Skull Shirt

I really liked the look of the skull shirt and thought giving it a black backdrop would make it all the cooler. I also found a Pintrest site for taking the top off and running a zipper along the top. I thought this would be ultra cool and I have an abundance of zippers for some unknown reason so I found some shiny black fabric in my box and got to work. The first thing I did was lay the shirt out on the floor, I took my scissors and cut a straight line across the top making sure to cut as close to the collar as possible so I didn't get to close to the eye sockets. Then I laid the shirt on top of the black fabric and used it as a template to cut out the lining. The lining just needed to be turned shiny side in and then I pinned and used my serger to sew up one side. I turned the lining back right side out and pinned the top edges together starting at the center and working towards the shoulder seems. I then used my serger to go across the top giving the lining and the shirt a good strong bond to sew my zipper into.

I pulled out my large collection of random zippers and found one that went almost all the way across the top and it was black with metal tines. Then I needed another zipper that I could steal the zipper tie off of. I found one and cut off the end so I could pull off the tie. Now I needed to carefully cut open the zipper I wanted to use and put the new zipper tie onto it. This took a little doing and I recommend a second pair of hands if you can find them (I couldn't). I did my best to hand sew the zipper back the way to was but decided in the end to just sew it shut since it was never going to be opened all the way anyways. I zipped the two ties to the center and then pinned the zipper to the top of the shirt with the tabs facing the front of the shirt.

I pulled out my regular sewing machine to sew the zipper in, mostly because it has a special zipper foot which made the process much easier (once I remembered to use it). I flipped the shirt inside out and attached the zipper to the other side of the top to complete the garment.

I tried it on and found the arms to be a little tight and the inside moved around and made it hard to put on so I slit the bottom of the sleeves and sewed along the sides to attach the lining to the shirt better. I admit it's still not the most comfortable shirt and the sleeves are still too tight in the arm pits but I like the way it looks aesthetically.