Ingenious Beach Cover-Up Idea

I’m featuring a cool idea I saw in Martha Stewart’s Living June issue. What can I say? It’s summer and I’m working on homework our agent gave us for our book proposal, my well is dry. I love looking at Martha’s calendar in the front of the magazine to see how she fits in time to visit all of her sundry homes; it’s good to be Martha. But yet I digress. This tip has Organic Structure plus a few Classics and Funs written all over it. This is because the only way to implement her idea is if you already have a key sewing tool on hand. I have yet to meet a Smart who is an avid sewer. But write me and tell me about it if you’re a Smart who is a member of a quilting bee somewhere.

Pinking ShearsAt the risk of sounding like a 1950s women’s magazine, the reason the tip from Martha Stewart Living is great for the really practical types is because men’s shirts wear out at the collar before the rest does. Now you have a way to give their shirts a second life while giving yourself something new at the beach to wear for zero bucks.

A few snips to the collar turn a men’s shirt into a feminine beach cover-up. Flip up the collar, and draw a faint line on the underside with a pencil at the desired height, curving the line at the front edges. Cut along the line with pinking shears — one laundered, the edge will fray slightly for a ruffled appearance.

NehruNow, unless you sew, you might be asking yourself what pinking shears are. Therefore, I featured an image of them from Staples where you can get your very own. But if this is going to be your only purpose for pinking shears, make life easy and just cut off the collar at the edge with regular old scissors and go for a Nehru-esque look. Naturally, if you’re a Smart (and a man), I assume you forgo this entire tip entirely. This is why stores exist selling beach cover-ups. I fully realize this tip will work only once if your husband  wears insanely boring white shirts. Perhaps this will be the wake-up call to help him jazz up his wardrobe.