Friday, May 30, 2008

Not Quite

The concept: Start with a typical men's t-shirt and turn it into something more flattering and feminine.

The reality: It's sort of a toss up.

The process: First I cut the sleeves off. Using a well-fitting tee as a pattern, I took in the sides and chopped off some of the length. I also followed the shape of the other tee to reshape the arm holes and make the shoulders fit better.


Next was the sleeves. What to do, what to do. Hmm. I was liking the idea of a slightly puffed sleeve, so I cut a tiny hole in the hem of a sleeve and fed elastic through it. I tried on the sleeve, pulled the rest of the shirt over it, and thought it looked pretty good. At that point, I figured I could shorten the sleeves by taking length off the TOP instead of around the hem. In this picture, you can just about see the pin marking where to cut.


I trimmed the sleeves, pinned them in place, and sewed them back in. Next question was what to do with the neckline. I knew I didn't want to leave it as is, and I knew I didn't want to cut it and leave it raw. What I ended up doing was taking the fabric I cut from the bottom of the shirt and sewing it around a reshaped neckline like a makeshift bias tape.

So...it's okay. It's a navy blue tee I can wear with a skirt, as opposed to a tee some guy used to wear to the gym. But...I don't know. There's something bothering me about it.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

I like it. I've been thinking about how to make my t-shirts more interesting, but you put it all together. Thanks, I might have to try this...

Anonymous said...

i like it, too. i like elastic in the end of the sleeve. but you're the one who has to think it's grand... what else do you think you'd do?

(ps- your WR link is a mailto)

Anonymous said...

Hmm, so far no one has told me it's hideous, so maybe I'll let it sit for a day or two and then revisit. Today really wasn't my day...as evidenced by the link mistake! Thanks for letting me know about that, Miss Fitz.

Miriam said...

i like it alot!

Anonymous said...

I like it too. It doesn't look at all like a men's tee anymore.

Anonymous said...

Maybe next time if there's a little extra material/length at the top of the sleeve you could gather it before sewing it on. Then it would look more like a "typical" puffed sleeve.
It still looks good, though.

Anonymous said...

That looks great -I'm totally going to try that!

Darling Petunia said...

Well, I wore the shirt to work, as is, and no one laughed or pointed, so I guess it's a keeper!

Anonymous said...

I just finished mine -what do you think? (-and thanks for the inspiration!)

Darling Petunia said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Darling Petunia said...

Paula, I LOVE yours! I'm jealous!