Revamped T-shirt Tutorial

Well, I sure had a lot of fun with this next project.  I was trying to get my sewing mojo back...seemed to have hit a creative block.  I have read a few books about upcycling old t-shirts into cool tops, skirts & other things and decided it was time to just GO FOR IT!

 What you need:
t-shirt (s)
scissors
needle & thread

Makes life easier to have:
rotary cutter
ruler or straight edge
sewing machine
dress form (I made mine!)

I got this green shirt from CALDA, California Lyme Disease Association, and thought it would be great to revamp it into an attention getting outfit.  

• I started by cutting off the sleeves with my ruler & rotary cutter (the thing that looks like a pizza slicer).  If you don't have one of these, just use a pair of scissors to do the job.  Having the rotary cutter will give you a nice even edge to work with, making it easier to match up when you're sewing.

• I carefully cut out all the portions of the shirt with writing on it & set it aside.

• I cut the sleeves open (just follow along the seams) & trimmed it to make green strips.

• Then, I did the same thing to 2 black t-shirts of mine.

• Next, I pieced the shirts together in a crazy quilt type fashion...there are NO rules when you are the designer!  =)  I like that a lot. In fact, I didn't use a pattern or anything, just cut, pin, sew & go.  I also wanted my stitching to show, so I sewed them together with wrong sides together, alternating from a straight stitch to a big zig zag stitch on my seams.

• I created a long chunk of fabric that was pieced together & fit it to my dress form...I did have to fit it on myself when I got to the bottom of the dress since my dress form doesn't have a booty!  Just pin to a comfortable fit and sew this bad boy up!

• I used a scrap of pieced fabric for the strap...sew it in half lengthwise & zig zag stitch the ends to the dress.  I wanted mine to be a halter but you can criss cross them in the back or do it however you want.

• Lastly, I stitched the CALDA logo with the tick onto the front lower part of the dress & added some additional lines of stitiching for a bullseye effect.

That's it!  I now have a funky fresh attention getting lyme awareness outfit...and I have to say, I feel pretty darn good in it AND it's super comfy too!  Definitely think it's LymeSexy...what do you think?