Lightweight Shirt Tail Vest to Be Worn Under a Sweater

My favorite autumn/winter outfit is a long shirt worn under a cute sweater, with shirt tails hanging past the sweater. I always have a huge problem buying shirts or blouses. They never fit, unless they are tailored, since my upper and lower body have odd measurements.

I came up with this method of cutting the shirttails off and sewing them onto a vest that I can wear under a sweater. That way I'm removing all the extra bulk from the top of my outfit, and I'm able to control how long my shirt tails are. Another benefit of this method is that I no longer have to buy specially made shirts, I either buy woman's or man's shirt big enough to fit my hips and don't have to worry about the rest of the shirt. I often go on a hunt in vintage and second hand stores to find unique shirts to convert them. This crafty trick can be used by anyone, but it's particularly helpful to women with hourglass, pear and cone body type, as well as really tall women who have trouble finding long enough shirts.

You need:
-Shirt big enough to fit your hips

-Vest/undershirt - stretchy ones work best

-Pen or fabric marker

-Pins

-Sewing machine

-Second pair of hands to help you pin the fabric in place

-Start by putting the vest on and mark where you have to cut it to shorten it.

-I have a lot of short sweaters that hit just below the belly button, so I decided to cut my vest few inches below my breasts.

-I kept the vest on the right side, pinned the fabric in place and used a sawing machine to stitch a new, temporary hem.

-I kept the sawing machine tension low. These stitches will be ripped out later on, so they are there only to keep the vest's edges from curling.

-I put the shirt on, buttoned it up and put the vest on top.

-I marked how long I wanted the shirttails to be and at which point I'd have to cut the shirt off.

-Vest's stitches will most likely pop in few places, but that's ok, no need to fix it.

-I folded the shirt in half lengthwise and cut the shirttails off where I previously marked it.

-To make things easier I ironed the shirttails before moving forward.

-I used a long ruler and a fabric pen to draw a straight line 1/2 inch from the top, it will be helpful when pinning the vest to the shirt. I drew that line on the front and and back of the shirt.

-I used two pins to secure the vest's sides to the shirttails' sides.

-I had someone else hold the shirt by the side seams and keep it taut, so the vest's hem aligned with the shirt's.

-While it was being stretched, I used several pins to secure the vest to the shirt. I used the line I previously drew as a guide to make sure everything was straight.

-I repeated it on the other side.

I'm not much of a seamstress, so I have no idea if there is some special method of pinning stretchy fabric to regular fabric without help from someone else, but I had to do it without help a few times and I used some weird methods. I used large, strong paperclips to clip the fabric to something like a table or a desk. I stapled one side to a piece of wood, stretched the material taut and stapled the other side.

- I used a sewing machine to sew the vest to the shirttails.

-I run the stitches slightly lower than the temporary (blue) stitches.

-Lastly, I used a seam ripper to remove the temporary stitches.