If you know me you know I’m AVID about recycling and reducing waste and reusing EVERYTHING. After all I started my brand TINY BANDIT to be a no waste packaging company to help minimize the carbon foot print I leave. I have to earn a living and shipping safely is part of that equation but I 100% am always mindful of our waste and taking every effort to make that as minimal as possible at all times. To date we have never bought ANY SHIPPING FOAM OR BUBBLE WRAP. Every single shipment that has gone out since 2018 has been with reused foam, bubble or paper wrap. (*insert: crowd goes crazy with whistles and clapping).

So with all that, my boyfriend asked me yesterday if I wanted two of his t-shirts that we’re brand new but didn’t fit well. He hates returning anything because he generally hates shopping like a lot of guys. So Jeff is about 200 lb and 6’3” and I’m 5’3” so clearly they wouldn’t actually fit but I liked that they are JCREW organic cotton t-shirts so I brainstormed, I had an an old idea I wanted to try out. Blending creativity and Up-cycling is my jam but I’m not a DIY blogger so bare with me. Here is my first attempt at a cute fringed muscle tee. Also it doesn’t only have to be an oversized hand-me down, make one with any t-shirt you have that perhaps has a little a stain on it or if its just too boring to wear, make it fun! If you like this idea, I invite you to try it yourself. This is also a fun DIY project to do with kids or to make custom matching boho bridal party tanks etc. I’m much more into this idea than wearing dumb t-shirts with penis innuendos, aren’t you?

This would be great in colors over grey but I think it came out really cute and a perfect airy tank for these hot August days of Summer -so let’s jump in!

SHAPE: First step is cutting the tee into the general shape, here are some steps

cut off the sleeves into a muscle tee arm opening.

cut the bottom of the tee to whatever length appeals to you. For me I took off 4”. A crop version would be dope too!

cut the neck bank in half, don’t cut the whole bank off, keep the structure but create a rough edge so it’s all matching from neck to sleeves to hemline.

FRINGE: this can be modified. if your tee is really wide you should do 2.5” slices to make is smaller in width. If the general width is ok make the slices smaller such as 1”.

next slice one side of the tee body open along the top underarm seam down to the hemline. (only do one side at a time or it is really hard to line up the slices to be even)
then take your scissors and create 1.5-2” cuts that are 1 cm apart (about a finger nail width)
starting from the top (underarm) slices, tie the first top two slices (one from front panel and one from back panel together into a knot twice and pull tight. Continue all the way down. Each fringe will stretch naturally and become much skinnier than the initial cut. The new raw edges will roll and shrink in a tiny bit.
when finished, hold the underarm and hem and tug a little at the ends so it straightens and elongates the fringed seam a bit
repeat the same steps on the other side

I’ll be sure to have him take a cute photo of me in it as an actual outfit soon, I couldn’t get a good mirror shot but trust me, it came out great and I’m really happy with my new fringe Summer muscle tee! Stay hydrated folks and please upload/send me pics if you try this out yourself!

xoxo Heather

DIY CUTE FRINGE T-SHIRT | PERFECT FOR SUMMER