Wednesday, July 17, 2013

#1 DIY Tank Top

I have been planning on making quite a few of these to use as work out shirts as have a bunch of shirts that are now too big for me. After months of not doing it, I finally had an incentive. My very first 5K was coming up, we were doing the Color Run in Chicago. Rather than just wearing a white shirt, I wanted to dress it up a bit!

I bought a men's XL white shirt (I actually lucked out and found a 3 pack on clearance for $5 at Walmart!) The site I was using for this idea suggested to lay the t-shirt out flat on the floor (which I did) and then to cut each of the sleeves off evenly. I thought to myself, why make 2 (probably what would end up being uneven) cuts when I can fold it over and cut once?! So, that's what I did...fold and cut once (or cut three times rather, as there were 3 separate cuts to make).

Next, you cut the neck section (I forgot to take a picture for this step and the next step) to make a larger v or scoop neck. Then, you cut part of the bottom off so that when you unfold the shirt, you have a shorter front and back, but longer sides. This is where I made a slight mistake. I thought the shirt looked rather long, so I cut a little more off than I should of, which then resulted in a shirt that reached my waistline rather than hiding my entire stomach, which is what I would of rather had. Oh well, lesson learned for next time.

Finally, unfold the shirt and decide which side you want to be the front, and which side for the back (since you would have cut the tag off and won't be able to tell.) Take a cute piece of ribbon and tie a bow on the back. I cut the ribbon rather long and had a shorter bow with longer ends.

Ta-Da! Overall, the project took about 20 minutes and I was very happy with the results. I was hoping that the die from the Color Run was going to permanently stain the shirt or ribbon (as the ribbon was black with white polk-a-dots.) However, the powder at the run was simply colored corn starch, so that didn't end up happening. On the plus side, I had fun and looked cute!

Here's the link to the original directions: http://www.lovemaegan.com/2009/07/recycle-your-clothes-diy-jersey-tank.html 






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