Sewing advice for Christmas present

[Zapx]

Hey everyone, wondering if someone could take pity on me and tell me how to achieve this.

My 5yo only present wish is to get “t shirts without sleeves”. She doesn’t like strappy tops, she literally wants sleeveless t shirts. She’s very specific!

I can’t find anywhere that sells something like this. I’ve searched hard… So I think I need to try and, err, make one.

So, besides getting a t shirt and chopping the sleeves off, what would I then need to do to it to make sure it doesn’t look a) completely ridiculous, and b) doesn’t just unravel?

Thanks so much for any advice!

(For reference, I have never tried to do anything like this before. And I currently don’t own a sewing machine. Or thread. Or a needle.)

Have you tried searching for "jersey tank"?

This is one result that came up from Debenhams Jersey Tank

Have you searched for vest style t-shirts? Possibly the wrong time of year now but I saw lots of little girls in that style back in the summer.

If you just take the sleeves off a normal t-shirt it will probably look quite 'boxy' because sleeveless t-shirts have more shaping around the armholes. Without a machine and a pattern I wouldn't attempt one from scratch (I have a machine but it doesn't always like stretch fabrics!!)

Good luck!

This is where you start to notice that girl's vests are strappy and their shorts are shorter than the equivalents in boys' clothes for the same age. So much more flesh on show. I have made t shirts but as you don't own a sewing machine this is not a first sewing task sort of thing. If you just remove the sleeves from t shirts it will not look right either. And yes, I have also removed sleeves from a t shirt and replaced them with another sleeve of another colour, it was a Harry Potter Quidditch thing, but anyway, it won't look right.

Just look for tank tops, don't specify a sex and the wide strapped ones will come up.

Thanks so much everyone! Sounds like it’d be a bit more complicated than I hoped lol! And thanks for the search ideas, I’ll keep looking around 😀

Black and navy ones here from Asda

https://direct.asda.com/george/clothing/10,default,sc.html?prefn1=gender&prefv1=Kids&prefn2=product_type&prefv2=T-Shirts&q=Vest

Scamp & Dude

https://scampanddude.com/products/kids-vest-khaki-with-yellow-lightning-bolt?pos=1&&sid=50d0e35d6&ss=r