b1sexual purp1e i guess)

and put a tiny flower in this jeans pocket!

slightly punk jean jacket

est. time: 30 min?

I put some spikes in it.

jean jacket w spikes

bleach-painting jeans

est. time: 2 hrs

I found these black cargo pants at a thrift store in Arizona for $7! However I already had cooler better black pants with excessive pockets, so these ones needed something to make them interesting. I sketched designs in chalk, then painted them on in bleach following this youtube video.

it's a rattlesnake skeleton! #arizona #desert

ocotillo on the pocket (tall spiky plant)

And that’s a wrap! Here’s to more hastily chopped-up shirts in the weeks to come.

Burton One, my living community in Burton Connor⁠ back to text ↑
cutting more and more strips of fabric away until it fits the way I want⁠ back to text ↑