It's finally summer, so I decided to take out my boys' summer clothes and put away their winter clothes. As I was folding shirts, I got the most faaaabulous idea about how to get more use out of some of the long-sleeved shirts that I was about to put away. I'm sure it's not an original idea, but this is what I did to make short-sleeved shirts... without sewing and without it looking obviously hand-made.
This is a good idea if you are low on short-sleeved shirts and don't want to buy any. Or if you're the kind of person who prefers your kids to wear clothes to death and then throw it away rather than to keep boxes of clothes to be passed on to a younger sibling. Also, it's something you can do if your child really loves a particular shirt and doesn't want to let it go just because it's summer.
Look in your kids' closet. Some shirts have arms made from contrasting material. I had a few of these. Any long-sleeved shirt with sewed-in contrasting sleeves can be made into a short-sleeved shirt in 2 minutes. All you need is scissors.
If you look closely, you will likely find that the shirt has a 'finished' short sleeved hem and a sleeve that has been attached on the inside. If the shirt still fits your child and if the fabric is lightweight enough, all you need to do is turn the shirt inside out and carefully cut the sleeves off. Don't touch the hem, just cut as closely as you can to where the sleeve is sewed in. The raggedy edge will be inside the sleeve and totally un-noticeable.
Magic
