Upping My DIY Wardrobe Game

**Attention friends/family/spouses/embarrassed neighbors that want to buy me a “surprise” Christmas gift. This post is full of ideas.

Moving on.

So, it’s been mentioned one or a billion times that my DIY clothes are disgusting. Embarrassing. Unfit for public eyes. It may or may not be true. I plead the 5th.

But here’s the deal. I know I am an extremely messy DIYer so I’ve relied on the same pair of jeans for ten years (well until I wore a giant hole in them that would make them a bit scandalous for public viewing). Now I just wear some really awesome sweat pants…

I wear men’s t-shirts that I get for free at industry meetings (I work in the insurance industry so sometimes it’s forgotten than women actually do work in the industry as well and all the tees are those old school, heavy cotton crew-necks that are the least flattering cut ever for women).

Pretty much I do my projects in the most ill-fitting, manliest looking clothes I own. With no make-up and likely uncombed hair. It isn’t pretty.

But you know what? I never used to care and I owned my ratty jeans/sweat pants/tee shirts. Until I started getting serious flack for it.

For months, I thought about this post my friend Heather from The Heathered Nest wrote, and I knew it was time to up my DIY wardrobe game. Then I began receiving more and more comments about my weekend clothes. Seriously, were they really that bad?! Maybe the tipping point is when I started wearing said clothes out in public. But hey, you have to look legit when you walk into Lowe’s, right?!

Over the past few months, I’ve been on the hunt for sassy tees and clothes that were altogether more fitted and a bit more flattering, but also not expensive so that I wasn’t wasting money on clothes that would inevitably get covered in paint. Clothing that was actually made for a woman to wear, instead of the clothes that men rejected as uncool. Okay, maybe I’m starting to see where the problem was.

So, the search began. If you can’t be a sassy smart-ass when you’re wielding a power tool, then when can you be? I think found a great selection of fun tees I wouldn’t likely wear otherwise, but are fun for DIY outfits.

Here are some of my favorites. Click the image or text below to be taken to an affiliate link to learn more about each of these amazing options. With the exception of one, all of these are under $20 and several are under $10 so I can justify a paint splatter here and there:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I think any of these tee options will be a million percent better than the current alternatives.

I actually have great luck with a lot of the jeans at Old Navy, so I’ll likely scoop up a pair or three that fit next time they go on sale (which will probably be within two days, if they aren’t already on sale). I love the Rockstar jeans and think they would be a much less frumpy alternative to my baggy sweats and tattered jeans.

Will these clothes solves all of my DIY wardrobe problems? Likely not, and I likely don’t care. But, I have to imagine that proper fitting, funny shirts and non-manlike pants can only go to help the cause. Maybe I’ll be made fun of 10%-20% less than I did before.

Heather, my husband, friends, neighbors and likely everyone I’ve ever met (including the staff at Lowe’s), all thank you for encouraging me to find clothing that will help make my DIY wardrobe slightly less offensive!

So, if you have a DIYer in your life (or if you are one yourself), don’t forget to add tees and pants to your Christmas list that will make your just a tiny bit cooler and more pulled together. However you may define that.

Do you have any other great sources for fun, sassy, a bit smart-assy tees? I’d love to hear your favorites!

If you would like to follow along on more of my home decor, DIY, lifestyle, travel and other posts, I’d love to have you follow me on any of the following:

Pinterest / Instagram / Facebook / Twitter / Bloglovin’ / Google

disclosure: some affiliate links used