Aged or distressed t-shirts and sweatshirts

It turns out that those decades old t-shirts that your husband should have thrown out a long time ago are in.   The more threadbare and worn the better.  It took me a while to come to grips with this, but now I like it.  In fact, I just got this t-shirt for myself:

I believe this was washed for many hours in a Los Angeles wash house, and then silk screened.  But it started out as someone's undershirt.

David and I have been learning about distressing jeans and have discovered that there are places that will wash things for hours and hours and will also dye them, which is a way of fast-forwarding the aging process on t-shirts and denim.  Something about it is very appealing.  I love the old tags in the neck, especially if they are from some old manufacturer from the 50s or 60s.

I also picked up this old sweatshirt at a flea market,  that is now one of my favorites.

You can take new t-shirts and use sand paper and the sanitize setting on your washing machine, or you can search for a long time and find the perfectly aged and naturally-distressed item at a flea market or at a thrift store.  I like them both.

The old style sweatshirts often had the raglan sleeves set in.  I especially love hoodies, but pullovers are good, too.

I also love dyed garments.  The colors come out so vividly.  There's just something about a home-dyed garment that says it's special.  The black one above was dyed in a wash house.  I have some more things I will post that I have been dying , too.

Lastly, I have been collecting vintage t-shirts and have been experimenting with how to cut them to make them into tank tops.  I am still working on the details, like how low to cut the arm holes, and  whether or not to put darts in.  So far each one has been different.  I have some lace t-backs that I bought in downtown LA that I will try to add to the backs as well.  This is a big project I will try to finish before summer.