Cut Out + Keep

Bow Back Blouse

Add a sweet bow-covered cutout to the back of a t-shirt

https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/bow-back-blouse-2 • Posted by Rachel J.

If you have a tee you want to spice up this DIY won’t cost you anything, otherwise I recommend that you hunt for a suitable specimen at your local thrift store. Mine was only $4.50, plus about an hour of cutting and sewing, but you can definitely do it faster if you’re not taking pictures of the process.

You will need

Project Budget
Cheap

Time

1 h 00

Difficulty

Pretty Easy
Medium shirt 15

Description

If you have a tee you want to spice up this DIY won’t cost you anything, otherwise I recommend that you hunt for a suitable specimen at your local thrift store. Mine was only $4.50, plus about an hour of cutting and sewing, but you can definitely do it faster if you’re not taking pictures of the process.

Instructions

  1. Small shirt 1

    Materials: T-shirt Scissors Needle Thread Sewing machine Chalk

  2. Small shirt 4

    Grab your shirt and flip it over to the back. Starting at the edges of the collar, draw a long scoop shape about 6 inches wide and 17 inches long.

  3. Small shirt 3

    Cut the shirt collar completely off and discard it.

  4. Small shirt 5

    Find the center of the back of the shirt. Fold the back half of the shirt lengthwise, insides together, so that your scoop shape is folded in half symmetrically. Make sure that you keep the front half of the shirt separate. Pin in place.

  5. Small shirt 6

    Carefully cut out your scoop, then hem the edges of the collar and the cut-out section.

  6. Small shirt 8

    Take the piece you cut out of the back and cut it in half lengthwise, then widthwise, leaving you with four pieces that measure about 6 inches by 3 inches each.

  7. Small shirt 11

    Hem the edges of three of the four pieces you just cut. Take the last unhemmed piece and cut it into four smaller pieces as you did with the large back piece. Hem the edges of three of these smaller pieces.

  8. Small shirt 13

    Wrap the smallest hemmed pieces around the middle of your larger hemmed pieces to make three bows. Pin in place and sew the back of the center loop closed by hand, tacking it to the center of the larger bow piece.

  9. Small shirt 12

    With your shirt inside-out, pin the bows at the edges of the back cut-out, about 2 inches apart. Sew in place.

  10. Small shirt 16

    Try on your new shirt!