DIY shirt repair

In detail: do-it-yourself shirt repair from a real master for the site my.housecope.com.

What if you accidentally tore a new item?
Throw away or give a chance for a "second life"?

Of course, it depends on how seriously the item was damaged, but if there is a possibility of recovery, why not try ...

Consider a similar repair using the example of a men's shirt.
So, there is a men's shirt with a tear in the pocket on the front.

It will not work just to sew up or glue the hole here, the gap is too large.

Therefore, you can make a semblance of an applique from the stitched tape.

In a fabric and accessories store, I bought a keeper cotton braid of a suitable color.
Before repairing a shirt, I cut off all the threads.

At first I wanted to glue a piece of suitable fabric from the wrong side to secure the cuts, but then I decided not to "weigh down" the product.

I take a non-woven adhesive, cut a strip to fit the gap and glue it from the inside out.

The cuts are reinforced and the look from the wrong side of the shirt is "decent".

Next, I try on the braid.
First so

Not that…
I dwell on the third option.

Image - DIY shirt repair


I pin the braid with pins and sew it with a straight line exactly to the edge.

Compare before and after renovation.

As I was later told - The shirt became even more beautiful!

Image - DIY shirt repair

Thus, you can repair not only a men's shirt, but also other things.

This repair method is simple, does not require special material costs, but it helps to return the "face" of the damaged product, as you could see from the example of repairing a men's shirt.

You can learn even more about how to repair and alter various things from my new course - "Sewing, repair and alteration or Remake with imagination." Details here

How to fix the collar? And so that the shirt will still serve!

Video (click to play).

Just flip the collar. The bottom, unworn part of the collar should become the outer, top. If you have already done this operation, you can make a radical change: cut and sew a collar from a contrasting or companion fabric, and so that this detail does not look foreign, add cuffs and / or a patch pocket, a pocket strip or fasteners from the same fabric.

If at the collar, as often happens, the fabric creeps out at the fold, then you need to take and using a ripping knife, which every seamstress or a regular blade has, rip the collar from the stand. Then darn a neatly worn place, or sew a narrow strip of fabric under it, turn it over so that the lower (preserved) part becomes the upper front part, sweep and then sew to the rack.

If the top has become completely unsuitable, rip off the collar from the rack and. on top of that, rip it open at the seams (but carefully so as not to damage the seamy side and the lining. Then iron and cut out a new collar on it (you can from the remnants of fabric, from the bottom of the shirt, from a completely different suitable fabric and combined with the shirt). Fold the top and the wrong side facing each other, put a gasket on top, sweep, sew, turn out and sew again at a distance of 0.5 cm from the edge. Then sew the collar to the stand.

If the stand is worn out, completely unplug the collar from the neckline; stamp the worn out part of the rack. Then turn the collar over so that the lower part becomes the upper front part, hem it to the neckline. It remains only to carefully sew the upper button loop and sew a button in its place, and make a new loop on the opposite side!

In fact, there are a lot of options - children's clothing, aprons, and much, much more. But today we will focus on the alteration of a man's shirt into a woman's.We offer you four master classes on sewing a women's blouse from a men's shirt, as well as a few additional ideas on how to alter a men's shirt.

Men's clothing is usually larger than women's. Therefore, that any alteration, which consists in reshaping men's clothing so that it fits well on a woman, will be associated with the need to reduce the size of the clothing. The following areas should be especially narrowed: shoulders, sleeves, torso.

The only exception would be the chest area. Men's shirts are shapeless in the front. Women, on the other hand, usually have a groove or some kind of fold under the bust, creating a bend. In any case, we will need to cut the bust so that the shirt has the correct curves if you are sewing for a feminine silhouette. It will be easier if you first make the undercuts, and then narrow the torso area.

To remake a men's shirt so that it fits well on a woman, three tasks must be completed:

  • Make the width from shoulder to shoulder narrower;
  • Make darts under the bust so as to get roundness in the chest area;
  • It is necessary to narrow the sleeves and the body of the shirt itself

Step one - narrow your shoulders:

1. Put on a shirt and mark where your shoulders end.

2. Take off your shirt. Draw a curve from the shoulder mark to the armpit, under the original seams in the sleeve. Fold the shirt in half and cut along the lines you have drawn, folding both sleeves together so that they are the same length.

3. Turn the shirt and both sleeves inside out. Lay so that the right sleeve is on the right side of the shirt and the left sleeve is on the left. The button holes on the cuff should be at the bottom.

4. Pin the sleeves back with pins. Do this by matching the top of the sleeve with the seam on the shoulders and the seam of the sleeve with the seam on the shirt. The right sides (outside of the shirt) should be facing each other.

You will end up with a hole in the armpit because the sleeve is shorter than the sleeve hole on the shirt. Just tie the sleeves to the shirt so that the hole is as small as possible.

5. Sew the sleeves to the shirt.

Step two - make darts:

1. Turn the shirt inside out and put it on. Draw a curved line just below the chest and up to the side of the shirt. This will be the dart.

If you notice that the dart goes into the shirt pocket, either dart below the pocket, or remove the pocket altogether to start.

2. Using a ruler, extend the line all the way to the edge of the shirt.

3. We need to transfer the dart to the other side of the shirt. If you're using chalk, just fold the shirt in half and bring the line over to the other side. If you want everything to be as accurate as possible, then take the following measurements:

a) The horizontal width from the top of the dart to the side of the shirt;

b) The length of the side of the shirt from the arm hole to the horizontal line I drew in the first step.

c) The length of the side of the shirt from the sleeve hole to the end of the dart. As you can see, I got it: 1) 17 cm; 2) 5 cm; 3) 23 cm. Use this information to draw an identical dart on the other side of the shirt.

4. Mark the darts with pins.

5. Sew the darts just below the line you drew with the ruler. How much lower is up to you. The basic rule is this: the smaller your chest, the closer to the line you should sew.

6. Turn right side of shirt inside out and measure. If you are satisfied with the grooves that you made, then turn the shirt inside out again and cut off the excess material that is above the dart line. Iron the seams of the darts.

Step three - narrowing the torso and sleeves:

1. Turn the shirt inside out and put it on. Mark where your waist line is, and then mark where you have the back of your hand. Always measure with a margin, the shirt, if necessary, can be narrowed a little more, but enlarged back - no.

2. Take off your shirt. Draw a straight, slightly curved line across your sleeve from armhole to cuff.Then draw a curve from the armhole to the bottom of the shirt. The widest part of the bend is the mark that marks your waist. Cut off.

Image - DIY shirt repair

3. Pin together to mark the seams at the armhole and sleeve cuffs. Use pins to mark the torso starting from the opening of the armhole. The darts will make the back of the shirt longer than the front.

Image - DIY shirt repair

4. Sew. Try to keep the seams of the armholes and dart seams open.

Image - DIY shirt repair

5. Iron all seams, measure. If you want the front and back of the shirt to be the same length, hem the back.

I tuck my shirt into my jeans, so this is not a problem for me. You can also cut the sleeves and re-sew them if they are too long.

Or make a summer shirt out of a winter shirt, cutting off the sleeves completely or leaving short ones. Do this before narrowing the sleeves.

If you can find a really long shirt (longer than mid-thigh), you can safely remake it into a dress.

The plaid shirt is a classic, it is present in the wardrobe of almost every girl. Here's a way to remake a mens plaid oversized flannel shirt with feminine accents.

Lay out and examine the shirt to see how it should change after the excess is cut. The larger the shirt, the more fabric you have to deal with to create the ruffles. You can also get fuller sleeves from larger shirts. Remove those pockets that are where you are going to place the ruffles.

Turn the shirt inside out, it should fit well on you. Pin the side seams on both sides to help shape the shirt. To make the shirt fit better, add small chest undercuts on both sides. Cut the fabric carefully, leaving 16mm of pins for seam allowance. Trace the openings of the armhole or draw directly onto the fabric with chalk.

To make ruffles on the chest, cut five strips from the remaining excess fabric of the shirt, measuring so that 1 part of the width is equal to 16 parts of the length. Sew each section lengthwise using a basting stitch. Pull gently on the thread to create a ruffle effect.

Pin the ruffles at the front of the shirt, and then sew in a zigzag stitch. For this rework, I decided not to hem the edges to achieve a worn effect.

Cut off the collar of the shirt where the stand begins. Sew the fifth ruffled strip to the inside of the collar stand.

In order to correctly determine the length of the sleeve, put on a shirt and pin the sleeves with pins to the length you need. If the shirt is large enough, you can end up with rather puffy sleeves that won't pinch your bicep. Gather excess fabric at the base of the sleeve to make lantern sleeves.

Finally, hem the bottom of the shirt to the length you want, and iron all seams.

1. First, take a regular men's flannel shirt, which will be at least two sizes larger than yours. From the excess fabric that comes from the sides of the shirt and the bottom of the sleeves, we will make ruffles (note the dotted line in the picture).

2. Cut along the dotted line to create four crescent-shaped pieces of fabric.

3. You will need to gather the edges of the cut fabric, thereby making the ruffles.

4. Sew on the pleated hem along the button and collar line. If you want, you can sew on 2 rows of cuts with ruffles on each side and use all 4 pieces of the cut fabric to make the shirt more interesting.

Image - DIY shirt repair

Image - DIY shirt repair

What is important to consider when making a dress from a shirt: You can make a stand-up collar by folding it in half, either folding it out or in, and then sew it on. It is best if you fit the outer edges of the ruffles to prevent excessive wear from washing. On one shirt, I tried to sew the collar only at the outer edges of the ruffles, but this made the fabric too thin and the ruffles did not hold their shape well.

Another option is to change a large-sized men's shirt into a women's blouse.

Image - DIY shirt repair

Image - DIY shirt repair

First, cut off the sleeves and unpick the side seams, leaving the shoulder seams intact.

Further, from the seamy side, we fasten it with pins so that we get a silhouette.

It is necessary to make a groove in the chest on the side and in the front, as well as a groove in the back, so that the shirt fits well.

We pin the sides of the shirt to place the undercuts in the right place. Then we sew the darts where they should be and smooth them out. Now is the time to try on the shirt and make sure that all the darts are in place, if not, you will have to reopen and sew the shirt so that everything is in its place.

After trying on, when you have made sure that all the darts are located where needed, we sew the side seams of the shirt. We measure the length of the shirt on ourselves from shoulder to bottom, and transfer these measurements to the shirt. Then we cut the hem of the shirt to the desired length.

We measure the length of the sleeve from shoulder to elbow and cut along the line corresponding to the new seam. After that, pin the sleeve to the shirt with pins and mark the new armhole with chalk.

In this model, the sleeves are lanterns, so we will collect the upper part with a thread before attaching it with pins to the shirt. After that, we pin them with pins and sew them backwards. This means that the cuff cut will now be in the front instead of the back, which will give you more freedom of movement.

Obviously, the cuffs were too small to be easily fastened at the elbow, so we tuck them in and iron them before sewing them on to the stitches that were already on the cuff.

The photo may not be visible, but on each sleeve, there are two button holes, so you can use cufflinks if you wish.

Sew on the extra buttons that remained on the cut-off bottom of the shirt onto these additional button holes to make the shirt more designer.

Image - DIY shirt repair

Image - DIY shirt repair

We offer you a few more ideas for converting a men's shirt into items of women's clothing:

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We wish you creative success!

Share your comments on the proposed ideas and master classes, and suggest your options.

Read about what you can do out of old jeans here.

For several months, I collected various ideas for reworking old things into new ones. Most of all "hooked" on the idea of ​​alterations from men's shirts. Not only interesting, but also very simple, even for beginners.

I share with you my stock of ideas.

Good ideas! The dress on the mannequin and the skirt were mesmerized! Thanks to!

.Image - DIY shirt repair

Worthy of the chosen one Image - DIY shirt repair

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