Knot Shirt Refashion

I know you see them everwhere – TShirt Refashions.  I have to admit, a lot of them don’t really call my name.  But there are a few that make me think “I should try that!”.  Then, when at the grocery store, I noticed a bin of shirts for $1 (who knows why they were at the grocery store, but whatever) so I dug through and found 2 XL the same color – from what I read you always grab the XL for extra fabric.  Anyways, I thought, here’s my chance to try a TShirt Repurpose of my own..

I knew I wanted to keep it simple.  I pictured a ruffle around the neck and that was about all.  So I just dove in – measured a shirt of mine and cut around it:

But don’t use the pictures above as a guide – it went horribly wrong.  I pleated the sleeves because I thought it’d look nice and sewed it all back together – it was too small and the pleats made the sleeves super super tight. Ugh.

BUT, I had one more shirt, so instead of using it for strips I used it for the main shirt and cut up the one I had already messed up into strips.  Unfortunately at this point since I’d already had a failure I stopped taking pictures.  I ended up not cutting the sides at all, just taking them in a little (I’m now thinking that the “XL” must have been a child’s size….).  I also cut the neckline off so it wouldn’t look like a boxy t-shirt.  So then I cut the hem off the sleeves to match.
For the neck I tried a ruffle, but it was waaay over powering.  So I just slightly gathered a strip and tied it in knots:

And then I sewed between the knots to tack the strip down.

Some of the knots still fluffed wierd so I hand-tacked them down while I watched TV.  Not a big deal.
It went all the way around the front and back of the neckline and looked like this:

For the sleeves, I just used a skinnier strip and tied the knots a little more frequently.  I also added a pleat to the edge, (not to the shoulder like on the mess-up shirt) for a more fitted look:

I think it turned out alright.  I’m not in love with it, but it’s not bad.  Since there’s no stability on the neckline, since I cut that off, the knots kind of weigh it down as the day goes on and they fold over a little, so that’s kind of annoying.  Plus the actual shirt could be longer for my taste, but once again, it must have been a kid’s shirt.   But hey, for $2, it works.   Anyways, I realized these TShirt Refashions aren’t as easy to just “whip up” as they look!!