T-shirt to Tank Top

I'm not a super experienced seamstress but I do have a machine and enjoy trying to make things. My latest adventure was shockingly easy. I saw the idea on Pinterest and thought why not? It literally took me like 20 minutes from start to finish. How awesome is that?

My husband has (or had...) way too many t-shirts from various conferences, youth retreats and video games (these aren't often allowed in public). Recently we were culling a few of them out to add to the pile of shirts that will eventually become a t-shirt quilt. I saw this project and remembered that I hadn't cut this particular shirt up yet so I grabbed it. 

All you need is an over-sized t-shirt (I wear a small, my husband's shirt was a medium), good scissors, a skewer or other similar tool, straight pins and a sewing machine. I guess you could sew it by hand, it would just take a little longer. 

I laid out the shirt like so: 

Then I cut off the sleeves at the seams. The seams should be on the sleeves after you cut them off. Cut straight across the top, right below the collar. Cut the ends off the sleeves. These will become the straps of your tank top. 

For some reason, it looks like a totally different shirt color-wise... 

At this point, you can discard the collar portion and the sleeves. Take one side of the top of the shirt and fold it over towards the inside about an inch. Pin it in place. This is going to create the pocket you run the straps through. Do the same thing for the other side. Then pin the two straps together on one end. 

This is when I went to my sewing machine. I sewed along the neck to create the space for the straps and then I sewed the straps together on one end where I had pinned them. Ideally, you would want to use thread the same color as your shirt but since this was a spur of the moment idea, I used what was on my machine already. 

Now comes the slightly tricky part - getting the straps through the shirt. I took the wooden skewer and taped one end of the strap around the end of the skewer. Then I threaded the skewer through the shirt carefully until it came out the other end. Repeat with the other side of the shirt. 

One step left!! I took the shirt back to my sewing machine and sewed the straps together so they became one complete circle. Shirt is finished! 

I apologize for no finished product picture. I tried to take a "selfie" and it didn't turn out so well. I'll just have to wait until I can make my husband take it :) but trust me, its cute. 

UPDATE!!! I managed to get a picture of me in it :)