How To: Save your Shirts

Tutorial

 Hey everyone! I can't believe I'm saying this, but this week has been crazy so far and it's only Tuesday. I didn't get nearly as much done crafting wise as I wanted to this weekend, but that's okay. Rushed projects never turn out as nice as something that had time spent on it. What's most frustrating is the huge list of ideas I have penned down on a notebook at home, and not having enough time during the week to get to any of them. I'm really starting to understand why my favorite craft blogs don't post everyday, or the reason for having staff for the ones that do post everyday. Regardless of all that I was able to take in a shirt my mom had sent me the other day. It was too loose on her, and when I put it on it just made me look like a box. This is such an easy fix, and a simple way to give those looser pieces in your closet another chance before you toss or donate them. Click the link for the step by step.

1. Start by trying the shirt on turned inside out. Starting below the armpit grab the loose fabric and place a pin where you want the new seam to be. Continue pinning down the side of the shirt. It helps if you simultaneously pin the other side as well to avoid pinning unevenly.

 

2. Once your shirt is pinned, lightly trace a line of where you are going to cut your fabric using your pins as a guide. You want to leave room for a seam allowance so make sure you trace your line about a cm in from the pins. You can see a better example of this in the next picture.

3. Using scissors or a rotary cutter, cut along the line you traced. You can see where I traced my line, and the distance I left for my seam allowance. You also want to make sure you don't just cut a straight line because you'll end up with a slimmer fitting box shaped shirt. Figure out  where your natural waist is, for most people this is around their belly button. You should have naturally gathered more loose fabric there, as your waist is naturally slimmer there. That being said when tracing your new seam line you want to make sure it has a slight curve to it. After cutting the excess fabric off, while your shirt is still inside out, starting at the bottom or the top go ahead and sew up your new seams. Just use a straight stitch, and try to keep the edge of your presser foot lined up with the very edge of the fabric ( 1 cm seam allowance) , the actual seam will fall where you have pinned your needles.

4. If you want you can use a zigzag stitch to surge the loose seam ends to prevent fraying, this is a step I often skip though because no one but me will see the seams inside my shirt, but it's good to get into the habit of doing this. Turn your shirt inside out and retry it on, hopefully you have a nice slimmer fitting shirt! If you're nervous about cutting to much fabric off at first, take about half of what you think you should, sew it and try it on. If it's still too loose either take out the stitches and sew again leaving a bigger seam allowance or cut more fabric off.

Tutorial

 Hey everyone! I can't believe I'm saying this, but this week has been crazy so far and it's only Tuesday. I didn't get nearly as much done crafting wise as I wanted to this weekend, but that's okay. Rushed projects never turn out as nice as something that had time spent on it. What's most frustrating is the huge list of ideas I have penned down on a notebook at home, and not having enough time during the week to get to any of them. I'm really starting to understand why my favorite craft blogs don't post everyday, or the reason for having staff for the ones that do post everyday. Regardless of all that I was able to take in a shirt my mom had sent me the other day. It was too loose on her, and when I put it on it just made me look like a box. This is such an easy fix, and a simple way to give those looser pieces in your closet another chance before you toss or donate them. Click the link for the step by step.

1. Start by trying the shirt on turned inside out. Starting below the armpit grab the loose fabric and place a pin where you want the new seam to be. Continue pinning down the side of the shirt. It helps if you simultaneously pin the other side as well to avoid pinning unevenly.

 

2. Once your shirt is pinned, lightly trace a line of where you are going to cut your fabric using your pins as a guide. You want to leave room for a seam allowance so make sure you trace your line about a cm in from the pins. You can see a better example of this in the next picture.

3. Using scissors or a rotary cutter, cut along the line you traced. You can see where I traced my line, and the distance I left for my seam allowance. You also want to make sure you don't just cut a straight line because you'll end up with a slimmer fitting box shaped shirt. Figure out  where your natural waist is, for most people this is around their belly button. You should have naturally gathered more loose fabric there, as your waist is naturally slimmer there. That being said when tracing your new seam line you want to make sure it has a slight curve to it. After cutting the excess fabric off, while your shirt is still inside out, starting at the bottom or the top go ahead and sew up your new seams. Just use a straight stitch, and try to keep the edge of your presser foot lined up with the very edge of the fabric ( 1 cm seam allowance) , the actual seam will fall where you have pinned your needles.

4. If you want you can use a zigzag stitch to surge the loose seam ends to prevent fraying, this is a step I often skip though because no one but me will see the seams inside my shirt, but it's good to get into the habit of doing this. Turn your shirt inside out and retry it on, hopefully you have a nice slimmer fitting shirt! If you're nervous about cutting to much fabric off at first, take about half of what you think you should, sew it and try it on. If it's still too loose either take out the stitches and sew again leaving a bigger seam allowance or cut more fabric off.