T-Shirt Reconstruction: Installment III

Ok, I can feel the momentum building for our T Shirt Making Party on Sunday. We just had a nice shoot for ABC News this morning and I got to finish this shirt during filming. Here's how to proceed:

Start by cutting the bottom 2 inches off the sleeves of a regular t-shirt.



Then cut the rest of the sleeves off.



Then cut a scoopneck.



Then place darts around the bottom, three in the front and two in the back. Be sure you measure around your hips (where the bottom of the shirt will sit) to prevent making the shirt too small.



Cut the darts out and pin the fabric right sides together to sew the darts closed.



Sew about 1/4" from the edge of the pinned fabric. Backstitch at the bottom of the darts. At the apex of the darts you can leave the thread long and tie it in a knot to secure your stitches.



The darts should look like this when they are done (this is the inside of the shirt).



Next, take the 2" strips you cut off the sleeves and cut them in half so they form two strips. Sew the strips together to form one long strip.



Sew the two ends of the strip right sides together to form a circle. This will become the band at the bottom of your shirt. Pin the band to the shirt right sides together and sew a line of stitches all around.



Your shirt should look like this now:



For the trim I used strips of fabric that I folded and then sewed onto the shirt. To get the v-neck I pinched the bottom of the scoopneck to make a triangle and sewed a straight line on the inside (much like a dart) to hold it in place. The circles I also simply cut out and sewed directly onto the shirt. This is your chance to get creative - viva la craft! See you Sunday!

Go Make Yourself Something Nice

Hey, I don't know about you but I am so totally over winter. It's not quite warm here in New York yet, but it's coming. To take your mind off the persistent cold and get ready for the season of swelter I've prepared this halter top tutorial.

Start off with a simple t-shirt. I used plain white but you can use prints or anything you like. Cut off the bottom 12 inches of the shirt to create the bottom half of the garment. Then, cut 2 triangles from the remaining top half. The triangles should about two inches wide at the shoulder and nine inches long across the chest. You can cut them both at the same time by cutting through both layers of the shirt.



Set your sewing machine to a basting stitch length (usually around 4 on most machines). Baste the nine inch long sides of both triangles (basting can also be done by hand.) Gather the fabric by pulling one piece (not both) of basting thread on each triangle. The pieces should shrink from nine inches to about six.



Once you have your pieces gathered, pin them to the twelve inch bottom piece (right sides together) as shown. There should be about one inch between the two triangle pieces.



Set your machine to a regular stitch length (about 2) and sew the triangles to the bottom piece. Now you have your basic top. You can customize it in a number of ways. Lengthen the halter straps by cutting strips from leftover fabric and sewing them onto the triangle tops. If the bottom part is too large, you can make it smaller by cutting down the middle of center back and sewing it back up a few inches smaller. You can also make the back into an adjustable tie closure simply by cutting down center back and tying the two pieces together. Get creative and have fun! Let us know if you come up with any other variations, or send us pictures of your completed tops! We are having a T Shirt Making Party here at the Labs on Sunday April 15th at 3PM. Bring your old t-shirts and we can show you how to transform them into cool pieces you'll actually want to wear!

T-Shirt Party!

We'll have a stack of books on easy DIY t-shirt modifications, all the sewing machines and sergers in the Etsy Labs arsenal, a large and strange array of notions, appliquemaking bar, and pitchers of grapefruit mimosas. Yeah, yes, come to it.

How to Measure a Zipper

Found this handy guide on zipperstop.com.

Tu-Tu-Tutorial

To celebrate our upcoming Etsy Labs PSA's, I'd like to share a fun way to make yourself a fabulous tu-tu. Everyone should have one of these in their house - they're very handy for playing dress up if kids are around or if you just need a quick costume for a party. Ok, let's go!

Start with a pile of fabric scraps:



You can make this out of any fabric really, but I chose some pinkish and purplish hued taffetta-like rags to get a traditional girly look.



Cut the scraps so they are a reasonable height (about twelve inches). They can be any length, you can have one continuous fabric layer all around or mix and match a bit. Set your sewing machine to a long stitch length and make basting stitches all around the top edge of all of your fabric pieces.





Once you have the basting stitches in place, gather the fabric by pulling one piece of thread (not both) at the end of the fabric. The fabric should bunch up and you can then spread out the folds evenly by hand.



When you have all of your pieces gathered, lay them out the way you want them to be on the tu-tu. Then, cut the bottom two inches off a t-shirt and cut in half so you have one long strip of fabric. Any long strip of fabric will do, but I like t-shirt material because it has a slight stretch and feels soft against the skin. Measure around your body where you want the tu-tu to sit (waist or hips depending on your preference) and make sure your fabric strip is long enough to fit you with a couple extra inches of ease for the fastener. Pin your fabric onto this strip.





Set your sewing machine to a smaller stitch and sew a straight line over the pins (you should take them out as you go along to prevent jamming your machine.)







Make sure to backstitch at the ends so your stitching is secure. Once you have all of your pieces sewn on (you can add many layers for different effects) sew on some kind of fastener. I chose velcro because it's durable, but you can also use a hook and eye or a button closure if you're feeling saucy. It's a good idea to close up the ends of your fabric strip by folding them and sewing them up with a vertical line of stitching. When sewing on your fastener, make sure it is placed where you want your tu-tu to fit. If you want to wear it around your waist you will have to make it fit smaller than if you want to wear it at your hips.






Once you have your basic tu-tu made, you can add little embellishments. I added a little rosette using leftover fabric and trimmed it with a button. To do this I gathered the rosette material using the same method and then sewed it on with the button by hand.






The finished product! (See how happy I am?) Accessorize with magic wand, etc.