Making a tee shirt smaller ...and our beach excursion

 This was my sexy camera taking attire, it kept the windblown hair out of the shots and my face.

Luckily for me, my brother in law Zack was moving out and dejunking his room. Why luck for me? Well, he gave me some cute refashion potential tee shirts for Beck. Oh and I did refashion half of them thatvery next day. This was one of the products. Now Beck keeps asking where Zack is whenever he wears it. So sweet. Brothers/brother-in-laws are seriously the BEST. Thanks Zack.

We've been loving the beach…despite the cold water and the winds. It is SO dang fun. And this is only a minute walk from our place! It been a good few years since I've been to a sandy beach and I didn't know how much Beck would LOVE it. We've been missing out.

Supplies:

big shirt

little shirt to copy

sewing machine or needle and thread

thread

scissors

flexible measuring tape

fabric pen or marking chalk

iron

pins

Instructions:

1. Lay little shirt as a template over the big shirt. I chose to put it in the corner so I didn't have to finish the bottom and I could keep the shirt's logo that is placed in the bottom left corner.

2. Cut sleeves, shirt (line up with bottom with the hem if you like) and ribbing out from the original shirt. Cut the sleeves by laying the little tee's sleeve on the bigger tee's sleeves lining up the hemmed ends, and cutting it out with seam allowance. Trim the ribbing to the same length of the neckline of your the smaller shirt, but make sure you take a little extra out because it will make the neckline look normal when sewn in. 

3. Place right sides together and straight stitch the sides up and shoulders. Sew the two sleeves so it will look like a tube.

4. Sew sleeves on shirt by flipping sleeve right side out and shirt inside out. Push sleeve into shirt's arm hole and pin them together right sides together inside the shirt. Check out picture of this HERE.

5. Take the ribbing, unfold it, and sew it together to make a nice tube or folded ribbing.

6. Sew ribbing back onto neckline by pinning right sides together (doesn't matter for the ribbing) and stretching ribbing as you sew a zig zag stitch, invisible hemming stitch, or use a serger with has a stretch stitch - keep the tee NOT stretched.  Start in the back or at the side shoulder seam. 

7. I added a top stitch, which is optional, to the bottom of the ribbing on the tee shirt to help keep the ribbing up and the top looking finished. Just make sure to stretch it the neckline as you sew in the LONG straight stitch, so there is still a stretchiness in the neckline.

8. If you didn't line it up on the bottom, this is where you would hem the bottom. Fold the bottom up an inch and sew a long straight stitch as you stretch the bottom. Go slowly, because the hem can get all twisted out and funky and you will have to redo it. I know this from experience! I usually do this twice with a second stitch 1/8 below to create the same look as the original tee shirt.