Tutorial Thu: T-shirt Makeover

Good news, everyone!
I have a lovely, super fast tutorial for you.  But first, a sneak peek at next week's tutorial:

I really wanted to get it finished so I could post the tutorial today, as it's a Valentine's gift for Buzz, but I went fabric shopping in Winchester yesterday so I didn't have as much time to work on it as normal. But it's not too Valentine-y, so I think it will work for other special occasions, too, like anniversaries or birthdays.
My fabric shopping was fairly successful:

Not exactly sure what I'll make with them yet, but I have a few ideas for great tutorials!


And now, here's the Tshirt Makeover Tutorial:

Ok, so I bought 4 black tshirts at Marks and Spencer's last summer (I wear a lot of black, ok?) for like £7 each, and was kinda disappointed when I washed and dried them. They were shorter than I like my shirts to be.  So I wore them anyway, but didn't really LOVE them. Then I saw Amie's tutorial on how to make a pretty, girly top out of a big men's tshirt, and it got me thinking...
So this tutorial yields a cute top out of 2 tshirts, one that fits and one men's tshirt, and I must admit it isn't as fancy or pretty as Amie's are, but at least I get a good use out of those M&S shirts.

What you need:
a tshirt that fits you (for the top part)
a big men's tshirt of same colour (or slightly different, and embellish it?) for the long, ruffled bottom.

2 folded tshirts

Take the tshirt that fits, try it on, and cut it in half, about 2 inches below your bust. Or if you want it longer, that's ok too.

Chopped!

Now cut your big tshirt right under the arms:

You need that bottom bit for your ruffle.

Now, with 1/4" seam allowance, run a basting stitch all the way around the top part of your ruffle panel. Then pull the bobbin thread and make it all ruffly:

Now, with Right Sides Together, and make sure you double check that, pin your tshirt top to the ruffly panel.  It will take a lot of fiddling to get it fitted, but it's not difficult work.

Now, with a 1/2" or so seam allowance, run a zigzag stitch around the edge you've just pinned. Turn it out and ta-da! New top!

Optional: take the bottom bit of your fitted tshirt and cut two 5 inch wide panels from it. Cut it open so you have two long pieces of jersey, 5 inches wide:

Sew them together to make one really long belt to go round your tshirt:

Done! I hope you can use this tutorial! I know it's not that cool, but I like this shirt much more than I liked the too-short ones! If you have any questions, please jennaexcell (at) gmail (dot) com.
See you tomorrow!

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