I will just start out by saying, that if you have a teen you are likely familiar with tee-cutting. My girls regularly destroy perfectly nice tees and tanks and cut them into crop tops that are lucky to be long enough to cover their bras. We even had one REAL bad day about 6 months ago when Lucia took the scissors to a "borrowed" leopard cami of mine. Things got ugly, mamma was not happy.
The similarity to the girls notwithstanding, I am a big advocate of taking scissors to Hard Tail skinny tees. I'll admit, it took me awhile to get up the nerve. It feels destructive, and after all, you pay a not so small sum for it. Here's the deal though, it's designed to have the option to cut, and what that actually means is that you can tailor it to fit what you want--AND get the benefits of the great fabric that holds it shape and washes perfectly. I've had Hard Tails for YEARS (embarrassing how old some are) and they still look great. The exception are the black tees--those do tend to fade over time, but that color aside, I beat them up (hot water and hot dryer) and they totally stand the test.
So why cut them? Well, here are some good reasons. Sometimes the body length is great and you want it long, but sometimes you want it 2-3 inches shorter. I've even gone shorter than that and cut it at bellybutton length for yoga class. Same with the arm length. I have long arms so if I want a long sleeve tee I leave them alone, but for some people who don't have abnormally long arms like me, it might be nice to be shorter.
I have even cut the arms off entirely. I know, I know...it sounds crazy, but I really like the higher neckline AND the sleeveless style for yoga....I couple it with cropping the length too. I'm wearing a sports bra under it so I can make the arm holes wider too. It has a cool sort of edgy Flashdance-esq vibe. Basically, I go crazy Edward Scissorhand on it, but it totally WORKS, and I wear it even more than I would otherwise (which is saying a lot.)
I might be on the extreme end of the Hard Tail tee cutting mania, but my point is that it's a really nice feature of the tee to be able to cut the hem and sleeves. The hemline will roll perfectly and will not run or fray. The key is to use super sharp scissors, a straight edge as a guide (I used a cutting board the last time which worked just fine. You want to be conservative at first, and go back for more if you didn't trim enough.
My recommendation is to take one of your "on the way out" tees from Hard Tail, and practice on it. You'll get the hang of it and won't have the nerves you might feel if it was brand new purchase. Once you get in the groove, you'll be hooked because you'll LOVE having your favorite tee tweaked to be even better.
I'm loving the new fresh shades we just got in. I have my eye on the Agave color....I might make that into a high elbow sleeve tee with a shortened to the waist body length. I've done this before and love the style, but when I do I size up to a medium (the XS fits but is very fitted on me), and then I get a more relaxed looking tee that works really well with the elbow sleeve length and shorter body length (then it's no longer super fitted thru the body.)
There you go, you've been schooled on cutting Hard Tail Tees. You're welcome. :-)
Signed, ME {lv}
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