So my son had a tear in a perfectly good long-sleeved shirt. Its a very nice shirt, so he asked me to repair the tear. But its one of those repairs that is hard to pull off without threads and stitches showing. Since the weather was warmer when this occurred, I decided to cut off the sleeves and make it a short sleeved shirt.
This is a basic sewing skill that anyone can master.
First I pressed the shirt so that I could see both sleeves and the tear. Next, I lined up the sleeves, cuff to cuff and underarm seam to underarm seam.
Cuffs lined up….
Then I decided where I would cut the sleeves. I made sure to leave enough sleeve on the shirt to have a nice wide hem. The tear was too close to the shoulder to have as wide a hem as I would have liked, but I left about1 1/2 inches. I measured the length from the cuff to the cut line and made marks on the sleeve with a pencil so that I would cut each sleeve the same length.
Cutting the sleeve…..
Once it was cut, I pressed under 1/4 inch all around each sleeve. You could stitch this in place but if you are pressing it, it will hold and you don’t really need to stitch it. This turned up area just gives your work a finished look and keeps the raw edges of the fabric from showing when you turn up the hem.
Then I pressed under a 1 inch hem and stitched it. You could stitch a hem like this by hand or on a sewing machine. I used a blind hand stitch.
Hello and welcome! I'm Sylvia Britton, and I've been online since 1996 offering encouragement and help in the spirit of Titus 2 and Proverbs 31 at Christian Homekeeper. CHK is the original Homekeeping site on the internet
Short sleeve shirts can be a great choice of outfit for men who want to look stylish and hip. It can also be useful in most occasion that you will attend. Thanks a lot for sharing your thoughts on this matter.
I just did the same with onze of my husbands’ shirts. He had them for so long the cuffs were almost in rags… The shirt was still good so I turned the dollar and made short sleeves. I love doing things like this!
Of course I turned the collar…
I love doing things like this too. I think though that being frugal and remaking clothes is just about a thing of the past.
It looks great! Any tips on how to hem pant legs? It would be so much cheaper for us if I could hem my Husband’s dress pants instead of sending them to the dry cleaners to have them hemmed. I have a basic Singer sewing machine and can manage a straight stiitch.
Karen,
I always hem pants by hand. I use what is called a hem-stitch. I found a pretty goo representation of a hem stitch at this site, its a site a stage-hand union.
http://www.ia470.com/wardrobe/stitches.html
I first press under about 1/4″ of fabric, then press a hem under that is about 1 inch, then hem stitch.