I don’t know why but decent quality plain black cotton lycra is impossible to find around here! And when you do, it’s really pricey. I’ve been hunting for ages because I really need some black t shirts! I tried looking for second hand ones but plus size pickings are very slim (pun, hehe!). So gave up and decided to buy some. Even then I couldn’t find anything in my size with a nice scoop neckline. I like a fairly wide and deep scoop but not too low. Otherwise I have the dreaded bread loaf  boob (like one boob, like you stuck a loaf of bread up your top). In the end I bought a few tees with a high neckline and then I could re cut them to the neckline I desired. I wanted to keep two plain black but with a deeper, wider neckline because a plain black tee is a necessity! With the other I thought I’d add a contrast fabric and a tie up detail.

The process is pretty simple. With the tshirt folded in half, I chalked in the new neckline with a curved ruler. I had one of my favourite old tees nearby for reference. I cut along the shoulder seam and down my chalked line. When I got to centre front, I flipped the cut section and used a few pins to secure it, it makes an easy template. I cut the second half of the front next. Since I knew I was going to do this to a few more of the exact same tee, I used this template for the next ones too.

Since the neckline is wider than the original neckline, I needed to fix up the back neckline too. I didn’t want to lower the back neckline much but I needed to join it up with the new front. I chalked a curved line from the new front and then basically followed along the existing back neck. Again, I used the first cut half as template to cut the other side of the back neckline. Then I had my new neckline ready for binding.

I had an old black tee of mums and I cut it into 5cm or 2” strips, so I could use it as neck binding for the plain tee. I folded the binding strip in half lengthwise (hot dog) with right sides together. I pinned the binding to right side of the tshirt, so all three raw edges aligned. I made sure to put some tension on neckband as I pinned, so it would be shorter than the neckline itself. This prevents flappy or gaping at the neck. I work out the length/tension by eye and prefer a tighter neckband because of my body shape (my boobs can distort the shape and make the neckline look baggy if I don’t tension enough). It’s just one of those things you get a feel for. If you need to know exactly how to do it, this video from Annika Victoria has a great step by step on how to make a tshirt from scratch (if you just want the neck and arm band bit, start at 12:46).

Using the lightning bolt stitch (and stretch stitch will do) on my machine, I sewed the neckband on with a 6mm or 1/4″ seam allowance. I flipped everything so that the seam allowance was tucked inside the body of the shirt, pointing to the hem. Using the same stitch, I top stitched a few mm below the neckband, sewing thorough the seam allowance. This keeps the neckline flat and stops seam allowance from flipping to the right side.

That was it for the plain black tees. They may not be very exciting but for me, black tees are an important compliment to my many novelty half circles skirts, stretch skirts and just jeans. Plus they make a good background for brooches! Everyone needs basics and this is a quick way to get the neckline you want when you just can find it anywhere!  Let’s move on to more exciting things!

This project starts out pretty much the same. I chalked and recut the neckline, as I did before but I also trimmed the hems from the sleeve. I wanted to have a contrast neckline and sleeve cuff. I cut a 5cm or 2” wide strip of cherry red cotton lycra for the neck band. For the cuffs, I measured the length of the original sleeve hem and took 2.5cm or 1” off that measurement to get my length. I cut two rectangles of that length by 15cm or 6” wide. This will give me a finished cuff that extends about 7cm. I pinned and sewed and topstitched both the neckline and sleeve cuffs in same way as I did for the black tees. Yes, the sleeve cuff goes on the same way as the neckline.

In my original plan, I was going to make the tie part of the neckline. I wanted the tie off to the side, which would get in the way if you wanted to wear a cardigan and I probably do. In that instance, I’d want the tie in the centre front. I was having a sewing day and I also made a striped dress with contrast neckline and sleeves from this same cherry red fabric. That would look cute with a tie too! So I decided to make a removable tie that could be worn on both garments and be placed wherever I liked on the neckline. Genius! I made the tie the same way I did for these hair bows, same measurements and everything. When I was done I tied it up and stitched a brooch pin to the back. Gorgeous!

I am so pleased with these tees! I made two plain black ones and the cherry contrast one in an afternoon. To me, the best part of sewing is having exactly what you want and I don’t mind altering some RTW to get it. It’s a budget friendly and quick way to add basics to your wardrobe. I will be doing this with other tees in the future, with an eye to embellishing them. I have saved some way to small tshirts that have cool graphic prints on them. I think I may cut around the print and applique it on or maybe add some heat transfer vinyl. Yeah for a drawer full of tees with the perfect neckline!

P.S. I have used the cherry red fabric in a few projects and was super excited when I remembered I had a shrug made out of it! And my red skirt is almost a 100% match! Yay for the matchy matchy! You can see it all together with the tee in my Me Made May 17 post.