A Cuter T-Shirt: A Tutorial

Okay, sometimes you see something and you're like "Oh, that's cute, I could do that."  But you kind of don't think it's really going to work out right.  Well, that's how I felt about this project.  I have tons of t-shirts.  Okay, maybe not as many as I used to, last summer I ruthlessly cleaned out the t-shirt collection and now I'm kind of wishing I still had some of those old shirts to remake.

Since I had so little faith in this project I picked an old grungy shirt to try it out on.  I grabbed an old YMCA child care shirt, it's at least seven years old.  And I've painted in it.  There was red paint on the back from painting the front door.  Yes, paint on the back of my shirt, I'm notorious for running into freshly painted things.  Anyway, I grabbed my blue t-shirt and got to work.  Sorry, I failed and didn't take a picture of the whole t-shirt, but you know what a t-shirt looks like.  Also, these are not beautiful pictures, I took them while sitting in my living room floor on a Sunday morning.

First, chop those sleeves off.  You know, for the summer t-shirt.  For working outside and such.  Easy Peasy.

Then cut off the neck of the shirt, just under the collar.  Chop it off straight across.  I didn't measure or anything, just eyeball it.

Cut the hem off of each sleeve.  This is going to make the straps of your shirt.  Cut the whole bottom of the sleeve off and then snip at the seam so that the two pieces can be sewed together.

To whip up this cute little number, just hem the neckline (where you cut it off).  Leave some extra space because you're going to need to run your strap through the hem.  

Okay, so you're going to have to run through the strap through the hemmed pocket you made.  Sew the two sleeve pieces together to make your strap.  Hook a safety pin on one end to thread through the pocket.  Trust me, this will make your life so much easier.  Once you have the strap threaded through both the front and the back, sew up the other end of the strap and you're ready to roll.  Tiny tip:  use thread that matches your shirt.  I used tan thread because it was already out but for future shirt make-overs, I will totally use matching thread.

I'm not gonna lie, I'm totally glad I did this with a ratty shirt first.  It meant that while I was working on staining the deck today, I had a cooler t-shirt (other than one with the sleeves just chopped off) to wear.  Like I could have answered the door in it if I had to.  I call that a success.  I'm already eyeballing other shirts to cut up.

The deck is another story for another day.  But believe me, it's a good story.  So, what did you do this weekend?  My summer vacation is almost here for reals and I cannot wait.  Today is just a preview of summer break.  Also, I'm on a new diet and I can't wait to tell you guys if it works or not.  Fingers crossed for it to working.