DIY Front Tie Shirt

Hi everyone! My sister really likes the shirts that tie in the front so I thought I'd try and DIY one of them. Apparently these are called "Tie Front Shirts" or "Front Tie Shirts"?? Anyways, these are perfect for warm weather and are great if you're looking for a casual top. I have so many old tee shirts and I love turning them into something I can wear again!

Materials:
- Old tee shirt
- Shears
- Ruler or measuring tape
- Pin


I used a black shirt, in hindsight a lighter colored shirt would work better for this look, especially in summer!



Steps:

1. First, go ahead and cut off your sleeves and the collar part of your shirt. After you get the collar off, you can decide on what neck line you want. I went with a small v-neck but you could try boat neck, scoop neck (you could get crazy!) etc.



2. Here, you should measure out where you will cut your shirt. I pinned a few spots (on my shirt, not the website!) as references. I started cutting 6 inches from the bottom of my shirt on both sides, meeting in the middle on the front of my shirt just above the hem. Make sure you're only cutting the front of your shirt!

3. For the back of your shirt, I cut it in a bit of a "U" shape. The lowest point was 3 inches from the bottom of the shirt. This shape will keep you a little more covered up than if you just cropped it straight across. The sides of our "U" shape should be a 6 inches, meeting with the cut we made on the front.

4. Now on the front of our shirts we have to cut the two parts that will tied together to make our Front Tie Shirt. Just start in the middle and cut upward. This cut on my shirt is about 7-8 inches, which seems like a lot but it has to be long enough so that you can tie the two pieces together. I recommend trying it on and seeing how it feels. When you decided that the cut is long enough, try and cut out a small circle at the top of the cut. This will hopefully prevent the pieces ripping further apart.

5. Try on your new Front Tie Shirt and tie those ends together!

What I've learned:

- Cut your shirt as straight and clean as possible, try your best! (Mine's a little raggedy...)
- Try your shirt on between steps or whenever you want to double check anything. I adjusted my neckline about 5 times, trying it on after every adjustment to see if it looked better!


Here's what my new Front Tie Shirt looks like! I really like that it's a little longer in the back since I'm showing my midriff!

I think I would wear this shirt (or this type of shirt in a different color) to a picnic, barbecue, and going to the pool or beach as a cover up! My sister likes it a lot so I guess I'll be making more anyways!

I hope you guys like this DIY and that you get the chance to try it out yourself! Let me know how it goes!


Alison :)

DIY Tank Top

I have a whole bunch of old tee shirts so I thought I'd try and make some of them more wearable, instead of only wearing them to sleep! This was a super easy project and although my first attempt did not come out as great as I would have liked, I have plenty of other shirts to practice on. Read on to see what I did!

Materials:

- Old tee shirt

- Scissors

I started off by cutting the sleeves off and then collar part of the shirt. This is where you can really customize the look and fit of your soon-to-be tank top. I decided to go with a V-neck and thinner straps. Then, I cut off the bottom hem of the shirt all the way around. Keep in mind, you will need this part in the next step so try and cut it evenly! (I didn't do that great of a job heh)

Now flip your shirt over and take the long hemmed piece you just cut off and wrap it around the two straps. This will give it a racerback look. I wrapped about a 3 inch section, but this part is totally up to you! I ended mine with a small tied bow, but I know others have knotted it in different ways.

And.... your done! Try it on and check it out! Here's the front of mine:

And here's the back (I'm wearing a bandeau underneath):

What I've learned:

- Try on your shirt throughout the process to make sure you like the cut

- Do your best to cut clean, straight lines! (I'm going to do a better job with this next time)

This DIY tank would be great for wearing tot he gym, or on a lazy weekend or even casual events where you have to wear some kind of tee shirt. I wish I knew about this in college when I had all of those fundraising, student group and organization events.... could have made my shirt fun and pretty!

I hope you try this and let me know what you think!