RUBBISH Shirt

CW: Death (in the first paragraph)

At the end of 2021, my mom’s spouse abruptly died. It was really tragic and spontaneous. Fortunately, my sibling and I were able to fly out to be with her after it happened. While we were there, I helped my mom go through her entire house top-to-bottom. We purged items that were no longer needed and organized the ones that remained. When we were going through clothes, I asked if I could have this black tee that was a few sizes larger than what I usually wear, cropped, and stained with bleach spots. My mom looked at me like I was crazy due to this ask, but I knew in that moment that I would turn this shirt into the RUBBISH shirt that Janis Ian wears in Mean Girls. RIP to Timothy. Thanks for the shirt! I’m thinking about posting it up in my eBay store so this can live on with another person too.

I’m kind of a lazy DIYer where I skip steps that others might think are necessary…like ironing this shirt. But I’m also pretty detail-oriented with other steps like trying to ensure the letters were straight and evenly spaced.

I tried to square up the shirt at an even number to help create a grid to chalk out the spacing for the letters.

Originally, I was trying to print a letter template off the internet, but I couldn’t figure out the right sizing for my shirt. I gave up and decided to wing it with some rulers, measuring tape, and tailor’s chalk.

I’m glad I remembered to place this up high on the chest instead of centering it on the shirt.

While I would have liked a more stencil-style look for this recreation, I just freehanded it in what I hoped would be a readable font.

I used some “Daffodil” yellow multi-surface acrylic paint and a paintbrush I acquired at my last day job. I painted multiple coats until I was happy with it. Then, once the paint was completely dry, I washed and dried the shirt to remove the chalk lines.

I feel good about how this shirt turned out, and I think it read well for the photo shoot. I ultimately kept the sleeves tucked inside instead of cutting them, so now the next owner can decide whether to keep them or cut them.

See more of this shirt in the Mean Girls: Janis Ian post.

Catch me back here next week for another post.

In the meantime, check out Mean Girls Vibes board on Pinterest.