Cut up T-Shirt Tutorial and Totally Takin' It Back to the 80s

Greetings and happy belated Independence Day to all!! I've got another cute wearable craft for you,  This is a super easy tutorial for cutting up a t-shirt to wear with some cute cut-offs or a denim skirt!

A lot of today's styles have a bit of decades past in them and this particular trend reminds me of the 80's. A time when boys and girls shared eyeliner, spandex and AquaNet, the schools still had smoking areas and MTV was ACTUALLY MUSIC TELEVISION!! I am lucky enough to say this was "totally" the decade I grew up in!! From Jr. High to High School.! I was a "Stoner" in high school, my sister was a "Mod".  (Admittedly, there was that Madonna phase I went through, lol) Funny, nowadays I think everyone is all rolled up into one! Back then you knew exactly what kind of music a person listened to just by what they wore!  There were a lot of cut up  rock band t-shirts, shredded  jeans,  lace and fishnet stockings, and of course we cannot forget the legwarmers, scrunchies and the mile-high AquaNet sprayed hair!

The 80s were a fun time,  I'm glad I grew up when I did.  So here is my salute to the neon decade!

Here are the supplies you will need:

1) T-shirt

2) Ruler

3) Scissors

4) Marking Pencil

5) Beads (optional)

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STEPS


1) Lay out t-shirt flat and mark with your pencil where you want your fringe or cuts to start.

3) Cut off the bottom end of shirt, just above the hem, using the hem as a guide.

4) Using your ruler, mark your fringe cut lines about every half inch.

5) Cut the side seam of the shirt open to start your cuts. 

7) Start cutting on the lines you have marked, cutting through both layers of your shirt.

8) Your shirt should look something like this after you are finished (and don't forget the other side seam!

9) Now your are going to pull on each fringe from top to bottom.

10) Until you have something like in the picture. See how fringy it is?

11) Now we are going to make our cut lines for the neck.  Measure about 2 inches from the neck seam on the front side of the shirt and mark on both sides (right and left of front)

12) Draw a cut line from your 2 inch mark. This cut line is for the FRONT SIDE ONLY!  (TRUST ME, DON'T DO WHAT I DID ON MY FIRST SHIRT FOR THIS TUTORIAL, MORE ON THAT LATER, LOL) Make sure you do the same to the other side of the FRONT OF SHIRT.

13) Now we are going to mark our cut lines for the back side of the shirt. I just started my mark at the same 2 inch line on the front of the shirt and made a line across to the bottom of the neck seam like you see in the picture.

14) It should look something like this. Make sure you do the other back side.

15) Snip at your 2 inch mark through both sides, but do not cut through both sides, just cut off  the top neckline, being careful not to cut the back. It should look like the picture. Then just cut the back side across, above the name brand is a good guide or you can turn the shirt over and follow your back cut lines.

16) Your shirt should look like this after you cut off the neck line.  The first shirt I cut for this tutorial, I cut the front and back side of shirt at the same time which rendered the shirt completely un-wearable since there was not much to hold it up!! lol. Yes I like to learn my lessons the hard way.

18) Now we are going to make our sleeve cut lines, and cut off our sleeves. Start at the top of the shirt and follow along the inside of the seam line and about 2 inches down like you see in the picture. Do the same for the other sleeve. You could also leave your sleeves on if you wanted to.

19) Your shirt should look something like this after you cut both of your sleeves off.

And that's it! Now you have a cute cut up, fringy tank top to wear this summer! If you wanted to, you could add some beads to the fringes! I see a beaded shirt tutorial in our future!

I hope you love your shirt! And I hope you all are " like totally" enjoying your summer!  Heh.


Love & Light,


Michelle