Saturday, July 04, 2009

Summer t-shirt of love

I was putting things away this evening when I picked up a shirt of my son's and suddenly thought about how much I love it and realised it was probably going to be one of those things that gets kept in a box somewhere and perhaps, if things go well, handed down. This it it:

Doesn't look like much, hey? This started off life as a plain white, unwanted t-shirt. I was in Woolies (ah, Woolies... a moment of silence please...); I can't remember what I was actually in there for but as usual I was just taking a leetle cruise past the children's clothes.

Finding a child's shirt in a plain, un-logoed colour other than white is pretty near impossible and so you can imagine my joy on finding that Woolies (ah, Woolies... a big sigh please...) did a 3-pack of plain shirts - one red, one black and one white.

The unloved white one was stuffed at the back of the drawer until we got a letter from nursery informing us that they wanted to do some tie-dying with the kids and did we have a plain white tee?

I had no idea what would emerge from this mad experiment where a few harrassed keyworkers set a dozen toddlers loose with on dye bucket, but this is what we got and I just think it's the coolest thing. Apparently, the kids all chose where their ties were going to go and the grown-ups did the actual tying.

I know Charlie did his own dying because, well because of the state of his fingernails for the next three days. He loves it and it never sees the inside of a drawer; it's either in the wash, on the line, or on his back, which is why it is a crumpled mess.

Funnily enough, tie-dye shirts were popular when I was the spud's age, but that would be because it was 1967. Ahem.

Anyway, of all the crafts he's brought back from nursery - flaking collages; father's day cards that shed shiny bits everywhere; blank pieces of paper with a few lines of yellow crayon in the middle and handprint paintings that mostly ended up on his shirt - I just think this is totally genius.

14 comments:

Metropolitan Mum said...

1967? Noooo. No way! You look more like 1976. Max.
I tagged you over at mine.

Sparx said...

MM - Sadly 'tis true, I was the spud's age in 1967 but thank you for those kind words! It was quite dark in that restaurant, hey?!

cactus petunia said...

My son's favorite outfit at that age was a pair of plum-colored jeans, a rainbow tie dyed shirt and rainbow suspenders. And little hiking boots.

Shhh. Don't tell him I told you!

Tim Atkinson said...

Goodness, I remember doing tie-dying in art at middle school! How old does that make me?

DJ Kirkby said...

Could Spud make me a T-shirt please?

Anonymous said...

I still have some tie-dying I did when I was in Brownies... so probably a good 7 or 8 years ago!

And we can all share a moment of silence for Woolies.

Michelle said...

I had to hide the race car pajamas that my son insisted on wearing every night for over a year. The shirt was so short that his little belly button showed. But I still have them too!

Helen said...

That shirt is a thing of beauty. My oldest did a tie-dye t-shirt for one of her kindergarten fun days. We'll probably hold onto it for a while. It's comfy, unique, and loaded with fun memories, much like Spud's is I'm sure!

Carol said...

That is a very cool T-shirt!! I can completely understand why he always wears it and I can completely understand why you will always keep it!!

(Followed your link from DJ's blog....I nearly spat tea on my keyboard when I read your comment..very funny!!!)

You have a fab blog...I shall be back :-)

C x

Mummy Fat Club said...

that's so cool - and lovely to have something that you know will be kicking around forever (obviously not worn, but around) - it will have real sentimental value. That boy has style! I used to love tie-dye and used to tie-dye everything, much to my mums exasperation

cynthia said...

I've got a pile of my Little Dude's art work from Nursery School, too. Wish he could have made something more lasting like your spud's tie-dyed shirt. Very cool.

Maternal Tales said...

You're right - it is total genius. Love it. And don't even get me started on Woolies - I mourn the loss every single day. And imagine if they were stilla round - you could go and buy another 3-pack of t-shirts in a larger size and do the whole thing all over again.. x

lady macleod said...

Oh please! You're every bit as bad as I - you are going to have to (also) have a closet next to your study with boxes pushed way to the back and stacked to the ceiling (like no one will notice) full of every little shirt, picture, drawing, crumbled finger painting, report cards, notes he wrote you, half pieces of what we are sure is brilliant sculpture that have survived moves, pets, and adolescence. There will be books you read him, books he read to you, and electronics that he personalized and then broke! I have even managed to keep (intact!) some of the creations from Q's origami stage.
Start shopping for a place with extra closets now - trust me. :-)

I love the shirt!

Sparx said...

Cactus, this sounds like the very same outfit I used to love when I was little too!!

Dotterel - possibly still not as old as me, sadly!!

DJ - yeah, he can make us all one!!

Raz - indeed, who doesn't miss Woolies? How did this disaster happen?

Michelle - you hid them! Aw! I love that - one day I'm sure I'll be hiding the airplane ones too - mind you if we bought some train ones I'm sure the airplane ones would be out of favour in a big hurry.

Helen - sounds like it - such a good idea, hey?

Carol thanks! You too BTW and your comment was fall-over funniest.

Mummy Fat Club - think I might have to join your club!

SAHM-I-am... it's lovely all that stuff but it does rather sift up. I always feel so guilty binning his nursery artwork but otherwise we'd be inundated...

Maternal Tales - I know, I know. I miss Woolies all the time, how did it ever go under? EVERYONE shopped there.

Lady M - I know, I know, I already have a little box of 'things' and two of clothes!!!! Sad, hey?! I love that you still have everything of Q's, I bet some of it will come in handy when she has one of her own.