A few days ago, hubby received some swag from work, well it was a large X box T shirt. He dint want it, but he took it home cause he knew I would want the shirt or use the fabric for whatever. Anyways I loved the shirt, but it was gigantic on me so I decided to do a few things to it so I can actually wear it, well besides to bed that is.

So today I'm going to show ya'll how I did it. Its adorable, I just finished it tonight (sat) and I intend on wearing while we are out tomorrow. Hey it beats my normal T shirt and Jeans that I love wearing.

 Materials:

1. Elastic ( Long enough to fit around your shoulder. Mine is re purposed from a fitted sheet)

2. Large T shirt

3. You sewing machine and tools that come with it.










* Please read all directions before starting project


1. Grab your large t shirt, don't go out and buy one. I'm sure you have one laying around that you no longer wear. The pics are a bit off, I dint have enough patience to grab and set up the Go Pro.

2. Turn it inside out and lay it out,mark the middle of the collar. From the seam of one sleeve measure one inch in and mark. Do the same with the other sleeve. Connect marks just like this.

3. Grab your fabric scissors and carefully cut the shirt following this line.

4.  Make a 1 inch seam on the top part of the shirt where you just cut, all the way around. This is where your elastic is going to go.

5. Once that is done, sew all the way around BUT leave a about a half an inch un-sewn so you can put your elastic though here. Grab your elastic and work it though the tube.  Once the elastic is though, put shirt on and measure how much elastic you need to cut off. make sure its comfortable on you, not to loose or not to tight. While you still have the shirt on, cut the elastic to take off excess and tie each side together to complete the shoulder. Take the un-sewn part back to your sewing machine and sew. It should look like this.

6. Lay out you shirt so that the sleeves are flat, from the armpit make an angled line to trim the sleeves like this. Do the same thing about an 2 inches away from the elastic on the shoulder. Don't touch the other sleeve just yet.

7.  Cut sleeve using your line and pin. Take the little pieces that you just cut out put it on top of the other sleeve and use them like patterns so the two sleeves are exactly the same size and cut. You cant tell here, but I pinned the little pieces on top of the other sleeve before I cut it. I recommend you doing the same. After you cut to match the other sleeve pin it as you did the other.

8. Lay the bottom of your shirt out ( make sure your shirt is still inside out and your working on the front of the shirt).  Measure 3 inches from the bottom and 3 inches from the side on each side and mark it. 

I did mine 5 inches from the bottom since I am so short, its really up to you how short you want the shirt.

9.  Using you marks bunch and pin. bunched about an inch and pinned it and I did this 3 times. So I started 3 inches from the side, grabbed the bottom bunched and pin til I got to my 3 inch ( or 5 in my case) mark. Do this on both sides of your shirt and only to the front.

10. Grab a ruler and take the bottom of ruler and sit it flat right on top of the last bunch you just pinned, align the ruler so it meets the side seam and mark a line, do this on both side and it should look like this. (without the wrinkles in the middle)

11. Go back to your sleeves and sew right on the edges of the cuts so that they are complete sleeves, then starting at the bottom of your shirt, using your marked line sew over the bunches and follow the line all the way to the edge of the shirt. Do this on both sides and that's it! You got yourself a cute little off the shoulder shirt. Just add a cute necklace and a skirt or jeans, your set.

Have fun adding this to wardrobe this summer :)

11:29 AM

So of course I needed something to match those adorable knickers I made the last week. Well I just had enough fabric to make a camisole for it. surprisingly this turned out quite well considering it was the first try.

Materials:
1. Freezer Paper
2. Well fitted shirt/tank top/camisole (template)
3. Fabric you want to use for your top. Mine was left over fabric from last weeks Knickers tutorial, I wanted them to match after all.
4. Usual sewing accessories
5. Sewing Machine
6. Coordinating thread
7. Roll of coordinating ribbon.I used the ribbon that was already on the dress. I simply used my seam ripper to remove it off the fabric.

*Please read all directions before starting project.





1.Grab your freezer paper lay it out. Fold the top you intend on using as a template in half from left to right.

2. Lay it on your freezer paper and trace. Add half an inch around the whole thing as I did with the knickers here. Connect dash lines and cut out. ( Sorry I kinda slacked on the pics.)

3. Grab the piece you just cut out, lay it on the freezer paper, apply enough sewing pins so it does not move, trace and cut out.

5. Grab both lay them out so its the shape of your template. Locate bottom for left sleeve (armpit section) draw a line right across to the right bottom left sleeve and cut.

6. You will only use the bottom part of the template, so go ahead and trash the "shoulders" section of your freezer paper. Lay both templates out on the fabric that you intend on using as the front. Pin it on the wrong side of the fabric. The inside part once its all sewed.

7.Carefully cut it out.

8. Use pins and freezer paper to do the same thing to the fabric that you intend on using as the back of the camisole. And cut out.

9. Grab the front part of your camisole and in front of a mirror put it against you. Decide how long you want the slit in the middle. Don't forget you have a seam allowance so add that. Once that is decided, mark it with your fabric pen and cut.

10. Lay front and back part of your camisole down with the wrong side facing you so you can measure your half an inch seam allowance on the top part and pin.

11. Take both to your sewing machine and sew with zigzag stitch. When you do the front make sure you stop sewing at the slit you made and restart again on the other side of the slit. We need this open. You should be able to slip the ribbon though both front and back parts.

12. Once both top parts are done, grab the front of your camisole. With the wrong side of the fabric facing you, fold the slit so it makes an upside down triangle. Pin and sew.

13. Grab both front and back lay them out wrong side facing up. With your half and inch seam allowance pin and sew. Not together, separately.

14. Grab both front and back. Lay on top of each other with wrong side facing out. Measure 1/2 and inch seam allowance on both sides and pin.

15. Carefully sew sides with zigzag stitch. But start under the top tube, You want to be able to put a ribbon though this so don't sew it shut.

16. Grab your seam ripper and attach one side of your ribbon to it and put top back on. The seam ripper will help you get the ribbons though the camisole tubes you made.

17. Go to the slit in the front, push seam ripper though the tube. Go all the way around the back til you get to the other side of the slit then tie ribbob in a bow.

18. Grab some more ribbon, attach it once again to your seam ripper. This time when you push it though the tube start at the armpit part. only push it though the front fabric. Start from right part, go all the way across to the left part including the slit in the middle. These ribbons will be tied from the bottom part of your armpit to behind your neck.

19. See what I mean about the ribbons, a bit of a clearer picture for you. One bow should be tied in the middle of the little v you made. the other bow should be used as a strap.

20. And that's it. You have yourself a cute little camisole to match your knickers :)

Don't forget to have fun and you should go clean out your closet. Use the fabrics of everything you no longer need. You can learn a lot about sewing just deconstructing items. About how they are made and what stitching to use. Plus you have no idea how much material ( fabric, elastic, buttons) you can get just by doing this. Just remember make sure its something you don't need...lol

8:41 AM