DIY: Embellished Tees

Posted on | November 30, 2009 | 26 Comments

While I certainly enjoyed an American Thanksgiving feast, I also indulged in a crafty binge over the holiday weekend. I’ve been craving embellished tees, like these from JCrew, for quite some time, so I finally just decided to figure out how to make some myself.

Armed with $5 tees from Target, coordinating thread and ribbon, and a few beads and jersey scraps from my craft stash, I cut, pinned, and stitched my way to fancy t-shirt ownership. It took a little patience and reverse engineering, but I’m delighted with the results:

Click past the jump for directions to make your own embellished tees!

Supplies:

basic tee or tank
coordinating ribbon and matching thread
jersey scraps in matching or coordinating colors
beads

Corsage Tee:

To make this corsage tee, I grabbed an old white t-shirt and cut out about thirty heart shapes to create “petals.” I layered, folded, and pinned those shapes up one side of the neckline.

While hand sewing would have been possible, I decided to carefully maneuver all of these layers through a sewing machine. For most clusters, I unfolded the hearts, sewed a line down the center fold, and then let the “petals” fall. I also ended up hand-tacking a few petals into place later to defy gravity in necessary places.

Ribbon Necklace Tee:

To make this ribbon necklace tee, I folded and pinned a length of ribbon around the neckline of a tee. I made sure to leave excess lengths of ribbon on either shoulder to tie behind the neck later.

I sewed the ribbon down using my sewing machine, running a stitch down one side of the ribbon. It took a while — lots of pivoting! — and I had to be careful to stay near the very edge. I was frankly a little at a loss as to what to add for embellishments. I ended up cutting heart “petals” out of some of the eggplant colored jersey left over from shortening a maxi dress.

I folded, pinned, and sewed these petals just like I did on the corsage tee. Things still looked a flat, though, and I decided the tee needed some subtle sparkle. For one version, I hand stitched on a couple of pearl beads. For the other, I added little translucent turquoise beads.

Looped Ribbon Tank:

This tank with the ribbon “collar” probably took the longest of any of these projects. The process was the same as the ribbon necklace tee — loop, bunch, pin, stitch — but because the ribbon was narrower there were a lot more loops to sew.

I ended up hand stitching about half of the ribbon and then tried machine stitching the rest as an experiment. Next time around, I think I’ll soldier through and hand stitch the whole thing as it does produce a nicer end result. Like the corsage tee, the tone-on-tone color scheme of this tank helps to elevate the $5 tee and $2 ribbon into something special.

I think I might have a new obsession. Plain t-shirts, beware!

Category: Taking Notes

Comments

26 Responses to “DIY: Embellished Tees”

Nina
November 30th, 2009 @ 4:20 pm

Wow! I am in serious lust of those tees, and in complete admiration of your patience and crafting ability. You’re definitely giving J Crew a run for its money!
A-C
November 30th, 2009 @ 5:09 pm

That is so cool! I’m definitely going to try this over X-mas break, thanks for the instructions!
Miss L
November 30th, 2009 @ 5:12 pm

That’s awesome!
Kate
November 30th, 2009 @ 5:20 pm

You may have to line dry these beautiful tees now, just to warn you — don’t want those ribbons to shrink or the flowers to fray! You probably already knew this, but I thought it couldn’t hurt to say it in case other people didn’t realize. And I would wash cold, maybe on the delicate cycle, and definitely inside-out. :)
Vanessa
November 30th, 2009 @ 5:26 pm

Very cool! I have to learn how to sew :-P
Anna
November 30th, 2009 @ 6:29 pm

I honestly think these are the cutest embellished tees I’ve seen…and cheaper (and more maternity-friendly).
Christina W.
November 30th, 2009 @ 6:33 pm

Wow, these are absolutely amazing! I’m definitely going to try these sometime soon. Thanks for the inspiration!
Clare
November 30th, 2009 @ 6:38 pm

Wow. Yup, just wow.
Elena
November 30th, 2009 @ 6:46 pm

Wow! I’ve been lusting after those JCrew beauties, too, so thanks for this post! While I’m not too gifted with sewing machine, I may beg for these as gifts from my fashion-design-major sister. :)
Melissa
November 30th, 2009 @ 6:56 pm

If the flower petals are jersey, the edges won’t really fray. They’ll just curl a little. (Although every once in a while, you may have to trim threads.)

And pre-washing before you sew should fix any problems with shrinkage. I’d put the ribbon in a bag of some kind to keep it from getting too tangled — I’ve heard of people putting embroidery floss in trouser socks, maybe something similar would work with ribbon.

Very pretty shirts!
Rose
November 30th, 2009 @ 7:06 pm

WOW and YAY!!
I love these and am going to try something myself!
LegacyOfPearl
November 30th, 2009 @ 11:34 pm

Wow! These look great. You’re so creative and crafty!

I’ve been trying to find embellished tees for my daily steals for a couple of days. Here’s a JCrew one on a good sale: http://www.legacyofpearl.com/6459342

I’ll feature two more tomorrow from NY&Co.
Franca
December 1st, 2009 @ 12:53 am

I love these! the grey and brownm one is my fave.
Erika
December 1st, 2009 @ 5:11 am

These are beautiful–particularly the first and third. Good for you!
Christy
December 1st, 2009 @ 8:28 am

I’ve been dying over those shirts from J. Crew too! I’m so glad you did this. I can’t wait to try it on my own.
Sassy Molassy
December 1st, 2009 @ 9:34 am

This is awesome! I love that you did this on your own and it just came out great. How did you gain your sewing skills? Classes or just trial and error?
Sassy Molassy
December 1st, 2009 @ 9:36 am

PS- you should sell these on Etsy!
What Would a Nerd Wear
December 1st, 2009 @ 9:53 am

what a cool project! i am tempted to try, too…
Audi
December 1st, 2009 @ 11:45 am

Wow, great ideas! I definitely have to give this a try.
Trisha
December 2nd, 2009 @ 5:40 am

how fun! I had bought these from Etsy with the idea of doing something similar but haven’t gotten around to it yet. Your shirts turned out terrific! I will have to try that this holiday season.
Kelly N
December 5th, 2009 @ 1:00 pm

I have also longed for the JCrew Tees but been turned away by the high price, but I love the white T you made! I will definatly have to try it!
M.E.J
December 6th, 2009 @ 4:25 pm

Congrats, E.! You really can sew! I too used to make or fix clothes, at first by hand, to the point my fiance bought me a sewing machine for Christmas some years ago!
But then I started my masters and… well, you know how it is.
But those tees are great, maybe I´ll try it during Christmas break.
Hope baby e.´s doing great, but he surely is, judging from the last pictures you posted.
3 January 2010 – Happy Birthday, E! : academichic
January 2nd, 2010 @ 11:48 pm

[...] creative, clever, and imaginative like that. E. never ceases to inspire me with her flair for making things special, making them her own, and having fun with whatever tasks she’s set out to do. E, I hope you [...]
22 January 2010 : academichic
January 22nd, 2010 @ 3:13 am

[...] Embellished tee – Made by E [...]
1 February 2010 – A Lot Up Top : academichic
February 1st, 2010 @ 7:47 pm

[...] Embellished tee: self-made [...]
4 February 2010 : academichic
February 4th, 2010 @ 2:25 pm

[...] Embellished tee – hand made by E. [...]