Cap Sleeve Top from a Regular T-shirt

Who doesn't love cap sleeves? Cap sleeves are great-looking addition for a dress or a top. This tutorial will show how to transform a regular round neck T-shirt into a gorgeous top with lace cap sleeves.

Supplies:

• Regular solid color T-shirt
• Matching color lace fabric (A rectangle piece, 9" X 12 ")
• Satin ribbon of matching color and  around 1/4 " wide ( four 9 " strips)
• Sewing supplies (sewing machine, matching thread, pins etc.)
• Scissors 

(Special thanks to my friend Biji Thomas for modelling 😊)
 
As the T-shirt was perfectly fitting for me, no alteration was done on the sides or at the bottom hem. Cut off the top portion as shown below. Make sure the neck line is not too low. If the T-shirt is too baggy, you may alter the sides.

Picture from https://www.wordans.com

Turn the top inside out and fold down the top raw edge and arm hole, 1/2"  and pin in place. Create a seam that is 1/4 " from the top folded edge. I folded the front top edge and front arm hole (white dotted line) a bit more than the back (red dotted line). If the T-shirt is not perfectly fitting, you may need to alter the sides.

The next step is to make the cap sleeves with lace fabric.
Cut the lace fabric into two pieces, 9 " X 6 " each.

Fold 1/4 " from the longer side (the side that measures 9") and make a seam. Next, align the satin ribbon along the seam and sew in place. Repeat this for the remaining  9" edges of the two lace pieces.This will give a nice finishing look to the raw edges of the lace.

 

I wanted the edge of the cap sleeve which is away from the neck to snuggle over the shoulders. So, one edge of the sleeves should be shorter than the other. To make a shorter edge, mark at 1/2" from the bottom and top of each lace piece, then cut off the lace fabric trough the slanted red line (see picture below). Now one edge of the lace measures 9" and the other edge is 8".

Next, gather 2 or 3 small pleats along the slanted side of the lace fabric) , pin in place and sew. Repeat the same for the two lace pieces.

 

The cap sleeves are ready and it need to get stitched to the top. Line up the 8" edge of the lace with the arm hole of the top. Sew the pleated sides of the sleeve into the inside of the top.Repeat for all pleated edges.  Finally press/steam nicely through the seams and pleats. That's it !! A cute lace cap sleeve top is ready !!

Model: Biji Thomas