Reconstructing a Tee

I was reading in on my favorite blog, Simple Green Frugal Co-op, about reconstructing clothing (taking clothing you no longer need or like anymore and turning into something you will need or like). It pointed me to a few cool sites, but I spent the most time checking out threadbangers, a youtube group for Do-It-Yourself types. After getting the ideas and principles behind some of their t-shirt reconstructions, I made this from one of my husband's old t-shirts:


Much cuter than the oversized t-shirt it was (sorry no pics of the before; I barely remembered to take pics of my steps). I took this picture before the last step, so the bottom doesn't flare as much. Since I made this up, I have no qualms showing someone how to do it. If it is similar to something someone else has done, I'm sorry, but we'll just have to say great minds think alike. So, here's how I did it:

1. Turn the oversized shirt inside out. Place a shirt that fits your frame on top, lining up the shoulders. With a pencil, chalk or whatever (you'll be sewing over it anyway), draw a line a 1/2" out on each side. The 1/2" is for seam allowance.









Be sure that from the armpit line, you kind of curve it around so that the line from the side makes a consistent line around to the end of the sleeve. Don't forget seam allowance here either!











2. Be sure to use a ball point or jersey needle! Otherwise you can pierce the knit and cause unraveling or a run. Sew in a basting stitch along the lines you drew on both sides. Turn the shirt right side out and make sure it fits. If you're sure it fits, then just inside the basting, go over each side with a knit stitch or narrow zig-zag. Since this is made with a t-shirt, if you use just a regular stitch, the thread can actually pull at and tear the knit, plus it won't stretch the way it's supposed to. Go ahead and cut off the excess fabric, including the basting if possible.


3. I know this is hard to see, but next you rip the seam on both sleeve edges. You actually don't have to do this; you can just cut the sleeve edge off. I liked to use the lines from the seam, though, since I absolutely hate using pins.





A bit of the underarm seam may come undone. Just sew it back together.







4. Along the bottom hem of the shirt, make a small cut perpendicular to the shirt bottom. Don't go through the hem stitching.






Cut along the edge of the hem seam all the way around the bottom of the shirt. This is what you use for the neckline, so keep it!







5. Next is the neckline (sorry some of the pics are sideways). You'll make a line about 1/2"-1" from the neckline seam. Make sure your strip of fabric from the bottom of the shirt will go all the way around easily.









Cut on the line.








6. Next, with the raw edges of the strip of hem fabric pointing up (it should still be doubled over, just like when you cut it), line up the raw edge of the hem strip and the neckline. The hem strip should be on the right side of the t-shirt.








At the middle of the back neckline, leave about an inch of the tail end pointing "up" at a 45 degree angle from the neckline; it will leave a little tail you can cut off later (I hope that makes sense). If you prefer pinning, this would definitely be a good time to pin. Stretch the hem strip slightly as you pin it. You want it to be shorter than the shirt's neck. The tighter you stretch it (obviously to a point), the flatter it will lay against your chest and neck. Leave a "tail" with the other end of hem fabric.


Sew together. The "tails" create the effect pictured here. This is a view of the inside of the back shirt collar after I cut off the excess.

After you sew the edges together, turn the hem fabric up. Sew 1/4" below the seam line to keep the collar from flipping up. Again, I hope that makes sense. Let me know if it doesn't so I can try to rewrite it.


This is what the right side of the collar should look like after all that.







7. The sleeves. Basically, with the shirt inside out, pull the sleeve edge over about 3" or so if you want my look. Sew the raw edge of the sleeve down, going all the way around the circle of the sleeve, and then also sew a line about 1/2"-1" out from there (I followed the sleeves previous seam lines). This creates a tube of sorts. Do this to both sleeves.

If you just cut off the sleeve hem instead of ripping it out, you'll probably only have room to make a princess style sleeve. Only pull the sleeve edge over about 1" and do the same sort of thing.



Turn the shirt inside out. Cut two small slits between the two lines you just sewed in just the top layer of fabric.

With the extra fabric you took from the sides or using ribbon or some accent color fabric, cut two pieces 1/2" wide and about a foot and a half to two feet long. It just needs to be long enough to go around your arm and tie nicely. If you used t-shirt fabric, pull it lengthwise so that the edges roll. That way you don't see the raw edges so much.

Take a safety pin, fasten it to one end of a strip of fabric or ribbon. Thread the strip of fabric through the little arm tube thing. Tie loosely. You can tighten it when you put in on.

8. I don't have a pic of the last step. You just serge or zig-zag the bottom shirt hem. Zig-zag makes it flare a bit, which is nice and girly.

That should be it. Try it on and see if you like it. At least it should be better than the shirt you had before.