Geekphoria: DIY: Braided Halter Top

Since finals are finally done, I can get back to doing some of the things that I like to do in my spare time. One of these is altering t-shirts. I love geeky tees because I love to wear my geek pride everywhere. However, I have really broad shoulders, which make wearing women's shirts (or babydoll) tees uncomfortable. And then the guys' tees don't cut it when I want to look cute. Therefore, I usually turn to altering my t-shirts myself.

Today's shirt is from TeeFury. TeeFury is one of those sites that has a daily, limited edition, geeky t-shirt. You can get shirts here for $11, plus shipping and handling. It's worth checking out--I usually want a couple of shirts a week (though I don't buy them nearly that often).

So, kicking off a week of Ocarina of Time live-tweeting and blogging, here is my "My Little Epona" braided halter top!

I began by cutting and sewing the t-shirt itself. I started with the tee pictured below, and cut off the sleeves. I then cut across the top, removing the shoulders with a cut just under the collar.

Then I sewed up the gaps from the sleeves, making a long seam up each side of the t-shirt. Then I turned to another shirt I had--a plain black t-shirt. You could use any type of fabric for this, but I chose to use the t-shirt because I had it laying around.

I cut a strip from the t-shirt twice as wide as I wanted to make the band at the top of the shirt. I then cut it down the middle (width, not lengthwise) and began to pin it in place. I pinned it so that there would be a nice seam at the top of the shirt, plus a middle seam in the back.

I then sewed the band in place at the top of the t-shirt. Make sure you sew the band to the FRONT of the tee. That way, once you flip it up, the seam will be on the inside. From there, I added a length of elastic to the back of the band, in order to put some give into the shirt. I then folded over the band so that it was folded on top, and sewed the other part to the inside of the t-shirt. (Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of this step!)

I then laid down the t-shirt so I could figure out where I wanted to put the halter straps. I cut two more sets of three strips from the black tee and braided them together.

I then told the cat "No, don't lay down there!" Which he promptly ignored. You can skip this step.

Okay, seriously, now you're just rubbing it in.

I finished braiding the two straps, and then I pinned them to what looked like the right spots. I then tried on the t-shirt, just to make sure.

Because the braided straps were so thick, I sewed them to the band by hand.

Once that was done, I folded the shirt in half--down the middle and down the back--and cut a high-low bottom to the halter top. I didn't hem it--I like the way they look unhemmed.

Voila! Here it is on.

And here's a close-up of the braided halter straps, with the top hanging on my door.

The end! I also altered another t-shirt into a tank today, but you'll have to wait until another day for that DIY :).

Since I am currently on crutches and probably not going into work tomorrow, I am expecting to start the live-tweeting/blogging of Ocarina of Time around 4pm CT. I'll be uploading some videos of me playing, as well as tweeting about the story, my victories, and my stunning failures.

See you then!