Isle of Man Expansion Project

I loved the retro look of this Isle of Man T-shirt I snagged from my son’s outgrown pile. Of course, it was too snug for me – looked like I was trying to squeeze into my kid’s clothes……………huh!!

First thing I did after practically asphyxiating while wrangling it off over my head was open up the front and back necklines.

• The ideal track to accompany this project was Motorcycle by The Rumblestrips, though my favourite on the album is Alarm Clock (who doesn’t fantasize about taking e sledgehammer to their alarm clock, at least once!)

 

It was a heavier cotton jersey with very little stretch, so I toyed with adding panels down the sides like I had done with a previous T-shirt “expansion”…

…but, in the end, I replaced the back with a contrast, looser, ribbed jersey to add some ease. I unpicked the sleeves off first, did some chopping, then added the new back piece. I overlocked a contrast neck band on, too. At this point, I was going to keep it sleeveless with black trim around the edge, but the front armholes were not a very snug fit, so I thought sleeves would disguise that better. I used the old sleeves as a pattern piece, cutting the black ones shorter, to make more of a cap sleeve.

And, voila, expansion plan complete!