T-Shirt is one of the most popular casure, matched to every genders, ages, this is reason why it is consumered a lot. Each person may own 2 to 5 t-shirts or a lot on their wardrobe. There are many ways to make your simple t-shirt more special, make your outfit more attractive!
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What will you do withall of your race shirts?
Yeah, I’m sure that you have Tons of them! Most of them ill-fitting and never worn (some still have the tags on them.haha.)… But even though I don’t wear them, they’re treasured possessions; reminders of what you’ve accomplished.
Still, mine has been sitting in multiple piles on the closet floor, waiting for SOMETHING interesting to be done with them! And THAT is where Project Repat comes in!
If you’re like me, you have TONS of them! Most of them ill-fitting and never worn (some still have the tags on them)… You are the same me, we are willing to buy them when going shopping, but when we owned them, we don’t wear them, they’re treasured possessions. And now, you collect all them, you arrange in multiple piles on the closet floor, and you don't know what to do with them. Luckily, we have Project Repat to help you solve this problem!
If you’ve been around for a while, you know that the funny thing is, that the gif above features just some of my shirts from the past two-ish years. You see, back in October of 2014 I sent my first round of shirts to Project Repat. Well, a couple weeks ago I realized my piles were getting a bit out of control again, so it was time to reach out to the experts and turn my hoard collection into something I would actually use.
The process of sending your shirts to Project Repat is easy-breezy! First, select the size blanket you would like to make (I had about 35 race shirts {and have since added a few more to the stack}, so thought I would go with the “Full” size since it requires 30 sides to make). Then pick the color of PolarTec fleece for the back of the blanket (I opted for grey). Finally, select the size of the “squares” (the standard size is 12″x12″, but they do have specialty blankets you can do with 8″x8″ or 14″x14″). After that, pay for the blanket. Like I said, very straight forward and painless!
HOW IT WORKS
The fun part is deciding which shirts to use and what order to put them in. Instead of a chronological order, I decided (with the help of my designer hubby) to lay them out by color. It took us a little while, seeing as I had so many shirts, but we finally decided on a pattern that was just right (trying to avoid areas that looked too dark, having too many runDisneyshirts in one area, etc).
The first time I worked with Project Repat they sent you an eco-friendly bag you would use to mail your shirts to them in. Nowadays you are required to cover the cost of the mailing of your goodies (I ended up using one of the medium-sized flat-rate boxes that the Post Office offers – it ended up costing $13.45 with the two-day priority shipping). Not a big deal, but knowing I would need to foot the bill, I decided to get rid of any excess weight by cutting the backs off of my shirts.
To help Project Repat with the process, they ask that you provide the “side” of the shirt you would like to use (if the shirt has images on both sides). Since most of my race shirts had sponsors on one side and the race image on the other I went through and cut the shirts so there would be no confusion (as well as there would be less weight to ship). [NOTE: YOU ARE NOT CUTTING THEM IN THE 12″x12″ SIZE, JUST SPLITTING THE SHIRT IN TWO.]
Let’s just say Walt the Wiener Dog loves this part of the process because he gets new “toys”. We make the arms of the long-sleeve shirts into ‘ropes’ for him to chew on and play tug-a-war with. He has quite the “ruff” life, right?!
The next step is the hardest… Shipping your shirts. No, the physical process is not hard, just put them in a box with your receipt and a picture of the layout you would like and mail them. I was just worried that I might lose my shirts forever (and no amount of insurance on the package would get those memories back if they were lost in transit).
Oh yeah, and the waiting game. Don’t get me wrong, Project Repat hand cuts and sews all of the shirts, so a labor of love like this takes times, but I was anxious to get the blanket back. It normally takes approximately 3-4 weeks once they receive your shirts for your blanket to make its journey back to you (of course with the holidays fast approaching the wait time can be longer, although they do offer an expedited option if you are willing to pay the additional cost).
It took about 2 weeks for my blanket to return (I placed my order on August 2nd, shipped my shirts on August 9th and received my blanket back on August 24th). And when I got it, I FELL IN LOVE!!
It was PERFECT! Since I had worked with Project Repat in the past I knew what to expect, but it is always a pleasant surprise when something rocks your socks and blows your expectations out of the water! Although you lay the shirts out on the floor before you send them and sort of know what the finished product will look like, they are mostly haphazardly placed. The blanket that is returned is so exact and AMAZING!
I do want to say – this is NOT a traditional quilt. One of the reasons that Project Repat can offer their services at a lower price is because they are not quilting or putting in backing into the piece (which can leave it feeling stiff). It is more of a blanket. And a blanket that is meant to be cuddled up in, used, loved and even washed (I mean, it is just shirts).
One last thing about the company as a whole. If you know me, you know I LOVE to support local companies, ones who keep their products in the USA, etc, which is exactly what Project Repat does!
Although I never wore my race shirts, they were a “trophy” of mine. But let’s be honest, they weren’t doing anyone any good being in a big pile at the back of my closet. I can now say that they will get a lot of use and will see the light of day much more frequently.
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