In this flower tank tutorial I will show you how to take a long sleeve shirt and turn it into a beautiful, fun tank top. Here is what you will need:
· A long sleeve t shirt in your size, preferably a scoop neck
· Scissors
· Sewing needle and thread to match t shirt color
· Paper, I prefer graph paper
· Pen or fabric pencil
Here is what my shirt looked like “before”
Step 1.
Cut off the sleeves. If you like raw edges you can cut along the seam connecting the sleeves to the shirt. For a more finished look cut 1” down on the sleeve then turn the raw edges under two times and sew.
Step 2.
Take each sleeve and cut down the seam that runs along the underside of the sleeve to open it up. Do this to both sleeves.
Step 3.
Cut each sleeve into vertical strips. The strips need to be varying widths, some should be 3 ½ “ wide, some 3” and some 2 ½ “. From these strips cut squares.
I ended up with a lot of squares, but didn’t use them all. For this shirt I only used 8 of each size.
Step 4.
Use paper, graph paper works best, to trace three flowers. One 3 ½”, 3”, and 2 ½”. Then cut each one out.
Step 5.
Trace the flowers onto the fabric squares and cut each one out. This step takes a little bit of time.
Step 6.
Now we are going to assemble the flowers! Take one large, medium and small flower and stack them with the largest on the bottom, do this for as many as you want to use. Again I used eight.
Step 7.
Time to get creative! Place the flowers on the shirt where you think you want them; move them around until you find a layout you like. Pin each flower down once you decide where you want it.
Step 8.
Sew each flower on like you would a button (am I assuming too much here?) and your shirt is done! The flowers will be a little floppy, if you want them to adhere more to the shirt you can always use Dritz’s Stich Witchery to hold them down more.
That’s it! Enjoy your new tank top!!!
