Project T: T-Shirt Reconstruction

I'm a huge fan of Megan Nicolay's Generation T books, because I've got tons of t-shirts lying around, and I'm running out of space to keep them. Fortunately, now with Nicolay's help, I've remade more outfits and tops than I know what to do with. ^^ Jersey Knit x Dio, OTP.

My dad wants to make a me a shirt that says "Fear the Scissors". XD

So in honor of the holidays and Generation T, I decided to try out a bit of reconstruction, using some ideas gleaned from the books. First, I started with a long sleeved shirt with a cute argyle style design on the front (courtesy of Target, circa 2009), and a couple orange shirt scraps from some older projects.

Next comes the fun parts, removing the sleeves. I grabbed me scissors and arrrrr, I made 'im walk the plank. .....I mean I cut them off, just inside the hemline.

SNIP SNIP! SNICKERSNACK. You get the idea. For extra length, I ripped out the bottom seam with my seam ripper. It gave me back about an inch on the bottom and has a slightly frayed, rolled bottom. This is why I like t-shirts. No hemmmmmiiiiiing. ^^

Let's lookit the sleeves.

I wanted to make some neat gauntlet-sleeve-arm warmer accessories to go with this shirt (and even a few of my other Halloween shirts), so I didn't throw away the arms I cut off from the first step.

I didn't really measure how much from the top I took off, but I estimated about maybe 1 1/2 inches. If you want something longer, cut straight across from the shortest end for a nice straight top.

I didn't cut off the bottom hem so that's at your discretion if you want to remove them or not. In addition, you can go for cuff sized instead of full arms.

Next I cut up along the side seams to cut the tubes. I also cut out the actual seam since it's kinda bulky and in the way for me. I wanted nice clean edges for the next step. Do it on both sleevies.

Then I used my awl to poke holes down the sides of the sleeves. An awl is a bit easier to poke holes rather than using scissors. Make sure to poke an even number of evenly spaced holes (I got about 14).

I took one of my scraps and cut 2 loops from what was left of the shirt and cut the loops to make two long strings. These will be the nice, brightly colored laces for the arm warmers. Then start lacing up the laces in the holes you made in the sleeves, starting at the top (or bottom, if you like) and tie it when you get to the end.

Take a break and go see what your pets are doing. Make sure they're not burning down the house or something.

I went back to the main shirt and decided I wanted a bit more out of it, so I started by removing the neckband.

After that I poked more holes along the (new) neckband area, about half and inch or so from the edge. Then I threaded another couple short cords I made from other scraps I had and wove them around like a whipstitch. Since the cords were just long enough for the front and the back, I took one and stitched the front, then stitched the back. I tacked each end of the cord to keep it in place.

Then I took the last few scraps and tied the tops of the straps in bows. It made a cute look.

And there's the final result! ^^ Came out pretty nice all things considered. I'm obsessed with t-shirt deconstruction. ^^

--Dio (10/30/10)