Turtleneck Makeover
May 9, 2010 Anitra Crafts, Projects, Sewing, Techniques and Mediums, Trends No Comments
By Recycled Crafts Contributor, Anitra from the blog “Coffee Pot People”.
We are a t-shirt nation, and I’m a t-shirt girl. Also sweat shirts. And sweaters. Anything that’s casually attractive, comfortable, and easy to throw on for a day’s work around the house or studio, or running errands.
The problem is the crew necks they put on most sweat shirts, and many tees, too. They really are not very flattering on most of us. I tend to compensate with a layer that has either a shirt collar or turtleneck, which both look good on practically everybody.
The other day I pulled out this turtleneck tee, which was a favorite until its 100% cotton self shrank the sleeves to an uncomfortable not-quite-three-quarter-length. I bought it as part of an outfit, to go under another favorite, a lime green sweatshirt. What to do?
The rescue, a dickey, was as close as my scissors , and not only saved the shirt, but gave me a cooler way to layer up, with Spring here, and Summer literally hot on its heels.
First, I cut off the sleeves, cutting close to the serged seam, but leaving that seam with the garment. Then I slipped the now-sleevelesss shirt on, and decided how far down I wanted the dickey I was making to go. Since that green sweat shirt has a zippered neck, I made the dickey fairly long; you may decide to go shorter.
Taking the shirt off again, I cut straight across, from armhole to armhole, still leaving the underarm sleeve seam intact. That nice serged seam they use on this sort of garment was staying, to become underarm loops that would keep the dickey from skewing as I moved around.
Then I did the same thing in back, but I made the back shorter.
That’s all there is to it—a shrunken turtleneck rescued, and turned into a dickey, no sewing at all involved, since that lovely jersey knit fabric doesn’t fray and doesn’t need hemming, especially if the edge won’t show anyway.
Best of all? You’ve used the collar and upper shirt, but you still have the sleeves and lower body left, ready to become arm warmers (cut thumb holes and sew a bit narrower, to fit) and a “skirt” to layer under a tee, with nothing more than an elastic casing at the top.
