Over the past couple years, I have acquired a vast collection of band shirts. I love showing my support when I am out and about in the scene. However, often times when I purchase a band tee I like to add my own flare to it. Custom cuts have become a staple in my signature style. Here’s the run down on how I created one of my favorite pieces to date for my Reign of Z shirt.

1. The first thing I like to do is decide how I want the shirt to fit. For this one I knew the beginning product was a little big on me and I wanted to give it a bit more of a shape. I started by cutting off the bottom to have it fall pretty much right at the belly button.
2. The next 2 cuts I made were to remove the sleeves.
3. I hate having anything against my neck so I typically cut my collars out by simply following curve of the seam.
4. At this point it’s important to try on the shirt to make sure you’re happy with the structure and overall fit of where all of the larger cuts are falling on the body.
5. This is where it gets interesting. For this particular shirt I decided to base my design off of a type of threading technique. I started with the back. To get even cuts to thread I folded the shirt right along the middle, then cut horizontal slits in descending length, starting at the top near the neck and working my way down toward the waistline.
6. The best way I can describe the technique is that you want to create loops starting at the top with your longest slits, working your way down and threading each above loop through the slit below it. When you get to the bottom you can cut the loop and then tie off the ends.
7. Here is a link to my Pintrest pin that I got the technique from. Be creative and have fun making your very own custom cuts!