DIY

How to Cut a Men’s T-Shirt (So the Neck Stops Strangling You)

There is a stupidly long story as to how I ended up not only figuring out how to cut a men’s t-shirt but also buying this shirt, so let’s do the short version, mmmkay? I tried to find a Guns N’ Roses shirt that I had ten years ago (don’t ask), couldn’t find it, but found one that I did like, except the only store that sold it was in the UK, and I didn’t want to wait forever for it to get here. So I went onto Vistaprint and made my own damn t-shirt.

The only problem is that wearing it is like being strangled to death by a meth-addled squirrel. I wear a men’s medium because I hate baggy shirts, but the neck and sleeves on this thing were annoyingly tight.

3fa3a-imgp366546a58-imgp3667

See!? See how annoyed I am!?

To fix it, grab a pair of scissors (any will work but sewing scissors [and that’s an affiliate link there] would be best) and cut the collar off, keeping the scissors just beneath the bottom row of stitching on the collar. Trust me, don’t be a hero and cut the collar off plus an extra three inches of material. DO NOT.
Next, gently stretch the material. This rolls it over, creating a soft sort of hem. Jersey cotton won’t unravel, and therefore requires no stitching or hemming. (This is also why you don’t want to be a hero and cut off several inches – once stretched, the neckline would end up being gigantic.)

3c4a2-imgp3676

It wouldn’t be a bad idea to grab a needle and thread and put a few quick reinforcement stitches into the top shoulder seams, but that’s optional.

4e144-imgp3678

For the sleeves, I cut ’em off. I started about an inch out from the bottom armpit and cut up at a slight angle. Stretch the material out.
eaab8-imgp3681
And that’s that. That was all I needed, and this shirt is now infinitely more comfortable. You can see how wide the neck is now, that’s why you want to be careful around the neck – cut off too much, and once it’s stretched, you’ll have yourself a boat-neck.
74c2e-imgp3690
57dc4-imgp3704
I left the bottom hem alone, as that doesn’t bother me. If you want, you can cut that off shorter as well.
The world is your oyster.
See you later!

2 thoughts on “How to Cut a Men’s T-Shirt (So the Neck Stops Strangling You)

Comments are closed.