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The W - Ladies Only - Remodeling XXL shirts
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Madame Manga
Boudin rouge








Since: 16.1.02
From: Silicon Valley

Since last post: 2795 days
Last activity: 2510 days
#1 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.48
Does it work? Worth the trouble? I was just commenting on a cute Eddie Guerrero shirt over on the wrestling forum, and it occurs to me that some of you gals may have tried cutting down men's tees into something suitable for the female form.

I am an OK seamstress, though I don't sew regularly. I also had this problem when I was working for computer game companies, because they would hand out promotional shirts that the employees were really expected to wear. When most of your people are tubby six-foot programmers, I guess it's logical to order nothing but men's large and up, but what is a 5'4", 120-lb girl supposed to do? I ended up wearing them as tunics over leggings, but that's so '80s!

MM
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Lise
Mrs. Guru








Since: 11.12.01

Since last post: 3081 days
Last activity: 2854 days
#2 Posted on | Instant Rating: 7.09
To be honest I never bothered. I just wear them big and shapeless if I end up with a L or XL male cut shirt. Mind you I don't have the most feminine wardrobe on earth to start with. Though because of the change in climate my wardrobe has shifted from XL black t-shirts to female M size grey and colored t-shirts. Free T-shirts are much more often ending up as sleeping or laundry shirts than everyday wear.

Though if you DID want to cut them down, you could get the stitch witchery stuff to put it back together rather than trying to sew it by hand. It is double-sided iron on stuff. Or you could also take the design off of the t-shirt and make it into a patch for a better sized shirt or pillow.



I am secretly using you all for research. Well... most of you.
emma
Cherries > Peaches








Since: 1.8.02
From: Phoenix-ish

Since last post: 436 days
Last activity: 157 days
#3 Posted on | Instant Rating: 8.47
I've reworked a few necklines & significantly shortened many, but I've never fiddled with trying to take in any width. I would think the major problem would be at the armpits. (You could probably put in a little shaping at the sides, which might help some, but that still leaves you with a lot of room in the underarm/bust area.)

Are we looking for sexy/tight, a "good fit", or just not swimming in fabric quite so badly? :-) I'm thinking "good fit" would be difficult, but either of the others might be do-able.

I'm not any great seamstress, but in general, I find that jersey knit stuff can be kind of a pain to work with. If you're going to experiment, the single biggest suggestion I can offer is "sew first, cut second". The first neckline I tried to change, I cut out the neckline the way that I wanted, & the fabric instantly lost all of its structural integrity & fanned all out of shape. (I went ahead & finished the edge -- it's sort of an interesting boat-neck, drop-sleeve affair, speaking of the 80's -- "steel-town girl on a Saturday night". I digress.)

What did work was a corded neckline edge. I laid out the shirt, pinned then hand-basted the cording where I wanted it (on the right side of the shirt), coming very close to the neckband on the back & sides & dropping down into a nice feminine curve in the front. With the hand basting in place, I cut away the T's original neckband (just to get it out of the way), leaving a generous allowance "inside" the cording. Then I machine stitched the cording down, trimmed the cut edge of the T close to the cording edge, flipped the cording to the finished configuration (using the stitch line to fold), & topstitched the cording & 2 layers of fabric. That came out looking nice, & the stability of the cording keeps the fabric from losing shape.

I wouldn't even consider trying to take in shoulders & reset sleeves. However, if you wanted to lose the sleeves altogether & convert to a tank style, that might work.

The other obvious problem when shortening is the placement of the design/logo on the shirt. If you need to whack 8-10" off the bottom of the shirt, & the logo's centered (vertically) you may end up either whacking off part of the design, or ending up with a design more on your belly.

(edited by emma on 25.9.04 0123)
Madame Manga
Boudin rouge








Since: 16.1.02
From: Silicon Valley

Since last post: 2795 days
Last activity: 2510 days
#4 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.48
The logo problem is one thing that has stopped me from trying it yet: both the placement thing, and the sheer size of most of them, which would probably be totally out of scale when you reduced the shirt. Cutting it out and sewing onto a small shirt would probably be easiest, however.

Thanks for the instructions, Emma! That sounds like it would actually work. I might end up going for a tank top, I admit, since wrestling shirts are the definition of casual wear no matter what you do with them. What I have done so far is just take a plain shirt, invent my own design and get out my fabric paints. I get strange looks at tapings, though.

MM
Toast Jr
Kolbasz








Since: 30.1.03
From: Stafford Springs, CT

Since last post: 301 days
Last activity: 5 days
#5 Posted on | Instant Rating: 6.00
I usually just cut off all the bottom fabric up to the logo myself, but a friend of mine had a neat idea that I haven't tried yet. She will cut off the fabric along the side of the shirt and then cut holes into the sides. Then she takes some pretty ribbon or cording and laces up the sides like a shoe. It makes the shirts more fitted to her frame and looks really cool. The next time I need to get a big men's shirt I am going to give it a whirl.
Lise
Mrs. Guru








Since: 11.12.01

Since last post: 3081 days
Last activity: 2854 days
#6 Posted on | Instant Rating: 7.54
Does she leave the actual fabric in place, only adding the lacing holes? Or does she actually remove fabric so that it has to be laced together to not show skin/bra? I guess it would work either way... hmmm.

Especially if you took the sleeves off that could look really neat. Hmm... I wonder if anyone I know has an eyelet gun.



I am secretly using you all for research. Well... most of you.
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