Introduction: $5 Easy Infinity Shirt Tutorial
[Photo by Ama Wertz]
I came up with the idea for this shirt during the heat wave in San Francisco a few weeks ago.
I had just started beauty school, with its "all black" dress code, and all of my black things were sweaters, because this is San Francisco and we only experience summer for thirty minutes a day all year except July, and I could not bear to wear a sweater during a heat wave when I'd be blowdrying and using hot curling irons, so...
...I doodled and fantasized at lunch that sweaty day about the lightweight, sophisticated top I could make with the $5 bill in my wallet and the 30 minutes of spare time I had that evening. And I came up with what I can only accurate describe as the Infinity Slit shirt. If anyone has a better idea of what to call it, let me know. lol.
Step 1: Select Your Fabric
Meet the lovely Eyreka and Ama! Eryka is a designer and fellow beauty school student, also known as Skin Beauty Fairy, and Ama is a fiber artist (also featured in Easy Retro Curls). Thanks for your help and grace, ladies. <3
Start with a lightweight knit fabric, like cotton jersey. You want it to be as stretchy and comfy as possible.
To determine the length, take the measurement from your shoulder to wherever you want the piece to end -- in this case, hip-length -- and double it.
To determine the width, take the measurement from your elbow to elbow (across your shoulders).
Step 2: Create the Collar
First, fold the fabric in half hamburger-style (in other words, fold the shorter pair of the opposing ends together).
Then fold it in half again, perpendicular to your original fold. Cut a slit down the top of that fold about 4". Unfold the fabric and try it on. Snip to fit.
Step 3: Create the Waistline
With the fabric over your head, mark with chalk or pins two parallel marks near your bell button, wherever you want the waistline to be.
Fold the fabric perpendicular to your collar slit, above the first chalk mark. Fold it in half in the opposite direction (so that the folded corner shows the chalk mark). Cut into that fold. It should be a horizontal line to your waist.
Cut the bottom chalk mark parallel to, and equal length as, your first waistline slit. These slits should be wide enough for you to pull the garment on around your shoulders, bust, etc, but just tight enough to hug you comfortably around the waist.
Step 4: Put It On!
We've figured out two methods for putting it on.
1) The hanging method: With the garment on a hanger, take the two back corners and slide them over the top waistline slit, into the garment, and back out the bottom waistline slit. So you should see a wide horizontal slit on one side of the garment and the "waistbelt" on the other side.
2) The...other method: Pull the "waistbelt" on over your head so that most of the fabric is to either your front or back, depending on which way you want to wear it. Take that fabric, pull it over your head through the collar slit, and tuck it all into the waistbelt.
[Eryka and Ama model the versatility of the garment -- you can wear it with the open side in front or back.]
Step 5: Make Another One!
Lol if you want to, of course. I've already made three Infinity Slit shirts for myself, including a longer dress version. I want to make a floor-length one out of sweater fabric! And as you can see, Ama went home and made herself a second Infinity Square shirt out of a lightweight knit - so, so pretty.
Thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed this Instructable! Feel free to check out my blog, connect with me on Twitter, follow me on Instagram, or check out my Pinterest boards.
[Photos by Ama Wertz]