How To Tailor A T-Shirt [0:00:00]
Men, we come in all shapes and sizes. Very few of us ever find a t-shirt that fits us
perfectly right off the rack. In fact, if you’re like me, you’ve often had to compromise
on fit because you can’t find exactly what you want.
In today’s video, gents, I’m going to share with you exactly how to easily adjust
your t-shirt, so it fits you perfectly. Now, let’s start things off by talking about
limitations. A t-shirt must fit in the neck and the shoulders. Those areas are pretty
much impossible to adjust. But, sleeve width, the fit in the waist and the length of the
t-shirt, all of that can be adjusted. All you need is a sewing machine and a little
bit of knowledge to make these adjustments at home.
So, to get started, these are the tools you need; a sewing machine, sewing pins, safety
pins, fabric pencil or chalk, a ruler, scissors. So, let’s get started with sleeve width.
Unless you’ve been consistently hitting the gym, most men are going to be thin or
average in size when it comes to the arms. What that means is you’re going to have
a little bit of extra room in the sleeves. Now, we start with the sleeves because not
only is it an easy fix, but it’s going to make the fit of that shirt looks so much better.
So, to get started, pinch the fabric on the underside of the arm until it lightly hugs
your bicep, then secure it with a safety pin. Do the same to the other side, then take the
shirt off and turn it inside out. Lay the shirt down flat and grab your fabric
pencil and ruler. Mark a straight line from the armpit of the shirt to the safety pin
mark. Remove the safety pin, then put a sewing pin or two on the sleeve to make sure it doesn’t
move. Now, it’s time to sew. Choose thread that
closely matches the color of your shirt. You want it to blend into the fabric. Now, you’re
going to be sewing with the straight stitch, go with the 2.5 mm stitch length.
Next up, install the walking foot attachment if your sewing machine has it as this will
feed stretching that fabric through evenly instead of creating a wavy seam. Position
the t-shirt in the sewing machine, so the sharp end of the pins are pointing away from
you. This makes them easier to remove. After the first couple of stitches, make a
back stitch. This will lock in the thread and prevent your stitch from coming undone.
Stitch down the line you drew with your fabric pencil removing the sewing pins as you go.
Once you reach the end, add a couple more backstitches to finish. Be sure to sew in
a straight line, don’t zigzag back and forth. Now, take your scissors and cut off the extra
fabric leaving a quarter of an inch for seam allowance. Sew a zigzag or over lock stitch
to create a clean finished edge. Next up, let’s adjust the t-shirt waist.
So, if you’ve got a bit of a drop or a muscular built, it’s common for t-shirts that fit
in the chest to be too baggy in the waist. To get started, put on the t-shirt and use
your safety pins to bring in the sides until you’re happy with how the silhouette looks.
Make sure it’s even on both sides and then turn the shirt inside out and lay it on a
flat surface. Using the safety pins as a guide, draw two
lines with your fabric pencil from the bottom of the shirt to the armpit. Next, switch out
your safety pins for sewing pins and it’s time to start sewing.
Just like the sleeves, you’re going to use a 2.5 mm straight stitch. Add a couple of
back stitches once you start, then follow the line you drew, removing the pins as you
go. Finish with a couple of back stitches at the end and you’re solid.
Now, cut off the fabric leaving a quarter inch of seam allowance. Finish off with a
zigzag or over lock stitch for a clean end result.
Next up, let’s adjust the shirt length. So, a common problem for a lot of guys especially
those on the shorter side is that the t-shirt is way too long. In general, the perfect fitting
t-shirt is going to go about 2 to 3 inches below with the beltline. You don’t want
the t-shirt so long that it looks like a dress, but not so short that when you raise your
hands, it exposes your midsection. So, to get started, put on the t-shirt and
measure how much you need to shorten them by. Next, take the t-shirt off, turn it inside
out and lay it on a flat surface. Line up the front and back of the shirt, so it’s
perfectly even and then pin them together. Now, using the measurements you took earlier,
mark how much you’ll be removing and then draw a straight line an inch below that. The
reason it’s going to be an inch below is you want to have enough excess fabric to create
a hem. Now, using a pair of scissors, cut across
the line you just drew. Next, fold up the fabric to form that hem pinning it in place.
Now, make sure to place the pins, so you’ll see them on the outside of the shirt. This
is going to be important later. And if your t-shirt has side seams, make sure they line
up properly. Now, it’s time to sew. For the hem though,
we’re going to sew it a little bit differently. You see, t-shirts are made from knit fabric,
which means they have more stretch than a woven fabric such as dress shirts.
What this means is you want your hem to be able to stretch with the rest of the fabric.
To do this, we’re going to replace the regular needle with the double needle and set the
machine to a straight stitch. What the double need does is it creates a zigzag stitch on
the back of the fabric allowing it to stretch. Turn your shirt right side out, so the zigzag
will be on the inside and the double straight lines on the outside. Position the shirt so
the right needle will be three quarters of an inch from the fabric edge.
Sew as normal creating a back stitch and then sew straight across the hem removing the pins
as you go. Once you reach the end, finish off with a couple more back stitches and you
are done. Congratulations, you now have the perfect fitting t-shirt.
But, what about your jeans? Don’t worry, gents, I got you covered in this video right
here, two easy ways to hem your jeans. [Music]
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