Lace Embellished Tee

Want to know the recipe for a lame weekend? 

Lose internet service.

Spend about 5 hours on the phone with tech support (none of whom speak English very well, but feel the need to explain to me where to find the "start" button on my screen).

Spend a few more hours with tech support in India. I especially enjoyed Liam., although I doubt that was his real name.

Finally get the internet working again on Wednesday, no thanks to Liam. Kind of pathetic to learn how isolated and bored I feel without the internet.

It was not the most fun weekend ever, but at least my stress and boredom hooked up and made a cute baby:

A lace embellished tee!

I found this plain, boring, army-green tee while doing some spring cleaning (and by spring cleaning I mean making a huge mess in the bedroom by going through all my old clothes but not actually putting anything away again . . . that's what your spring cleaning consists of, too, right? Right?) and knew I'd never wear it again unless it got a whole lot cuter.

Cue lace and sewing machine!

(Click read more for the how-to!)

You'll need:
- an old tank or tee
- some lace (mine was $2.50 at Joann and I have a TON left over)
- some pins

I started by pinning the lace into a curve about 3 inches below the sleeve, tucking the raw end of the lace underneath. I pinned it about an inch away from the sides seam--I figured that lace would be pretty scratchy sitting right beneath my arm.

I tried it on to make sure I liked the placement, and sewed the strip of lace down close to the edge, backstitching a bit at the start and right before hitting the neckline.

When you get to the end of that strip, lift your presser foot and cut the threads, rotate the shirt in your sewing machine, and just fold the lace so it's overlapping a bit with your first layer, then stitch that layer down.

Here it is in pictures . . . when you get to the end of a row, turn the shirt:

And fold the lace so it overlaps with the previous row:

Keep folding and sewing, backstitching at the start and end of each row, until you get to (or near) the shoulder seam--I stopped about an inch below the seam.

Oooh, look at all those pretty ruffles! 

There you go--a simple, cheap way to spruce up a boring, neglected top. Now go lace-ify some plain tops, enjoy your hopefully-reliable internet, and if your connection has a stroke, tell Liam I say hi.

And while you're here . . . have you entered the giveaway from Pretty Much Dana? Do it!

Linking up here and here!