A Valentine’s Day Heart Cut Out Shirt Tutorial (Refashion Guide)

Today’s blog post is a heart cut out shirt tutorial for Valentine’s Day. We’ll upcycle a faded t-shirt into something really spiffy. Like most stay-at-home or work-from-home moms, I really don’t have a need to dress up. This might seem kind of funny since I run a blog that has a lot of recycled clothing.

Also, if you are like me, then you have some of these faded-out t-shirts hanging around. Perfect for refashioning those t-shirts into something cool!

Heart Cut Out Shirt Tutorial For Valentine’s Day

This shirt is also too big. I like a nice fitting t-shirt. So I got out one that fits pretty well (my husband bought me this as a souvenir from his trip to FL). You will want to add a seam allowance, although t-shirt material is fairly forgiving. But just use any shirt that you like the fit of.

Oh, I’ve also made two three more shirts: a love t-shirt refash and another heart cut out shirt tutorial refash … and here is my newest heart design with light hand embroidery.

Gathering Your Materials for the Heart Cut Out Shirt

Before we dive into the heart cut out shirt tutorial, it’s crucial to gather all the necessary materials.

First, you’ll need a shirt. Any shirt will do (like mine, all faded).

Next, you’ll need a pair of sharp scissors. Precision is key in this DIY project, so make sure your scissors are in good condition. I really like Fiskar scissors. Make sure to only use fabric scissors for fabric, because dull scissors means a bad cut.

Lastly, you’ll need a piece of chalk or a fabric marker to draw the heart on your shirt. I am fond of these triangle-shaped fabric markers. (Unlike what is shown here. I ran out!)

Mark on the sides, including under the arm pits.

Sew on the edges. A good trick here is to line up the bottom of the sleeves and the bottom of the t-shirt actual bottom and pin them in intervals. Here, I used a zig-zag stitch that was close together, just like you see in actual t-shirts.

Cut along the outside edge. If you’ve pinned, you could also cut before you sew. Make sure not to cut the zig zags, but it’s not too important. Machine sewn stitches are fairly strong.

Fold a piece of paper in half and lay around the faded out part.

Cut out half of the heart. A heart is the same on both sides. You can also download a free heart template if you want.

Tips for Drawing the Perfect Heart on Your Shirt

Drawing a heart on your shirt might seem simple, but it’s a step that requires attention to detail.

Decide where you want the heart to be. It could be at the back, front, or even the sleeve of your shirt. I had to cover up this ugly flag design, so I didn’t have much of a choice.

Make sure the heart fits, and adjust as necessary. You might like yours fatter or skinnier. Or the material may call for something in a slightly different shape.

Mark it around the faded-out part. Make sure it fits! Use a bigger piece of paper if necessary.

Now, use the template to cut out the red. You can just use red jersey fabric or another t-shirt. Even if that one is faded too! Give a lot of allowance. This is for part that you are going to cut out of the shirt.

This is the tricky part. Make sure the red heart on the inside of the t-shirt fits the blue markings on the outside of the t-shirt. You can see here that I pinned the top of the heart around the two bumps, and then the center of the “dip.” This will give me a good idea.

Now I was able to pin around the entire heart. * I didn’t show it here, but you can also cut the heart out of the red material with a generous seam allowance, and then cut the smaller heart after.

And sew it in.

And cut it out. (Baby, don’t break my heart … okay, bad joke.)

Turn the t-shirt inside out. On the sewing machine, sew lines about an inch apart inside the heart.

Make a small incision with your scissors. to start the cut.

Continue between the stitches. These are not straight cuts across. Feel free to make the cuts as big as you want or as wide as you want. The more the merrier.

Now let’s get rid of that ugly collar. T-shirt material is great because you don’t actually have to make a t-shirt collar if you don’t want to (although you can, if you want).

Lay out the t-shirt to make sure that the collar matches the heart.

And here it is after being laundered!

The final after laundering:

Featured on Threading My Way! For all you gorgeous refashionistas and seamstresses out there, Threading My Way has tons of great tips, tutorials, and links. Not to mention that Pam is way cool.

What do you think of this heart cut out shirt tutorial for Valentine’s Day?