Man T-shirt to WOW-man shirt

YAY!!!  We did it!

                A couple of weeks ago I happened to stumble across this blog HERE.  And I LOVED the shirt that she made so much and it looked so simple; I decided that I was going to try to make one … or five!  There was no way that I was going to try this without my Mom's help.  This was our very first attempt and will be making another one for sure.  We had no pattern or anything, all we had were the four pictures from the blog.  We are so awesome.  Actually my Mom is so awesome- she was the brains behind the operation.

What we were shooting for.

What we came up with.

Ok, we started with a white man’s t-shirt- seriously, we did.  

I started out by cutting a V-neck shaped hole into the t-shirt. (Be aware that you are going to need to hem it, so cut accordingly.)  Be sure to find where center is BEFORE you cut the V shape.  Just a hint.

We learned that this neck hole was too wide.  Cut as close as possible to the hem around the neck.

It should look more like this.

Then I removed both sleeves.  Now my man’s t-shirt looked like this.

Next, we used a loose straight stitch to create the ruffle effect at the top of the sleeves.  Then we pinned the ruffled sleeve to the shirt again.  (Be sure to pin the outside of the sleeve to the outside of the shirt.)  After we finished pinning I sewed the sleeve to the shirt.  Only after the sleeve has been sewn to the shirt and hemmed do you sew the bottom of the sleeve together.

Notice the hole- that is OKAY.  You want that.

Pull the left over thread to ruffle the sleeve.

 

              Once I had both sleeves attached to the shirt again, it was time to add the gathering under the bust.  (You will need an elastic piece that is 8” long and ¾” wide.)  I put the shirt on and my Mom marked a dot, with a fabric pencil, where I wanted the gathering to be.  I choose to leave plenty of room in the bust area because my bust size changes while I am nursing. This is how to decide where to gather and how to gather.

First, you need to find center, which is the same center you found for the V neck.  Then mark on your center line where you would like the gathering to be.  Once center is marked, decide how “gathered” you would like it to be and mark that on both sides.  Flip your shirt inside out and pin the center of your elastic to the center dot.  Put a second and third pin about a ½” from the ends of the elastic and pin it to the other two dots you have marked.  (This will leave you about a ½” of elastic to hold onto while sewing.)  Now, using a straight stitch, start at the first pin on one end of the elastic and sew over the center pin to the pin on the other side.   BE SURE TO STRETCH THE ELASTIC AS YOU SEW BUT DO NOT STRETCH THE FABRIC.  And viola, you have gathering under your bust.

Finished gathering under the bust will look like this.

 

You may have been worrying about the massive holes under the sleeves- do not fear that will be taken care of right now.  My mom had me put on my shirt and she pinned along both of my sides.  There was quite a bit of excess material there, which we cut off about a ½” from the pins.  (Be sure to cut on the correct side of the pins!)  Then we pulled all the pins out and flipped the shirt inside out again and re-pinned the sides together.   I then sewed up both sides.

Ruffle time!!  Ok, this is where it gets fun because you can do whatever you want!  I chose to do two double ruffles and one single ruffle.  For the two double ruffles I cut two pieces of material to the same length and width.  Again, you will need to use a loose straight stitch, down the middle of the strip of material to create a ruffled look.  (I will have to get back to you with a video on how to make a ruffle.)  And if you don't want ruffles you can do flowers, beads, whatever, or nothing at all if that is what you like.  Once you have finished the ruffles or flowers or whatever you are done!  Pat yourself on the back because you just made your own shirt.

All done!!

This is the second time around- I think I am getting better.

I learned that I like looser ruffles.