My son recently found a Ninja Turtles sweatshirt in a bag of hand-me-downs. It’s too big for him, but he wants to wear it now.
It’s also long sleeved and we live in SWFL where it’s almost always summer (except for a couple weeks in January where I actually had to turn the heat on…I hate turning the heat on!).
Anyway, I found the perfect color of cotton spandex in my recent material order so I can make him a raglan – short sleeves, possibly with a hood.
My first step is always to cut the sleeves off.
Since I don’t want to rehem the shirt, I’m not going to cut the side seams. This makes laying the pattern pieces out a little tricky, but hopefully it will work out. The print on the front was slightly off center meaning that when I cut out the new front, I’m going to cut some of this sword off.
The front doesn’t look too bad. I believe the original shirt was a 14/16 and I’m making a 10. Not a huge change, but even so, the design just fits on the front.
I’m always worried that the neckline is going to be too big, but I’ve learned to wait until I have the hood or neck band on…it always looks much better!
With the hood sewn on, the neckline fits so much better and there’s still some growing room (very important!).
This kid loves making all different faces while I’m trying to take pictures. Plus we’ve got a new cat who thinks he needs to try opening all the doors.
Really Mom, you need another picture??
So, have you ever upcycled a shirt into something new? If not, you should try it! It’s really not that hard.
*affiliate link* The pattern I used here is the Rowan Raglan. If you buy it through my link, I earn some money (it doesn’t cost you anything extra! 🙂 ). Read more about affiliate links on my disclosure page.
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