t-shirt cutting series: a little racier
Now that you’ve learned the simple-cut you’re ready to get a little more daring with the shears (and your shirts).
Click on the picture to see full-size details!
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- Lay the t-shirt upside down on a flat surface.
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- Cut off the sleeves and neck. Click here for instructions.
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- Using a washable marker, pen or chalk, draw 6 or 7 inch lines, 1/2 inch apart.
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- Draw lines down the entire length of the t-shirt.
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- After the lines have been drawn, cut the shirt straight up the middle of the back.
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- Time to practice your kindergarden skills & cut along the lines.
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- Gently tug each cut strand to stretch and curl the fabric.
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- Knot the matching strands together to reconnect the t-shirt. If it’s a really oversized shirt, tie the strands closer together to make it more fitted.
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- Tie the matching strands the entire length of the t-shirt.
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- Once the knots are tied, you can try it on and make any adjustements. You might want to stop right here, it looks great, but let’s continue…
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- Tighten each knot, and then cut the excess fabric off, close to the edge of the knot.
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- Once you’ve cut off all excess fabric, try the shirt on and see how it looks!
Tips:
1. Make sure you use super sharp scissors. Sharp scissors make smooth effortless cuts.
2. Once you try on the shirt, you can make adjustments to the style and fit. For instance, if one section droops more than others, you can cut the knot and then retie it into a better shape.
3. The first few ties closest to the neck of the shirt usually need to be tighter, or closer together, than the middle and bottom sections of the t-shirt.
4. Cutting and retying your t-shirt with this style is a great way of making a huge shirt more slim fitting. To do this, just make wider lines across the back and tie the strands closer together.
5. To make a tight shirt looser, tie the strands together near the tips of the fabric, leaving less excess to cut off.
Have fun and play around with different different sized shirts and vary the width and length of the strips to create an effect all your own.
t-shirt chop shop
Last summer, when I was putting together a box of clothes to donate to the homeless shelter, I picked up a few ill-fitting T-shirts and got happy with the scissors. This summer, I’m bringing it to the blog.
Redesigning an old shirt with a few snips and knots is a great no-sew way to make the old new again. This project works best with over sized, frumpy, tight-necked, concert and even giveaway shirts (you know the ones you get for free from events that come in the one-size-fits-all poorly variety). It’s also a great way to jazz up your kids summer camp T’s.
I am going to start the post-series with a simple cut and work my way up to more intricate designs in the following lessons. This simple cut is also the starting point for other designs. So pay attention!!
Check out the images below for instructions, and please…
** click on the image to see full-size!! the thumbnails crop out details **
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- Start by laying the shirt out flat, upsidedown.
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- Locate a corner of the collar near the seam and make a cut straight through, stopping when you’ve cut through the collar.
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- Cut the collar of the shirt off, following along directly below the seam. Make smooth long cuts to avoid jagged edges.
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- Grab the corners of the neck by the seams and give a gentle outward pull.
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- Pulling the cut fabric makes a nice rolled edge.
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- Cut the sleeves on an angle, narrow near the armpit and wider on top.. like a little triangle.
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- Gently pull on the sleeves to curl the edges.
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- Cut along the bottom hem of the shirt under the stitched seam. If you trim under the stiching the shirt will not loose its shape.
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- Gently tug the bottom hem to curl. Done.
Once you’re done, try on your new creation to see how it looks!! You may decide to make a larger scoop of the neck for a little off-the-shoulder action, or you might grab another T and get snippin’… just remember to save some shirts for the next tutorial.
wrap-around leather bracelet
It’s so simple I almost didn’t post it: one long strand of leather, a beautiful bead and a couple knots.
It doubles as a necklace… I will take pictures soon!
chains of love
While boot chains may be the latest runway runoff, this project is more like the poor girls solution to the glitzy holiday party. New boots were not on this year’s priority spending list, so instead I bought two new things for my holiday getup.. bright teal tights and a $20 necklace overflowing with chains. (If you could imagine, the necklace pictured above is actually what was leftover AFTER making boot chains, so I got 2 new boot chains and a necklace all for twenty bucks!)
All you really need to make DIY shoe jewelry is an amply overflowing necklace, some old shoes and needle-nose pliers (pictured on top). Every girl should have a pair of these in the house, both for crafty projects and DIY jewelry fixes.. they have a pointy tip for squeezing tiny pieces and a cutting mechanism near the axis.
Pull apart the circle links holding the necklace to the clasp and save them for reattaching. Wrap the chains around your boots to determine the length needed to create your jewelry, and then cut the chain at the appropriate place with the cutting part of the pliers.
Now, reattach the chains in the form you want by inserting the circular link between the two ends of your cut chain, and then squeezing the circle back into shape. I did a wrap-around anklet with dangling ends…
While writing up this how-to post Refinery29 conveniently dropped this link in my inbox, check it out for some more great ideas… and then make your own!