Hey y’all – today I’ve got a super quicky tutorial for you. Have you ever bought a t-shirt then realized the seams were twisting? Ugh, so annoying! These kind of shirts get relgated to the give away pile for me since I hate constantly adjusting the seams back. Well, today I’m going to show you how to fix a t shirt with twisted seams.
Before we get started though, two notes. This happens when the t shirt is cut off grain. Remember the post on types of knit fabrics? Well, in the close up shots of the knit, you can see on the right side columns of knit stitches. If the side seams are not cut in line with these vertical columns, that’s when the twisting happens, and washing usually reveals the issue. It’s not limited to cheap t shirts either – I’ve bought myself (and returned) expensive brand t shirts that this happened to. So, the moral of the story is for those of you making your own t shirts – knit grain is important!
But if you already have a shirt where this has happened and you don’t want to return it, you can fix the issue by cutting the shirt off grain to remove the twist. Doing this will mean that you will lose all the fabric that is twisted, so it will make the t shirt a tighter fit. But the seams will stay straight when you’re done.
The first step is to lay the t shirt out flat, matching the shoulder seams, so that the side seam twist is evident. Then, cut up the side seam through the sleeve on the shorter side of the seam. In other words, cut to the side of the seam that you can see, not the side that wraps around to the opposite side of the t shirt.
After you cut the seam, flip the t-shirt over, keeping it flat. Cut off the excess fabric so that the raw edges of the t shirt at the side seam are now even. Repeat this process on the other side of the t shirt.
Fold the t shirt in half and make sure that any graphics are centered and that the side seams are now even. You may have to trim a little more to get here.
Finally, re-sew the side seams and underarm seams using a stretch stitch.
And voila – an untwisted shirt!
Linda
I will definitely pay more attention to the grain next time I’m shopping! Thanks for the tip.
M
You are so smart! This drives me crazy too. Really enjoying your blog!