Tamera Lawrence of Northwest and Kristin Moore of Alexandria had tried everything to meet guys: Salon, Match.com, eHarmony, even speed dating.

They had a pact that would encourage outgoing behavior: Each time one of them approached a guy to strike up a conversation, the other would give her a dollar.

Moore says the local guys in bars didn’t know how to react to her forwardness; those most receptive were out-of-towners.

To try a more direct approach, Lawrence and Moore, who work as graphic designers by day, whipped up sample T-shirts emblazoned with such phrases as single and just ask me (out), which elicited enough attention that they knew their idea was a winner.

SingleTease (singletease.com) launched on March 1 with a party at Helix Lounge. The first round of T-shirts includes boy scouting (are you prepared?) and support your local library (check me out).

So far the T-shirts are just for females, but Lawrence and Moore hope that both men and women on the prowl will benefit from the wearable conversation starters.