Make Your Own Tank or Tube Top from a T-shirt

  1. Cut a straight line across the top of tshirt, just under the sleeves. It’s easiest to use a shirt that already fits how you like it (I used a little boys’ Large that I got at Wal-Mart for three bucks), but you can also take in the sides of any tshirt to be more fitted.
  2. Cut a piece of ribbon long enough to go around the top of the tshirt without cinching it (you’ll want it to “give” with the stretchy tshirt material so that you can, like, breathe and stuff). Using thread that matches the ribbon, sew the ribbon to the top of the tshirt, making sure that you don’t sew the top of the shirt shut. You’ll want the top of the ribbon to be flush with the top of the shirt. Sew top and bottom of ribbon to prevent curling.
  3. From the bottom of another tshirt in the same size and a contrasting color, cut off a piece 4″ from the bottom. Cut open at each side seam. This should give you two pieces of fabric 4″ long and as wide as your desired waist/hip width. Cutting the sides open like this makes sewing easier, and it also gives you a “vent” opening in the sides of the finished shirt that makes it fit nicer.
  4. With “right” sides together, sew the raw edge of each piece to the bottom of the original shirt, using a seam allowance that covers the bottom hem of the original shirt. Flip the shirt right-side-out, and you’re almost done.
  5. Try the shirt on and measure how long your straps need to be based on where you want the top of the shirt to fall on you and where you want your straps. Cut two lengths of ribbon, adding about 2″ to your measurement.
  6. Sew the straps to the inside of the shirt, on top of the stitches used on the bottom of the bust ribbon.
  7. You’re finished. Cute, eh?

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