T-shirt to Tank Top

Last week, in a sewing frenzy, I also tackled the project of turning a couple of my t-shirts into tank tops. I found the project on Pinterest (but I’m not a Pinterest junkie, I’m really not).

The project was easy: just a few slices here and there with scissors, only two straight lines of sewing, and ta-da! All done.

I made my first tank top out of a bright green t-shirt that I got last summer for something I wasn’t really even a part of. When I finished and tried it on, Mark told me it looked a little weird… like a tank top but really baggy (as most t-shirts are on me).

So, I decided that I needed to take the shirt in on the sides. Easy-peasy. I measured myself, did a few speedy calculations, snipped the excess fabric, and sewed up new side seams.

My calculations were disgustingly inaccurate, and I ended up with an hourglass mini-shirt that makes me look like a Barbie-wannabe. Or at least, it would if I could even get it over my shoulders:

With a few deep inhalations and exhalations I released my innate desire to never make mistakes, and I started again with a new t-shirt.

Trial number two went a little better, but again, I cut before I sewed, so when the resulted t-shirt tank top was just a tiny bit too small, I was stuck. 

I took a few deep breaths, gave up, and put the project away for a few days.

When I finally got back to the project, I was a lot more careful. I sewed before I cut. I didn’t try to fit myself into too small of a shirt. I made a few other minor modifications.

I was pretty pleased with the result: