T-Shirt Metamorphosis
Make your favorite big ol' T-shirt into something you love to wear and look fabulous in. Whether you're going to wear it out with your friends on Saturday night, to the beach, or to the gym, you're going to make that coveted T-shirt into an interesting and fashionable piece. The great thing about oversized tees is that they give you a large margin for error. The smaller the T-shirt, the smaller the margin. Like anything you're going to cut, if you think it could end up smaller than your body, it's probably not the best thing to cut.

There are basic steps used throughout my T-shirt projects, so after you've learned these, the rest is just creative variation!

1. Lay out the shirt and make your first cuts.
To make navigating around the T-shirt a little easier, lay it out vertically in front of you, but you will be cutting it horizontally. If you hold the material taut while you're cutting (where and how you hold it will depend whether you are left or right handed), it will help guide the scissors where you want them to go. Start by cutting the waistband off, starting from about ¼" above the waistband. (a) I always cut off the waistband since it can be tight in areas and make the shirt harder to wear if you carry weight in your tummy. After it's been cut, pull at the bottom edge of the T-shirt, and the fabric will start to roll. The waistband has hem stitching in it. What's that? The hem stitches are those that keep the fold of the hem in place. I cut off the hem just above the stitching so the stitches do not interfere with the new T-shirt styling.

2. Create spaghetti strings.
To make a spaghetti string, start at the bottom of the T-shirt where you've cut off the waistband. Then cut about ½" from one end to another, which leaves you a long strip of a loop. (b) If you cut these strips too wide, the top will look wide on your body when you use it for corset lacing. (Anything that is corseted should look lean so you want to avoid adding bulk.) After you have made your loop, grab the two ends and yank it in opposite directions. When you pull them tautly, it creates a string which looks like spaghetti. Open it up by cutting one end so instead of a loop, you have a long string. (c) From this point on, whenever I mention "spaghetti strings" this is how you create them. They are long dangly strings I use to for corset laces, ties, or for decoration. However, the creation of spaghetti strings are not limited to the bottom of the T-shirt; for some of the projects will have you cut them vertically from shoulder down to bottom of the T-shirt.

3. Finishing off edges.
Sometimes when you cut, the edges get a bit jagged and are not perfect. These don't have to be cut perfectly, since the strips roll after being pulled. If there are any noticeably jagged edges, either snip them off or tuck them inside the roll. But if you want a more jagged and raw look, leave the edges be. I recommend paying closer attention to areas such as the armhole, so there's no pokey pieces in such a sensitive area.