Emergency Tailoring

At the end of last school year, my middle schooler was preparing for high school, and my lower schooler was preparing for middle school. My son pulled all middle school uniform shirts from his room and set them out for his little sister. She went through them and determined which ones she would wear and which she wouldn't. I was satisfied that she had a good set of nice, unstained, quality uniform shirts to wear. And, because I'm a nice mom and understand that a new shirt now and then is nice, I even bought her two brand new uniform shirts in girl colours.

Fast forward to the start of the school year. It's the second day of school, and the girl is wearing the same shirt as she wore the first day of school. I question this, pointing out that it's Uncool to wear the same shirt two days in a row, and why doesn't she wear another shirt? She says there's only one other shirt she'll wear, and she's saving that for Friday.

So! Whereas I thought we had over a week's worth of shirts, she's thinking she's going to complete her entire school year in only two shirts. Further questioning reveals that the rest of the shirts are all BOY SHIRTS, and she'll only wear girl shirts. This is definitely a generational thing. To me, they're all t-shirts!

Well, I'm not the kind of mom that's going to dish out a hundred plus dollars to buy the girl a new middle school wardrobe when she has perfectly fine slightly-used shirts to wear. On the other hand, I do understand that middle school is a strange and delicate time, and sometimes it's incredibly important to fit in. So while I will not buy her new shirts, there is something I can do. I can tailor those boy shirts into girl shirts.

So 7am on the second day of school found me in the sewing room, basting a t-shirt for her to try on. Then I even had to thread the serger, because apparently I had walked away in disgust when it became unthreaded, last time I was sewing. I still managed to cut the shirt down and we all got to school/work on time by 7:30. (Although I didn't manage to make myself a lunch that day. That's what work cafeterias are for.)

What's the difference between a boy's t-shirt and a girl's t-shirt? About an inch on each side, all the way down from the hem of the sleeve to the hem of the shirt.