You know how most women aren't box-shaped, but most plain t-shirts are?  This is one of the reasons I have shied away from wearing the horrid things, but I have decided at this point to do something about it...

I recently bought a new pair of jeans, and I am in between medium and long length it always seems.  Now I do like to wear my heels, and I like my jeans to be "long" enough, but they always seemed too short with my favorite boots.  I found a site (www.DaciaRay.com) where she showed how to hem jeans.  They turned out so good that I am embarking on my next project.....

THE T-SHIRT

I got this really cool t-shirt from my really cool church last week.  It seemed to have alot of potential for being a good return to wearing t-shirts.  I came home and tried it on and looked like a big black blob....

This is not acceptable... So I figured out what needed to be changed about this t-shirt.  I am not tiny, but in its unisex sizing, this shirt is a medium.  The sleeves and overall length were too long and the width of the sleeves were also too big.  It fit around the bust, but the waist needed to lose about 5-8 inches at least.

I started with the sleeve length and hem length.  I tried the shirt on inside out and pinned where I wanted it to be roughly... If I had someone helping, which I didn't, I would have gone for more accurate measures.

I made sure the sleeves were even, and after deciding that they were about 3 inches too long, I cut off 2 1/4 inches off each sleeve.  (To be conservative...better to cut less than too much!) 

I sewed the ribbing of each sleeve back on using a stretch stitch, pulling the ribbing to make it fit the sleeve.  It was a bit ballooned out at first, but gradually "shrank" to the normal appearance.

After completing the sleeves, I measured around the hem to make sure it was even.  I did make the back slightly (1/2 inch) longer than the front.  This meant taking off less in the back than the front.  I sewed it initially with a straight stitch, and tried it on and made sure that it was where I really wanted it.  I did NOT cut anything yet... you can always take out a stitch that isn't right, and I wanted to be sure.   Again measure twice, but once kinda theory. 

After making sure it was where I wanted it, I cut off the excess fabric, zigzagged the raw edge and then did another straight stitch next to the zigzag.  This way there are 2 rows of straight stitches at the bottow about 1/4 of an inch apart.

I then moved on to the sides.  This t-shirt did not have side seam, but each arm had a seam and I matched the sides of the shirt up using these.  I tried the shirt on again inside out and pinned  a bit more accurately where I wanted the seams on both sides.  With the shirt off, I made a seam line down one side with a white pencil.  I then folded the other side over on this one to match where the seams would be, and drew a seam line on the other side.

I then basted the seams on both sides and removed the pins.  I tried the shirt on again to ensure fit, and then sewed the edge.  I tried the shirt on again right side out before trimming the extra fabric.

With alot of messing around this took about 2 hours... with most of the time being spent trying in on.  If I had stayed on task it would have been more like an hour I would think.  But that's life....