Girls just want to have pun.
That’s certainly the case for Taylor Swift and the Haim sisters, anyway; at Game 4 of the NBA Finals on Wednesday, the friends’ playful T-shirts received almost as much press as the Knicks’ last-minute win over the Spurs.
And while copycat tees are already flooding the market, why not follow Alana Haim’s lead and go the DIY route?
“I’ve wanted to make my own shirts forever, but I could never figure it out, but when I got home from our last tour, I bought a Cricut,” the musician and actress told Vogue.
With prices starting under $150, Cricut’s crafting machines can precision-cut materials ranging from vinyl to paper to leather, in addition to writing, drawing, engraving and more.
There are a number of models from which to choose; the Joy 2 is compact and ideal for everyday projects like labels and custom cards, the Explore 5 works with over 100 materials at a higher speed, and the Maker 4 is compatible with 300+ materials including leather, wood and metal, making it perfect for more advanced work.
And while the Cricut‘s a great tool for whipping up monogrammed gifts, birthday banners and home organization labels, Alana uses hers to craft personalized tees.
“I love making shirts for my friends; I have my friends come over all the time, and I’m like, ‘Do you want to make shirts?’ It’s my creative outlet,” she told Vogue, adding that Swift came up with the “Stevie Knicks” pun for her game-day top.
“I got a text from Taylor that was really the text that you want to get as an amateur screen printer. She said, ‘I want to wear this shirt to the game, can you make it for me?’ and I was like, ‘I thought you would never ask, this is my dream.’ Whenever I start out a session with a friend, I go: ‘Let’s talk about fonts, let’s talk about sizing.’”
Alana repped “Knickelback” with her matching blue-and-orange shirt, while her sisters Este and Danielle went with “Knickole Kidman” and “Knickolas Cage,” respectively. The group even brought along an extra “Stevie Knicks” tee for pal Mariska Hargitay.
“We were kind of going back and forth with these puns; we really just wanted to have fun, because we were so excited that we were going to the game, and I thought it would make people laugh, so we put them on shirts and all decided to wear them,” Alana said.
To bring the designs to life, the “One Battle After Another” star used her Cricut to create the vinyl letters spelling out each “knickname” before decorating the tees, which she bought for $2.99 each at Michael’s.
“I cut the vinyl out, put it on a screen, and you buy some screen-printing paint, and you squeegee it on. I’ve been wanting to try out this puffy additive for a very long time, and I got to use a puff-paste effect on these shirts, which was really fun,” she explained.
While the coordinating Knicks tees made quite the statement at Madison Square Garden, Alana’s showed off her Cricut creations a number of times in the past, too.
In March, she shared a slew of her other DIY shirts on Instagram, including a “Zenon: Girl of the 21st Century”-themed “Cetus-Lupeedus” number, a “Reynolds Woodcock” top in honor of the “Phantom Thread” protagonist, a “Oui Oui” tee for a trip to Paris and more.
“I make my own merch,” she captioned the snaps.
Why Trust Page Six Style Shopping
This article was written by Elana Fishman, Page Six’s Style & Shopping Director. A passionate Swiftie and pop culture fanatic, Elana applies her celebrity fashion and beauty expertise to shoppable content for fellow fans as the host of video series including Currently Trending, Style Trial, Heart to Cart and Beauty Scoop — and by tracking down every Taylor Swift-worn style so you can shop it, too. Elana consults celebrity stylists on the latest street style and red carpet trends and predictions, researches which celebrity-backed brands and products are worth it and chats with the stars themselves for beauty and fashion recommendations. Prior to Page Six Style’s inception in 2018, Elana covered celebrity fashion at Vox Media, Lucky, Marie Claire and Teen Vogue.
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