17 December 2010

Altered T-shirt

Here are directions for turning a boring t-shirt into something more feminine and trendy, originally posted on the Galblog last April. I've seen tons of similar styles in stores lately, and noticed lots of tutorial cropping up all over the interweb.
Your materials: long-sleeved t-shirt, shears, disappearing pen, needle and matching thread, differently sized circles for tracing.
Step 1: Cut off the sleeves to your shirt. I like a cute cap sleeve; you might want to use a shirt that has sleeves you like to help you decide where to cut. I just eyeballed it, then lined up the first cut sleeve on top of the second to make sure they'd match.
Step 2: Trace your circles using disappearing ink onto your cut-off sleeves. I traced each size twice, then stacked the sleeves and cut through all 4 layers at one, ending with 8 circles of each of the 3 sizes.

Step 3: Layer your circles from smallest to biggest. Notice how messy my cuts are? It doesn't matter one bit!
Step 4 (optional): Make a hat for a cute baby from the remainder of the cut off sleeve. Get totally distracted from project and admire cute baby in cute hat...
Step 5: Find a shirt with a neckline that you like--square, boat, and v-neck all work well. Line up the shoulder seams and trace the neckline onto your t-shirt, then cut it off.
Step 6: Realize other baby needs his hat.
Step 7: Pick up a stack of circles and pinch through all 3 layers, then secure with a few tight stitches, and tie a knot.
Here's the back...
...and the front:
Repeat with remaining stacks:Step 8: Arrange on your t-shirt until you like the design. I ended up sewing the flowers on straight across instead. You can see that I sewed the cut edges of the sleeves and neckline with a zig-zag stitch. Not necessary, but cute nonetheless.
Here's the completed shirt--
And another I made the same way:
Here is the tutorial that inspired me, and here's a recent tutorial at HeyJenRenee.

Let me know if you have questions!

13 comments:

Jenny Chesnick said...

hehehehe LOVE THIS! and the baby sidetracks :)

~HappyScrappinMama~ said...

Oh, these are so CUTE!!! I am gonna try this with some of my daughters long sleeve shirts that she will not be able to wear this winter. Thanks so much for sharing!

Christina Aiton said...

Just love this - I will be trying this technique - and also love the baby hats and your adorable models!

Cassie said...

Amazing!!!
I cannot wait to try!!!
=)

Tam said...

OMW! To start, baby hats adorable! Love the T's! What a great idea. So have to try this!tfs!

KellyG said...

Very cute!

kk said...

super cute! especially the pictures o the little ones. ;)

kim c said...

THIS is so smart!!! great tutorial!

heather said...

I love these!

MandyKay said...

awesome project, judean!!

k.miller said...

thanks for this fabulous idea- i am off to cut tshirts!!

Camille Petrocelli said...

a friend (mrs. miller) sent me this after she tried it (and loved it...check out what she did) and i am hooked...went to thrift stores looking for t-shirts to improve my wardrobe! thanks for sharing!

trish.chamberlain said...

These are very awesome!