Tee Shirt Nightie

In honor of St. Valentines day, I am posting a totally frivolous project!  On the plus side, it is super simple.  On the down side, it is fussy, which is something I hate in projects.  I like quick and clean and neat and exact... But making over something into something else usually comes with some fudging that you have to clean up later, so deal. Haha.  But seriously.

I have been seeing all these tutorials all over Pinterest on how to make over a tee shirt into something else: a cowl neck tee, a slouchy shirt, a ruffled something, a multi layered maxi skirt, a portable jungle shanty... okay maybe not that last one.  So instead of hating, I joined in the fun.  I wanted to make something SEXY.  A sultry nightie comfy enough to sleep in, but hot enough to make Gisele and Heidi beg to slip it on.  And because I used lace I already had and an old tee shirts that belonged to hubby it was COMPLETELY FREE.  I am totally using this as his V-day present.  How nice to me to give him something that already belonged to him.

Oh Yeah!

Tee Shirt to Nightie Makeover
Materials:
One Tee Shirt
Pins
Scissors
Sewing machine and thread
Edge lace in a fun color (optional)

Step 1: Make sure your tee shirt is large enough.  I know this sounds stupid, but I am a small or x-small and I used a large and it was only just barely long enough.  I would have rather cut off the bottom hem of the shirt, but I had to leave it on to leave a little something to the imagination. That is the point of lingerie after all...

Step 2: Remove the sleeves and the neck hole binding.

Step 3: Slip on the tee and stand in front of a mirror.  Pin the sides of the shirt to match the sides of your body.  Pin under your arms first, and make sure the armholes are small/large enough, as well just fitting your bustline. Next, pin the bottom and the natural waist.  If you are unlike me and actually have hips, you may want to put in a pin at the widest point of your hips as well to make sure the curve of the tee hugs yours.  Repeat on both sides.  Make sure that you keep the sides perfectly centered and that you are not tugging the center of the shirt to one side or the other.

All pinned in place.

Step 4: Pin the shoulders where you want to cut the straps to.  You may want to put in more than one to get the right shape.  I used a v neck tee so it gave me an awesome neckline automatically, but this is when you would want to pin the neckline, too.  Just as a warning, if you do choose to use a v, the point of the v is a weak point and may tear... not that mine did... yeah.  That is what that pin in the middle is doing...

Step 5: CAREFULLY take off the shirt without unpinning it.  Lay it out flat and cut away the excess to the outside of the pins leaving about 1/2" as a seam allowance.

Step 6: Fold the tee shirt in half long ways so the left and right sides are matching up.  Line up the bottom edges of the tee and fold it so the front and back are overlapping.  Round off the corners.

Step 7:  Unfold the tee shirt and line up the side seams, right sides together (it should be inside out).  Pin them together, easing them together and trimming them as needed to even them out... this is the fussy part I hate.  But stick with it.  Perfection isn't imperative. That's what I kept telling myself and it turned out fine... :-)

Step 8: Stitch the side seams.  Try on your creation.  If you like, you can end here.

Step 9: Pin the lace to the bottom edge and the neckline and stitch.  You will have to miter the edge at the v in the neck (if you have one) and at the point where the side seams meet.

Mitred edge on the side seam

Step 10: Now you have a truly hot little number.  Wow your man.