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

Refashioning an Old T-shirt

Supplies:
Old T-shirt
Sewing supplies (sewing machine, thread, pins etc.)
3-5 thin strips (max 1" width) of a contrast color knit fabric


Tutorial:
Trace the outline of the top using one of your perfectly fitting T-shirt, preferably one that’s not too snug and at the same time you don’t want it to be super baggy either (allow an extra 1/4-1/2" for seam allowance). Cut off at your needed measurement.

I wanted my front neckline to be U-shaped and a bit lower that the back neckline. Draw front neckline and cut off the extra fabric.

Turn the T-shirt inside out and place the front and back pieces together with RIGHT sides together, and sew at the back neck line first, then shoulders, and arm holes. Finally sew together the sides of the top (with a 1/4 " seam allowance).

 
I have decided to make the top a bit more fancy by adding a few extra embellishments at the front neckline and around the chest. For that, make a few yarns from a contrasting color knit fabric, cut from one of my old red T-shirt. You can simply stretch a 1/2" wide knit fabric strip, then the edges of the strip will curl into a yarn. No sewing necessary!


To attach the yarn to the top, poke holes and string the red yarn through them using a small safety pin. Repeat the same process to make 3 parallel broken lines with yarn. 

Use the same red yarn for the front neck. Fold in around 1/4" from the edge of front neck, poked holes, pulled the yarn and looped through the holes using a safety pin (just like in a regular whip stitch). 

Secure the ends of the yarns with a few stitches at the seams of shoulder and sides.

 Finally, press at the seams and iron the top.