Creative articles about sewing

Deconstruct a Shirt by LUKE Haynes

A tutorial share from BERNINA USA’s WeAllSew blog.

by LUKE

Hey everyone! I want to share with you the way I disassemble a shirt into working yardage. I use this all the time to get material from the clothes I get from myself or from Goodwill.

 

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The first thing I do is cut off the sleeves and collar.

 

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What I am doing is getting all the pieces off that will damage my rotary cutter or aren’t worth the time it would take to pick out the seams.

I cut a little slit next to both sides of the button placket and rip them off.

 

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Continuing with cutting off the seams that are dense and will make later sewing difficult I cut on both sides of the seam on the upper sleeve.

 

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After I get both sleeves cut I tear the seams of both and set them aside. NOTE: tear from the large side to the narrow. [upper to lower] because then it tears along the seam and not into the material along the weave.

 

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We still have the body to finish, we need to cut off the yoke. I lay the piece out like a vest and cut just below the seam. I have tried to save this part in the past and with the darts its usually rather difficult to use because its folded.

 

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Open it up after and tear the seams between the panels.

 

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And now you are done if you want to use the fabric as it is.

 

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What I do from here is to cut it down to 6″ strips because that for me is the easiest to store.

Iron it.

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Then lay it out on your cutting mat. largest to smallest so you can see what you are cutting. I use the lines on the cutting mat to line up the 6″ cut but you can use your clear ruler if you’d prefer.

 

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Then I store it in large clear bins so I can arrange it by color for the projects.

 

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Of course, before I start I try the garment on. Just in case it fits and is awesome….

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What do you use your old clothing for?

 

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