When the Sewcialists started tweeting about the
Grunge Sew Along last month, I knew there was no way I could miss that.
Grunge was my daily uniform all through high school and some of college. Of course, that means that I had to find a way to make the look work for me now. As a grown up.
I'm not sure I was fully successful, but I'm feeling pretty nostalgic, and I'm loving it!
Phase one (once I had my
jeans) was a tee shirt. Back in the day, I wore a lot of oversized, man shaped concert and band tees, often layering several at a time.
As a nod to those layered tees, I decided to make a fitted tee with contrast sleeve and neckbands in a muted cornflower blue.
I added the iconic "Nevermind" from Nirvana's album. I thought it would be a recognizable, but not totally obvious logo.
The pattern I used is Ottobre 02/2007-3. I shortened the sleeve to cap length and added a hem band. I used a freezer paper stencil and fabric paint to make the logo. The fabric is a soft rayon jersey from FabricMart.
Of course, no proper grunge outfit was complete without a flannel shirt. Most of mine came from the thrift store back in the day. For my look, I wanted something with some shape, and maybe an interesting detail to set it apart from the lumberjack flannels I once wore.
I chose
Butterick 5924 for the cool bias panels on the lower half of the shirt, and also for the bust dart, which adds a bit of shape. I love the chevron in back. The fabric is a cotton flannel from FabricMart.
I used brushed nickel snaps as the closure. I never buttoned up a flannel shirt, and I don't expect I will this one, so I like the flash of metal the snaps provide on both sides.
I think I managed recognizably grunge without the unfortunate two sizes two big look I sported as a teen. I am actually having a lot of fun wearing this today, and the flannel shirt is totally cozy as I watch more snow fall.
