Supplies:
-sweatshirt
-fabric scissors
–extra-large eyelet kit
-hammer
–3/4″ wide shoelaces
–marking pen for fabric
–Fray Check
–cutting mat, rotary cutter, and ruler (optional)
–medium weight iron-on interfacing (optional)

First you’ll want to try on your sweatshirt and mark with a pin how far down you want your center cut to go. Since the bottom of the lace up can be totally closed up depending on how you tighten the strings, you can cut down a bit farther than you would if you were wearing an open v-neck type t-shirt. Use scissors or rotary cutter to cut a line straight down to your stopping point, and then widen your cut into a “V” by cutting off the same amount from each side of your straight cut. The wider you make your “V”, the more open the lace-up can look. So cut in small increments and keep trying it on if you aren’t sure how far you want to go. I cut about 1/2″ off each side on mine…

If you feel like your sweatshirt material is a bit thinner than you would like and might need some help holding up the large eyelets, you can cut two 2″ wide strips of fusible interfacing and iron them onto the back of where you’ll place your eyelets for some extra support.

Once your V is cut, place your eyelets on either side of your opening to determine how many will fit comfortably without looking too crowded. Place the center of your eyelets about 1″ in from the cut middle seam.

Use a fabric marking pen to trace the middle of each eyelet.

Cut out the middle circles for your eyelets (a small pair of sewing scissors can be really handy for these types of cuts), and then seal your edges with some Fray Check. I only sealed the cut round edges with the Fray Check rather than the cut straight neck edge, but you can also seal the neck if you want to. Maybe test it on one of your cut scraps first though as the Fray Check can darken some colors of fabric where applied.

Use a hammer and follow the instructions in the eyelet packet to insert each front and back piece through your holes, and hammer the pieces together (make sure your front eyelet piece is on the front side of your shirt). 

Lace up your eyelets with your shoelace, and you’re ready to wear your new creation out! 

I love the oversized eyelets and lacing on this shirt, but you can totally do thinner lacing and smaller eyelets if that’s a look that you’d prefer for yours. I’ve also seen lace-up shirts with really wide openings that can also be worn almost off the shoulder (or just on one shoulder), and that can also look really pretty too. Since you’ll get two shoelaces in a pack, you can always connect two together if you need some extra long lacing. Like I said, once you see how easy this is to do, I have a feeling you’ll be doing it to more than one of your tops. So, happy lacing! xo. Laura