Cute Gathered Sleeves Make an Over-sized T-shirt Better- A How-To

The Princess earned a t-shirt during the summer reading program this year. She LOVES her shirt, but gets annoyed at how the too-big-for-her shirt hangs. So, I decided to fit it too her to make her happy, and so she wouldn't look pants-less during the parade she was going to walk in with the library!

Most of it is just cutting down and stitching back up, but we went for cuter, girlie-er sleeves.
Here's how to do it:

First, wearing the shirt inside out, (either you or the owner of the shirt...), mark where you will need to take it in and how far to shorten it. Take it off and pin up the sides nice and straight for sewing up. I also chopped off the arms, and marked where new ones would go. Sew up until the armholes on both sides. Loose the picture you took for your blog, and move on to the arms.

Make a pattern with paper half the diameter of the arm holes, a rounded edge, and a scant inch lip on the straight edge. Like this:

Use the original arms you cut off to cut out two new arms.

With right-sides together, pin the center of the new sleeve to the center seam of the t-shirt. (Straight edges together too!)

Start pinning and gathering the sleeves. The small straight edges will need to go against the straight edge of the t-shirt.

Sew it together, and enjoy it's adorableness.

You may also want to try the shirt on again, and hand-sew to adjust the way the sleeves lay in the profile view. (A) hasn't been fine tuned yet, and (B) has been tacked a bit:

[We also lost the collar, and added ribbons ;-) ]