This was surprisingly affecting, how simple it is to turn the irritating and persistently self-promotion into something whimsical. torso libre!
I used to try to dissolve logos off with nail polish remover (NOT recommended – it just makes smudges and may partially dissolve the t-shirt). Sewn-on logos I take the seam ripper to.
But this… I like this better. There could be a lot of fun had making alternative logos [eyes sewing machine].
I’ve been doing this with thrift store shirts for years, because I hate being advertising. Piss off, old navy.
Some logo shapes would remain recognisable and - in many cases - I could see the advantage of keeping it obvious which logo had been, shall we say, less than diligently demoted.
It makes sense when it’s covering a logo that isn’t the maker’s logo to give it new life instead of letting it be thrown away, like if it’s a shirt with the name of a company you no longer work for or a thrift-store find with the name of a sports team you’re not a fan of or advertising participation in a charity 5K event you didn’t participate in. But if you’re covering up the brand logo of the company that makes the shirt, it feels to me like you’re stealing the designer or manufacturer’s credit. It’s feels like cropping the watermark out of a photo to make sure and not credit the photographer, though they clearly wanted to take credit for the work. Or painting over the signature on a painting. If a designer or a craftsman or an artist made something I like and they wanted credit for enough to put their signature on it visibly, I don’t know that I’d feel good about going out of my way to deny them credit for it.
NEXT LEVEL trolling, great work.
I take my style from Mr. T:
''Calvin Klein, Bill Blass, or Gloria Vanderbilt wear clothes with you name on it? No, of course not. So you table the label and wear your own name!"
I don’t know enough about sewing. How would one keep the inserted piece from being too…wavy?, for lack of a better term.
Depends on what look you like. I like the “patch-under” look, so I’d cut the logo out completely stitch a piece underneath it and you’ll end up with something like the picture on the post. Seams can be tamed by stitching a straight ( - - - - - - ) stitch around the outside of it, allowing the raw edge to roll back for a more ragged look.
Or you can put a very small hem on the edge it and oversew the patch with a small zigzag stich ( ///// )for a neater look. Match the thread colour well and it’ll look great.
Then there’s applique techniques if you like something really tidy. Best thing I can do is point you at one of the brazillion tutorials out there. http://sewlikemymom.com/the-ultimate-applique-post/
T-shirts are great things to mess about with, but stretchy cotton is frankly, a pain in the arse on a standard machine. An overlocker (US - serger) rather than a normal sewing machine is the way to go if you’re doing lots of these.
Edit: Yew speel sew gud, smash.
Looking at close ups of the pieces, it look like they just sandwiched the shirt and patch together first without cutting out the offending bit. You’d pin the edges, and use double stick tape to hold the two material pieces flat without stretching. Then, just sew off the border and trim out the inside and on the reverse, trim the excess. 
(Recommending the tape because it’s stretchy jersey. Stiffer material wouldn’t need it.)
Yeah, you could do that.
But that would be, like, easy, instead of unnecessarily complicated.
Yep, I’ve completely avoided Rube Goldberging the project!
(No fun at all!)
As Ranger Doug would say:
"You know that would be the easy way. But it wouldn't be the cowboy way!"
edit to remove redundant “that”
We’ve found that simply pinning — even with stretchy jersey, the fabric doesn’t move — works beautifully. Adding double sided tape means more materials’ usage, happily not necessary. In a Hackaday post, Rich Bremer explains the whole Logo Removal process really nicely.
Cory’s lovely post notwithstanding, Logo Removal Service removes all logos, there’s no patching over or covering up, ever.
Thanks - I figured just pinning would work, but you guys are probably better sewers than me.
Oh, maybe we are but maybe we’re not. I bet you’d do a fine job.
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