Chop Job

I went to State  Girls Ministry Camp this year knowing it was the last time, as our church is  discontinuing our participation in that program.

I did not intend to get a t shirt; I have plenty of T shirts from years past, and I really couldn't wear them as promotional garments anymore.

But I liked this year's T shirt.  It was bright...it was sweet...

I finally decided I should get one.

But by that time they only had two adult sizes left...XL and XXL.

I hemmed and hawed, but finally decided to go ahead and get the XL...I could sleep in it or something, right?

I was unpacking my suitcase before I thought, D'uh!  Cut it down!

So I dug into the pattern cabinet and pulled out Kwik Sew 2900; a pattern I'd made ages and ages ago and kinda tossed back due to the boxy fit and batwing underarms.

But, for a promo T shirt...boxy and batwing fit the bill.  This was a rather beefy cotton jersey that didn't have a great deal of stretch, so a fitted girly T was out.

I traced off a Large...sigh, the last time was a Medium...and left it totally unaltered.

Then I hacked the t-shirt, cutting up the underarm seam in the sleeve and VERY CAREFULLY down the fold at the side of the shirt.

I left the neckline and shoulders intact, folded it in half  and matched up the front neckline and shoulder seams

 And then the back neckline and shoulder seams

 I cut the sleeves from the sleeve/shoulder of the original t; I was surprised that the original sleeve was not long enough to cut the sleeve cap.  So I left the armsceye sewed up and just cut the cap out of the shoulder area.  A bit of a weird detail on the shoulder now, to be sure, but it worked.

I folded up the hem allowance on the sleeve and put it right on the finished edge.

 So here's how it will all fit together...

 The sewing was really quick.  The only issue was that the shoulder of the t shirt was taped, so it's rather bulky right at the top of the sleeve cap, where the taped-and-seamed bit of the cap hits the remaining taped- and-seamed shoulder seam.

But..hey, it's still retained it's promo T look...and I'm no longer swimming in it. ;-)


ETA...a couple of years later...the lumpy shoulder really annoyed me; I eventually took the sleeves off and recut them again, this time putting the high point of the cap just under that old seam, and letting the extra pattern length just extend past the sleeve hem.  I put them back in and...much better! No more linebacker shoulders. ;-)