Braided Back- A Twist on the Workout Shirt

So there have been TONS of posts on Pinterest and such about taking old t-shirts and making them into workout shirts. I'm sure you all have seen these unless you live under a sad, Pinterest-less rock...shame on you. Anyway, I was hanging out with a friend the other day (The Marvelous Marissa who has a nanny blog you should check out ModernAuPair.blogspot.com) and we decided to make our own workout shirts. Me, wanting to be original, came up with this design. I absolutely love it and I hope you do too! :)

Step one: Grab a shirt you don't mind chopping up 

Marching band nerds holla!

 Next step: Cut the collar out as you wish

Now cut off one of the sleeves

Fold that over and cut the other sleeve to match

It should look something like this :)

 Now for this specific shirt we are turning it into a racer back.

You'll want to cut JUST the back piece to look something like this...

 and eventually this...

Alrighty, cut along the top of the shirt about an inch or so below the collar.

Placement is up to you depending on where you want your braids to start.

Cut the back into thin strips.

Make sure you have sets of 3!!!

I usually end up cutting 15-18 strips depending on the width of the back

Give the strips a tug to make them longer and thinner

Start braiding :)

{{{At this point there are two things you could do.

On another shirt I folded the raw edge at the top and gave it a new hem, 

just so it looked a little more finished.

On this one I left the edge raw so it's up to you.}}}

Position where you want the braids to sit and either pin in place and

sew with a machine, or hand stitch in place.

I hand stitch because it's easier for me and just FYI-

I usually start with the outer two braids and work my way in, 

just so they're spaced evenly

And there you have it! :) How adorable is that? :)

I hope you guys like this tutorial and give it a try. 

And always, thanks for checking me out! ;)

~Shannon