T-Shirt Makeovers, Part 2

Here is shirt #2. I am calling it a cardigan…but it’s really a little bolero with bias trim and a covered button.

cutting bias strips for trim

First I found a cute fabric that matched a light green T-shirt. I cut 2 1/4″-wide bias strips and pieced them together at the ends to form one continuous strip.

piecing strips--don't forget seam allowances!

Then I pressed open the seams, folded the strips in half lengthwise, pressed, unfolded and folded one long edge to meet the center foldline. Then I pressed again.

pressing open seams

pressing in half lengthwise, with wrong sides together

pressing one long edge toward center foldline

Then I cut the T-shirt up the center front, and approximately 12″ from the neckline center. I used a French curve to cut out the right and left curve along the center front.

curving right-side center front

cut and ready for binding

I wrapped the raw edge with the binding strip, and I used the nifty ditch-quilting foot from Janome to topstitch the binding in place from the right side. It worked great and caught the binding fold on the wrong side with every stitch!

using the ditch-quilting foot for binding

I used a snap to close the upper edge and decided that it needed some embellishment, so I sewed a covered button to conceal the snap.

finished shirt #2

I’m going to try this same technique with wider binding as a cardigan, complete with a front button closure. This is a great way to use really cute fabric on a plain T-shirt without being gaudy about it!