How to make a women's shirt from a men's shirt?

Almost every man has a pair of shirts in his wardrobe that he never wears. Usually these are either ceremonial shirts, purchased for some special occasion, or gifts that were not to your liking. Or perhaps the young man prefers to dress informally and doesn't need a lot of shirts.

Experienced needlewomen and zealous housewives know that an unnecessary men's shirt is an excellent material for creating something new. You can sew household items from it, as well as new clothes for a child or for yourself.

Today we will tell you how to give new life to a men's shirt, turning it into a women's one.

To change a men's shirt into a women's blouse or shirt, you will need a standard set of sewing supplies, namely:

• cutting scissors;
• crayon, soap or fabric marker (washable);
• tailor's meter;
• threads to match the fabric;
• needle;
• safety pins for sewing;
• sewing machine;
• overlock for processing edges (optional);
• material for inserts (if necessary).
• accessories and decor: buttons, braid, beads, elastic bands, etc. (optional).

If you apply a little imagination and remember the basics of needlework, then an ordinary, unremarkable men's shirt can be turned into a stylish piece of women's wardrobe. Read more about each of the possible rework options below.

Most models of men's shirts have a straight or slightly fitted silhouette, so they sit very freely on girls. Our task is to make the shirt effectively emphasize the figure, so you need to fit it properly.

To do this, we will take the following steps:

• reduce the width of the shoulder;
• make darts under the chest line;
• narrow the sleeves;
• reduce the width of the shirt itself.

Trying on a shirt, mark the place where the new armhole will be located. Draw an armhole and cut off the sleeves along the marked line. Then we shorten the sleeves to the desired length and pin them in place again. The hole that remains in the armpit area does not need to be touched yet, we will just try to make it as narrow as possible. Then we attach the sleeves to the armholes.

We turn the product over to the wrong side. We draw the outline of the future dart - from the chest line to the sides of the shirt. There should be one triangle on each side. Fold the darts along the contour and fix them with pins. Then we sweep and try on: if the darts are in place, we sew the seams on a typewriter, cut off the excess fabric and iron the darts with an iron.

We turn it out again and try on the shirt. We note how much width needs to be removed from the sleeves and from the body of the shirt. We lay out the product on a flat surface and draw new contours. Cut off all unnecessary along the contours and pin off the edges with pins. After fitting, we sew on a typewriter and iron all the seams.

Men's shirts are usually long enough to be tucked into trousers. However, many girls prefer cropped models that barely reach the hips. We will tell you how to give a men's shirt a length that is comfortable for you.

1. Removing the extra length is usually not enough, almost always you also have to narrow the shirt, so the first thing we do is rip off the sleeves and rip the seams on the sides. We do the same with the sleeves as in the previous master class.
2. Then we outline the new contours of the shirt, draw undercuts in the back and front. We fasten everything with pins and do a fitting. If the shirt fits, we sew off the seams on a typewriter, cut off excess fabric and iron the darts. After the next fitting, we sew the seams on the sides.
3. Having narrowed the product, you need to determine its future length. To do this, try on the shirt again and mark the new length with a margin for processing the edge. Cut off the hem, fold it in and process the edge using a sewing machine or overlock.

If you are a fan of cowboy style, and you have an unnecessary men's shirt in a cage, it's time to sew a new outfit out of it in the spirit of the Wild West.

1. We try on and outline the new contours of the product. There will be frills on the chest of our shirt, so if there are pockets or other decor in this place that may interfere, it is better to chop it off right away.
2. Chip the product with pins along the contours. If necessary, we make darts under the breast, in the same way as demonstrated in the first master class. Cut off all unnecessary, leaving a seam allowance.
3. Cut off the sleeves and draw a new armhole. Cut the sleeves to the desired length and sew to the armhole. If at the base they turned out to be too wide, you need to gather them a little, giving additional volume.
4. We proceed to the ruffles: cut out several strips of the same size from the excess fabric. We manually sew each strip, then pull the thread so that the frill gathers into an accordion. Pin the ruffles to the shirt and sew on a typewriter using a zigzag seam. Cut off the collar of the shirt - not all, but only the part that is above the counter. Instead, we sew one of the frills so that it is located on the inside of the collar.

A true woman can look flirty and sexy even in a man's shirt.If you would like to modify this garment, to make it more feminine, we can advise you to sew a stylish top from a man's shirt that exposes the shoulder line.

• Trying on a shirt, see how deep we want to make the neckline. We make marks on the shoulders and on the chest. Lay out the shirt and draw the outline of the cutout. In this case, a few centimeters of the fabric should be left for processing the edge.
• Cut off the top of the shirt along the contour. If necessary, we also remove the excess length and shorten the sleeves.
• We will sew an elastic band or elastic band into the cut edges - this will create a rustic shirt, which is also called a "peasant woman". We measure and cut off the required amount of tape for the top, bottom and sleeves of the product. We sew the ribbon on a typewriter, after stretching the fabric, so that later it will gather in beautiful ruffles.

You can turn a strict men's shirt into a flirty and elegant piece of women's wardrobe by slightly altering the shape of the sleeve. For example, voluminous lantern sleeves look very impressive. Converting an ordinary sleeve into a "flashlight" will not be difficult at all.

1. We rip off the sleeves, but don't touch the seams on the shoulder girdle yet. Then we determine the desired length of the sleeves. Flashlights can be either very short or long enough. We will make sleeves of medium length - slightly above the elbow.
2. Cut the sleeves to the desired length. We apply them to the shirt and draw new contours of the armhole. Lanterns should be voluminous, so before you sew on the sleeves to the armhole, you need to gather the upper part.
3. We turn the sleeves over so that the cutouts on the cuffs are on top, and sew them into place. We changed the location of the cutouts in order to provide ourselves with more freedom of movement, otherwise it will be completely uncomfortable to bend your arms.
4. If the cuffs are narrow and it is difficult to fasten them, just turn them up, carefully iron the fold and sew the buttons to a new place (the stitches for this, as a rule, are already provided).

You can endlessly experiment with decor, altering a men's shirt into a women's one. Almost any structural element of the product can be changed beyond recognition - sleeves, collar, shoulder line, etc. For example, shirts with cutouts on the shoulders look very beautiful and unusual.

1. Trying on a shirt, then laying it out on the table and drawing out the outlines of the cutouts. The cutouts should be the same, therefore, after we made a cutout on one shoulder, fold the shirt in half and draw a second cutout along the outline of the first. Then we cut off the excess material.
2. The edges of the slices should be processed. You can use any available method for this: walk over them with an overlock, overcast with a sewing machine or by hand, or trim with braid.

• If the shirt is so long that it completely covers your hips, it will be more advisable to remake it into a shirt-cut dress that can be worn with jeans or leggings, or just like that in hot weather.
• You can make a fashionable free-cut top with straps out of a men's shirt by completely cutting off the top part from it and forming a V-neck, unbuttoning the top buttons. Straps can be made from trimmed excess fabric.
• Cutouts on the shoulders and upper chest are very relevant now. But if you are embarrassed to completely expose these parts of the body, complement the cutouts with openwork lace or guipure inserts. The material for the inserts can be in the same color as the shirt or in a contrasting shade.
• From an unnecessary men's shirt, in addition to new clothes for yourself, you can also make: a pillowcase for a sofa cushion, an original kitchen apron, a soft toy and many other useful things in the house.