Team Apparel T-Shirt Refashion

I love a challenge. I was to travel with my husband on business. One night was a tailgating theme. We were to wear our favorite Team Apparel. I had t-shirts and could wear it with jeans but how boring is that? I wanted something cute. So I sent a text to a couple of my K-State friends and sent out a plea for t-shirts to refashion. Thanks to Tim & Dianna for their donation! This is what I started with. It's a 2XL. The bigger the better in the refashioning world. You never know what you could do with all the extra fabric!

First cut the sleeves off. Set the sleeves aside for later.

I looked in my closest to get ideas of how I might want the final product to look like. I liked the neckline in the pink top. The navy and red paisley had the elastic waste and length I wanted. As you can see the clock on the oven says 7:27pm. I leave for the airport the following morning at 10 am. :)

Now cut the neckline to your liking. I cut half, fold it over to cut the other half so the neckline is even.

I decided where I wanted the elastic waste to go. In this case it will be more of an empire waste. I also decided how full around I wanted it to be. Pin and try on, pin and try on. Don't go crazy and jump in and cut too much off. I have done this and ended up throwing away two Royals T-shirts this summer. I rushed to have a new refashion for the game and ended up wearing a pink top instead of my powder blue on Royals game day. Anyway. Be cautious and certain before cutting off fabric for side seam. All my seams are 1/2". It just makes it easier when doing the math for where to sew. Cut excess fabric off and sew down side seams. You'll notice I left the original hem on the T-shirt as it was a length I liked.

I'm frugal and strapped for time. Using this satin ribbon for a casing is soft & flexible and fits the bill! Pin in place and sew to garment. As I said mine is more empire waste. Be sure to leave an opening to insert the elastic. Measure elastic to fit comfortably and thread into the casing. Sew ends of elastic together. I used 1/4" wide elastic.





Grab those sleeves you set aside. Cut off the seam so it is not bulky when you reattach it to the garment at the sleeve. Trim down the circumference of the sleeve to fit. I wanted elastic around the sleeves so next I cut elastic and stretched it as I sewed it on. This automatically draws it together like you've gathered and then sewed but my way is easier and saves time. Sew sleeve with right sides together, pin sleeve into arm hole and sew it on. You may want to remove more fabric so the seam sits at the edge of your shoulder. I left the original hem on the sleeves...a big time saver.

I dug out another old t-shirt to make a ruffle for around the neckline. Cut 1" strips twice the length around the neckline. Sew stips together to make one long stip.

Baste down center of strip and gather. Fit to desired look, pin to neckline and sew right over the basting.

And the finished product. We had a great time at our event! And our team won! Now you know how to refashion your favorite T into team apparel you"ll be proud to wear.