How to Cut a T-Shirt Like "Coyote Ugly"

... Jason Kirk/Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Bring out the bombshell babe within with these fierce, fashionable T-shirt styles from the hit rom-com film, "Coyote Ugly." When down-on-her-luck, aspiring-songwriter Violet Sanford starts serving drinks at a trendy New York City bar, a failure to fit in slows her down. With a bit of emergency T-shirt surgery, her coworkers transform her small-town style into sexy chic. Get Sanford's midriff-baring crop top -- as well as her Coyote compatriots' hot halter looks -- with a little T-shirt reconstruction of your own.

  • Fitted T-shirt
  • Fabric pencil
  • Measuring tape
  • Scissors

1 Violet's Crop Top

2 Put your fitted T-shirt

Put your fitted T-shirt on your body and use a fabric pencil to make a mark at midriff level, just above the belly button.

3 Take off the T-shirt

Take off the T-shirt and lay it out on a work table. Measure the distance between the shirt hem and the pencil mark.

4 Make another mark

Make another mark, at the same distance from the hem, 1 inch away from the first mark.

5 Make more pencil marks

Make more pencil marks all the way around the shirt, at the same level. Connect the dots, then cut along the line to remove the bottom section of the shirt.

6 Cut along each armhole seam

Cut along each armhole seam to remove the sleeves for a cute, cropped look.

7 Bartender Halter Top

8 Cut a fitted T-shirt

Cut a fitted T-shirt into Violet's crop top and keep the extra fabric from the bottom of the shirt. Cut open one side seam on the extra fabric to make a single long piece.

9 Cut the extra fabric

Cut the extra fabric into a long 1-inch-wide strip and set it aside.

10 Put on the shirt

Put on the shirt. Draw a diagonal line from each shoulder point to your sternum to create a V-neck. Remove the shirt and cut along each line, then cut along the collar seam at the back of the neck to remove the collar.

11 Lay the T-shirt out

Lay the T-shirt out on a work table with the back side facing upward. Place the scissors at the edge of one armhole at the shoulder seam, and cut along the seam until you have cut 1 to 2 inches in from the edge of the armhole. Turn the scissors and cut around the entire armhole, maintaining the same distance from the edge, to make wide tank-top style armholes. Repeat with the other armhole.

12 Thread the extra T-shirt fabric strip through the armholes

Thread the extra T-shirt fabric strip through the armholes. Scrunch the T-shirt's center back together and wrap the fabric strip around the scrunched center back as many times as you like to create a racerback look. Knot the end and cut off the excess material.

A writer with a Bachelor of Science in English and secondary education, but also an interest in all things beautiful, Melissa J. Bell has handed out beauty and fashion advice since she could talk -- and for the last six years, write for online publications like Daily Glow and SheBudgets.

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