Upcycling: a quick t-shirt re-vamp

Posted on 12:00pm Monday 11th Jun 2018

eternal magpie upcycled tshirt
eternal magpie upcycled tshirt

Some days it’s all about sewing lovely dresses. 

Some days it’s all about taking the scissors to your favourite t-shirt because you can’t stand the way it’s touching you. 

Today is the second kind of day. 

I bought this t-shirt last year, and completely forgot (despite it being very clearly stated on the website!) that this particular brand runs small. I wear it a lot, because I love the print, but I always find myself tugging at the too-high neckline or fussing with the too-tight sleeves. 

Today I’d had enough, so I took the scissors to it and turned it into a vest! 

All I did was very carefully and neatly snip off the sleeves and the neckline ribbing.

Jersey t-shirt fabric doesn’t fray, so I could have simply left it at that and allowed the edges to roll over – no sewing required! 

I decided that I would quite like to hem the neckline and sleeves, so all I did was fold the raw edges to the inside, pin the hems into place making sure they were nice and even all the way around, and stitched them down. 

I didn’t use any fancy stretch stitches, I didn’t use my overlocker to cover the edges. I just stitched the hems with an ordinary straight stitch and then ironed them nice and flat. And now I have a brand new favourite t-shirt, that doesn’t irritate me every time I put it on. Success! 

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