Hi all! 

Today I will be doing something different. I will be doing a DIY post on cutting the sleeves off your shirt. The design looks like this and let me show you how I did it.

I thought it would be good to spice up your old shirts instead of buying a new one. Partly because I couldn’t find a cutout shirt that I liked in the store. Either it wasn’t in the color I wanted or the fabric was too thin.

The items you will need are a ruler or measuring tape, a pair of scissors, a pencil and fray glue or nail polish.

Get an old shirt or top or a top that you are alright with cutting it. As for me, I chose my black shirt.

I have made markings on one side of the sleeve. But I will go through with you just so you get the feel of how I did it.

I measured where to cut my top.  I recommend cutting after the shoulder because I wanted to avoid this seam so I would not spoil the shirt. I am careless and not perfect or very neat when doing handiwork.

Here you can see, I made my slits into triangles because I thought it looked more like a tear or a rip as compared to rectangles which I thought can be quite chunky since both the rip and the space are of the same shape. But, it is personal preferences. You can do slits of any shape you like. My markings are also not the same size. I made them from big to small because I like the gradient effect and I thought it would be something different. If you do not wish to do this step, you can also choose not to measure the rips. Random tears can be a pattern or a design too!

From the main seam, I measured 2.5cm and I move downwards. I chose my measurements. The length of each rip will be 1.5cm and the space will be 2.5cm. I will alternative the rips and the spaces. Meaning this 1.5cm will be the rip, the next will be the space and the next will be the rip and so on.


After that, I measured how long the rips will go. This will depend on your arm size or how long you want the rip to be. I wanted mine to start with 3.5cm. (so when I measure it is 3.5cm. Don’t forget about the other side too so it is 7cm in total.) I go down half a cm smaller each time I measure. This means that the next rip will be 3cm long and the one after is 2.5cm long. I decided that I wanted the rips to stop above my elbow instead of doing the whole arm. So I will have 4 rips for 1 sleeve. 3.5, 3, 2.5, 2cm.



That was for the first sleeve. Moving onto the second sleeve, I use the first sleeve as my reference. I align the sleeves together. This helps to make marking them out easier without needing to measure them a second time.



When I am done marking them, I join the dots together.

 Just remember, if you cut too small, you can make it bigger by cutting more. If you cut off too much, you cannot make it smaller. Another thing is depending on how you wash them, it may be possible that the rips get bigger over time since this is not machine sewn so I would not recommend doing a very large slit.

After marking out the measurements, I take my scissors and cut them.

I place my shirt to make sure the sleeves are align together. I cut both at the same time together hoping that it would be even. It also helps so that you do not need to cut a second time.

After cutting you are done. For an extra step, if you are worried that your shirt will fray or tear, take some fray glue or nail polish and put it onto the rips so that it will not fray while it is being washed. 

And you are done!



This is your end result. I hope you guys will like this DIY post. Feel free to leave any comments below and I will talk to you all soon. Bye!

xo
carissa