Tuesday, July 07, 2020

Shopping my closet for t-shirt "Light Refashions"

EDIT: I added notes  on methods used.
I am shopping for " light re-fashions" from my closet.  
Work was needed to keep many items in the rotation.
I learned new skills and practiced old skills that will be useful in "full-on refashions". 
This post is lounge, sleep, yard-work, exercise  t-shirts that I worked on this week.


#10 #11 Neckline  Raised  Learning how to raise t-shirt necklines was a much needed skill.   
  • #10-11 started as several sizes too large. Leaving the body large creates a tunic style. 
  • Remove sleeves. Gently pull the thread in the seam in that will release the rest of the stitching.
  • Cut shoulder seam off. Pin/baste so that trim edges and shoulder edges meet up. Ease back or front shoulder in if one is longer than the other. 
  • Seam shoulder seams to raise neckline. Make several seams and check for fit on each seam. Take only a pressure foot seam at a time - the neck raises quickly. Check that you have room to go over your head. 
  • Do not let back neckline become too short. You can cut more off of the front and create a slight hi-low hem. 
  • Trim the new shoulder seam. Press to back. Top-stitch. 
  • Reinsert sleeves. The shoulder seams create a smaller arm hole. 
  • Fold the sleeve to find the cap. Place a pin to mark the cap of the sleeve, pin at to the shoulder seam and at the side seam.  Ease the sleeves back in. Seam.
  • Overlarge sleeves can be altered at the original seam. Large sleeves were good on these at-home Ts. 



#12 #13 are the same style. Neckline  Raised.
  • #12-13 methods follow #10-11
  • These started as several sizes too large.
  • Removed sleeves. Seamed shoulder seams to raise neckline.
  • Reinserted sleeves.
  • Released tight elastic in lower sleeves.


#14 Neckline Raised and Ruffles Removed
  •  Seamed shoulder seams to raise neckline.
  • After I cut the original seams, the back shoulder was wider. I eased it in. 
  • I also cut more off of the front creating a slight high low hem. 
  • The ruffles were worn. I un-stitched and saved in the scrap bin.


#15 Neckband Replaced.
  • Ruffle from #14 was used to cut a neckband for #15
  • Press the ruffles and trim to 2" width with rotary cutter.
  • Press in half and iron.
  • Cut length to 3/4 neckline length.
  • Pin/baste. Stitch. Press. Top-stitch.







 #16 Navarro College t-shirt shoulders narrowed
  • remove sleeves, cut off shoulder width
  • take side in below sleeve re-placement
  • replace sleeves

#17 Neckline Raised
  • Elastic inserted to raise the neckband
#18 Trim removed from neckband   Trim is often the 1st to show wear.

 

#19 Removed elastic to raise neckline



#20 Oversized t-shirt was altered. 
  • This oversize shirt needed standard fit, not tunic fit.
  • remove sleeves, cut off shoulder width Measure shoulder width on a good fitting T.
  • take side in below sleeve re-placement 
  • replace sleeves
  • Cut off length, save for mending bin, hem. Shirt was torn at hem and much longer than needed.
#21  T-shirt was mended using #20 scraps. 

 
#22 Bleach Stains removed.
  • Long sleeves cut to 3/4. Hemmed.


 # 23-24-25 Hand mending seams put these back in rotation.




6 comments:

Valerie said...

That is an impressive array of alterations!

I Can Work With That said...

Wow! You have been busy! Great updates. I liked the raised necklines a lot. It drives me crazy when shirts are too low.
Chickie

g.satansbraten said...

"...Shopping my closet for t-shirt "Light Refashions" ..."

Wow, great results yet imho good and "heavy" understatement to your announcement of "...light..."
Thumbs up since all those jobs surely made you "very wealthy" in an instant due to having all those tops back in rotation to use and even to a surely more satisfactory degree.

... and as I can see (again): slight (despite definitely not as "light" for most of us ;-) :-D ) amendments to commercial items do indeed result in hugely better looks most of the times.
Thanks 'Lady Encouragement', I'm going to look a tad more intensive at my own 'Ufo-site' right away.

jenny_o said...

Wow - you've made so many useful and life-extending alterations! I have quite a few T-shirts that would be improved by seaming the shoulders to raise the neckline but I haven't attempted it yet. I don't know how to seam without re-cutting the neckline so I've been putting it off. If you have a favourite way of doing this, can you share (even briefly)?

RanchHouse said...

Thanks for the comments. I added notes in red to my original post on some of the methods used. I hope they help.

jenny_o said...

Thank you for adding those notes, RanchHouse - they are a big help!