Make a T-shirt Better

Ok, why is it that when you get a free t-shirt, it is so boxy? Seriously. When we ordered our Nissan Leaf from Fontana Nissan, they sent us a bunch of goodies, these t-shirts included. We got 2 medium shirts, and this is what they look like:

 Don't mind the leftovers from my dinner in the foreground.... Anyways, I decided to make MY t-shirt better, fit a little better. This ended up taking me about 1.5 hours...not too shabby, seeing as how I didn't really know what I was doing.

First, I folded the shirt in half and cut off the sleeves. Now, I realize that the shirt should have been inside out, but...don't make my mistake! Turn it inside out, first! Then cut off the sleeves. Set these aside. You'll need them later.

 Next, I laid a nice fitting t-shirt over top of it, folded in half, the folds lining up. I cut away the excess shirt, leaving about a 1/4 inch for a seam allowance.

 I curved the sleeves by folding back the top t-shirt sleeve to give me a line to follow with the white shirt.

 Then, I sewed up the hem on the bottom, and up the sides, making sure NOT to sew up the sleeve holes. I tried it on to make sure I liked how it fit. Looking good!

 Now to make the sleeves...Using the black t-shirt as a template, I took the cut off sleeves, and cut them into the same shape as the black t-shirt sleeves. I kept the bottom hem of the sleeve so that I would have less sewing. Notice that the sleeve is kind of a triangular shape, not rectangular.

Ok, to sew the sleeve on, make sure your shirt is inside out, then turn the sleeve right side out and slide into the sleeve hole. This sounds weird, but I promise it works! Sew all around the sleeves, press all the seams, and try on your finished shirt. 

Sorry that the pictures are so bad, but I think you get the idea. I'll maybe have Matt take some pics of me later, and I'll replace them. But, now, I have a fitted t-shirt that I might actually wear! :)

Thanks for reading! I am thinking that I'm going to be changing a bunch more t-shirts into wearable shirts in the future. This was so easy!

~Pam

And, I guess I'm linking up to some parties :)

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