Mens T-Shirt Refashion

My husband is constantly sending almost brand new shirts to the giveaway bag. Not because he’s wasteful, but because he’s tall! He has the absolute hardest time finding shirts that are long without being too wide (though he finally has some favorite brands, which I’ll share at the end in case you know someone in the same predicament.)

He has nice taste in fabrics though, so the shirts are always so soft and in such good shape that I can’t resist raiding the pile to see if I can make them into something for ME!

This t-shirt is a recent refashion from one of his cast off t-shirts and I’ve worn it a lot so I thought I’d share how easy it is to upcycle a mens t-shirt into a womens t-shirt.

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Haha, I JUST noticed my dog is in that after photo.

You can refashion a man’s shirt into a women’s shirt in a couple different ways.

Option 1 is to cut the shirt apart and use it as fabric, using a t-shirt pattern to remake the shirt. This is extra fun when you can get creative by combining shirts to get a contrasting neckband or sleeves, etc …

Option 2 is to use the existing shirt as is and just take it in and up. The two main things to be aware of when you do this is the size of the neckline and the placement of the shoulder seam. If your man’s shirt is very large, this option may not work out as well. Since my shirt had a nice v-neck line, I decided to use this option for this shirt. The shoulder seams are a little bit dropped off my shoulder, but that’s the fashion these days and it wasn’t dropped enough to widen me too much, so I went with it.

You can combine these two options if you like the neckline, but the shoulder seams are just not right. Instead of cutting the shirt apart all the way, just cut up the side seams and cut the sleeves off. Use a favorite t-shirt pattern as a guide to cut new sleeves and reshape the shoulders.

Here’s a visual of my process for this particular shirt:

I started by cutting of the original hem and shaping the side seams. While men’s shirts are straight down the sides, women’s usually taper in at the waist and out at the hips. It took a few try-ons and adjustments to get it just right.

Then, I shortened the sleeves and the bottom to a more flattering length.

That’s literally it. Instantly more feminine! And hopefully my husband doesn’t feel so bad for wasting his money on too-short shirts when I can just make them into something else, haha!

Now, as promised, here are the tank tops my husband recently ordered that he loves and are long enough for him. Also, Old Navy online has both short and long lengths of all the things for all the varieties of people, but you have to go online to get them (though you can return them in the store). He has a few long length shirts from Old Navy that he likes.

Speaking of varieties of people that are hard to find things for, I have wide feet and have the hardest time finding shoes in the colder months. UGH, it’s a recurring struggle. BUT, I’m on to something, guys! Last Summer I needed new Chaco flips and was super bummed when I found out they’re not making the flip flops in wide anymore. So I ordered mens! Mens shoes are naturally wider and a mens 7 is the same as a womens 9, which is my normal size. Then, today, we went to our consignment store, Plato’s Closet and I was shopping with my son and found these super cute mens hot pink Sperrys that were brand spanking new and the equivalent of my size. So all this time, I could have avoided my wide shoe drama by buying mens shoes!! LOL!

Cheers, ya’ll and Happy Thanksgiving!

Nikki