Wednesday, October 31, 2012

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From free tshirt to workout shirt

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Everyone loves a free tshirt right?

I do too -- except I'm tiny and free shirts always look like circus tents on me. Even the "small" tshirts I've been given manage to hang off my petite frame.

I have this box on a shelf in my closet where I've been collecting tshirts since I started Kismet. Most of them are shirts given to me by friends and sport their company logo. A ton of them are clever and fun shirts too, and I'd love to wear them if they looked better on me.

While perusing Pinterest the other night I came across the perfect solution -- a tutorial for turning giant tshirts into fitted workout tops. Perfect! This seems like a great way to get use out of the cool shirts my friends have given me (and a good excuse to give them a little free publicity) while making me not feel frumpy.

I decided to start with the shirt I've been lamenting not being able to wear the most. It's a bright orange shirt from Boxee which I picked up at their SXSW party in March. It's a large (the only size they had left) but the design is awesome.

Here's the step by step to take this shirt from frumpy to flattering:


  1. Starting at the shoulder seams, cut straight down, curving in around the bottom of the armholes to cut off the sleeves. Then, cut off the ribbed neckline and hem. Cut the hem in 1 piece and set this aside (you're going to need it in a minute!).
  2. Cut the neckline down in front until you reach the desired "plunge" level -- here I was restricted by the pattern on the shirt.
  3. Flip the shirt over and cut a deep "v" in the back of the neckline, then cut in from the arm holes to make a narrow racerback. I left my shoulder straps about 2" wide at the shoulder.
  4. Take the long, thin piece that you cut off the bottom hemline and pull on it to stretch it out into 1 long piece. You'll know you're doing this right if you hear a ripping sound from the thread binding the hem coming apart as you pull. I kept going until I couldn't make any more stitches rip.
  5. Knot one end of this long piece of fabric a few inches above the bottom of your "v" in the back to pull the straps in. Then, twist the fabric strip all the way down the straps to the bottom of the "v" and then back up again to meet the knot. Knot the 2 ends of your fabric strip together tightly, and trim off the extra ends.

And you're done. It took me 15 minutes, including direction reading. Now to road test it at the gym!