How to Cut a Graphic Tee to Your Style

If you're like me, you have a lot of graphic tees. For whatever reason, they almost always come in a crew neck style too. At the store, we try really hard to find v neck styles because they are universally attractive for all body shapes, but sometimes the message is so cute, we settle for a crew neck.

This is what I decided to write this blog about how you can take any graphic tee and make it your own. Personally, my favorite thing to do is change the neck. It gives the tees a whole new look and more life to some tees I may have forgotten about.

It is so easy to cut a t shirt and make it look your style, but sometimes you just need a little nudge and encouragement. Call this blog your nudge.

There are only a few steps you need to follow to make any graphic tee your style. So....here we go!

1. Grab the best pair of scissors you can find and a tape measure. Personally, I own a pair of fabric only scissors and actually recommend everyone do the same. When a pair of scissors touches paper, tape or anything other than fabric, they instantly get dull. Having a pair of fabric scissors is handy to cut thread, denim and even t shirts.

Shop all our graphic tees, including the one above here.

2. Come up with a plan. Find the tee with a collar you'd like to adjust and make a plan. There are three main ways you can cut a basic graphic tee to give it some style. 

• Scoop neck

• Center Slit

• V Neck

• Boatneck

Come up with a plan for which style you want to go with. The dotted lines above represent where you'd actually cut the fabric to achieve the neckline you want. 

3. Measure. We're going to continue with the steps to make a Scoop Neck tee. Get a tape measure and measure how far off the edge you want your first cut to be on one shoulder. Then determine the middle line of the shirt collar and make a mark where that line exists. 

If you decide you want the neckline to be inward 2" at each shoulder, then you'll want the center line to be inward half that distance, or 1".

4. Start cutting. Take a deep breath and start cutting. Start at one shoulder and cut inward 2" (if that's how much you decide to cut) BUT only on the front side of the fabric. Leave the back collar alone at this point. Then, go to the center line and cut 1" inward. Next, go back to that shoulder cut and start cutting toward that center line. If winging it is hard for you, you can always use the template above as your guide and trace your cuts.

After you've handled one shoulder to the center, head to the other shoulder and cut toward the center line.

Lay the shirt flat and make adjustments to the cuts in small increments where the arc is even for the most part.

5. Cut the backside to match the front. After you have the front side to your liking turn the shirt over, make it flat and line up to the backside. Then cut the backside to match the frontside. (This step is only applicable if you are doing boatneck or scoop neck. You don't do this step for center slit or v neck.)

And that's it! Put it on and see how it fits and feels.

Making any graphic tee a scoop neck makes an amazing t shirt to wear over all your summer swimsuits.

If you do better with video instructions, you can watch on our YouTube Channel. Hopefully seeing this inspires you and gives more life out of your tees!