Quick T-Shirt Refashions

Happy Sunday all! Ever have one of those days where you just want to take it easy? That was my day. I'm getting over a cold that has left me exhausted and congested, so I decided to keep this one easy. To the point where 75% of it is no-sew. Non-sewist's rejoice!

This week I went through all my drawers for all my super comfy clothes to lay around in. The answer is yes: I am pathetic when I'm sick. Much to my surprise, I found a drawer of t-shirts. A whole drawer. Of t-shirts. Ones that I haven't worn in years. I know this because they have years on them - 2005, 2007, 2008.... it's just embarrassing how I've squirreled these shirts away. I found myself on Pinterest soon after, looking up easy ways to refashion shirts. Without further ado... here are my findings, and my attempts.

We'll start with the easiest one. And rock my alma mater. Yes; we were the Kangaroo's. It happened.

Do not judge on the pose, the hair, or the face. I finally got a new camera and didn't realize how well it picks up details such as my just out of the shower hair or my no-make up'd face. It'll be fixed in the afters.

My main focus for these t-shirts was to go to tank tops and summer shirts. I'm getting a bit of cabin fever, so I wanted to do a small prep for summer. I made two cuts:

And that is literally it. 

Next up is a t-shirt I got at the 5K for my job. Although I'm proud to wear a shirt that says I'm recovering lives... the weird bubble made it so that I will never wear it. Ever. Chopped it will be!

I made five cuts on this one. Three are rather obvious; the arms, and the neck. The fourth and fifth cuts are to open up the shoulders so the front and back were separated at the neck.

Then, I tied one of the shoulders together, as such, and made one additional cut to the other sides armpit to make it a slightly larger hole. 

Then I put the shirt on, pulled the other shoulder's ends to the side that was already tied, and tied them up to. Ideally (and in real life) the first knot is off the shoulder and the second is on top of the shoulder to create the "cut out" effect. I didn't catch that effect on camera. (Camera fail)

Next came another alma mater shirt. I just can't get rid of these shirts, despite the fact I haven't worn them in 6 years. This project came with a bit of sewing. 

I started off with the three cuts that pretty much every t-shirt refashion on the internet ever starts off with.

Next, I folded down the front about an inch, and did the same with the back, pinned it down and sewed it up. These will serve as a casing for my straps.

Next, I deconstructed the long sleeves to create two tubes as straps, and fed them through the casing using the trusty safety-pin maneaver.

From there, it was just a matter of sewing the ends together.

This next one made me want to make a gym shirt. I have been going to the gym pretty frequently and have been in the market for some gym wear. All I've found are super tight lycra, low cut tank tops or unflattering shirts. When I saw this old Planet Fitness shirt in the drawer, it got my gears spinning.

Unfortunately, I have zero pictures of the process. Basically, I cut off the arms, and cut off the collar. I made the front neckline rather modest, as one of my pet peeves of gym-wear are the low necklines (who could possibly be comfortable working out when you're barely staying in your shirt?!). On the back, I cut a large, long scoop to just about the middle of my back. I then tied together the straps with some black polka dotted satin ribbon I had laying around.

The front looks like a regular ol' tank top, but the back is now a lot more interesting. I put this on over my sports bra, but I would definitely put a tank top underneath for the gym - a bright color that will pop.

So that ends it for today. Four quick t-shirt refashions that I completed in under an hour. Not all of them are glowing successes, but it certainly opens the mind up to a lot more possibilities than a boring old t-shirt. I encourage you all to open up your t-shirt drawer (I know you have one!) and cut away. Feel free to send me the results (thriftysew@gmail.com).