making a t-shirt larger

[erika]

So I got this awesome shirt from the ACLU and, sadness, it doesn't fit. (It's about 5'' too small at the sides.)

I found How to make a T-shirt Larger or Smaller, but the instructions are kind of sparse. Does anyone have any other ideas?

I'd love to do something with corsetry type lacing, but wouldn't that work better if the shirt was too big?

Comments

[sapote]

Hm, there's some interesting potential in just stretching it out - god knows my t-shirts that I've line-dried are looser now. This depends on there not being a logo that would get distorted-looking, though.

Here are a bunch of crafts that can be made with a t-shirt.

If there's a really great geometric logo in the middle, you could always cut it out and applique it on to a shirt that fits.

I am super-broad through the shoulders and have to cut the necks out of pretty much any shirt that isn't made for a man much larger than me. One thing that sometimes works with an all-over too-small shirt is cutting out the neck and then turning it around and wearing it backwards. I have suspicions that this is because the back is cut larger than the front across the shoulders for wearing ease, and I have very straight posture so my back is comparatively small? It might be worth trying putting it on backwards if there's more of you in the front of your torso, like me.

Corsetry-type lacing wouldn't help you make it bigger unless you wanted to wear it with the sides open, no - though if open sides aren't your thing, you could wear it with a same or contrasting color shirt under it, that could look cool!

[rydra_wong]

Corsetry-type lacing wouldn't help you make it bigger unless you wanted to wear it with the sides open, no

Or you could make panels (in a contrasting colour?) with the corset-lacing, then set them into the sides, maybe?

though if open sides aren't your thing, you could wear it with a same or contrasting color shirt under it, that could look cool!

Ooh, or put the corset-lacing on the original t-shirt, then add the contrasting panels underneath, so it looks like you've got open lacing over a different coloured t-shirt underneath.

(This would obviously be a more roundabout way of doing it, but maybe handy if you don't want an extra layer of fabric in hotter weather.)

[erika]

I actually came up with your second idea by myself and would love to do that. Now I just have to rip the seams of the shirt, add eyelets, get laces, and figure out what the contrasting color should be. Maybe a red...

great advice!

[erika]

I'm sorry, I'm too busy laughing at the helpful tip in your linked Shrink Out A Shirt.

If you stuff your shirt with pillows overnight, set it somewhere where it won't scare you when you wake up in the middle of the night for a bathroom break. Stuffed shirts sitting on a chair or couch can look pretty scary when it's 3:00 a.m. and you're half-asleep.

Ahem.

Re: great advice!

[sapote]

This is why I got rid of a mannequin that I was hoping to make a fitting cover for - people kept shrieking and dropping their glass of water on the way back to bed.

Re: great advice!

[rydra_wong]

For reasons which don't need explaining at this juncture, my sister spent weeks with a LIFE-SIZED CARDBOARD CUT-OUT of a unpleasant British politician in her flat.

It got to the point where she would routinely warn people as they came through the door.

Re: great advice!

[sapote]

... How unpleasant?

(It helped that it was actually a Tall Boy's mannequin, and it was wearing a guayabara so yellow that it practically glowed in the dark. You go out for a midnight snack and there's a brightly-clad, headless human form in your house, all bets are off)

Re: great advice!

[lavendersparkle]

My husband's hung an old mackintosh he's cleaning up in the downstairs shower and about 50% of the times I go in that room I startle at the sight of a tall figure hiding in there.

[all_adream]

If I loved it, I would cut the front and back into panels of some sort, sew them onto a giantgiant teeshirt, and then put lacings on that. That seems the coolest idea to spring into my head right now! Good luck with it.