oh the places you'll go!

recently my grandma sent me a whole bunch of (cleaned and pressed of course) souvenir tee shirts that she accumulated when she and grandpa used to travel in their fifth wheel back in the 80s.

they range in distance from arizona to north carolina to alaska, all kinds of grandparently wanderings with fake grass turf outside their little rv doorstep, bbqs, walking shoes and Thousand Trails...i digress.

don't you love the soft wornness of old tee shirts? and something about the logos and designs of the 80s just wins my heart; lines and shapes and critters seem sweeter.

this bright pink arizona tee is boxy in structure, with cool brass studs at the folded up sleeve.

there is no describing how soft it is, i wear it to bed.

if it wasn't so baggy i'd wear it out and about, but as it is, i'd need one of those plastic ring/clip things i used in junior high to scoop my teeshirt up to one side...do you remember those?

case in point for 80s graphics: check out the soft kissable faces of these seal pups from fort bragg, and also the nice curvy classic font.

i have been collecting various vintage tees for quite some time and i especially love when they depict a scene that makes my heart sing.

such as...

this new mexico "living desert" tee shirt that i scored from ashley at a clothing exchange last year.

the colors and stones and desert blossoms and native dancer all remind of my beloved southwest,

(and by the way: another desert post coming soon)

another one from grandma, her tastes ran from pink to blue to pink again, but always with some outdoorsy scene of tranquility. this one from rock creek lakes in the eastern sierra.

you may notice that i have this on backwards.

let's pretend that was on purpose.

just thrifted this one, a tee shirt from 1998 so not really vintage but still kinda cool -

it's from the rosebud indian reservation in south dakota.

i love the artwork by jim yellowhawk.

this one i thrifted for darin last year and he wears it ALL THE TIME.

i mean how could he resist a seafoam green soft old teeshirt with glittery pastel feather and the word Arizona? he can't.

this one below is the one that made me suddenly realize how much i love "place tees."

it's actually a sweatshirt with a pretty little solvang windmill image. and the absolute creamy-softest-fleecy lining.

the greatest thing is, emily thrifted a similar SOLVANG sweatshirt around the same time, probably donated by the same 1980s-tripping-die-hard-solvang-fan.

sometimes we both wear ours at the same time. cause we're geeks.

Boone, North Carolina, named for daniel boone, creates a pretty scene for a blue tee that grandma cherie brought home years ago and has now become my honey's new fave.

i know nothing about fabric crafts: is this silkscreen?

anyway...i want to go there; i want a mega road trip; i want the blue ridge parkway and folk crafts and appalachia.

i've saved the best for last.

this little gem from grandma cherie features a harbor seal pup from alaska.

now these seal pups are close to my heart: they were the subject of the very first essay i ever wrote (and illustrated) at eight years old. i got an A. so needless to say, that white fuzzy face just brings all that earnest 8-year-old-desperate-love flooding back. there is even a floating seal pup alone down there on the sleeve.

little detail of more marine life...by the way this sweatshirt is positively rectangular,

like sideways rectangular.

i don't understand why in the 80s they built clothing for people who are four feet tall and four hundred pounds but guess what, i love em for it! pure comfort.

well that's it on my kitschy clothes!

(not really, they never end around here)

i hope you randomly find many soft old tees on your journeys, to love them for decades and pass them on to your grandkids.