Sunday, December 16, 2012

What Do You Get....

When you cross a smart alec who has some sewing skills, with a vinyl table cloth? You get an awesome gag gift, is what you get.

My husband's friend, JJ, always wears one of several plaid shirts, which everyone calls his "tablecloth shirts" The guy must have a dozen or more, and he brings them out for any occasion. Date night? Yup. Christmas party? Yup? Concert? Yup. Really they aren't the most fashion forward shirts out there, but you know, if they're good enough for Grandpa Jed, they're good enough for JJ.

Getting Started

I thought Christmas would be the perfect time to make a custom tablecloth shirt for JJ. I went to the dollar store and found the most perfect $4 vinyl tablecloth, paired it with a really simple men's shirt pattern, and voila. A tablecloth shirt.

Tablecloth shirt

From a distance it looks like any other plaid shirt, but get up close, or be the lucky one who gets to wear it, and you can see that it's stiff and crinkles when it moves.

Yup, it's a vinyl tablecloth!

I added real button holes and did topstitching too. From the outside, I wanted it to look as much like an actual wearable shirt as possible. The only thing I didn't do was finish any seams inside. Sure I wanted it to look good but I wasn't interested in going overboard.

Sleeve Finishing, or lack thereof...

I can't wait for JJ to open his gift. It's going to be a great laugh. If I'd been thinking when I bought the tablecloth, I would have bought a couple more, so I could have made him some matching pants!

8 comments:

  1. Lol, totally brilliant! I'd love to be a fly on the wall when he opens it :oD

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  2. That is absolutely hilarious! Great job on the shirt - it looks real! You should get him opening it on video and share via You-Tube!

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  3. Beyond awesome. We MUST see a photo of JJ sporting his new shirt, and he's not allowed to grimace as his underarms are attacked by vinyl seam allowances!

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  4. Love it! Please share his reaction with us :)

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  5. Now THAT is hilarious!!! Love it and I can't wait until you share his reaction. :)

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  6. That. Is. So. Funny. Really awesome gag gift. Perfect.

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  7. That's incredible, what a perfect gift! So funny, I hope you share his reaction! And it looks so much like a real shirt!! I'd imagine that stuff's a little annoying to sew with, is it? Just curious, I doubt I'll ever be as clever as you are to actually make one!!

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  8. That is genius! I hope it went down well and that he appreciated all the work that went into his shirt!

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