3 Easy Ways to Make a Cute T-shirt for a Tailgate

How to Turn a Plain T-shirt into a Cute Top for a Tailgate 

Tailgates are not hard to dress for, but it is hard to make a standard t-shirt look cute rather than boring. As a college student, it is difficult to find the time and money to go buy an appealing shirt before the tailgate on Saturday. There are easier ways to getting a cute shirt. I picked out 3 of my favorite and easy ways to make a DIY shirt perfect to tailgate in. You can use any T-shirt and make it game day ready.   

1. Keyhole Neck Shirt

The key to making this shirt in insuring you do not cut the seam or very top of the shirt. You must poke a hole with scissors under the seam of the top of the shirt. With the hole, cut following the seam 2 inches to the right and 2 inches to the left. Then, from the left most cut, cut one a diagonal towards the center of the shirt. Repeat this step for the right side too. Depending on how low you want the end of your neck line to be widen or shrink your diagonal. Cut until both sides meet each other. 

2. Scoop Neck Crop Top

First you need to try on the shirt and decide how short you want it to be. I recommend taking 2 to 3 inches off at first because you can always go shorter afterwards. After deciding on a length, lay the shirt on a flat surface. Then, cut 2 inches upwards from the bottom middle of the shirt. Once you have the first cut at the length you chose, follow that line all the way around the bottom of the shirt. Next, make a 2 inch cut down the top, and you are going to follow that cut around the whole top. Finally, clean up any uneven cut marks on the top and bottom. 

3. Bottom Fringe Top 

For this next shirt you will start to cut at the bottom center. Cut 3 inches upward. Then, start the next cut roughly an inch over from the previous one. You will repeat this same process until you have gone around the whole shirt making the bottom have fringe. The red tank top below was cut in between every letter. This way you can still read ‘football,’ but it is not simply a plain tank top.     

These DIY t-shirts will have you tailgate ready in no time. They are simple to make and not time consuming. It is also a good way to reuse an old shirt and really spice up your outfit. 

Photo 1: C/O Lauren Lindgren   |  Photo 2   |   Photo 3: C/O Olivia Bieniek