How to Make a Tee Shirt Into a Tube Top
Extra tee shirts often end up tucked away at the back of the closet, using precious space but never serving a function. With a few snips and a little bit of sewing, however, you can transform your old tee shirts into a number of different styles, such as tube tops. Tube tops offer an attractive summer alternative to the baggy tee shirts that have been stashed away for so long.
Instructions
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Cut the Tee Shirt
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1
Cut the sleeves off of the tee shirt, including the stitching that held the sleeves in place.
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2
Cut off the top of the shirt about an inch below the neck hole in a straight line, cutting through both layers of the tee shirt. Be careful to cut in a straight and even line for a polished final look.
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3
Turn the tee shirt inside out.
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4
Fold the top inch or so of fabric over, all away around the top of the tee shirt, and pin it in place.
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5
Sew the new fold in place, leaving a nice 1/2-inch channel for the elastic to go through in the next steps. Also leave about an inch of the top channel open where the elastic will enter and exit in later steps.
Add Elastic and Shape
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6
Measure the area just above your bust line, right where your armpits start. Measure all the way around the diameter of this area. Subtract 1/4 inch from this measurement for your final elastic measurement.
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7
Cut a piece of elastic matching the final measurement from the previous step. Attach a safety pin to one end of the elastic and thread it through the channel you created at the top of the new tube top. When the elastic has gone through the entire channel, sew the two ends of the elastic together by hand or with a sewing machine.
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8
Turn the shirt right side out, and your new tube top is complete.
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1
Tips & Warnings
Tie a colorful ribbon underneath the bust line on the finished tube top for more color and shape if the tee shirt is on the baggier side.
References
- Photo Credit beautiful brunette against white background 7 image by Kevin Browne from Fotolia.com
