T-shirt To Tube Top

This is a good DIY for a nicely fitting t-shirt that you just want to re-vamp and make into something cute and flirty. You should make sure you to use a nice fitting shirt, maybe even a little on the looser side. Your shirt should have a hem at the bottom that is NOT closed on the side seams. DISCLAIMER: There is an optional sewing step in this tutorial. I put it in to tighten up the fron tof my shirt and make it more flattering. If you don't want to sew, you can skip that step. You probably won't need it if your shirt is on the tighter side anyway.

Materials:

scissors

thread

needle

safety pin

#1: Start with a shirt! This is one of my favorite comfy shirts that I recently forgot about and found at the very bottom of my drawer...

...and this is why. See those tiny bleach stains that fell perfectly on the green stripe? Because you know, if it was on the white stripe it never would have mattered. One of those things that I said to myself, 'PSH no one will notice!' and EVERYONE noticed. So it stayed at the very bottom of my dresser drawer, until now :]

#2: Cut straight from one underarm to the other, front and back. I'm lucky my shirt is striped because I can follow along the line and the stripes match up perfectly on the side seams from front to back.

      

#3: Take the tube part of the shirt and turn it upside down. The original bottom hem of the shirt will now be the top of the tube top. In the dead center on the front, cut a small V-shape into the hem. The space inside the hem will be where we thread the tie for the tube top through.

#4a: If you would like to thread a pretty ribbon through the top of the tube top, you may skip this step. This step outlines how to cut t-shirt yarn out of a limited piece of t-shirt. Using the back of the other piece of the shirt where the sleeves were, cut a line going straight up right near the left sleeve.

#4b: Make a cut going around and down, but dont cut all the way to the edge. There should be at LEAST a good 3/4 of an inch width.

#4c: From the bottom edge, cut a line going up to where your first cut ended. You should start to see a zig-zag pattern. Remember to keep at least 3/4 of an inch width.

#4d: Continue alternating cutting up and down. The zig zag pattern should be apparent. When you stretch out the t-shirt yarn it should be one complete expanse of string.

#5: Thread your t-shirt yarn (or ribbon if you skipped step 4) through the space in the hem using a safety pin. DO NOT trim the yarn/ribbon until you try on the top and determine how long you want it.

#6: This is the OPTIONAL sewing step. Scrunch the material under the V-shaped notch in the hem where the strings are coming out. Sew the material while it is scrunched up and it will give a rouched look on the front of your tube top. I made two lines about an inch apart that went about 5 inches down and scrunched the material with my needle. 

Cheers and Happy Crafting!