...the other half of your butterfly...

(Apologies to Brad. He's got Tim Rice lyric skills IMO).

The contents of the knits/jersey fabric/old Ts/airline sleep suits tub need to be moved so we can start laying out our clothes for our upcoming fall vacation there on the guest room bed. Sad face. But, I think I have assigned everyone to their fate (way to anthropomorphise your old clothes, IWOM) so can safely put them BACK in the tub. Temporarily. I'm still holding to my deadline of next weekend to have everything refashioned or donated. If it is on the internet, you canna take it back!

You can find the downloadable butterfly template here, plus the charming lady who designed it has a tip filled YouTube video of her step by step tutorial. I used the design full size but it seems to be easily shrinkable if you wanted to use it on a child-size T -- or just not devote all of your back to the design. 

I borrowed this little knife from Himself's N-gauge toolbox to cut the template, but tiny wee sharp scissors would work just as well. Before transferring it onto the back of this old Gap T,

I chopped off the neckline, bottom hem and sleeves, then enlarged the armholes a little so that I could wear it over another T or tank. I sharpened my smaller good fabric scissors, figuring my go-to Fiskars were going to be too large (correct call), then sharpened my transfer pencils. 

                      

It was sorta kinda easier to cross-hatch each shape than try to draw a line around the edges. 

      

I pulled my ironing board into the centre of the room so I could walk around it as I cut vs. turning the shirt, into which I had inserted a long narrow cutting matt to make the transfer easier. Leaving it in seemed a good plan to avoid any little cuts going where they shouldn't. I didn't want to brush off the transfer pencil markings, so

             

I used tweezers to lift the fabric as I cut it. In the video the designer pulls the life out of her T once all the cuts are made, but I am not so brave at this juncture. Once I wash it to get the excess pencil off it might stretch out a bit. I erred on the small side by cutting inside the shapes, but if I do this again (or another design) I think I have a sense of how close you can cut. For the most part I cut one side then the mirror image so that I could try to keep each the same size and shape. 

As mentioned above, the plan was to wear this over Ts or tanks, but I made a little boo-boo when it came to placing the design. Yep. I should have gone a little lower. 

Live and learn. I intentionally cut the front neckline lower so there would be a bit of color/print on both the front and the back.

                     

In the video the designer says this takes two hours but that was not the case for the IWOM. Hour fifteen tops and that was with a few breaks to check on Himself, who is poorly today.