step-by-step eyelets

At the end of the winter (oh, well, still feels kind of wintery here, I meant to say the "calendar" winter) I was browsing around to get ideas for some long sleeves shirts.
And I saw one that I really really liked, so I figured: I'll just make it.
...And I did, as a matter of fact, but I had few bumps in the road.

right pic: ssense.com - collage by moi

As you can see, it's a simple t-shirt with random eyelets (grommets), just like the one from Iro Arrison. 

To recreate this look, wear the selected shirt, and while standing next to your mirror, mark with a water soluble marker the 'dots' where you would like your eyelets (grommets).

Till here, it's all fine.

I had my eyelet pliers ready, and got to work.

The instructions mention to use two layers of light to medium fabric, reinforced with interfacing.

I didn't want my shirt to have all these bumps from the interfacing, so I thought I would outsmart the instruction.... WRONG!

I ended up throwing away my shirt (a white 1$ one, this in the picture is my second and successful attempt).

I'll show you what happened:

(on a swatch from what used to be the shirt I wanted to make)

mark with a dot
where I want the eyelets

place eyelet in hole

punch a hole in fabric
with pliers

still following the instructions: squeeze pliers firmly, and...

...SCREAM...

ok, thanks for follow this step-by-step disaster, and let's go to the happy ending now!

inspiration&realisation

--> TIPS for the successful eyelet (grommet) process:
* mark your fabric with a dot
* get tacky glue and spread some glue on your dot and around: front and back (better safe than sorry...) 
* let it dry - the fabric will get stiffer and shiny once it's dry
* fold the fabric in half and in half again right in correspondence of the 'dot'

* with the scissors, cut the little corner of the fabric, just the mark of the dot
* you'll have a tiny hole, much smaller than the eyelet
* place the eyelet (grommet) inside the hole, the t-shirt fabric stretch and with the glue will be a perfect snuggle
* squeeze the pliers

* YAY!!! perfect!
* hand wash with warm water to remove glue


I already wore and washed this shirt several times (hand washed and hanged dry)... So far, so good.

eyelet front

eyelet back

In both pictures the eyelet at the top is the first attempt, while the one at the bottom is the 'happy ending' one.
Best of all: I still ended up outsmarting the instructions! Extra points, right?


xox, d.