I promised Friday Love{s} would be random, so here we go. I'm digging the crop tops that are in right now. These are not your early 00s crops. The belly shirts of yore paired with low rise jeans (so glad the stranger-crack-sighting epidemic appears to have passed) and a focus on the widest swath of flesh on the female form, the spot a lady was least likely to feel confident baring.

These "new" crops mimic styles from the 40s, 50s and 60s and 80s that focus a bit higher up. Like so.

Photo via Lou Lou's Vintage Fair (no relation!) and obviously from Life Magazine originally.

I dig it.

But I didn't want to actually buy a crop top. I figure that it's not the kind of thing that'll stick around long enough to invest in. Though this silhouette is infinitely more flattering than its muffin-top baring cousin, it's still not super versatile or every-day-feeling enough to stick around for long, right? Well, except see Harlem Pants, and Rompers for Grown Women, which I would have bet serious money would be gone by now.

Hmm. Well, I still wanted to try my hand at making my own. So I took 2 hand-me-down Ts and started snipping. The Ts started off in this glorious state:

Oh, did I not warn you about the insanely awkward photos this post entails? Well, it does. It was a last minute decision to actually model these. You can tell.

So here's the shirt as it started. Well, shirt number 3. Originally this was going to be a "1 Shirt: 3 Ways" post, but I ruined one, so I'll share the Lessons I Learned at the end of the post. I got three of these Old Navy crew neck tees from a friend. They all fit, but can someone tell me why crew neck shirts are a thing? They strangle you, cutting off the line of your neck, and are fugly. So they were perfect to experiment on. I wanted a more fitted look than a lot of the DIY Crop Tops you can find online.

First up: I wanted an inverted V bottom to wear with feminine skirts.

This was so easy. Just fold your shirt in half, cut off the hems from the neck and sleeves, and then, starting in the middle of the shirt, cut downward from the center to the edge.

My hair has dried in this picture, so that's a plus. And also: I love it. Scooping out the neck and shortening the sleeves is much more flattering. As for its midriff baring propensities, it's the modest version of a crop top, should there be such a thing, and I love it with this skirt. Nailed it. Maybe 15 minutes from start to finish. You should do this.

On to Number 2!

For the second shirt, I wanted a tank, so I ditched the sleeves altogether. Then I cut the collar out again, but this time I traced around a bowl on the back of the shirt because I wanted a lower cut back than front. I started by cutting just the hem off the bottom, and then kept cutting shorter til I reached my level of comfort (which is still pretty long). Finally, I kept the back a bit longer than the front. The result:

I warned you about the awkwardness. This shirt isn't as obvious a win as the first, but I still like it. I might even go shorter, especially in the back. Still a huge improvement over the original.

But I said I'd have a few tips based on the fallen third shirt.

1. It's not a bad idea to practice. If you have a shirt that you love and are convinced you can make it better with some snips, you're probably right. But don't go at it all willy nilly. You need a plan. A shirt that you don't love and won't mind ruining is the perfect place to start.

2. Take your time when cutting. Once you get some raggedy edges, it's tough to make them straight again, and starts to feel Sysiphean really fast.

3. Go small. Don't cut 5 inches off at first. Start with baby steps - the hems are a good spot - and then try your shirt on. That'll really help you decide how far you want to go in any one direction.

Who's with me on the crop tops? I don't know what my deal is -- I think I see them as both classic (it is a trend that's been perennial for 70 years) and a less predictable way to show a little skin. Just a little in my case, but still. What do y'all think? Daring to bare the midriff this summer?