So. I found this beautiful XL shirt at TJ Maxx on clearance for $3. Then the next day I saw this really cute t-shirt thingy in a store on Newbury St. (for those of you not from 'round Boston that means $$$) that was $48.
I said to myself, "Self, you can make this." So I did!
Before: "hm..."
After: "huzZAH!"
Front Detail:
Back Detail (As I watch Hell's Kitchen
):
I found a picture of the original shirt that I based the design on, the uber-expensive one.
The mannequin in the store had the tie in the back, I don't know why its on the front in this one.
Anyhoo. I put together a little how-to for you all. Thank you all for the really awesome comments and your persistance has paid off. I didn't make the entire shirt over, I generally like to make something different each time so I didn't see the need to make the same shirt twice, so for the sake of time I'm just giving you the facts, so no new shirts were cut in the making of this tutorial.
But it's really super easy to make!
First thing I did was find a shirt that was huuuge to cut down to size.
I'm just using this hu-mungo 99cent tee I had lying around as an example. That's a rular on the right of the shirt, I just wanted you to see that this shirt is about 27" lengthwise.
To get the general idea of how much I'd need to resize the shirt I compared it to another one of my shirts that was NOT FITTED. This is a picture to show you the difference in sizes. The black shirt on the bottom is the original size. The white in the middle is the size we want, the navy shirt on top is what a fitted shirt looks like in comparison.
Remember you don't want the shirt fitted becuase your'e going to add the ties to make it seem fitted.
Next you pin where you're going to sew, bring the shoulders of the two shirts together at the tops and pin from sleeves to the underarms to less than halfway down the shirt, remember to stay close to the smaller shirt's seem. Once you get to the bottom hem leave about an inch of space indented from the original seem. I forgot to include the indent in the picture but it's kinda important to have it. Below I'm using yarn to show where the seem should be (of course you'll sew the shirt while it's inside out).
Once you've sewn the seems up your shirt should look something like this (ignore the area beyond the red yarn...)
Cut off the extra fabric from underneth. Try to get it all from the bottom to the entire sleeve, you're going to need it later. DON'T THROW THE EXTRA AWAY.
Next measure the center of the collar and pin an inch away from the center on either side. Pin about three inches from below the center of the neckline and cut a U shape while following these measurements. The yarn shows you how that should look.
And I have Morty to help me.
Thank you, Morty.
So go ahead and sew the collar dip down.
Now remember I said to set aside the extra fabric? Well you use this extra fabric to make the ties which are super easy. Just start cutting from the hem at the bottom aaaaaall the way up to the arm in a 3/4" strip, do this twice. DO NOT cut them in half! You want to keep that hem part that you'll have from the bottom of the shirt.
It looks like I'm cutting the hem off but it's just the angle, you want it all.
Now it's time to try your shirt on. Do you need to fix the sleeves? The underarms? Shoulders? Do what you have to do. Now while you're trying on your shirt feel around on the hem for a comfortable place to put the ties. When you find a good spot for where you want it safety pin the spot. Take the shirt off and find a spot on the other side that is
exactly across from the safety pin and make a
tiny cut on these spots. Pull the not hemmed part of the tie through. When you get to the end with the hem sew it down from the inside, and then do the same for the other side.
So the from the outside it should look like this.
The longer the ties are the easier it is to tie them.
And then you have your finished product.
There ya go! It's that easy! I hope this was easy enough to follow. If you do end up making your own I'd love to see 'em!
Much love!
Thanks for a'looking.
