Yes, I can make this shirt fit!
OK... so this t-shirt came up on my Facebook news feed a few weeks ago, and I just thought it was hilarious! Not only can I really drive a stick (helloooo, 6 speed Corvette!), but I'm the farthest from a witch as can be (I think...), so it's kinda funny.
I ordered the shirt through ILoveApparel.com. It was $23 or something, so not really a deal, yet not outrageous. I thought it was cute so I got it anyways. It arrived about a week later, and honestly, I kind of expected better print quality. It's obvious that the design in heat-transferred on, as there is a clear outline of the rectangular sheet it was printed on. Oh well. At least it's a soft thermal transfer...
I also thought I had ordered the women's fit tee, but I ended up with a regular manly t-shirt that was way too big. That's where this blog post comes in! I'm going to show you a simple way to make a big old baggy shirt into a cute fitted one! All it takes is a single cut and two seams...
First, I laid out the big purple shirt as smooth as possible on a flat surface.
I grabbed a shirt that fits well (this is my Cheesehead Half Marathon tee), and centered it on the purple one.
Then, I traced one side with a little extra for seam allowances onto the purple shirt with a silver Sharpie. It probably wouldn't hurt to turn the shirt inside out before doing this, but it's no biggie either way if you're fairly steady with the marker.
Out comes the scissors! I set the smaller shirt aside (we're done with it now) and folded the purple one in half as neatly as I could. Here's the one single cut I was talking about... granted, you cut through four layers of fabric, but it's still just one cut! Trim along the line, making sure to cut through all the layers. The cut doesn't have to be perfect- that's one of the fun things about working with jersey knit. It doesn't fray, and kind of just curls up on itself, which hides any rough edges.
Sewing up the seams is next. You'll have to turn the shirt inside out now if you didn't do so earlier. I pinned the sides and under arms together and sewed up each side in one seam. I chose not to finish the ends of the sleeves; I think it's kind of cute when they roll up a little.
And that's basically it! I now have a slimmer-fit tee that looks like a girl would wear it. Ha ha.
I left my shirt the original length (it's almost the length of a shirt dress, really, so I could wear it with leggings if I wanted to), but you could cut it to any length you wanted and just leave it raw, or hem it up, depending on the effort you want to put into it and your desired outcome.
A few side notes:
I wouldn't recommend using this exact method to make a really, really large shirt into a really little shirt. This particular process keeps the shoulder corners intact; bringing the shoulder seams closer together would require a bit more tailoring, and since this is a simple tutorial, I didn't want to go that far. I took my shirt from a regular large (i.e. men's large) to a women's large. I find the shoulder seam placement to be about an inch or two wider than ideal, but it really doesn't bother me.
Also... I wore my shirt to a work Halloween party today, and I'm finding that I could have taken the hips of the shirt in another inch on each side. The shirt fits really well until the waist, and then it kind of balloons out and looks funny. Ha ha... I guess my bum isn't as wide as I thought it was!
While I'm making the hip adjustment, I'm also going to cut in the underarm parts a little bit to make more of a cap sleeve. I forgot that the sleeves on the Cheesehead shirt were kind of weird like that, and I'd prefer them a bit shorter.
I'll post updated pics this weekend! We're headed to Door County Brewery's Halloween party on Saturday, and I hope to wear my cute shirt! But for now, I'm hoping to find my all-time favorite childhood Halloween movie Hocus Pocus on Netflix and order some pizza! I'm in kind of a witchy mood...
Happy Crafting!
I ordered the shirt through ILoveApparel.com. It was $23 or something, so not really a deal, yet not outrageous. I thought it was cute so I got it anyways. It arrived about a week later, and honestly, I kind of expected better print quality. It's obvious that the design in heat-transferred on, as there is a clear outline of the rectangular sheet it was printed on. Oh well. At least it's a soft thermal transfer...
I also thought I had ordered the women's fit tee, but I ended up with a regular manly t-shirt that was way too big. That's where this blog post comes in! I'm going to show you a simple way to make a big old baggy shirt into a cute fitted one! All it takes is a single cut and two seams...
First, I laid out the big purple shirt as smooth as possible on a flat surface.
I grabbed a shirt that fits well (this is my Cheesehead Half Marathon tee), and centered it on the purple one.
Then, I traced one side with a little extra for seam allowances onto the purple shirt with a silver Sharpie. It probably wouldn't hurt to turn the shirt inside out before doing this, but it's no biggie either way if you're fairly steady with the marker.
Out comes the scissors! I set the smaller shirt aside (we're done with it now) and folded the purple one in half as neatly as I could. Here's the one single cut I was talking about... granted, you cut through four layers of fabric, but it's still just one cut! Trim along the line, making sure to cut through all the layers. The cut doesn't have to be perfect- that's one of the fun things about working with jersey knit. It doesn't fray, and kind of just curls up on itself, which hides any rough edges.
Sewing up the seams is next. You'll have to turn the shirt inside out now if you didn't do so earlier. I pinned the sides and under arms together and sewed up each side in one seam. I chose not to finish the ends of the sleeves; I think it's kind of cute when they roll up a little.
And that's basically it! I now have a slimmer-fit tee that looks like a girl would wear it. Ha ha.
I left my shirt the original length (it's almost the length of a shirt dress, really, so I could wear it with leggings if I wanted to), but you could cut it to any length you wanted and just leave it raw, or hem it up, depending on the effort you want to put into it and your desired outcome.
A few side notes:
I wouldn't recommend using this exact method to make a really, really large shirt into a really little shirt. This particular process keeps the shoulder corners intact; bringing the shoulder seams closer together would require a bit more tailoring, and since this is a simple tutorial, I didn't want to go that far. I took my shirt from a regular large (i.e. men's large) to a women's large. I find the shoulder seam placement to be about an inch or two wider than ideal, but it really doesn't bother me.
Also... I wore my shirt to a work Halloween party today, and I'm finding that I could have taken the hips of the shirt in another inch on each side. The shirt fits really well until the waist, and then it kind of balloons out and looks funny. Ha ha... I guess my bum isn't as wide as I thought it was!
While I'm making the hip adjustment, I'm also going to cut in the underarm parts a little bit to make more of a cap sleeve. I forgot that the sleeves on the Cheesehead shirt were kind of weird like that, and I'd prefer them a bit shorter.
I'll post updated pics this weekend! We're headed to Door County Brewery's Halloween party on Saturday, and I hope to wear my cute shirt! But for now, I'm hoping to find my all-time favorite childhood Halloween movie Hocus Pocus on Netflix and order some pizza! I'm in kind of a witchy mood...
Happy Crafting!
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