erika: (Default)
Erika ([personal profile] erika) wrote in [community profile] sewing2010-12-28 01:36 pm

making a t-shirt larger

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?
sapote: The TARDIS sits near a tree in sunlight (Default)

[personal profile] sapote 2010-12-28 09:06 pm (UTC)(link)
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: Lee Miller photo showing two women wearing metal fire masks in England during WWII. (Default)

[personal profile] rydra_wong 2010-12-28 09:13 pm (UTC)(link)
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.)
sapote: The TARDIS sits near a tree in sunlight (Default)

Re: great advice!

[personal profile] sapote 2010-12-28 09:32 pm (UTC)(link)
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.
rydra_wong: Lee Miller photo showing two women wearing metal fire masks in England during WWII. (Default)

Re: great advice!

[personal profile] rydra_wong 2010-12-28 09:43 pm (UTC)(link)
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.
sapote: The TARDIS sits near a tree in sunlight (Default)

Re: great advice!

[personal profile] sapote 2010-12-28 09:56 pm (UTC)(link)
... 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)
lavendersparkle: Jewish rat (Default)

Re: great advice!

[personal profile] lavendersparkle 2010-12-29 03:51 am (UTC)(link)
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: (Default)

[personal profile] all_adream 2011-01-05 11:32 pm (UTC)(link)
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.