DIY Tutorial- long-sleeve turtleneck to 3/4 boatneck

I love to get cheap tops at Target. Why? Because they always have clothes that get marked down to the $3-$4 range, and then they issue $2-$3 coupons that can be applied to those sale prices resulting in free (or nearly so) clothes. The problem is, they are often out-of-season items. What do I do if I need something new that I can wear right away? Remake it, of course!

So, here’s a quick DIY Tutoiral on how to remake a slong-sleeve turtleneck into a boat-neck, 3/4 sleeve tee. Note: I am an amateur seamstress. There are, no doubt, a thousand things wrong with this tutorial. I’m just showing you what I did, mkay?

Here’s my turtleneck that I got at Target for $0.60 after clearance sale and coupon were applied. No bueno.

First, I laid out the shirt, inside out. Then I used safety pins to mark where I want the neck and sleeves to be when I’m finished. I chose to measure up the shoulder seam about 2” so that my bra straps won’t show. You can use straight pins or chalk, but I didn't want to wake the baby sleeping in my craft room to get those so...necessity and invention and all...

Then I hacked off the excess sleeve material.

I used the first sleeve to double measure the 2nd. Don’t want lopsided arms, now do we. I lucked out to be using a striped shirt- it really made it easy to get everything straight and tidy.

I also hacked off the turtleneck as close to the seam as possible. That gave me extra fabric to play with when making my new neckline.

Once, the turtleneck was gone, I cut along the seam to reach my pin. This opened up the neckline even more. Hello collarbone!

Then I pinned up the sleeves, using my stripes to keep things perfectly symetrical from sleeve-to-sleeve as well as straight all the way around the arm. If your shirt doesn’t have stripes, a ruler or an object 1/2” or so wide will help you out a lot.

Then, I pinned open the neckline. To get a boatneck instead of a scoop, you can really just pin all the way open and keep a straight line across the neck. This will vary in appearance depending on how wide you want the neck and how much material you left when you hacked it up. Just pin until you’re happy with it!

Ok, that took you like 5 minutes? Let’s get to sewing! This will be the most time consuming part if you’re like me and have a arch-nemesis situation with your bobbin. Once I got myself set up, I sewed close to the fold in the fabric to get it all secured in place. Try not to stretch the fabric or you’ll end up with little ruffly parts.

Then, I went back and sewed again about 1/8” farther from the fold then my first stitch-up. Do you like all the super technical terms I’m using? Then I did the sleeves. This can get tricky since the sleeve holes are smaller. Don’t sew over the other side of your sleeve or your hand will get stuck inside and that’s not cute.

Lastly, I cut off any bits of extra fabric. Nothing says “hey I made this myself and I’m not that good at it yet” like hunks of extra fabric and string hanging out.

Then, I admired my work and decided that while the pictures are less than stellar, you might get the general idea and try this yourself. Oh, and my hands are so much like my mom’s that these pictures almost got me teary-like.

I hope you have fun recreating your Target Turtlenecks!! Here's one more pic for good measure- a little less Mortisha-ish. ;)

DIY Tutorial- $1 Diaper Box Upcycle

I have seen a lot of tutorials on making diaper boxes into fabric covered lovelies. However, I don't have the money for fabric. If I did, I'd just buy the stinkin' things at Target and call it a day. SO, what to do with a bunch of empty diaper boxes lying around? Here's a quick and easy AND CHEAP tutorial on how to up cycle them into custom storage boxes:

Supplies: 1 diaper box

1 roll of shelf paper (I got mine at the Dollar Tree and it was more than enough for one box)

Scissors

Box cutter

Use the box cutter to take off the flaps at the top of the box. Using the scissors, cut the paper to fit the 2 shortest sides of your box with a little extra for wrapping around the edge- about 1-2" extra. For my Huggies box, the length was 11" total. I just cut across the whole roll like I cutting wrapping paper and didn't trim it anymore than that. This will be a piece that you wrap from the top to the bottom of your box. Peel the backing off the paper and stick your box right on it with a 2-3" allowance on top. Cut out all 4 corners as shown above so that you don't have to fold.Stick it to the box, wrapping the excess into the box, around the corners, and under the bottom. It's pretty forgiving stuff, but try to stick it down flat the first time. Trying to push out wrinkles doesn't work too well though, so just lift and restick if needed.

Do this to the other side as well. Now both "handle ends" are covered. Don't worry about getting the edges perfect, they will be covered by the next two pieces. You will cut the handle section out last. Next, cut pieces to go over the longer sides. These need to be exactly the length of your box so that there is no side wrapping. For my Huggies box, I cut 13". Again, just cut across the roll like you're cutting wrapping paper and use the piece as-is. No need to cut out the corners this time, just start inside the box and wrap out, down, and around.

Use a box cutter to cut out the handle holes if desired. Voila! For just $1, you've made a cutie-pie storage box. The Dollar Tree often has a lot of different patterns of shelf paper that would be great for this project- toile, faux wood grain, checks, etc. Be warned, though, a light colored paper will allow the print on the box to show through. For me, this is ok since these will be used in my craft closet, but if you wish to go this light and don't want anyone to see the diaper label, just cover it in a solid paper first.

Happy Crafting!