It's hot in Charlotte y'all (and yes, a y'all is necessary there). I have been living in tank tops and sun dresses because it's sticky hot. The kind of hot that makes you dream of tall glasses of lemonade. I'm not complaining, but I am saying I need some new clothes that will handle the heat a tad better. In all the chaos of this last week, which I won't bore you with because it bores even me, (moving... blah blah, tenants... blah blah, carpeting... blah blah) I decided to give this cute little shirt I found on Pinterest a try.
Can I tell you that I pinned this one morning and within a couple hours it had been re-pinned more than 150 times?? It was insane. I kept getting emails telling me that y'all loved this little shirt. You're welcome Trinkets and Bloom. Heh. I guess I really should be thanking you because of this cute shirt. I was a little hesitant to make this for one reason. I was going to have to take pictures of it. You know from my Hoodie post, I am not a fan of modeling anything I make. After seeing that this pin was blowing up and I was in dire need of a new shirt for this weather - I caved.
I made a little trip to Hobby Lobby (because who doesn't like a trip to Hobby Lobby??) and went in search of what I needed. I may or may not have left with a few (or a bag) more things than I went in for - but who's counting? I found a navy t-shirt that was on clearance for a dollar - HELLO and it was a large so it quickly went into the cart. Yes, I could have picked from all the other colors, but that would have cost more and why do that?? I also grabbed some 1/2" elastic and some navy thread since I was feeling fancy. I would normally just use black and called it a day, but hey - why not splurge since the shirt was so cheap?!
Here's what you need for this little project:
T-shirt (large or x-large)
Elastic (I used 1/2")
Thread
Scissors
Pins, lots of pins
Turn your t-shirt inside out and then fold the bottom up on itself. You want at least a 5 1/2" fold. This is going to be your ruffle so keep that in mind when you are measuring it. Pin the fold (at the crease) because you are going to need to sew it down to create a 1/2" seam allowance to thread the elastic through. I pinned and pinned and pinned - you can never have enough pins in my opinion.{Disclaimer- the previous statement is probably a statement about my sewing skills.} Once you have pinned all the way around the shirt, sew a 1/2" seam allowance almost all the way around the shirt. You want to leave a small opening so that you can pull your elastic through. I used a safety pin attached to the elastic to pull the elastic all the way around the shirt. This is not a quick process - be patient. Keeping in mind that I am not the best a horrible seamstress, my seam wasn't completely even all the way around the shirt. It made it a little trickier to pull the elastic. If you sew a straighter line than me, you'll whip through it.
Once you've pulled the elastic all the way around and you have stretched the shirt around the elastic, measure it around to make sure that it will stretch to fit comfortably. I don't really have any measurements on this one because it will be different for everyone. Sew the two ends of the elastic together, making sure to overlap the ends a little bit so they stay tight. Now that the elastic is all finished, you can stitch up the little opening you had left and the top is done.
Turn the shirt inside out again (really it's the right side, but it will turn into the inside so you can decide what to call it!) Lay the shirt out flat and you can cut the neck off the shirt. The neck end becomes the bottom of the shirt. You can finish the bottom off if you want, but I didn't bother. I can hear you questioning me. Yes, I know you still have the sleeves on the shirt and yes, I know you would look funny with them hanging around your waist. I'm getting there. Lay the shirt nice and flat and draw a nice little line down the sides of the shirt where you are going to want to make the side seams and pin it. If you've been reading the blog for any time, you know that my favorite thing about sewing is following a line (remember the stockings and the robe??) Sew up both lines you've drawn for the seams, being careful to not sew the sleeves into the seam. Once you've sewn both sides, just cut the excess (and sleeves) off. Turn the shirt right side (or inside) out again and you are all done. A new shirt!
In retrospect I should've splurged on another shirt and gotten an x-large shirt because I would have liked it baggier. It's just personal preference though, I do like it and I think it will made a nice addition to my much needed summer wardrobe. Remember how I told you that I didn't want to make this shirt because of having to model? I am not a fan of having my picture taken and the battery on my remote timer was dead so I had to ask Allen to take some pictures. I think he did a pretty good job, even though he was enlisted for the impossible task. You have no idea how hard it is for me to stand and just stare at a camera. I always want to make funny faces and act like a moron because I feel like one just looking at the camera!!
See what I mean?? I can't do it! I tried and tried, but I kept making dumb faces. It's a good thing that Allen didn't care. He was having a good time shooting all the different areas of the property - did I mention Allen's grandparents own a nursery that has 40 acres?
All weird fake modeling pictures aside, what do you think of the shirt? Is it a keeper? What color would you pick? I may need to make a yellow one, or maybe get crazy and do stripes!
