I'd come a cross an article in a magazine a while ago offering suggestions about how to make a vintage t-shirt, you know the kind that's soft, worn out and super thin to the point of being nearly threadbare because it's 10 years old? I couldn't remember all the tips, so I culled a few off the web. Here are the suggestions (each is a separate tip). The technique is basically find a way to distress the fabric without destroying it.
Wash the fabric repeatedly with any of the following methods:
- Machine wash with hard objects such as load of tennis balls, sandpaper, rock salt
- Hand wash with sand, rocks or try using Dryer Balls
- Soak it in water, salt and vinegar
- Bleach and wash repeatedly
American Apparel is apparently also selling tshirts in different weights. Seek out the paper thin ones. If you are looking for information on fading tshirts, preshrunk.info has a method for doing that.