November 16, 2018

Tees to Undies : Refashion Your Shirts to Underwear

T-shirts wear out quickly, but you can reuse them by making them into new underwear! Here’s an easy way to transform your favorite tees to make undies!

Tees to Undies

If your house is anything like ours, you have piles of old t-shirts laying around. Although I used to give everything to the thrift store, I realized that giving things away doesn’t stretch my household budget. I am constantly on a quest to find new uses for things we already have in the house. Making old t-shirts into new undies is a brilliant concept. I love that it reuses what you already have while saving more t-shirts from finding their way into the landfill.

According to statistics, even thrift stores only sell about 20 percent of the donations they receive. That means that your thoughtful donation often ends up in the landfill or disposed of in another way.

These t-shirt boxers are great for men or women, kids or adults. I self-drafted a pattern from my favorite pair of boxers while using just a few simple steps.

Make Your Own Undies Boxer Pattern

1. Turn your favorite undies inside out. Fold them in half at center front and center back. Pin together any seams to keep them from shifting.

2. Lay flat on a piece of folded paper or scrap fabric. Trace around the shape with a pen or a pencil. You may be able to flatten one part of the garment at a time while you trace it. You can also use a ruler to help straighten the lines a bit if needed.

3. Add 1/2″ seam allowance around the piece on the outside edges. Mark pieces front and back accordingly. Include one notch somewhere along the back crotch seam so you know which is the front and which is the back.

4. Lay out your pattern pieces on the t-shirt. I liked the colored graphics of this particular t-shirt so I tried to place the pattern over as much of it as possible.

5. Cut out your pattern pieces. Don’t worry, if it doesn’t turn out you can throw it away. Practice makes perfect. You were going to throw away the tee anyway remember?

Tees to Undies Sewing Directions

These garments are very easy to sew. You can use either wide 1 5/8″ elastic at the waist purchased from the fabric store or better yet cut off a piece from an old pair of boxers and re-use it.

1. Sew together the center front crotch seam with a narrow zig-zag stitch 1.5-2.0mm. You could also serge the seam instead with a serger. For men’s boxers, add an extra piece of fabric 4″ wide (folded in half lengthwise to a width of 2″ the length of the placket) to make the placket opening. Stitch placket to crotch seam to desired opening length, fold placket to back side of opening, then top stitch in place on the front side. (Confused? Look at a pair of your own boxers for reference.)

2. Sew together the center back crotch seam using the same method.

3. Sew together the front and back at the side seams. Stitch the remaining crotch seam together.

4. To finish the leg opening, either hem as desired or add lace. Stitch 2″ lace hem tape to the bottom of the leg openings by overlapping the lace and fabric by 1/4″. Zig-zag along the edge of the lace to attach. Fold over lace edge and enclose raw edges, then zig-zag the opening closed to finish the leg. Repeat on the other leg.

5. To finish the waistline, measure elastic to fit waist comfortably (it needs to be snug and stretched a bit so it’s not too loose). Divide and fold elastic into four equal parts and mark with pins. Beginning at the center back seam, pin elastic in place to waist matching a pin to center back, side seam, center front seam and also the opposite side seam. Stretch elastic slightly to fit while sewing with zig-zag stitching. Attach the elastic to waist while overlapping elastic and fabric by at least 1/4″. Fold under raw edge of elastic at center back seam and secure with zig-zag stitches.

I am thrilled with the final product and I will definitely be making more in the future! Goodbye to my never-ending pile of old t-shirts!

Free Boxer Pattern

Although it is quite simple to draft your own boxer pattern, it may be a step you are not ready for. Because of this, I’ve made my boxer pattern available to you for FREE by simply joining my mailing list here!

If you’re looking for additional underwear patterns to choose from, check out this great resource.