What's Too Tight and Too Short? Not This Shirt!

So, I've learned that buying clothes from a yard sale or Goodwill can be a gamble with the sizing if you don't try on the clothes. I encountered this problem with both Shirt #1 and Shirt #2 in the above picture. I can't remember why I didn't try them on. I wanna say it was a time issue. Anyways, In the first picture, the shirt is too tight even though the tag assured me it shouldn't be. (Liar, Liar pants on fire!) The problem with Shirt #2 was everything. The cut was awful, there was just no shape whatsoever, and it was way big (it may not look like it in the picture, but trust me on this one). The pattern wasn't bad, and the colors are what prompted me to purchase it. However, that pattern all over the shirt turned out to be just TOO much.  I think I only spent about $5 total on the shirts.

 I'm sure I'm not the only one that feels this way, but I'm a big fan of long shirts. After you hit 30 and have a baby, you tend to not like short shirts. I also don't care for clingy shirts that show any lumps and other such imperfections goin' on under my clothes, amiright?  And if I'm being honest here, most of the shirts I own these days are too clingy for my taste. I think I'm gaining too much weight...or the shirts could be shrinking...Yeah, I like that, lets go with that! ;)

So, I've come up with a really good solution to the too tight, too short problem. I took two shirts and formed them into one miracle shirt! 

 Enjoy this fun tutorial! 

      First, decide which shirt is going to be your main shirt. The other shirt will be for accents.  With the main shirt, cut the side seam open about 10 inches from the bottom. Do this on both sides. (I would have used the seam ripper for this, but since my shirts are knit, I didn't want to rip holes. And lets face it, scissors are faster.) It should look like this:

Next, you're going to cut out two triangle pieces of fabric to make inserts where you cut up the sides seams of the main shirt.  With the accent shirt, I measured 6 inches across the bottom, at an angle measured up 10 inches and at the "point" of the triangle, I made it 1 inch across. (This could vary depending on how loose you want your shirt) Cut out two of these.

 Turn the main shirt inside out. Lay the triangle (right side down) and pin the triangle to the shirt. You want to pin the right sides of the fabric to each other. Once that is done, sew it together. I used a zig zag stitch. Not sure if this is the correct way to do it, but I've found that zig zag works well on knit fabrics. There is actually a special needle you can buy for this, but I don't have one. I think it's called a double needle.

 Now your shirt should be wider than before and not clingy.

To Lengthen your shirt: 

You need to decide how much longer you want your shirt to be. I cut 4" wide and gave myself 1/4" seam allowances. You'll need to measure around the bottom of the shirt to decide how long your strip of fabric needs to be. The best way is to carefully line up your shirt and measure across and double that number. My measurement was 28"x2. But it will probably be different for you. (If you don't have one continuous strip of fabric the length you need, you can sew them together like I did below.)

Once that's taken care of, you need to pin the strip of fabric (right sides together) on the hem of the main shirt.  Then sew all the way around the hem of the shirt. I used a straight stitch on this part. I'm not sure why, I just did. Once you get to the end, you need to sew the two ends of your fabric strip together. Do this carefully, I messed mine up twice.  Oh, and pay no attention to that seam ripper in the picture...I didn't use it, it was just there.

Lastly, if you have any raw edges that you need to hem, you should do this now.

 Wasn't that easy? Now you have a one of a kind shirt that's pretty and comfortable!

I'm so ready for spring...can you tell? =)

These are the accessories I added to my outfit. I got the shoes for 25 cents at a yard sale 2 years ago. The flower barrette is from H&M (on clearance) and I made that bracelet. 

Thanks for reading! I hope this tutorial helps someone salvage shirts they may have thrown away! =) 

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