How to Make Shirts Smaller

If you have a nice looking shirt that doesn’t fit well, you’re out of luck. To overcome this problem, the simplest way is to make that favorite shirt smaller to fit the body. You can make the shirt smaller to accentuate the curves of your body where you need it, with or without sewing.

Table of Contents

Shrink your shirt

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Soak the shirt in hot water. Bring a large pot of water to a boil on the stove. Hot water will cause the fabric to shrink, so the shirt will shrink smaller. If you want your shirt to shrink as much as possible, using high heat is the best option.

Remove the pot of water from the stove.
Submerge the shirt in hot water. You will use a spoon to press the shirt completely submerged in water.
Soak the shirt for about 30 minutes.

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Wash clothes in hot water. Set the washing machine to wash with hot water on the highest setting. Wash the shirt with the normal wash cycle. If you just bought a shirt and want to shrink it before you wear it, washing it with hot water will shrink the fabric and reduce the size of the shirt a bit. ^{[1] X Research Source}

Hot water can cause some fabrics to discolor or fade, so wash them separately to avoid damaging other garments.
The rotation of the top load washing machine will affect the fabric more and cause the shirt to shrink more than the front load washing machine.

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Dry clothes on high heat. Put the shirt in the tumble dryer and dry on the highest setting. The heat will cause the shirt to continue to shrink a bit. In addition to woolen fabrics, a clothes dryer cannot shrink clothes as much as the hot water method. If you just want the shirt to shrink a little, wash it in cold water and dry on the highest setting.

Heat will shrink synthetic fabrics more than clothes made from natural fabrics that have been previously shrunk.
In the dryer, wool fabrics will ruffle, the individual fibers rubbing and sticking together causing the fabric to bunch and shrink.

Sew the t-shirt again

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Prepare an old shirt that fits. Choose an old shirt that fits you but no longer wears. You will cut out this shirt to make a pattern.

Choose the shirt with the fit you want in the new shirt.
Make sure you don’t want to wear this shirt anymore because once you cut it for a model you won’t be able to wear it again.

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Cut out the sleeve of the sample shirt. Cut along the seam connecting the sleeve to the bodice. Next, cut along the sleeve seam so that it becomes a flat piece of fabric.

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Cut along the side seam of the pattern shirt. Carefully cut along the seam on either side of the bodice. Leave the shoulder and collar seams intact to get a sample shirt.

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Cut along the seam of the shirt you want to make smaller. Remove the sleeve by cutting along the seam, then cut the seam on both sides of the body.

Open the sleeve by cutting along the seam on the sleeve.

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Flatten the shirt. Place the shirt on the table and spread it flat.

Spread the sample shirt on top of the shirt you want to shrink.
Stack the collars of the two shirts on top of each other.
Pin the sample shirt to the shirt to be fixed to fix.

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Cut to make the shirt smaller. Cut about 1.5 cm from the edge of the sample shirt. This leftover fabric will be used to sew new seams. ^{[2] X Research Source}

Cut the sleeve to fit the sleeve of the sample shirt. Leave 1.5 cm for sewing.
Cut under the bodice to shorten the shirt like the model shirt if desired.

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Pin the sleeve to the bodice. Take a flat sleeve and pin it to the bodice with a straight pin.

Pin the edge of the sleeve to the front of the shirt, with the outside of the sleeve facing the front of the bodice.
Keep the sleeves flat to pin to the shirt.

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Sew sleeves to body. Use an overlock or zither stitch to sew the sleeve to the body. A straight stitch will not be suitable for sewing textiles.

Use thread that is the same color as the shirt.
Place the bodice and sleeves under the presser foot and sew them together.

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Sew both sides of the shirt. You will fold the shirt to turn the left side out and sew the sides of the shirt. Start at the sleeves and work your way down to the bodice on both sides. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

Use a sewing machine and thread of the same color as the shirt to sew the bodice.
Turn the inside of the shirt out when sewing, when the sewing is done, the seam will be inside when you wear the shirt

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Sew the hem. Still turning the shirt left side out, you will fold the bottom edge of the shirt up about 2.5 cm. Fold the right side of the shirt inwards so that the hem folds inwards when the shirt is turned upside down.

Using a sewing machine, turn the shirt inside out and sew it back to create the hem.

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Flatten the seam with an iron. Use an iron to smooth the shirt along the new seams.

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Try on a new shirt. Your new shirt will now fit you like a sample shirt. Please keep the sample shirt to change the size of other shirts as needed.

Make the shirt fit better

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Tie a knot at the back of the shirt. You can make the shirt more body-hugging by tying a button at the back of the shirt.

Pull the shirt to the back.
Tighten the hem of the shirt
Tie a button under the hem of the shirt.

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Pin the shirt with tape. You will pull the fabric at the back of the shirt together and use a pin to secure them to the back of the shirt.

Thread the tape from the inside out so it doesn’t show.
Wear a blazer or sweater over your pinned shirt so it won’t be detected.

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Cut off the bottom half of the shirt. Transform the shirt into a sports short by cutting off the bottom half of the bodice. You can leave the hem unstitched or sew to create a new hem.

Wear a halter top or t-shirt underneath your freshly cut shirt for a more layered or discreet look.

Advice

Sew twice at the underarm seam, as this area usually takes more force when you put on and take off your shirt.
Buy loose tops at a thrift store and fix them to fit you.
Wet the shirt with cold water, using a heavy object to stretch the shirt when drying will help the shirt shrink less.

Steps

Shrink your shirt

Sew the t-shirt again

Make the shirt fit better

Advice

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