I love graphic tees but I hate that many of the designs I want are only available in my size in a boxy men’s fit. Thankfully I can sew! I have spent the last year working out how to refashion my favorite graphic tees into a fit I love. Here’s how you can, too.
Get a T-shirt.
Get yourself a t-shirt that’s as large as possible. My measurements are 45-41-52 and I have had good success with a Mens 3X from somewhere like Threadless. Check your local thrift store, especially if you like sports team shirts. Sites that sell graphic tees beyond a mens 3X are very hard to find – please share resources in the comments if you know of somewhere!
Here’s my pattern piece on a white 2X shirt – it didn’t fit and I refashioned this shirt for my daughter instead. The best way to check if your pattern will fit your shirt is to measure the width of the pattern pieces and measure width of the tee, some retailers have flat width listed. The dark tee is a tall 3X size, you can see how much longer it is.
Also bear in mind when selecting a tee how high up on the shirt the graphic is printed (the lower the better) and whether you will mind if the top of the graphic is cut off.
If you want a long, elbow or 3/4 sleeve tee also bear in mind the base color of the fabric. Many tees are available only in short sleeve so if you want a longer sleeve you’ll have to find matching fabric which is easiest with black and white. If you cannot match your sleeve fabric I suggest making a raglan sleeve shirt with contrasting sleeves. Also consider whether you’ll be able to match or contrast the neck binding fabric color.
I knew this green shirt would be really hard to fabric match for long sleeves so I used a raglan pattern that looks ok with contrast sleeves. You can see I had to cut off the top of the design – this often happens.
Here are some other raglan sleeve color combinations.
Also consider the fabric content of the shirt. I prefer 100% cotton jersey, but have had success with cotton/polyester blends. I tend to avoid rayon shirts, tri-blends or high polyester content because they are thin, drapey and can be harder to work with.
Get a pattern
In these examples I have used the Cashmerette Concord t-shirt for the set in sleeve shirts and the Hey June Lane Raglan for the raglan shirts, but you could use any basic tee pattern.
Size up! 100% cotton jersey graphic tees do not have the same stretch as a cotton-lycra jersey. You definitely need to account for this especially with a pattern like the Concord that has negative ease at the bust. I’d trace or print a new version of the pattern just for refashioning and less stretchy fabrics.
This is a shirt where I forgot to use my larger (for less stretchy knits) version of the pattern, and accidentally used the smaller version that works perfectly in a stretchy cotton-lycra jersey. This shirt feels very tight through the upper back.
Get extra fabric
You need extra fabric for the neck binding and long or contrast sleeves. I use cotton-lycra jersey fabric for both, usually left over from other projects. You could also use ribbing for the neck binding, but whatever you use it must have good stretch and recovery.
For both of these t-shirts the sleeves and neck binding are plain cotton elastane jersey and the body of the shirts are 100% cotton with less stretch. They work fine and you don’t notice the difference.
Cut up the T-shirt
Prewash your graphic tee, iron it and lay your shirt flat. Cut up the side seams (or where the side seams would be, most shirts don’t have them) to the underarm point, then along the sleeve seam. Open the shirt up and cut the shoulder seam and cut the sleeve off along the seams. If the neckline binding is pulling the fabric in a lot you may need to cut this off too, but I like to wait and see if this is needed.
Cut out your pieces
Lay out your new fabric on the fold and place your pattern pieces. You’ll now be able to see where the hemlines fall on the pattern pieces and where the graphic print will sit. You will probably need to be a bit flexible here as this don’t always fit exactly like your pattern pieces. Things to consider:
- Perhaps you can use the original cover-stitched hem of the t-shirt body and sleeves to get that extra bit of length? You won’t necessarily have the same hem shape as before but I have always been pretty happy with the resulting hemlines. It can be hard to get a women’s high cap short sleeve piece out of a mens commercial t-shirt sleeve so I often use the original short sleeve hem for shirt sleeved tees.
- Perhaps you need to cut a slightly higher neckline to keep your graphic intact? (and don’t forget to allow for seam allowance) That’s ok, I’ll tell you how to fit a custom neck binding.
- Perhaps you have to sacrifice the top of your graphic to get the open neckline you like? I’ve done this many times.
Make your decisions and cut your pieces out. Also cut out a new necking binding strip, and contrast sleeves if you need them.
This original shirt was smaller than I really needed but I used it anyway. I used the original coverstitched sleeve and body hems to get the most length than I could and lived with less ease through the body.
Sew your shirt together
Follow your patterns directions or your preferred method.
If you cut a custom neckline you’ll need to change the length of your binding piece. There are two ways to deal with this.
- Measure you neckline along the sewing line (not the edge of the fabric) and cut your binding piece 0.85 times this length. Use as normal.
- Cut a binding piece that is as long as the neckline. Sew one shoulder seam. Sew the binding to the neckline gently stretching the binding as you sew (and not stretching the neckline). Cut off the excess binding fabric and then sew the other should seam closed. This method is easier if you have sewn t-shirts before and have a feel for how much stretch to put into the binding.
This neckline binding is matching cotton-lycra jersey, with the seam allowance zig-zag topstitched after the binding was applied. You can see I chose to sacrifice the top of the graphic to get the open neckline I prefer.
If you were unable to match your binding fabric to the main t-shirt fabric then consider flipping it to inside and sewing it down to hide the binding.
For this shirt I cut a custom neckline to preserve as much of the graphic as possible. I then used a white jersey binding strip, sewn on with lightning stitch, flipped to the inside and zig-zagged down. I closed the second shoulder seam after applying the binding and sewed a few stitches to keep it flat.
Enjoy your one of a kind custom graphic tee!
This is a great tutorial. I have been refashioning tees for a few years now and was always so frustrated that most of the Upcycle books were all about creating either a shredded shirt, or something NOT a shirt from it. I can usually only get Mens shirts in my size at most of the Geek Shirt sites so i am forever customizing mine.
I have also been stuck with some shirts that were too small and had to put contrasting fabric along the side seams, and changing out the sleeves. The Ragline is a great option for when the design is high on the neck. That allows you to drop the shirt down to about where you want the neck line to be, and compensate with the secondary fabric. another good pattern is the sweetheart from P4P http://www.patternsforpirates.com/product/sweetheart-dress/
Fantastic Tute!! I went right out to buy a couple of mens’ tees!! Now to get the courage to do it!!
All last year I used this gusset idea to enlarge good quality thrift t-shirts and tops. It was fun and no one knew that my one of a kind shirt was my idea, and a perfect fit. This year after weight loss of 40 lbs I will be using these curvy t’s ideas to cut down these shirts that I still have in my stash. Thanks so much for a great tutorial.
Thank you so much for your tutorial! I love graphic Tees but hate how they fit. I was wondering what the best approach was to refashioned them so will try your method. I like the way you finish some of the necklines by turning them inside.
Great Info. Thanks. How about buying 2 tees in same color? You will then have extra fabric and ribbin for making longer sleeves aor hi-lo hems. Gusset with the extra has worked for me. I do not mind if I have a seam somewhere it normally is not. I solve this by making diagonal cuts at sewing in a piece. I love hacking up even 2-3 shirts. So comfortable to wear. GReat that I can wear to work because I wear a lab jacket over.
Thanks for the great examples. I teach school and have been plagued for years with t-shirts that choke me and make me look like a house! Wonderful!!!
These look great!!! Thanks for sharing your process.
In addition to using it for the sleeves sometimes I use cotton lycra for the back. If you do this you can cut straight up the back of the shirt if the hip part of you pattern could use a little extra fabric plus it gives the back just a bit more stretch.
This is a great idea! I might try it!
Amazon uk has a ton of pop culture/nerd type t-shirts, up to 5xl. I have just taken apart my ‘This is what a feminist looks like’ shirt, and I have another that’s Star Wars characters taking a selfie in front of Big Ben, and a third that just says BAM in comic book writing that are waiting. The colour choices above 3xl are low – only Black, Navy, Blue, and Red, but if you can get by with 2xl or smaller, there are more to choose from.
Thanks for the post! I am still working out how best to do these shirts, so this is perfect timing!
It was almost spooky to see this post. I also had given up on Threadless women’s sizing and ordered 3 big mens tees. I refashioned one and need to give 2 to Goodwill as i got a refund. Their printing has gone digital and is no longer as high end as I like. Fantastic article.
I find Threadless quality very patchy, some of my tees the graphic paint has peeled badly, others are totally fine. That’s why I didn’t link the site in the post as I can’t wholeheartedly recommend them, but they do stock the nature art designs I like.
These are fantastic! It also looks to me like a brilliant way of practising knit sewing techniques – neck bindings and all that kind of thing. Can’t wait to try it out!
What a fabulous idea! It’s annoyed me for a long time how the best graphics t-shirts seem to come in ugly shapes. Hah! I can fix that now! Thanks a million 🙂
Can’t believe I’ve never thought of doing this for me ! I refashion my hubbys old graphic tees for my kids all the time but it never even occurred to me to do it for me… a whole new idea !
These are great! Very nice job. I especially like the one with the cityscape with lightbulbs hanging down. This looks like a fancy dept store RTW tshirt, including the way the graphic cuts off at the neckline. Well a few years ago at least, I remember novel screen printing placements were a trend in the stores, with graphics wrapping around the side of the body and running into and off of the neck binding, sleeves, etc. It looks perfectly intentional, in other words! I’m totally inspired!
Those look great on you! So much more flattering than the boxy tees.
If you don’t have proper fabric leftover/in your stash to create a neck binding, I’ve had good luck using Fold Over Elastic (FOE) for neckbands. I’ve also cut sleeves from the contrasting fabrics of another (plain) large sized tee. #frankentees
I’ve been doing something like this for years, since I love graphic tees but am very curvy. I also can’t tolerate most crewnecks – I feel like I’m being strangled.
One tip I have is that if the original shirt is long enough, and you’re going to be shortening it to a length you prefer, is to take the already hemmed edge off the bottom and use it to bind the neckline. There’s usually more than enough fabric to do this, and it will match the shirt perfectly!
If I have to use a contrast binding, I try to match it to a color in the design. Sometimes I add a similar strip of fabric to the sleeve hem to match the neckline, giving a rather sporty look.
Awesome! You are rocking those Ts and making me want a bunch too.
This is awesome information. Hard to find garment weight knits sold near me but I can always find a thrift store! Thank you!!!!
Kelly,
Amazon, Kohl’s, and Target all have graphic tees in 4x and above online. I really appreciate you posting your tutorial on how to adapt men’s t-shirts to fit. Women’s tee’s are always too short and too small for me.
I have a ton of pre-babies T-shirts that are now too boxy, too short, and too tight across my new-mama tummy. This is the kind of re-fashion I’ve been itching to do but just haven’t found a good method for. I can’t wait to try out your method – thank you for sharing!
This, combined with Jacqueline’s gusset idea, just may be the ticket to me wearing my fun T’s again!
Really awesome! Thank you!
http://www.teepublic.com has up to 5x.
I love this idea and now I’m inspired. I buy my kids t-shirts of these sites which I love, but now may have to buy some for myself!
Redbubble, goes up to 3x mens, literally thousands of designs
Cotton Bureau, goes up to 5x mens, more curated, love the artists
This is great!
I have the problem that even the largest size graphic t-shirts available are typically not large enough for me because I am big with big boobs, and they are generally mens shirts, so not designed for that shape. I deal with this problem by getting the largest size and then inserting gusset — usually contrasting, because it’s hard to match fabrics well enough to not look off.
The basic process I use is:
1. Figure out how much circumference I want to add through four points the bust, the waist, and the hips on the torso of the shirt, and through the underarms on the sleeves of the shirt.
2. Figure out how far apart those four points are on the shirt, starting from the underarm seam.
3. Cut two gussets that run the length of the shirt from the sleeve hem to the underarm and then down to the bottom hem, shaping to hit the right measurements at each of the four points. Don’t forget to add some length on each end for hemming. Also, keep in mind seam allowances — you’re going to need width to account for the allowances on both your new piece and the existing t-shirt.
4. Cut the existing seams off the shirt as narrowly as possible. If it’s a shirt I value and want to keep long term, I also unstitch all or part of the sleeve and bottom hems on the existing shirt. If it’s a conference shirt or similar that I’m only wearing for a couple of days and don’t care that much about, I don’t worry about this, and just sew the pieces together across the existing hems. It’s lumpier, but much, much faster.
5. Stitch the gussets into each side of the shirt.
6. Either re-hem the sleeves and bottom because you unpicked them OR fold up the extra fabric from the gusset so it covers as much of the mess you just made by seaming through an existing hem as possible and then stitch the hem allowance up along the gusset.
Thanks for sharing your method! This is a great idea!
Jacquilynne, I would love to see a picture of one of your t-shirts with the gussets. I love your idea.
These side gussets are very popular now. One was recently the today’s special on QVC and sells for more than I want to spent on a Tshirt/tunic. This idea is a whole lot cheaper and more unique. Thanks for sharing this! You can also cut apart the larger Tshirt and color block it. Finished garment sizes are usually provided, including width at bottom of shirt, etc. So you can work with that when redesigning and save a ton of money! Check this one out: http://www.qvc.com/H-by-Halston-Short-Sleeve-Color-Block-Print-Knit-Tunic.product.A288596.html?sc=SRCH
Thank you for the ideas! I’ll be dropping off donations at Goodwill today. Then I’ll go inside and check out the large tees.
Looks Great! The new necklines and drape you created are so much more flattering to the figure. Love this idea, and I will give it a go. Thank you!
Kath
Fantastic! I love the raglan shirts you did too. A other online site that sells 3x is teefury -http://www.teefury.com – they do a tshirt a day that is about $12 and then they have some in stock designs too.
I really love the contrasting raglan sleeve styles that you did! They are right on trend. I think that you are very clever to have thought to remake a boxy t-shirt! I will definitely try it the next time I see a t-shirt that I like!
What a great idea! I’d never even thought of refashioning the tees this way. They all look perfect on you too.