Make do & mend: T-shirt to camisole
Another day of Self-Stitched September, another new self-stitched garment!
Whatever happened to the girly tee? For a few years, back in the 90s and early noughties, things looked promising. Retailers, slowly realizing that women have money of our own these days and occasionally buy logo T-shirts too, introduced lady-specific blanks with scoopnecks, cap sleeves and shaped waists. I liked being able to buy a flattering, figure-hugging Elephant 6 or Trogdor tee. It said, “Yes, world! All this and great taste in pop culture too!” But lately — possibly for recession-related reasons — a lot of vendors seem to have gone back to the dark days of unisex, offering only traditional designed-for-men boxy tees, or as I call them, pajama tops. Which is fine if you only want to proclaim your love for a band on days when you’re too sick, hung over or depressed to leave the house.
I have too many T-shirts with great logos but unflattering cuts, and not enough form-fitting base layers. The next logical step was obvious.
To cut down this T-shirt into a camisole I used Jalie 2564, which like many Jalie patterns has received tons of positive reviews over at PR. The nice thing about the camisole is that it has a built-in shelf bra, and both camisole and bra can be cut from one T-shirt with a little fudging. This project was ridiculously easy even for me, with my limited experience of stretch fabrics and total lack of experience of fold-over or plush elastic. It whipped up in a little over an hour. It doesn’t even require an overlocker/serger; I could easily have used my machine’s zigzag and 3-step zigzag stitch instead.
My only quibble with this pattern is a matter of personal taste: I like my camisoles a bit sluttier. Next time I make this pattern I’ll definitely alter the design to make the straps wider-set, the scoopneck lower and the shelf bra shorter for increased balcon effect.
Obligatory Shearwater plug:
I’m loving my first tentative forays into the world of DIY lingerie! However, I am finding stretch lace and lingerie elastics (FOE, plush elastic, picot elastic etc.) difficult to source in colors other than white, black and nude. Tips on where to find these things are most welcome.
This is the perfect blog for anyone who wants to know. You know so much its almost hard to argue with you.
Can I just say what a reduction to seek out someone who truly knows what theyre talking about on the internet. You definitely know tips on how to deliver an issue to light and make it important. More people have to learn this and understand this facet of the story. I cant consider youre no more widespread since you positively have the gift.
YAYYYYY I got one. I got a copy of Make do and Mend!! 3.89 for the book and 3.99 for shipping, but hey I thought it was a lost cause!! I’m going to go read it. I’m so excited.
Loving your work, both stitched and written. As for FOE et al, EBAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I got loads from a variety of vendors, some were a bit of a disappointment when they arrived, but some were fantastic. I guess just try a few and ‘favourite’ the ones you like best with good ranges? Good luck! xxx
I went through a t-shirt to undies craze last spring and got a bundle of inexpensive elastic from Lace Heaven (http://www.laceheaven.com/c-250-stretch-lace-trim.aspx). Some of the quality was quite high, the FOE not so much. Love the shelf bra idea.
I get most of my lingerie elastic from either corsetmaking.co.uk or MacCulloch & Wallis. I’ve been drooling over Danglez.nl for ages now but not yet placed an order.
And the teeshirt transformation is waaaaay more wearable as a cami!
OOOuh! And Shearwater is one of my favorite band! Cool t-shirt refashion I love to cut up T’s.
Amazing! I never thought to use a pattern on something that was already clothing! Thanks for the great post.
This is a fantastic new look for an old T-shirt, thanks for the inspiration!
The camisole looks great. I have a load of t-shirts that I indeed only wear on days-on-which-I-am-fairly-positive-I-don’t-get-any-visitors and making them into some cute camisoles is a great idea!
My inner geek is now yearning for a Vim camisole – http://www.freewear.org/?page=show_item&id=FW0048. Thanks for the idea!
oh woe, I got RID of all my tees when I started trying to look better!
Funny, the reason I want to do my own camis is because I like them to cover some of the cleavage on the surplice tops I love, but commercial camis are usually so slutty that I’m still showing too much crowd on the balcony for my taste (ha – love that link you posted!). So cool, I can make a cami to suit my needs now. Ain’t sewing great?
Angry chicken’s blog has tons of stuff about FOE – I’m too lazy to find a link for you, but she’s the one that introduced the stuff to me and has some tutorials and links, I recall.
I shall definitely have to try that pattern myself. I have a few Ts that need to become less unflattering.
Heh heh heh… sluttier… hehe
Great idea, I can’t imagine why this hasn’t occurred to me. We used to do this to vintage t-shirts (found in honest to god thrift stores) when I was in highschool, I’d forgotten all about it…
Ebay is the place to go for elastics and elastic laces. Given what these things seem to cost in London, even with shipping from the US you’ll be coming out ahead. I can recommend seller hobovian for FOE, and fr8rain for everything else. If you get as far as wanting matching bra or panty kits, go to summerset.etsy or the German site enlingeria.de
The Kool-Aid business works but I hear it’s not readily available in Europe. Also whatever you dye smells like fruit punch forever. You can also use paste food coloring (the kind they sell for cake decorating).
Ooh, thanks for the tips!
Susannah,
Most elastics and such trim are NYLON, so they can be dyed successfully at home with even the no-sugar packets of Kool-Aid; mix powder + 1 teaspoonful of Kosher or Additive Free Salt and pour on 1 cup boiling water. Stir to dissolve. Soak trim in warm water + a drop of Dish Soap so it is thoroughly wetted, drip so it is wet-damp but not dry. Fill a thrift store oven proof glass dish with water and dye solution so the trim is just covered. Create a nlid with Saran wrap and make a single vent hole with a skewer. Microwave on full 2 minutes on and off maybe 5 times. Now CAREFULLY peel back the saran wrap; there is super heated steam in there! and pour on a cup of 1/2 White Vinegar and 1/2 water. Pull Saran wrap back over, microwave again. Leave to cool, and then rinse multiple times to get rid of salt, vinegar and excess dye. ( The Vinegar should have helped the dye to become ‘locked’ into the fibres)
A little experimenting will show you what shades you can get with which flavours! There are web sites about Kool-Aid Dyeing.
Biggest advantages over traditional dyes is that K-A is 100% Toxin Free, so safe to use in your kitchen, and in your microwave.
Regular Fabric dyes are not usually sold at your local store, may be toxic, and certainly need to be used away from domestic cooking, utensils, and pots and pans. You will find K-A is cheaper if you only need to dye a few yards a month; “Proper” dyes can be expensive if you want to have many colours, while K-A is more adventurous and free spirited; you may find Paler Pink looks good against Darker, or that a Yellow Binding that matches a Yellow Print looks good against Black.
Hope this helps,
Liz
Thanks, Liz for a wonderfully comprehensive contribution on dyeing lingerie elastic. I can sew lingerie, but I’ve been put off doing much because of the boring, mismatched elastic and trim I would have to use. I’ll have to give this a whirl.
This is… amazing. It’s true you can’t get Kool-Aid readily in the UK, but it’s certainly easy to order it in… I will have to attempt this, if only for the sake of having fruity knickers.
I love Trogdor
Great refashion! I love it!!
Right on! I have a massive collection of rock t-shirts and while I love them, they do not fit my very non-plank like shape. I’m in the process now of hacking them up and re-working them into various wearable items, but cami had not yet entered the picture, thanks for the idea.