Repurposing: Adult Shirt to Kid Shirt

Here's a little revamp I did on an old shirt of mine. Please note now: This isn't a fancy dancy shirt. Just a plain Jane going to be another plain Jane. But you of course could add a fun little embelishment of some sort. I just didn't.

Okay, so here's the beginning shirt:

Use a shirt that already fits your little one as a model. Lay it on top of your shirt, lining them up at the top.

Add and inch to the length and cut it off in a straight line. Then cut from how wide you need the shoulder to be plus about 1/2 inch and cut it at a slight diagnol to the bottom of the shirt. Now cut a VERY slight J shape where the arms will go. (Click picture to view better).

Turn your shirt inside out and sew the shoulders straight across and in about 3/4 inch. This will make the neck just a bit smaller. I made this for a 2.5 yr old so you may want to adjust the size here.

Then sew down the sides of the shirt, leaving the arm holes alone. Fold the bottom in 1/2 inch and then another 1/2 inch and sew 3/4 inch in from the bottom. Then fold the arm holes under 1/4 inch and then another 1/4 inch and sew close to the edge all the way around.

Now you could stop there and have a sleeveless shirt. It would look like this:

Or keep going on sleeves. Using some of the material from the bottom of the shirt (or from the sleeves) cut a strip 3x10 inches. Note: My material was a knit type and didn't fray, but if you are using cotton or other fraying material, you will need to fold over your edges and sew to prevent fray. Then sew a wide basting stitch and gather your sleeve.

No picture to show this, but tie off the strings when you get it gathered to about 6 inches to hold it in place. Then fold your strip in half and place a pin there.

Then with your shirt inside out, pin your gathered strip on to the shoulder area, matching your pin up with your shoulder seam. Then add a few pins to hold it tight. Now the tricky part. (sorry no picture again.) See in the bottom corner of my picture there is the corner of the strap? Okay pin that puppy on to the shirt and start sewing there and continue over your gathers and down to the other corner of the strip.This will finish the sleeve nicely. In the next picture you may be able to see what I am talking about too.

And there you have it, a 'new' shirt for a happy little face.