Your old T-shirts, or the ones you no longer wear because you don’t like how they fit, are diamonds in the rough. Those days of turning clothes you no longer wear into cleaning rags are over (in any case, it would be more useful to turn them into T-shirt yarn). With a pair of scissors, a few supplies, some skill, and a good dose of inspiration, you can turn a basic T-shirt into an eye-catching design. Today we’ve rounded up four easy ideas for customizing T-shirts from around the web, so you can feel as if you’re wearing them for the first time again—with the added pride that comes from making them with your own hands.
Time to customize T-shirts!Vertical strips and knots.
This first technique is very easy, and the final result will depend on how far you want to take it with the scissors. In this case, you need to cut as far as you want to show. You don’t need to measure or mark anything. Just cut off the bottom of the T-shirt (where the seam is), then start cutting strips of whatever width you want vertically, from the bottom of the T-shirt toward the neckline. Once you have all the strips, tie each one to the strip next to it. If you’ve made the strips very long, you can continue knotting them in two ways: keep joining each strip to the one immediately next to it, or join it to the following one. Look at the photo we’ve included and it will be clear.
Knots at the hips.
This one is even easier than the previous idea. It works well on T-shirts that are wide at the bottom. You’ll give them a new, more flattering style, and you’ll be able to adjust them around the hips without making them too tight around the belly (that cursed area). You only need to cut vertically, right alongside the side seams, while avoiding the seams so they don’t come undone. Once you’ve made the openings on both sides, simply tie a couple of knots as shown in the photo, and you’re done. For an asymmetrical effect, you can cut just one side.
Ribbon and bow.
In this case, in addition to scissors, you’ll need a ribbon or some fabric you like. If you’re going to use a piece of regular fabric, remember to sew a line of stitching along the strip so it doesn’t come apart. If you use ribbon, knit fabric, or another fabric that doesn’t fray, this won’t be necessary. Use the scissors to make cuts on the front of the T-shirt the same width as the ribbon you’re going to use: mark the points where you’ll cut and space them evenly so the result looks nice. Thread the ribbon through as shown in the photo and secure the ends with a few stitches or fabric glue. At the top, add a bow, a flower, or whatever decoration you like best. You can sew it on, glue it on, or use a safety pin so you can switch it out… Do it yourself!
Vertical strips and snaps.
For this design, you’ll need to be a little careful with the scissors (or the cutter) because the cuts you need to make on the back of the T-shirt are a little different. You have to alternate simple cuts with others where you remove small pieces of fabric. The easiest thing is to draw the cutting lines first with a marker so you don’t get confused. Once you have turned the back into strips, join them together as shown in the photo, creating a kind of diamond-shaped net. For making the joins, the easiest, quickest, and most effective option is to use the snap machine. You can do this across the entire back or just part of it—only the top, only the bottom… it depends on the result you want.
There are so many more easy ideas for customizing T-shirts using nothing more than a pair of scissors and a little extra. If you’d like us to put together another post with a few more ideas to keep looking for inspiration, just ask us, and we’ll gather the easiest and most original ones so you can keep giving your wardrobe new life.
Time to cut and debut your new designs!