guest post: rachel from playing house …

April 12, 2011

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our guest post today comes from rachel of playing house.
rachel has a lovely blog where she chronicles her beautiful life with her hubby and two girls, shares her recipes, favorite diy’s, and all things that inspire her!  head over to her blog if you want to have some feel good fun!
thanks again rachel for guest posting!
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First off, thank you Caroline for letting me share some love on your blog!
I am mildly obsessed with thrift stores and re-making old things. Today I want to share with you two easy/cheap/cute ways to take a men’s XL tee and turn it into something you might actually wear.
Here we go!…
SHIRT #1
 (I am AWFUL at taking pictures of myself, obviously, please forgive….and expect craaaazy faces)

1)TURN SHIRT INSIDE OUT. Take a shirt you already have and trace roughly, and pin.
2)Cut on your marked lines.

 3)Take you sleeve scraps, trace your hand (these will be your pockets), then cut (you’ll have four pocket pieces now)
4)Turn shirt right side out. Pin and sew one pocket piece onto one side of the shirt, for each one.

5)Turn inside out again, pin and sew from the armpit, around the pockets to the bottom.
 BLAM! A new, fitted, long, new-to-you t-shirt with pockets!
SHIRT #2

 1)TURN SHIRT INSIDE OUT. Trace a shirt that fits you already (or just eye-ball it), pin, cut (note we cut the neck bigger on this one), then just sew from the armpit down, and the shoulders.

2) Take your scraps and cut out the sleeves
3)Cut up the sleeve seam
4) Should look like this now
5) Pin and sew one side together
6) Trim off the big arch, so you just have a slight curve on top.
7) Looks like this now, one strip

8&9) with the shirt inside out still, pin and sew the neck on that sucker.
KA-POW! The custom cowl-neck shirt you’ve always wanted!
The great thing about working with jersey material like this is it is stretchy and doesn’t fray, so very, very forgiving. So don’t worry about hemming the sleeves or even sewing straight! Yay for easy!

7 thoughts on “guest post: rachel from playing house …

  1. Haley K

    Nice work rach!! You are quite the wonder woman with turning so-so items if clothing into fab pieces! Loves the tutorials! Now I can't rule out anything next time I go thrifting 😉

    Reply
  2. Mrs Savidge

    I lost 165 lbs & was loathe to part with some of my old Tshirts despite their being way too big for me. I've had oversized Ts in my closet for nearly three years now. This post & these ideas have been a godsend! I can stretch my clothing dollar and continue to wear my fav clothes. 1 Tshirt down, 3-4 to go! Thank you!

    Reply

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