DIY Racerback Workout Shirt Tutorial
DIY Racerback Workout Shirt Tutorial
WORKOUT DETAILS
You can print the above and place it next to you while you cut!
MATERIALS:
– Old t-shirt (I used my old college tshirt! We were Home of the Fighting Poets. Hahahahaha. How threatening :P)
– Pair of scissors
TIME: 15 min
DIRECTIONS:
1. Cut away the crew neck the sleeves and the bottom. For the sleeves, you will want to start at the shoulder (you decide how thick you want the strap to be) and cut straight into the chest area. Then curve. If you curve the whole way, it’s gonna look weird on you. If you have no idea what I am talking about, no worries, just follow the tutorial, you can always snip away later. Tr to follow my pictures.
2. Clean up the edges. Decide how low you want the neckline to be.
3. Turn the shirt to the back and make a narrower racerback. Then cut a deep V.
4. Take the bottom edge of the shirt that you cut off and cut the seams off so that you’re just left with fabric.
5. Stretch it like a maniac. This is fun.
6. You’re left with a really cool noodle thing. It’s really long too!
7. About 2″ above the bottom of the V tie a know with one edge of the noodle.
8. Wind it round ‘n round, then double knot it at the other end too. Cut off loose ends.
9. To make this a hi-low top, lay your shirt sideways and flat. Then starting at about 4-5″ from the front center of the shirt start diagonally cutting down til you reach the back. You’ll want to cut straight for a bit at the front center then start creating the diagonal or else you’re gonna get a weird arrow shape with you open up.
DONE! Start pulling at the fabric to make rough edges go curly and to make your tank longer.
What a fab way to reuse old shirts as vintage gym fashion! I love it. When you guys make yours, please share it on facebook or tweet it to me @Blogilates.
Wear with a bright bra to make it pop!
Oh and be sure to be the first to pin this to Pinterest! GO!
<3 Cassey
Ok so I feel really dumb right now but I don’t understand what it’s asking in step 4! Do I cut like all the threading off or what?! I’m terribly sorry..
This looks so cute but I’m too scared to ruin one of my shirts. I usually just cut old tees into cutoffs but this is infinitely more difficult and scary, haha. Oh well, hope I try it soon!
Just tried it and its super cute! Definitely needed to go a shirt size up though, but now I know 🙂 thanks!!
This is the worst DIY shirt ever. Not only were the instructions unclear but I also ruined my favorite shirt. More detailed instructions, please!
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The instructions were plenty clear. Maybe instead of getting upset with her you should be upset with yourself for being so dumb as to use your “favorite shirt” for your first time trying this out.
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lol. couldn’t agree more.
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She even has a video up on how to do it…
omg Cassey you don’t know how long I’ve wanted to do something like this to all my XL t-shirts! You rock!
how do you do the double knot at the top? im having problems :/
I loved the shirt Cassey! Thanks for the tutorial!
Also, my boyfriend went to Oxy… I remember going to all the football games against the threatening Poets! 🙂
I made this shirt a few minutes ago, it turned out like it was supposed to, but I guess it’s not what I thought it was going to be. I guess I was hoping it would be cuter and look less like just an old workout shirt. I mean there is no way that you CAN’T wear anything under it, you have to wear a tank top or a sports bra under it, or you’ll be showing everything!
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the latest trends include a bandeau… that’d go perfectly with this!
how deep should the V in the back go…..im having problems….o.O
Thanks Cassey! I’m going to try this right now!
I just tried it and it came out AWESOME! Great tutorial!
Super cute. Too bad I am incompetent with a pair of scissors! Both of my attempts sucked… I have a friend with a steady hand, I’ll make her do it! =]
I just did this yesterday and I love it! I showed my mom(my totally awesome workout buddy) and she wants to try it too! I was surpised at what little time it took to make it. What a great way to utilize those old shirts sitting in the bottom of my drawer!
I’ve just done it. And it is sooo goood! I was always so annoyed about tons of big t-shirts which were given in many occasions for everyone. But throw it away?? No.. But now I have an awesome workout shirt. thank you!
this worked amazingly!! thank you for posting this. i’ve been trying to make my own work out shirts lately and this is the best one so far (:
I am a size M and used an XL shirt for this project. It turned out Horrible! NO amount of cutting could turn this shirt into something salvageable. Any tips?
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um.. use a size M shirt…
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Yeah I didn’t like mine either, it’s not the size that’s bad, it just looks like a crappy workout shirt. Not as cute as I thought it was going to be.
Thank you so much for sharing this idea! I play in a kickball league in Miami and the shirts get so hotduring the summertime league. I just made mine into a tank and I can’t wait to wear it this week to our game! Thanks 🙂
oh my gosh this is awesome!
such a great way to spice up old shirts 🙂
Hi Cassey, I just commented somewhere else and realized I probably should of left my comment here. I just did three tanks and used the remaining pieces from a blue shirt and used it on a pink one. I really think you would like it! I would love to hear what you think of it and also see your version of one!! Thanks again for being a huge fitness inspiration and mentor!!
( I will not add any photos to my tumblr for a while so the photo of my tank should be the first one you see!)
this turned out really cute, but I suggest using a larger shirt than you’re used to rather than a shirt that is exactly your size as it tends to be more body constricting.
i went to Whittier too! 2007, i have a similar, huuuge Poet shirt!
It came out great, but i’m a dude and this is a girlie top. I said my daughter made it…what does a mens shirt look like? Again, the shirt came out gre
at and i got lots of favorable comments while wearing it.
hey so i just found this on pinterest and im making one right now!! c:
Love them! Made 2 already and they came out great. Thanks!
No offense, but I found this tutorial super confusing! I tried it and it just looked awful on my shirt. Is there a specific kind of material? Is there any kind of video, or more pictures to help me in destroying another one of my shirts?
thanks,
Kelsey
How does it look after you wash it? Or do you hand wash your shirts?
I finally made one! Can’t quite wear it to the gym yet but I can definitely wear it at home for my poppilates!
I tried to cut too conservatively the first time and when I tried my shirt on it was choking me out!
Also, you have no idea how hard it is to wrap the noodle part when your cat has decided that the noodle part is now his favorite toy!! I kept trying to get him to play with the other pieces but no – he only wanted the noodle!!
Okay, I finally did this with a fugly tech tee that I got from a race last year, and I love it!!!!! Now….do you think it would be rude to show up to this year’s race in my butchered tee?! 😛
i’m kinda confused about the 5th picture. it looks like you made a ton of little cuts on the sides to make it look like fringe but i don’t think that’s what you did… could you elaborate more on that step? what did you actually do and why does it look like fringe? thanks 🙂
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All she did was stretch it, it just makes it look like she made cuts but it’s just the material stretching out.
So I am going to hit the beach this weekend & I’ve no beachwear! But then I thought about this DIY of yours…just perfect! 🙂 I will certainly try this!! HOPEFULLY it works! 🙂 Thanks Cassey!
Oh and I missed the Hunger Games workout 🙁
Mine didn’t turn out as well as yours. But I will keep practicing! Thank you!
Thank you for this! I just made it and it came out great.
I LOVE this! I just did a “trial run” and made my own and I think it’s the best thing since sliced bread! What a way to reuse an old tshirt. Certainly gives a new twist to cut-offs 🙂 thank you!
idea: you can make two shirts and switch their noodle things in the back! it’d be more colorful 🙂
I just made a few of these this morning. Love it! It motivated me to do a kick-butt workout too 🙂
I love this! I just made one and it is so cute and I plan to do this with lots more of my tshirts!
Thanks Cassey
I saw this on pinterest this is such a cool way to cut of shirts. My fiance is about to graduate from Whittier, poets are not really intimidating haha
I just became a found of your site today and this is the first thing I did. GREAT idea! Mine did not come out as perfect as your’s but it works for me! Thank You and thank you for your blogs and encourgement.
Does it matter what size of the tshirt? If I use a shirt size small and is form fitting on me, will it look like this? Or is it better to use a medium or large?
Love the tutorial, but sort of hard to follow. Not that your directions weren’t concise, but I’m more of a visual learner, and it looked like you had tons of photos of the project on hand. However, not matched up with the directions. Just thought it would be a nice suggestion to give you. Thanks for your hard work.
ok i have absolutely no talent for making this racer back. it looks like it came out of a shredder. sigh. and i love this type of shirts
About how loose should the shirt be to turn out like this? Like should it be a size too big, two sizes too big, or should it just about fit?
This is a great idea! Thank you so much. Workout tops can be so expensive and these are cute. I just made 2 of them. Thanks.
Such a great idea and tutorial! Mine did not come out even close to as cute as yours, but I will keep trying! Thanks for sharing with the world!
Im am wanting to make one of these from a Kansas City Royals t-shirt. (There are no cute Royals tanks around, and I am taking matters into my own hands!) To get the loose tank effect, like yours, assuming I am the same size as you, what size shirt would I buy?
Someone became a celeb over night! I can’t wait to do this with my old sorority tees!
Question though – what brand is your bright sports bra? I love the color!
My husband graduated fr Whittier!!! Beautiful campus
OMG!! Thank you soo much!!! I bought a top that was already like this at a thrift shop and always wanted to make my other T-shirts like it because i love it.
Just made one!
Wish I could say it turned out as cute as yours, but super fun!
Just made my first one & I LOVE it! Thanks so0o0o much for this great idea =))))
So I didn’t do any of the homework I planned on catching up on tonight, but I made three of these shirts. Oh well, when am I going to use physics in real life anyways? :p
I made one out of one of my old volleyball tees.
O.M.G I LOVE THIS IM GONNA MAKE ONE RIGHT NOW. THANK U SO MUCH.
Looks great, need to try it with one of my baggy t-shirts. Awesome tutorial!
this is PERFECTTT!
Thank you xoxo
OMGOSH Cassey thank you so so much for this tutorial! In college you get so many different shirts if you volunteer at on-campus events and I was just about to get rid of them, but now I’ll get to revamp them!
Great idea! Can transform all my old tees and my bf’s tees to cute looking tops! (=
THANX! u r the best (=
Just shared this on our facebook with a link to you! So cute! xoxo
I can’t wait to go home and make a million of these with all of the t-shirts I own but never wear!
WTF THE HUNGER GAMES WORKOUT JUST GOT OFF! THIS IS SO BAD 🙁
it was one of the best workouts you ever done, i’d like to ask you to PLEASE post that on dailymotion or vimeo
Ok I’m doing this asap! I have plenty of old shirts just taking up space.
What a freakin’ great idea! My pajama drawer is overflowing with old college & concert tees. I love your yellow poets top actually. I’m a poet, so that made one made me smile especially big. Too bad my undergrad was the Hawks. Not as quirky! I’ll have to give this a shot before my Saturday workout 🙂 Thanks for sharing
Wow. Now THIS is something I think even I could manage (complete non-sewer save a button, here and there) and I’ve got SO many t-shirts and so few workout tops (I get frying hot, so need ones like yours). SWEET! Thanks bunches. This is also a great example of “re-use.” =) woo-hoo!
OMG this is amazing! I cannot wait to make this today! Thank you!!!!
Of course I accept! I’m going to post this on my Pinterest board and the sewing board I visit every day. There’s a thread on my sewing board about healthy eating, and I’ve mentioned you from time to time both for the challenge and Pilates. And now you’ve done a post about our favorite passion–sewing/clothing. Even if there’s not machine involved it’s good 🙂 ! Love it, and thank you.
I love this! Soooo going to do it!
Great idea!! I have lots of loose t-shirts especially after I lost weight, will do this! Thanks, Casey 😉
This is so cute!!! I have so many tees that I can’t use for working out here in hot and humid Singapore so this will be a perfect way to change up my workout gear! Thanks Cassey 🙂
204 thoughts on “DIY Racerback Workout Shirt Tutorial”
There are Array204 comments posted by our users.
I go to whittier college! Fear the Poets! lol 🙂 Nice to see one of my favorite blogs written by a fellow Poet!
Actually when someone doesn’t understand after that its up to other people that they will help, so here it
happens.
Hello, this weekend is nice for me, since this time i am reading this impressive informative post here at
my home.
Hi! I used your blog and rabbitfoodformybunnyteeth.com to make my own guide for this racerback top! I posted a link of your blog on my post! I hope you check it out!
http://samthingtodo.wordpress.com/2014/04/13/diy-workout-tank/
A tutorial Video would be amazing!!!!!
In regards to present day fashion, the fitness world has created a craze of certain items such as gym tank tops and yoga pants that are worn as casual wear by many people on a daily basis, whether they attend a gym or not.
this is an awesome shirt I love it
Can you make a youtube video on how to do this?
I see something that I could make as a game day shirt as well! Thanks for the inspiration! 🙂
Thank you for the tutorial. It was really easy to follow. 🙂
Wow. that looks sexy and easy to make. Yet, I may need to read the instruction several times to make sure I do not ruin my favorite shirt.
I would try it on a less favorite shirt first…
It is so interesting that I couldn’t wait to share it with you .Thanks for sharing!
Thank you so much for this tutorial! I wish I had these easy to follow instructions when I made my tee. To check it out visit my shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop/PaisleyLime
ルイヴィトン
Haha! My parents went to the same college! So funny, it’s always been a running joke in my family, the Whittier Poets 🙂 Love your website!
So I just tried this and it turned out ok for my first time…although it took forever to cut the threads and take em out of the noodle thing! Haha
s a dark side to the interest in digital content, and that.
I am not really a PC player, please anyone let me to remove Dell Inspiron password…” We usually hear such inquiry around us.
The vulnerability has apparently been fixed since
interview with Russo came about, and usernames are again safe and secure.
I just did this with my Jessie J ” Do it Like a Dude” top it is so cool! And motivational aswell! Awesome!!! Easy to do aswell!!
I really adore reading your post. Truly it is a worth-to-read blog. I already bookmarked your website for future reference. Keep it up.
I used an old scissor and it ended up looking bad. I later did a second one and……..im so happy 🙂 it came out to be so pretty! I will use it for tomorrows workout #juneonfire
Another benefit of using a pressure cooker is pressure frying
which can speed up frying time of different foods. It
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From there, seek for a college fashionista. We have long held beliefs and standards
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Just did it using a girly shirt, ended up having a belly top 😀 craft fail
Hi There, I just spent a little time reading through your
posts, which I found entirely by mistake whilst researching one of
my projects. Please continue to write more because it’s unusual that someone has
something interesting to say about this. Will be waiting for more!
This is such a great idea!! I literally just came across this post via a Google search and have already gone on a cutting spree with all my old t-shirts, haha.
Thanks so much for sharing!! 🙂
xo, Victoria
mylifeinverseblog.blogspot.com
Good breakup therapy using concert t-shirt bought by ex-boyfriend.
Just made one of these! I used a black t-shirt, so I turned the hi-lo hem I cut off into a sweet headband. Thanks Cassey!
Seriously wish I had all my old music tee’s to do this to – they’d be awesome!
All of my favorite recipes I have found on https://healthyrevelations.wordpress.com. There are a lot of amazing pre and post workout meals. Everything is very healthy and low calorie 🙂
Check out this cool tutorial about T-shirt revamping : http://creativitee-ebook.com/sexy-back-t-shirt-makeover-project/.
I’ve done mine in 10 minutes and I’m pretty pleased with the result!
This popped up in my search results and is how I first found your website. I made 4 of these shirts and even started working out! Thank you so much! You are awesome
hello cassie THAT IS URGENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
soy de Argentina amo tus videos! queria saber si estos trabajos los puedo hacer con tobilleras para trabajar mas y tonificar.¿puedo? por favor RESPONDEME
Just did one in less than 20 minutes and it turned out so cute!!! So excited to do this to the rest of the shirts I was about to give away. YAY!!!
I love this! I have a ton of old t shirts lying around that I never wear anymore, but soon I will be wearing them again, just as tank tops! I also have a few very oversized t shorts, I wonder if this will work on them too? I don’t know, but I will try!
Just made this – so easy!! I love it. Workouts are going to be so much more comfortable now. My only suggestion to people considering this is: use a shirt that is slightly baggy on you and a bit long. Once you start cutting and tying the back, and cut off the bottom (I only cut about an inch – half an inch was the seam and half an inch of fabric to weave up the back) it might be a bit short. I’m only 5’3″ so length isn’t a problem, but if I were taller I’d have to use a larger shirt for the length. Thanks for posting this!!
we just did this….aaaand it looks awesome. thanks!!!
This is so cool. I’ve been having a lot of trouble letting go of old t-shirts. This is a perfect way to keep them and have something new at the same time! ^_^
Thank you.
Love this! Thank you!
Hey!! This really helps all the workout and it very easy!!
Dear Cassey,
This year I fell from a bike and injured my ankle badly. I was not able to exercise and was feeling flabby and down. I stumbled upon your site by chance and started doing your poppilates. I enjoyed it so much and it did not impact or cause any pain to my ankle. I have toned up very much and my hubby says I look good. I will continue looking at your site and enjoying every move that you upload. Thanks so much!
LOVED this. I took all of my old college Ts and converted them into fun racerback tanks. I wear them to bootcamp and on my runs. Compliments left and right. Thanks for adding fun to my workout wardrobe! 🙂
I tried this and it worked out great! Love it! 🙂
If you want to you can see it here:
http://tothebeatblog.blogspot.fi/2012/08/do-it-yourself-treenipaita.html
I think it’s best to use a shirt that’s little loose on you, so it wont become so tight. 🙂 I used my old high school shirts.
I love this!! I did notice, however, that using those old oversized “freebie” shirts from high school & college did not cut it. Definitely use a shirt that is your size, or a tad bigger. I wear a M typically, and my XL freebies are a bit too big. But oh well, live and learn! Thanks Cassey, love it!
My daughter and I have just 2 of these. Super easy, thanks. What a great way
to recycle old tshirts.
Hi could you post a video tutorial? It would help alot, thanks :)But it looks fantastic, I must say. xo