Placeholder Image

Subtitles section Play video

  • In this video I will show you five epic DIY t-shirt ideas, which will help you upcycle

  • your old shirts into amazing tops and get you all ready for summer!

  • Hello everybody! Summer is just around the corner and I'm so looking forward to it. Long

  • sunny days, swimming in the sea, short sleeves - I miss that very much! But talking about

  • short sleeves, you do need a lot of cute and stylish clothes this summer. And don't worry

  • if your closet is full of boring t-shirts because I'm here to save you. In this tutorial,

  • I'm going to show you how to transform plain t-shirts into the cutest tops and shirts that

  • you'll love. I came up with four, actually five designs that I can't wait to share with

  • you, so let's just get into it. First we are making this adorable panda tee

  • with lace out of a plain white t-shirt! Mine happens to have the adorable word on, but

  • no problem if yours doesn't. For the lace edge you will need a piece of lace and a fabric

  • glue. I went for hot pink lace to add some color to the shirt and we are just going to

  • glue it along the bottom edge. Flip your shirt inside out and place a piece of cardboard

  • between the back and the front of the shirt, to prevent them sticking together while gluing

  • the lace. Apply some glue along the inside edge of your shirt and place on your lace,

  • that's how simple this is! This DIY literally takes 2 minutes and adds so much to a plain

  • t-shirt! One side is done so turn the shirt around and keep adding more lace until the

  • entire bottom edge is nice and lacey. There we go! Now just leave the glue to dry for

  • about 20 minutes and you can flip the shirt around again to see the beautiful result.

  • My shirt still has a lot of blank space so I decided to draw a panda design on as well.

  • Here I am just sketching the panda's eyes, nose and mouth. For the eyes we need two large

  • oval patches, a cute little heart for the nose and we are also going to add little pink

  • cheeks to this sweet buddy. Inside the black patches we need to leave two white circles

  • for the eyes. So I am just sticking a circled piece of masking tape there.

  • Place a piece of cardboard inside the shirt. This will make it easier to draw but will

  • also prevent the color to transfer on the back of your shirt. And now we are all ready

  • to start coloring our lovely panda bear. With this technique you can also make other cute

  • animal tops, like a cat or a mouse. These are just so easy to make and they look absolutely

  • adorable! Nose is done, now on to the mouth. I am using black and pink fabric markers to

  • match the lace. Lastly I am drawing two pink ovals below our panda's eyes. This makes him

  • look even cuter but also connects the lace and the panda design together into the prettiest

  • shirt ever. This shirt really went from nothing special to most adorable shirt I have in my

  • closet. I am so happy with the result, I kinda want to draw such Kawaii animal faces to all

  • of the shirts I own. Keeping the rest of my outfit simple I paired it with black denim

  • shorts and some white lacey sneakers.

  • Oh Yeah!

  • Time to transform this long shirt into a gorgeous lace heart fringe top. You'll need a shirt,

  • some lace, a heart stencil, self adhesive paper, fabric glue, scissors or an exacto

  • knife. Cut a heart out of your stencil. Place it on the self adhesive piece of paper, outline

  • with a pencil and cut it out. Place the cardboard inside your shirt to make

  • sure that you will only be cutting the back layer of the shirt. Take your exacto knife

  • and trace the shape of the heart to cut your heart out. There you go you are left with

  • a pretty heart silhouette window. Flip the shirt inside out and take a piece of lace

  • fabric. All we have to do is stick the lace on the shirt. I like to dot a small amount

  • of glue all around the edge and then press the lace on as I go. Let the glue dry completely,

  • mine takes about 20 minutes and then you can flip the shirt around again to reveal the

  • awesome lace heart that we have just created! Cut away the excess lace and we're done! I

  • think it looks so beautiful and I love how easy this is to make.

  • Ok, first half of our shirt transformation is complete, but we still have to make a knotted

  • fringe bottom to give this shirt a summery and flirty vibe! I am sticking a piece of

  • masking tape on as a guide up to where I want my fringe to go. My shirt is very long so

  • I also want to cut away some of the length. If your shirt is shorter to begin with you

  • can just skip this step. Star cutting the tassels up to the leading piece of a masking

  • tape. For a simple fringe top you can just leave it like thisit already looks super

  • cool, but I will show a bit more special fringe design by knotting the fringe pairs together.

  • Before that, let's give our strands a little tuck so that they won't look as freshly cut.

  • Place a piece of a cardboard between the front and the back layer of your shirt and we are

  • ready to start knotting! Knot together the tassels all along the shirt, making the knots

  • as high as possible. Just like that... the front is finished. Now we have to repeat the

  • same steps on the back. Knot together two fringe strands and move on to the next pair

  • until you have knots all around your shirt. Next row of knots needs to be bit lower, so

  • I am sticking on a piece of a masking tape as a guide. Now you have to take one fringe

  • string of the first pair and one of the second pair and knot them together, making a knot

  • below the masking tape. Take the remaining string from the pair two and one string from

  • the pair three and make a knot. And so on until you reach the end of the row. I will

  • knot the back later so here I am proceeding with the row three. Grab a string from the

  • pair one and string from the pair two and tie a knot about half an inch below the row

  • 2. take the remaining string from the pair 2 and string from the pair three and make

  • a knot. Continue until the third row is finished. I decided to make four rows of knots, so this

  • is my last one. I love how you get this pretty crochet detailing with knotting the tassels.

  • If you want your crochet part to be wider, go ahead and make more knotted rows. I think

  • four is just enough for me. I also knotted the back strings and this is how pretty the

  • top looks in the end. I love how the tassels give so much movement to the outfit and make

  • it look so interesting and full. I am so pleased with the result!! If you want you can cut

  • away the excess fringe but a – a, I decided to keep mine because I love the t-shirt to

  • pieces already. I paired my top with some light washed skinny jeans and sneakers that

  • have blue stars all over. Some brown sandals or wedges would go perfectly with this outfit

  • too for a more romantic, bohemian look.

  • Here I am going to show you how the shirt looks if you decide to cut away the excess

  • fringe strings. I happen to have an exact same shirt only that this one is pink, and

  • I am going to repeat all the steps as before with the blue one. Here is a little stop motion

  • movie of the process. Actually I get a lot of questions how I do the stop motion for

  • my videos. It is really simple, all you have to do is take pictures or a second clips of

  • the process. So I make one knot, film for a second, then I make another knot, film for

  • a sec, make a third knot, film for a sec and so on. When you put all of that footage together

  • you get a stop motion movie. So here we have finished our knotting and it's time to cut

  • away the excess tassels! Just make a horizontal cut below the fourth row of knots. Voila,

  • we got ourselves a beautiful cropped croche top, which I think looks gorgeous. See how

  • you can get a completely different top with just one simple step, in this case cutting

  • off the fringe. Since this top is shorter I like wearing it with more high - waisted

  • bottoms, like this skirt.

  • This t-shirt is probably 10 years old but I love the color, the graphic so I never wanted

  • to get rid of it. However the fit is ... horrible. So let's pimp this baby into a cool shirt

  • full of interesting cut-outs! We need a shirt, scissors or an exacto knife a thread and a

  • needle for a couple of stitches, ruler and a masking tape. First we are making a braided

  • detail along the neckline. So trace with your pencil, sketching where you want your braid

  • to be. I will be using my exacto knife for the cuts so a piece of cardboard inside the

  • shirt is a must. Now start making one to two inch cuts crossing our sketched line. You

  • can totally use scissors for this if you don't have an exacto knife. Continue making these

  • cuts all along the neckline. Now what you want to do is take the first two strands and

  • tuck the second one under the first one. Pull the second strand up, take the third strand

  • and tuck it under the second strand, pull the third strand and take the fourth strand

  • under it and so on all along the collar. I actually saw this design in a shop not long

  • ago and I thought "hey" I could do this myself, but I've also seen a lot of other cutting

  • designs recently and such unique tops are always so expensive. I just have two strands

  • left and my braid is finished. Now we have to secure our braid. Thread the needle and

  • make two to three stitches so our braid is locked and it ain't going nowhere. I also

  • decided to make a couple of stitches on the right side just so that the opening won't

  • be as big. But that is totally optional. Also if you'd like you can cut away the collar

  • of your shirt, but I decided to keep it, because it kind of looks a bit retro and old school.

  • Let's now make a cool triangular cut out all along the back too! Don't forget to put a

  • piece of cardboard or other material inside the shirt, especially if you'll be using an

  • exacto knife. When I see things like this in shops I always take a picture and then

  • I can film a video and me and you guys can rock this cool shirts for way cheaper. High

  • five! For the guide I like to stick two masking tape pieces in a V shape like so. Now we have

  • to cut horizontal cuts between both masking tape pieces. I am using a knife, but scissors

  • work great too. OK, once all the cuts are made, remove the masking tape pieces and start

  • braiding in the same way as before. Take the first two strands and tuck the second one

  • under the first one, pull the second strand up, take the third strand and tuck it under

  • the second strand. Pull the third strand and take the fourth strand under and so on. In

  • the beginning this is a bit more difficult because the strands are so short but it gets

  • a lot easier when moving up. Here is my braid all finished so all that's left for me to

  • do are a couple of stitches to secure it! Try to use the thread in the same color as

  • your shirt so that stitches won't be visible. Yay! We're done with this cool back cut-out!

  • We're not completely done yet, though! I decided to snip away the sleeves to get a nice sleeveless

  • top. I'll also make it a bit more cropped by snipping away about two inches from the

  • bottom. Now... I'm happy with it - my top is all done so let's quickly put it on! I

  • paired it with some distressed light washed jeans, blue sneakers and cool glasses for

  • a real tough girl look, haha! I really love how after ten years I can again wear this

  • pretty shirt. This is the whole point of upcycling clothes, giving life to pieces you totally

  • forgot you have.

  • Last, but definitely not least, let's transform this plain white long cami into a cool graphic

  • top with tassels and beads. For this DIY you will need a longer white top or a T-shirt,

  • a star shape print out, self adhesive paper, scissors, fabric paint, plastic container

  • to put the paint on, sponge applicators, beads and a pencil.

  • Start by cutting a star shape from your print out. Place it on the piece of self adhesive

  • paper and trace the silhouette using a pencil. We are doing the same thing as we did with

  • the heart top, remember? Cut the star out of your self adhesive paper and here's your

  • stencil for the shirt! Stick your shape on the center of your top, like this.

  • Time for the exciting partfabric paint! I decided to go for two colors, a blue and

  • pink. Start off with the blue one. Dip a rounded sponge applicator in the fabric paint and

  • start making big dots on the edge of the star. The purpose is to cover the edge almost completely

  • and then make gradually fewer and fewer dots as you move away from the star. Let's now

  • add some pretty pink dots on the empty spaces. Also, as you can see, the dots on the edge

  • should kind off go a little bit over the star, so that when you remove the sticker it will

  • look like there's an explosion of colorful dots behind the star silhouette. Time to remove

  • our star stencil and reveal our cool design! I can tell that it will look absolutely amazing!

  • See, I told you! But we are not done with this top yet. We

  • still need to make a beaded fringed bottom! Cut away the bottom hum and then start cutting

  • thin vertical stripes up to the masking tape. I am cutting my front and back fabric together

  • to save me some time. Now this already looks pretty awesome if you ask me, but we still

  • have to add beads for an even more amazing detail to our top. Before proceeding, give

  • your fringe a nice tuck to get rid of the freshly cut look. This part is basically similar

  • to the lace heart top, but the fringe will be different, because we'll be using beads

  • instead of knotting the tassels together. Take your hama beads or other beads of your

  • choice and cut them using scissors. This will make it easy to thread them on the fringe

  • as you can open the bead like so.

  • Take two fringe strands and slide a bead on. I am using scissors to help me open the hama

  • bead and slide the bead on the tassels. Continue making these beaded pairs of tassels along

  • the entire row until all of your front fringe is grouped in pairs. For the second row, you

  • have to take one tassel from the first pair and one tassel from the second pair, add a

  • bead, and slide it a half of an inch lower than the first row of beads. Continue doing

  • this along the entire row. Make the third row using the same technique. Take one fringe

  • string from the first pair and one from the second pair, bind them together by sliding

  • on a bead. Then combine the remaining tassel from the pair two with one tassel of the pair

  • three and so on until you end up your third row. Repeat these steps on the back of your

  • shirt and you are all done! See how absolutely out of this world awesome this tasselled design

  • looks. I am so happy with this top I can't even explain it! So I'm just going to shut

  • up. No, I'm not, haha. Fringe is a huge trend this season, I have seen it all over the shops,

  • but I don't even care what's in and what not, because I love fringe every summer! Fringe

  • tops just look so fun, happy and flirty. Perfect for the hot summer days. Here I simply paired

  • mine with some yellow shorts and white sneakers, because with a top like this you don't really

  • need much more.

  • With all of these beautiful shirts and tops we're now all ready for the warm summer days.

  • Hope you'll try them out and if you do so, please send me pictures on my Facebook, Twitter

  • or Instagram. Also don't forget to check out my DIY shirts and shorts tutorials from last

  • year for more summer clothes ideas. Let me know in the comments, which today's short

  • was your favorite and also what videos you would like to see next.

  • That it is for today, thank you so much for watching, I love you to the moon and back.

  • Bye!

  • Take a look at the back of your closet, I am sure you will find old shirts that can

  • be pimped into beautiful unique pieces, which you will love to wear for years to come.

In this video I will show you five epic DIY t-shirt ideas, which will help you upcycle

Subtitles and vocabulary

Click the word to look it up Click the word to find further inforamtion about it