Flashback: "Craft Night '04"

Flashback: "Craft Night '04"

• 8.30.2013

Seriously funny "flashback" this Friday. All the way back to more than 9 years ago, summer of 2004.

I haven't always thought of myself as a creative person. In 2004 I had just graduated high school and was about to go off to college, but lived at home with my parents over the summer and worked 3/4-time at a law office. I didn't sew hardly at all, had only made myself a few things, and I didn't have many really crafty friends or anything. And I certainly didn't have blogs to read for inspiration!!!

But, back in 2004 was near the beginning of the DIY words-on-tees trend (I remember American Eagle came out with iron-on letter sets they sold with their tees--I don't think it was an incredible success, but interesting...). Urban Outfitters made all those "Blondes Have More Fun" poly/cotton heather tees, ringer tees, slightly less edgy than the ones they do now... Somehow my friends and I came up with a plan to make all the cool tees we could think of for ourselves!

Two of my closest summer camp friends were visiting from out of town and it was like a little reunion. We spent one whole long weekend hanging out at my generous parents' house, playing at the park, driving to Fred Meyer for late-night snacks, watching movies on the couch in the basement... good times for 16-year-olds. Something inspired us to put to use the incredible sewing room my mom has, and we spent an afternoon driving around craft stores and Goodwills and the sporting goods store for crafty supplies!

We bought lots of tees and those fuzzy iron-on letters. And some iron-on patches for my friend Chris's thrifted button-ups. We stayed up late measuring straight lines from armpit to armpit, sorting out letters, designing... we went crafting crazy for the first time any for any of us!!

We even named it. Craft Night '04. It was official.

First we made some of the basics. One of the inspirations for the night was Lester Bangs's "Detroit Sucks" shirt from Almost Famous, one of my fave movies ever.

We made several. I gave one to my then brand-new boyfriend Jason, who of course I am now married to. He thought it was pretty cool. ;) He still has it. I made a fitted version of "Detroit Sucks" for myself! I think I still have mine, too, but it's shrunken and has that stale smell cotton tees get... so it's for sentimental value only.

We couldn't get enough craftiness. We bought more shirts and more letters! Raglan baseball tees, colored tees, more fitted tees! We got political (upcoming 2004 presidential election) and made "Vote!" tees!

We thought the red one in the back--"Pants?"--was soooooooo funny. We made it for one of our other friends who wasn't there. And then we made another for one of us!

(Throughout this post, I hope you forgive the extremely low quality pictures. I don't remember whose digital camera it was, probably my parents', but it probably had something like 3.1 megapixels and weighed less than my phone. Technology advances fast, guys.) Here we are in some of our creations from that weekend.

I felt super cool in that "Vote" shirt my freshman year of college! And my sort of mysterious "Detroit Sucks" tee. I've never been to Detroit. We just thought it was a cool look to knock off. ;)

So now you know! Some of my earliest crafty adventures!

I've used iron-on letters since then (see this art project) and thought back fondly to Craft Night '04. Maybe sometime I'll have to have a repeat with some new crafty friends, and get a bunch of Christmas presents done or something! (I have no need for a million tees with lettering on them now!! Although bold lettering tees are totally in right now...)

Hope you enjoyed the flashback!