Fixing Shirt Necks

Everyone has a specific type of neck that bothers them the most. Yes, we are talking about shirts. For me, it’s a crew neck, cowl neck, turtleneck, or mock turtle that bothers me the most. If you have a pair of scissors, however, they’re rather easy to get rid of. Hell, they’re even easy to get rid of if you have a good pair of working hands. 

For the one using said hands, all you have to do is grab the neck by each side, in the seams of each shoulder, and stretch it until it’s the desired fit. It can be anywhere from being a rather loose crew-type fit, to being more of a boat-type. All that matters is how you stretch it out. If you’d like it to hang on you a different way, you can also grab the front and back of the neck, and stretch it however you’d like. 

Now, each shirt material is different. Certain types are too stiff to tear, or stretch, a certain way. This is where scissors come in. If you have a turtleneck you’d like to turn into a mock neck, cut it off strait across at the bottom of the turtleneck hem. If you ever want to just make a neck hole a little bigger, or a lot bigger, experiment with where and how you take scissors to.

There is no right way to do this.

And, if there is, the only right way is whatever way you believe is best. It’s your shirt. Therefore, it’s your decision.

If you’d like to learn how to control the fits of any shirt, or any neck on a dress, sweater, or whathaveyou, experiment on pieces that aren’t as important. If you really, really like something, and you destroy it, it’ll be hard to upcycle it into something you love. If you take something you don’t like all that much, and you change the neck, and it doesn’t work, that gives you a lesson on how that type of fabric works, and that type of cut works… on top of the freedom of creating something completely different out of it, if it works that poorly. 

These are a lot of ‘ifs’, but that’s the way fashion works. You never know until you practice, and have the knowledge to be able to do what you want to. The more knowledge you collect, the more you’ll be able to evolve as an artist.

Experimenting is one of the biggest ways to do that.

What’s better than hands-on experience with something you want to learn about?All you need are scissors, your two hands, and a crappy t-shirt with a cool graphic design on it. Or, you could be like me, and fix the neck… then create your own design on it using sharpies, paint, ironing on cool patches, or whatever else you want.

Fixing a shirt neck can be so, so much more than just making it fit the way you want it to. It can be the difference between one shirt, and another. Not only will it fit different, but it will look different. That’s one of the most fun parts of upcycling, and with fashion itself.