Turn your crew-neck T-shirt into a V-neck tee shirt with this simple sewing tutorial
Hey y’all, today I’m going to share a tutorial to showing how to change a crew neck to V-neck t-shirt. I personally prefer V-neck tees, but sometimes a design I want is only available on crew neck t-shirts. So this t-shirt alteration is one I do pretty often to make my shirt match my personal preference. Changing a neckline on a tee can be as easy as just cutting a new one (since knit fabrics won’t unravel) but for a more professional result I like to add a new neckband.
So if you’re more a V neck than a round neck wearer, keep reading this sewing tutorial.
What You’ll Need
To alter your shirt neckline you’ll need:
- Your t-shirt
- Matching or contrasting rib knit for the new neckband (re-using the old neckband often won’t work, as I’ll detail below)
- Fabric scissors
- Sewing machine that can sew a zig-zag stitch and basic notions like pins, thread, needle, seam ripper and a measuring tape
- Optional – a V neck t-shirt with a neckline you like or a French curve ruler. Either of these can be used as a guide for the new neckline.
- Optional – rotary cutter and mat. These just make it easier to cut the neckband.
Check out the video below or on YouTube here to see how to cut your new neckline to make it a V. If you prefer written instructions scroll below the video.
How to Cut the Neckline and Neckband
First, carefully cut off the crew neckband right next to the stitching line.
Next you’ll need to fold your shirt in half. Match the shoulder seams and side seams (if there are any and only if they’re not twisted). Then you’ll need to determine where to cut the neck for the V. You can use a shirt with a V neck you like as a guide. Just match the shoulder seams and the center front.
Alternately you can use a French curve ruler to cut your neck.
Remember to leave a seam allowance and think about the width of your finished neckband. You’ll also need to consider any logo or graphics on the shirt; these may restrict how low you can cut the V.
In this case I wanted the V to close in just a bit from the example tee, so I cut above the neckband and counted that as my seam allowance, and made my final neckband 1/4 inch wider than the one on my gray t-shirt. Note that I only cut the front, not the back of the shirt.
As you can see, you won’t be able to use your old neckband on your new v-shaped neckline because the new neckline is longer. So next you’ll need to measure your neckline. Measure along the stitching line, not on the neckline edge.
You’ll need to do some math to determine the length of your neckband. First, double your measurement of the folded front/back neckline so that you get the total neckline length. In my case I measured 13.75 inches above. So 13.75 x 2 = 27.5 inches, the total length of my neckline.
You want your rib knit neckband to be slightly smaller than your neckline. This way the neckline pulls in slightly, but not so much that it puckers. I like to use 0.85 as the rule of thumb multiplier for my neckbands. So 27.5 x 0.85 = 23.375. That number is the length of my finished neckband. I like to cut neckbands on the fold, so I need to divide that number in two now; 23.75 / 2 = 11.6875. Next I need to add a seam allowance to that for where I’ll sew the neckband together. I like to use a 1/2 inch seam allowance, so 11.6875 + 0.5 = 12.1875. I’ll round that up to 12.25 or 12 1/4 to make it easier to cut.
For the neckband width you need to determine your desired finished width. In this case I want 3/4 inch, or 0.75. I need to add a seam allowance to that, so 0.75 + 0.5 = 1.25 or 1 1/4. Then I need to double that amount since the neckband is folded. So 1.25 x 2 = 2.5 or 2 1/2. You can see how I cut my neckband with my rotary cutter and mat below.
Finally, you need to cut the V angle on your neckband. Fold the band in half, matching the long edges. Line the raw edges of the band up with the raw edge of the neckline, and cut the unfolded edge straight up and down as shown below. I use my rotary mat to help line up my shirt and neckband.
After the neckband is cut it will look like this when opened up. You’ll sew these notched ends together. Then you’ll fold the neckband wrong sides together and continue with attaching it to your shirt.
Sew Your V-Neck
If you need help to sew the v-neckband onto the t-shirt, there’s a detailed post here with a long video. You can skip ahead to 8:25 in the video to see the part where I start stitching the V-neck.
Margie Anderson
Thanks for this! My granddaughter says crew necks make her feel like she’s being choked so I’ll be using this tip a LOT! Love your stuff!