Heart shirt

I turned a plain, boring old XL t-shirt into a cute fitted medium one.

First, I took an old XL t-shirt and cut it down, using a 99-cent snug-looking juniors t-shirt pattern from a JoAnn's sale (McCall's 5105). I positioned the pattern to keep the original neckband & sleeve topstitching intact.

Then I sewed it back up, using a tiny zig-zag stitch for stretchability. Luckily this photo is blurry, or you would see how wrinkly the sleeve caps turned out. I ended up with extra ease, so the tops of the shoulders are a little pleated. We'll call it a design detail and move on.


Next, I shamelessly lifted a design from the Boden kid's catalog and cut a stencil out of freezer paper. After ironing the stencil down and stuffing the shirt with cardboard, I dabbed white fabric paint in the negative spaces.

Voila! A new cute t-shirt that fits.