Geekphoria: DIY: T-Shirt to Tank Top!

Hey everyone! Here's a new Summer of T-Shirt Surgery DIY! Here, I first attempted to make a tank dress that has a cut similar to the new Her Universe dressed (examples here and here). Unfortunately, I had a slight issue--and it wasn't a problem that I created myself. Unfortunately, when you're 5'10", even XL shirts aren't quite long enough to turn into dresses. But I can reach the top shelf of my cabinets, so I guess the trade-off is alright. So my tank dress became a tank top.

I began with a Star Trek TOS t-shirt I bought at my local Gordman's. This is the first time I've actually hemmed arm-holes (can you even call them sleeves with a tank top?) and neck holes, so they're not the best, but it still looks fine on. Yay me, learning new things.

I first began the way I usually begin--cutting off the sleeves and the neckband, using the seam as a guideline.

I then put the shirt on and marked where I wanted the straps of the t-shirt to be. After that, I took off the shirt and cut along those likes, leaving about a 3/8 seam allowance for the hems.

The next step consisted of cutting up the side of the shirt in order to take in the sides. After cutting, I pinned the edges of the tank top and sewed a new seam (with a 3/8 in seam allowance).

Once the sides were sewn together (you can use a French Seam, but I didn't because I typically don't use that with a knit material).

I then used a zig-zag stitch to hem the arm holes and neck holes. The left side of this picture shows the sewn side. The right edge is now sewn, but pinned. You can see approximately how much I folded over here. I just folded over the knit material and sewed it that way. I didn't make cuts and folded over the seams--the stretchiness of t-shirt material didn't make that type of approach necessary.

Here's the tank dress when I thought I was done! Then I tried it on...and realized how short it was.

Why, yes. That is too short to wear as a dress.

The arm holes for my tank top are kind of low. That's part of what comes from using an XL shirt. You can cut and sew the tank top to avoid these large holes, but I'm crazy and I don't like the armpit of my shirts anywhere near my armpits (thus all the shirt surgery I do). So the cut here is a personal choice.

I wasn't exactly happy with just a plain tank if it wasn't long enough to be a tunic or a dress. So I cut a couple lengths of machine-washable red ribbon (about 9 inches worth, but I just eyed the length and didn't measure). I tied the front of the straps with bows (and reinforced with with stitches through the middle), and BAM! Here's the final product.

Ta-da! So that's the end of this DIY. Hopefully everything was clear, but I feel like I don't have enough pictures of the actual process... On Thursday I'll be posting a blog entry that I've been thinking about for the past few days (and just started writing). It's entitled The Five Most Heart-Breaking Character Deaths. I think I have my five narrowed down, but if you have any suggestions, let me know! I might include them, or give them an honorable mention, or think you're a little crazy (probably not the last one).

See you Thursday!

(I'm playing Mass Effect right now. Yay, Mass Effect! My fem!Shep kind of looks like Jill Valentine).