Tutorial: Boxy Unisex T-shirt to Fitted Women's T-shirt

And Now for Something Completely Different: A tutorial!

I often buy geeky or SCA related t-shirts because I love the design. But I find that I rarely wear them. And that's mostly because of the boxy fit and crew neck. And the sleeves come almost to your elbows. Honestly, unisex t-shirts aren't the most flattering look for anyone with curves.

In an effort to make my t-shirts more wearable, I decided to try to make them more fitted. And, since I actually took pictures of all the steps this time, I'll share the steps.

Here's what I started out with. It's my "Going Hawking" shirt from Gulf War. Apologies for the crappy mirror picture:

Start by laying your t-shirt out flat, with no wrinkles.

To cut the correct armscye and side curve, I used another t-shirt that has the look I'm going for as the pattern. Lay it out flat on top of your boxy t-shirt, and make sure it's centered.

Then, cut it out. At this point, it helps to fold the t-shirt in half and make sure the sides match. Symmetry is a good thing. In addition to the sides, I cut a bit off the bottom, as the original t-shirt was too long.

If you want a tank top, you can stop here and just stitch up the sides. But I wanted to keep the sleeves, just make them smaller. For this, I took the old sleeve and lined it up with the armscye the way I wanted it to look on the final shirt. This also retains the original sleeve hem, so you don't have to re-hem. Then, cut along the armscye.

Next, we need to cut out the neck. It might be helpful to try on the shirt and mark how far down you want it to come. It's good to err on the side of caution. You can always cut the neck bigger, but you can't make it smaller. Fold the shirt so that the shoulders are together, then cut a line from just below the crew neck in the back to the spot you marked in the front. Try it on again. If it's too small, trim it a bit more.

Here's the shirt laid out with it's new neckline and new sleeves. Now we're ready to stitch it together.

Pin the sleeves into the armscye and make sure everything lines up, then stitch them on.

Likewise, pin the sides together, then through the sewing machine.

Here's what we've come up with so far. It's looking much better.

You can stop here if you like. T-Shirt fabric won't unravel much. However, I would like mine to look a bit more finished. I folded the hem over twice, and stitched it down. I was afraid the neckline would look funny with the fold-and-stitch method, so I unpicked the hem from the bit I cut from the bottom of the original t-shirt and made some "bias tape" with it (though of course it's not cut on the bias). I pinned this around the neckline and stitched it down.

And here's what we ended up with. A fitted t-shirt that looks finished, that I'm more likely to actually wear. Again, apologies for the mirror picture.

Detail shot!