52 Snapshots of Life: "Comfort" - Crew Neck to Tank Top

It's Sea Turtle Week, and perfect for wearing the T-shirt from the turtle "workshop" last year. This adventure was just me in a van at 11:00 at night, in Mexico, with a group of teen volunteers, out to a closed and protected nesting beach. Those teenagers were amazing and taught me all about the work they do every night to mark the turtle nests. They guided me to a spot to watch a turtle dig her nest. Crawling, we silently approached in the sand with a red flashlight. When the turtle entered her trance state as her eggs dropped into the nest they urged me to stroke her flipper with assurances that she wouldn't feel it . Incredible! Then we crawled a distance away and watched her cover her nest. 

Back to the souvenir shirt and its one problem - the tight crew neck. So uncomfortable!  Then I found an easy method to alter the shirt.

Comfort!

The procedure was here on a blog called It's Been One of Those Days. Some of the steps could be improved on, so I'm going to share this easy DIY with my changes included. If you have 30 minutes and a sewing machine you can add our 52 Snapshots word, "comfort", to one of your shirts. Bear with me, I'm including lots of photos, so it will look like there are lots of steps, but actually that's not true.

Here's the next shirt to be altered.

1. Cut the sleeves off (save them). Then cut straight across under the collar. If there is a design on the back, check that you aren't cutting through it.

2. Turn the armhole edges to the inside about 1/4 inch. Pin. 

3. Sew with a zigzag stitch. 

4. Turn the top edge of both the front and back inward 1 inch to make a channel. Stitch only the long edge of each with a zigzag stitch. 

5. Cut the cuffs off both sleeves. Remove the seam from each one to make two long strips. 

6. Attach a safety pin to one strip and thread it through the channel on the shirt front. Repeat with the other strip in the back. (The safety pin makes it so easy!) Remove safety pin.

7. Sew the front strips to the corresponding back strips. Now you have a continuous loop through the top of the shirt.

8. Slide the shirt down the loop until the seams of the straps are covered. 

Enjoy your new, comfortable tank top!

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