So, today marks the launch of Summer Reading Program at my library (and likely many other libraries), so instead of writing an insightful commentary on the most recent book I finished (a literary/poetic thing that went somewhat over my head) I’m saving my energy for the chaos at work today.

But first I want to talk about something that plays a large role in staff members’ lives all summer: the SRP t-shirt.  It’s the only tee allowed by my library’s dress code, and we’re supposed to wear them every week on program day.

And they are consistently a nightmare.

In year’s past the shirt has been the shade of orange usually reserved for hunting season (it even glowed under black light), or the barfy not-quite-yellow of school buses and highway lines. Other years the print on the shirt was the problem: an otherwise attractive shirt – black with a word search on it, for the “Get a Clue” year – was disallowed at work because some juvenile toilet humor words tucked among the reading themed ones.

This year we have this shirt.

The picture isn’t entirely accurate to the shirts we got: they are long, long shirts (men’s sizes only), and the print begins at the bottom hem.  I’m baffled as to what they were thinking: when you factor in the front line and para-professional staff, most libraries are about 85% female, and I doubt anyone under 5′7″ finds that this shirt hem doesn’t come down to their knees. As a result, from behind the desk we’ll look not like we’re promoting Summer Reading Club, but rather like we all just felt like bright cerulean shirts today.

I decided to do something about it.

This is cut from a men’s XXXL into a women’s 14/16, using Simplicity 4541 (out of print, apparently).

The neckline has a diagonal slit closed with ribbons, like so:

These adjustments knocked a good 8 or 9 inches off the total lengths, moved the shoulder seams up onto my actual shoulders, and banished the horrors of the ribbed t-shirt collar to the scrap bin.

This year’s theme is “Be Creative”… just getting into the spirit.

Now, got sign up for Summer Reading Club at your local library!