Resize a Tee Shirt

Firecracker got a nice, new shirt for Summer.  Unfortunately, he cut a hole in it with scissors the first time he wore it.  It was an accident, and he’s only five.  No worries.

When I saw the hole, I immediately thought of Monkey.  That poor baby has four big brothers and LOTS of hand-me-downs.  But, the clothes he is fitting into right now are either too big or Winter clothes.  They’re all in really good shape and I want to use them.  So, I will be refashioning Monkey’s Winter Wardrobe into a Summer one.  More on that Tuesday.

I decided to refashion Firecracker’s new shirt with a scissor hole into a shirt for Monkey.

It was easy.  I started by chopping up an old shirt of Monkey’s to use as a pattern.  I cut along all of the seams.  Then I cut Firecracker’s shirt along the seams.

I took Monkey’s shirt, laid it over the body of the shirt and cut the bigger shirt about an inch bigger all around for seam allowances, and because the brown shirt is too small for Monkey.

I took the new front piece of the shirt and with the right sides together, I cut out the back piece.

I did it this way so that both pieces would be exactly the same size, and so that I could match up the pattern of the shirt.

See?!

Next, I cut out the sleeves using Monkey’s old sleeves.  Again, I cut about an inch bigger than the old sleeve.  Cut them both at the same time.

Take the front and back pieces and lay them flat with the right sides together.  Sew them together at the shoulder seams.

Serge the raw edge, or leave it.  Knit won’t fray.  Don’t you dare judge my crooked seams.  This was my first sewing project after my surgery.  This little project was pretty painful. 

Just be happy I’m not showing you what’s UNDER the band-aid!!  Oh, you want to see it?  Okay, but if things like this make you squeamish, look away.

Ewww…

Don’t worry.  They look lots better now.

So, back to the crooked seams and the resized shirt…

Shoulder seams are sewn and serged, and now it is time to hem the sleeves.  I don’t normally do this at this point, but these sleeves are so small that they won’t fit around my sewing machine.  So, hem the sleeves.  I didn’t get a picture, and my next post will include the tutorial, but until then, refer to this post.

Attach your freshly hemmed sleeves to the body of the shirt.

The shirt is still inside out.  With the wrong sides of the sleeves facing up, pin them to the sleeve curve of the body of the shirt and stitch into place.

Serge the raw edge or leave it raw.  I care not.

Now, take the hem of the sleeve, fold it in half, and make sure all the seams line up.  Make one long seam from the sleeve hem to the bottom of the shirt.  Do this to both sides and serge the raw edges. 

Now the shirt is actually shirt shaped!  Now you need to hem it.  You can refer to this post again if you need to.

This is the under side of the hem.  Turn the shirt right side out and steam press the seams flat.

Ta-Da!  Now you have a new, smaller shirt!  Yes, the tag says it’s size 5/6 in little boys, but we all know it’s REALLY a 2T!  Sweet!

My little man looked really cute in his newly resized Summer shirt.

It’s just too bad he wouldn’t hold still long enough for a decent picture.

Oh well…you get the idea!

Come back on Tuesday and I’ll show you how I refashioned Monkey’s Winter Wardrobe for Summer.  See you then!

Off to mow the lawn…so fun!  ;)