Want To Crop Without Cutting Your Clothes? Here’s Our Favorite Tips
This article was written by The Zillennial Zine’s fall editorial intern Elizabeth Miller. Find them on Instagram at @Lizzy_7979. If you would like to share an article with The Zillennial, send us an email at thezillennialzine@gmail.com.
Everyone loves a cute crop top now, right? Whether it be a t-shirt, sweater, sweatshirt or even a blouse, cropped shirts are adorable and here to stay! Cropping clothes is pretty easy too. I love taking thrifted shirts and cropping them. But sometimes, cutting a shirt is a strong commitment that can be hard to commit to, especially if you really like a piece on you when it’s full length and cropped. Lucky for you, I’ve been looking for a cropped shirt hack, and I found a bunch! Here are my favorite tips to get that cropped look without cutting your clothes. These tips are awesome for converting your outfit. Take your blouse from working in the office to a cute date night crop top with one of these easy cropped shirt hacks!
For Shirts And Light Clothing
If you’re looking to crop a shirt or another type of lighter-weight top, a simple way to crop it is to tuck it under the band of a bra. Fold the shirt up underneath to see how short you want the shirt to be, and tuck what you can into the band of the bra. This hack is easy, and it works best with sports bras.
The only cons to this hack are that it is not the best for being super active and it puts extra stress on the band. If you don’t want to risk stretching the band a little bit and want the crop to hold better, safety pinning the shirt up would be a better option for you.
For Any Top
An alternative to the hack above is using an elastic band to tuck any top into. This hack works with almost any top, even bulky sweaters. To make your own, cut a length of elastic that is a little longer than what will fit around your waist or ribs over your top comfortably. If you use a thin elastic, you can just tie it; if it is a thick elastic consider sewing it. This elastic works just fine for lighter tops, but if you don’t want to risk the top moving a little bit, opt for a thicker band of elastic. Then, there are two ways to hold up your top. Either place the elastic over the shirt towards the bottom and move both up so the shirt folds over the elastic, or wear it underneath the shirt and tuck your top up under it like the bra band method.
There are also plenty of small businesses on TikTok and Etsy and products on Amazon made specifically for cropping your tops.
For Your Buttoned Options
For your button-downs and buttoned cardigans, use the button hack to crop. This works best with cardigans with three buttons but can be adjusted for shirts with more buttons. Button the top button like normal. With the bottom two, take the bottom buttonhole and fasten it to the upper button. Then, button the bottom button to the middle buttonhole, like an accordion fold so the button still faces outwards. The middle buttonhole covers up some of the foldings because it rests in front of some of the folds and the other swapped buttoning situation.
For Jackets And Open Tops With Lining
For some jackets and pieces worn open, simply safety pinning the bottom up on the inside works perfectly. This hack works best when the jacket has an inner lining so that the safety pins don’t poke all the way through. Figure out how cropped you want the jacket, and then lay it open so you see the inside. Fold up the bottom, and safety pin the bottom hem, catching the fabric of the inner lining but now poking all the way through the jacket. Place enough so it is nice and secured, and you’re all set!
Which of these cropped shirt hacks was your favorite? Tell us in the comments below!