The Altered Artwear group on Facebook had a recent t-shirt challenge, which means you take a t-shirt and change and alter it in some way. I was intrigued by this technique of turning a t-shirt into a skirt, so that is what I did…and I do like it!
I found this orange XL Old Navy shirt at the Goodwill for $1.00. I tied it up with rubber bands, and soaked it in water in a clean plastic black pail from the dollar store. (If your garment is thoroughly wet before dyeing, it will take the dye better.)
After the t-shirt was wet, I took it out of the pail. I then added a heaping half cup of table salt and a full bottle of Scarlet Rit dye with hot water in the pail, stirring to dissolve the salt. I then placed the rubber banded t-shirt into the dye solution for about an hour, stirring it occasionally. I then emptied the pail of the dye solution and placed the dyed t-shirt in the washing machine. I washed it in cold water with a little bit of laundry detergent while it was still tied up with the rubber bands. When the wash cycle was complete, I removed the rubber bands and hung the shirt up to dry.
The next step was cutting the waistband. I took this thrift store tie-dyed tee and cut off the bottom six inches after cutting off the hem. I cut the hem from the orange t-shirt, and I cut off the neckband. I then cut along the shoulder seams on each side, from the neck opening straight across to the edges of the sleeves. I did not cut off the sleeve hems, but you could. I then doubled over the waistband tube, wrong sides together, and serged it to the bottom edge of the orange t-shirt.
The waistband fits loose and comfortably, and I can always make a small slit on the inside at the seam and add a band of elastic. I like how it turned out, and I will be experimenting with this technique more in the future.
