How to Refashion a Men’s Shirt to a Women’s Shirt

Learn how to refashion a men’s shirt to a women’s shirt by changing some of the details, changing the shape, and adding ruffles.

Have you ever wanted to make a men’s shirt work for women? Have you ever seen a men’s shirt in a print you loved, but it didn’t fit right?

I was walking through the thrift store and this polka dot men’s shirt jumped out at me. I didn’t quite know how to make it work, but I really wanted to try! I’ll walk you through the different things I did to make this men’s shirt work for a women, and the details I added to make it more feminine.

What is refashioning?

Refashioning is to fashion clothing again or differently. I usually use this to describe when I’m sewing clothing to fit different or to look different, but the majority of the item stays the same.

What is upcycling?

Upcycling is to reuse material to create something better than the original. I usually use this to describe when I’m sewing adult clothing into clothing for children or I’m sewing clothing into an accessory or house item.

Upcycling saves time, saves money, saves the environment, and saves memories.

Save time by reusing details from the original shirt. Save money by using something you already have.

Save the environment by keeping t-shirts out of the landfill. Save memories by reusing a favorite adult t-shirt for your toddler or child.

Love to sew? Try one of these fun sewing projects:

• Men’s shirt upcycle and refashion tutorials
• Sewing and alterations you can do
• Upcycled gift ideas

How to Refashion a Men’s Shirt to a Women’s Shirt

Supplies

• Men’s shirt that fits the hips and is too big in the shoulders
• Sewing tools
• Sewing machine

Instructions

First, seam rip the collar to remove it from the band. This is a great thing to do if the collar is stained or dirty. If the collar looks great and you like the look, you can skip this step.

This was a long sleeve shirt so I cut the sleeves to make it into short sleeves. I cut the sleeves 2 inches below the armpit perpendicular from the sleeve fold.

Men’s shirts are really long so that they can be tucked in. I wanted the shirt 4 inches shorter so I cut 3.5 inches off and planned for a .25 inch double fold hem (.5 inch total).

To help a men’s shirt fit better the goal is to leave the width at the hips (most women are wider in the hips than the chest, and men’s shirts are wider in the chest than in the hips) and take it in through the chest and sleeves.

I started by not taking anything in at the hem, sewing diagonally up to the armpit taking in 1 inch and then taking in 1 inch through the sleeve. Trim the excess and finish the raw edges with a zigzag stitch or serger.

Trim the hem down to 1 inch. Hem the short ends with a .25 inch double fold hem. Sew a basting stitch along the raw edge and gather the piece to make it shorter.

Place the ruffle between the two sides of the collar band and pin the collar band closed. Sew the collar band closed securing the ruffle in place.

Either hem the sleeve to finish, or cut the sleeves into strips and gather them to create a ruffle for the sleeve hem.

Sew the ruffle onto the sleeve hem and topstitch the seam allowance towards the sleeve.

Sew a new hem on the shirt with a .25 inch double fold hem.

You finished!

If you make something using this sewing project, I’d love to see! Please share it on social media with the hashtag #heatherhandmade and tag me!