Old Tshirt Becomes New Halter Top

For all of my Facebook followers, here is the promised “How-to” for the halter top I made the other day. If you haven’t been following the official Facebook page (there is a convenient little box to the right of this post), then this is completely new for you.

Before I get too far into this, I have to give credit to BrittneyNGrey over at Youtube for the inspiration on this one. I followed her basic construction, but I made some of my own modifications.

Start with a T-shirt larger than your size

I started with an XL tshirt. (I typically wear a size S or M. If you’re in an XL or higher, you may want to use 2 shirts for this) This particular shirt was one I had raided from Neil’s dresser (with his permission) one afternoon while I was helping him fold and put away clothes. I noticed that he had 2 of the same t-shirt and asked if I could have the spare.

Altering the Shirt

I followed the above video for the beginning. I cut off the collar and sleeves, cut the back up the middle and across in the same fashion. (I did not stretch out the fabric, though)

It is at this point that I diverged from Brittney’s pattern. Rather than using the shoulders as the tie around, I decided to make my own, less bulky tie around:

Fold the shirt in half..

Use a marking utensil to draw an even cut line that will separate the shoulders from the rest of the top.

Use a strip from the pieces you have cut away to create a tunnel for some string or ribbon to go through. This will be your tie around.

I created my back laces and tie string (please refer to video at the top of this post) using stretched out strands from another tshirt for color contrast. I had some leftover tshirt yarn from the knitting workshop I did last year, so I just used a couple of pieces of that.

Adjustments

I like my clothes to fit me just right, so, I flipped the halter inside out and tried it on, ready to mark any places that needed further work.

As you can see, there is some unsightly bulging going on.

But if I just use those natural protrusions to make darts, I’ll have a more form fitting top.

I just stood in front of the mirror with needle and thread, stay stitching the darts in place while I still had it on.

The Final Product

From the back

And the front view! Feel free to accessorize with your own arm candy 😉