Tshirt DIY: Boxy to Foxy!

Today is a t-shirt refashion!

(Can you tell I'm doing the simple stuff right now? It's TOO HOT to be stuck in front of the sewing machine for hours!)

I started with this old tshirt from college.

Regular old tshirt!

But its got a cool design on it - it should be cooler, to match!

I started by chopping the sleeves off, right next to the hem.

Snip carefully!

Then I turned it inside out, layed a shirt that fits well over top, and pinned up the sides.

So much easier than trying to pin it while you're wearing it. I seriously need a mannequin.

Yay, pins!

And ran it through the machine!

I just reverse-stitched at each end, so I didn't bother to tie the strings. Laaazy....

The neck is where I wanted to get fancy. I started by chopping off the original collar.

Bye-bye, annoying tag!

And then I took inspiration from a pinterest tutorial (which I can't find right now - sorry!!), and began to make incisions!

All the way around the neck!

My holes started off too small, actually, and I had to resnip them to about 1-1.5" long before it worked well.

We're faux-braiding the collar!

You start by taking the second strip,

This one here

And pulling it through the first hole, like so.

Puuuull!

Then you take the next one and put it through your new loop, and continue to do that all the way around! I decided I liked the look, and made more cuts along the back of the shirt.

Bigger, this time! This length works MUCH better!

Now when you're done hooking loops together, you've got a faux-braid around your collar! But how to finish it off? This is what I did;

This is the last strip I had, right on the seam.

I snipped the tiny bits attaching it, so it was a separate strip

I pulled it through the last remaining loop. . .

And here I'm indicating the start of the whole braid, the very first hole. I stuck it through that.

Once it was through that last hole, I just hand-sewed it in place with a few quick loops.

And that's it!

Ta-dah!

Now I've got a cute, sleeveless/cap-sleeve shirt with a braided collar! And the faux-braiding did some gathering/ruching all on its own, which I think looks rather lovely.

And I like that I left the bottom a little more flowy. Comfy!

And if you're liking the dragon on that shirt, you should know it was designed by my old roommate! She's a graphic designer and webcomic artist; go check out her webcomic, Wake The Sleepers!

That's all for today - time for me to go sit in front of the fan again!

<3