So I bought a white shirt. And spilled something on it. Of course, that’s what white shirts are for. Luckily the stain was on one of the sleeves, so I thought about cutting them off. I read a lot of blogs about upcycling clothes lately and discovered a whole bunch of knock offs of this jcrew shirt:

My craft alarms set off and I decided to do this myself. Since I wasn’t sure how this would turn out, I tried it on a second, even older and more worn-out shirt before. Just in case. It turned out pretty well and now I have two – goody!

For doing it I found Suzannah’s tutorial most helpful. She blogs at Adventures in Dressmaking – a totally awesome blog you should check out if you’re into sewing and crafting.
Ok, now: Here’s my version of how to do it:

Mark the line where you want to cut off the sleves. To find out what’s the perfect length for you, put on the shirt, measure from the end of the left shoulder to the point where you want your sleeve to end. Add the seam allowance and mark the line at a right angle.

Cut off the serged seam allowance and the hem.

Trim the pieces of fabric to two even rectangles.

Cut one of the sleeves into evenly sized strips of about 1,5 inch/4cm.
Cut the other one into larger strips (2inch/5-6cm).

Hem the shortened sleeves of your tee.

Sew all 1,5 inch strips together into a longer single strip. Do the same with the 2 inch strips.

Now, for the ruffles:
Sew along one side on both of your strips with straight stitches. Use large stitches and a tight tension, it makes it easier to pull the top thread to gather the fabric.

Gather the first strip piece (1,5 inch) until it reaches the circumference of the neckline of your tee and pin it in place (see picture below), pointing up.

Sew along the seam of the ruffles.
Now do the same with the wider strip piece, pin it starting at the shoulder seam, pointing down. Cut it shortly before reaching the middle of the front neckline/ just above the V, if you’re using a V-neck tee. Sew down.

Use the cut-off rest and sew it on the top of the second strip. Start a few inches behind the shoulder seam and cut the strip off a few inches after the second strip. This way you’ll get a smooth transition between the pieces.

Trim the second and third strip into a nice round shape at the end. And you’re done!

For the white one I added a lace layer instead of the second strip.

Because just trimming the lace at the end makes it look rather ragged, I pinned it in place in a round shape, as you can see in the picture below. This way I wont need trimming.

Before adding the third strip:

I also added some lace to the hem of the sleeves.

Now I’m glad I didn’t throw it away. Two “new” shirts – yay!