SEWcial Distancing: How to remake your unwanted tshirts

This weeks project is remaking your unwanted tees to make a cute, hand made one. By cutting and panelling your old tshirts together you can make a unique new one and help prolong the life-span and keep wearing your unwanted tees.

STEP ONE:

Lay your old tshirt on the table and then place the front pattern piece on top. Decide how you want the placement of the new tshirt to do - maybe theres a logo you want to include. Roughly cut out the section of the old tshirt you’re going to use by cutting up the side seams. Once this is flat, pin the front pattern pice onto it. As you can see in the video, I did not cut around the full pattern piece but instead, folded the sides of the pattern inwards. I did this so I could add racer panels down the side of the tshirt.

To add the racer panels on the side, I got another old tshirt and placed the front pattern on top of this. I cut around the shape that I had folded out from the previous front panel. Once you have cut out both side, pin the pieces together to create a complete front panel. You can panel your tshirts in any way you’d like - just make sure the panels fit together to roughly make up the shape of the pattern piece.

When you have pinned the panels together, take your needle and thread and blanket stitch through both layers. Go to the end of this post to learn how to blanket stitch if you’re unsure. Each stitch should be secure but not too tight that it distorts the fabric. Repeat this process to make up the back pattern piece. I like to use up all my scraps so in the video, I have patch worked by off-cuts from the front, to make up the back.

STEP TWO:

Once you have made the front and back panel, place the front onto of the back panel and pin the shoulders together and stitch through both layers.

STEP THREE

Cut the sleeve pattern pieces out from your old tshirts - I decided not to patchwork these together, but cut full pieces from the back of my unwanted tshirt. The sleeves can be panelled or different colours, its all design choices up to you. Now you need to pin the sleeve head into the arm hole. The front of the sleeve will have a single notch (cut into the fabric) and the back of the sleeve will have a double notch. Match the placement of the notches on the sleeve head and the arm hole. Slightly stretch the sleeve to fit the curve of the arm hole and pin in place. Use lot of pins and ease the pieces together where you need. Try and stretch the sleeve head evenly around the arm hole. If you don’t have much experience making clothes, this is probably the hardest bit. Once pinned, stitch around both layers.

STEP FOUR

Once the sleeve head is attached to the main body, fold the sleeve in half and pin along the inside of the sleeve and down the side seam. Match the arm hole seam at the arm pit and stitch the layers together.

HOW TO A BLANKET STITCH

Figure 1 start by looping the thread around both layers of fabric a few times to secure the stitch. Have a knot in the end of your thread to ensure it does not pull out. Figure 2 + 3 Start your next stitch, pushing the needle from the back of the layers to the front. Make sure this stitch is at least 0.5cm away from the first stitch and is at least 0.5cm deep into the fabric. Figure 4 Pull the needle and thread through the second stitch and when it is almost tight, thread the needle through the loop at the top. Reinsert the needle at the back of the fabric and repeat.