Do you have a t-shirt you love, but it just doesn’t fit quite right? Maybe you found it at a thrift store and thought it would fit. Maybe you lost some weight and it looks frumpy now. Maybe it’s just stretched out a bit, but still has lots of life left. No matter what, resizing adult t-shirts is pretty easy.
First you need a t-shirt that fits nicely. This will be your pattern. You can see here how the shoulders are too long and the sides are just a little too wide.
The next step is scary. You have to cut the sleeves off. Cut as close to the seam as possible and don’t cut into the sleeve. You’re going to reuse them after slimming down the body.
Next, line up the neckline and mark where the sleeve seam is. I put a pin at the shoulder and side seams.
Draw a line (either real or just eyeball it) and cut the new line leaving room for a seam.
The sleeve hole is going to look really big because first we need to take the sides in a bit. Pin your new side seam based on your nice fitting t-shirt. Sew down each side and serge it if you want.
Now you can pin your sleeves back in and sew them back on. Make sure that you put right sides together. I normally do this by having the shirt wrong side out and the sleeve right side out. Then I tuck the sleeve into the shirt. Line up the underarm seams. Sew and serge if desired.
Now, try on your “new” shirt.
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