Make a Sleeveless T Shirt from an Unused T Shirt
When summer comes, there’s nothing quite as comfortable as a sleeveless T-shirt. Of course, you can run to the store and plunk down a pocketful of cash, but why pay money for a sleeveless T-shirt when you you can make your regular T-shirt sleeveless just a few minutes? Here is how to do it.
Steps
- Find the right T-shirt. Pull out your favorite T-shirts, and decide which of them you might want to turn sleeveless. Try them on, and see which looks the best on you.
- Test the look. Roll up the sleeves as high as you can, or tuck them into the shirt around the seam to see if it looks good as a sleeveless T-shirt.
- Decide how you’re going to cut it. There are two ways to go: leave the seam between the sleeve and the shirt in place, or cut it out.
- Leaving the seam intact will keep your finished T-shirt from unravelling and looking shabby. It will also make a smaller armhole. For a baggy T-shirt, this is a good approach.
- Cutting out the seam with the sleeve is a more casual look, and because the hole is larger, a little more comfortable as well.
- If the armhole is going to be too deep, modify your cut. Instead of following the seam all the way around the sleeve, when you are about 2/3s down the sleeve, angle out into the bottom of the sleeve. When you reach the bottom seam of the sleeve, reverse the angle and cut back in towards the shirt seam, leaving a triangle of shirtsleeve at the bottom of the hole. Trim that to fit.
- Lay the T-shirt out on a clean, flat surface. If you’re cutting out the seam with the sleeve, mark where you are going to cut with chalk. If you’re going to keep the seam, poke your scissors into the sleeve about 1/8 inch (3mm) from the seam.
- Carefully cut around the sleeve. If you’re keeping the seam, keep the cut close to it, about 1/8 inch (3mm) all the way around. Be careful not to cut too close to the seam, or it may unravel after a couple washings.
- If you are cutting out the seam, follow your chalk lines, and cut as smoothly as you can to avoid a jagged look.
- Repeat on the other sleeve.
- Keep the sleeves for future projects.
- When you’re done, you can hem the edges if you’d like, or simply leave them cut. They will curl and soften with use, and help you keep your cool all summer long!
- Finished.
Tips
- Keep a clean hem by stretching the sleeve from the body of the T-shirt, and using a hobby knife, cut the threads on the hem. The sleeve will be able to pull right off after cutting the threads a few times in different spots along the seam line.
- Cutting sleeves in half rather than all the way off will cause the cloth to curl over outwards. This may or may not be a desirable look.
- For a neater look, hem the sleeves—either with a sewing machine or by hand—to keep your new sleeveless T-shirt from unravelling.
- Use the leftover sleeves for future projects. They can be used as headbands, mini handbags, cut into squares and used for quilts, or as remnants for many other projects.
- If the shirt is baggy, mark with chalk where the cut will look best. With baggy shirts, it is usually an inch away from the seam, towards the collar. That cloth usually curls inwards.
Warnings
- Cutting the seam off of the shirt causes armholes to be larger and also leaves the armholes more likely to rip.
Things You'll Need
- Scissors.
- T-shirt.
- Tailor’s chalk.
- Sewing kit or sewing machine.
