The boy recon! (tutorial)

How to make a man's t-shirt into a boy's t-shirt.
This will also work on woman's shirts into girl's shirts, just fyi.

I decided it was about time for a boy Recon :)

I found this (size Large) shirt at the CCA (thrift shop)

This is the original t-shirt


Cut the sleeves off as close to the seam as possible


Cut along side seams and shoulder seams as close to the seam as possible.


Take a RTW shirt in the size that fits your child, flip it inside out while leaving the sleeves tucked in. Line up the top neckline with the neckline of the FRONT PANEL of the large shirt


cut out the front panel around the RTW shirt, to make the front panel of your child's shirt.


Line up the neckline of it with the neckline of the back panel of the large shirt. Cut out the same shape using the front panel of the small shirt as a template.


Flip your RTW shirt right side out and line up the cuff of the sleeve with the cuff of the Large-Shirt sleeve that you set aside. You are going to use the RTW shirt as a template to trim the large sleeve down to size.


Line the sleeve up underneath the new shirt panels. You want to be sure the sleeve length/drop is appropriate for the style of the shirt.


Trim the shoulder part of the sleeve to the same shape as the armhole of the shirt.


Flip your sleeves and shirt panels all so they are right-sides-together. Serge up the underside of the sleeves, the shoulder seam of the shirt panels and the side seams of the shirt panels.


serge sleeves onto bodice of shirt


flip right side out, hem bottom, and it's read to wear! :)