How To Stretch A Vintage T-Shirt To Make It Longer And Wider

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Perhaps you’ve packed on a few pandemic pounds? Or maybe you want to restore your beloved tee to its pre-dryer heydays? If you need a few more inches of breathing room inside your favorite t-shirt, our pal Josh from @invtgwetrust has you covered. The last time we caught up with Josh he dished the deets on removing stains (and pit stains!) from white t-shirts. This time the GOAT of garment care drops some knowledge on his trusted t-shirt stretching technique.

The Ingredients

100% Cotton T-Shirt
Measuring Tape
Bucket
Towel
Hair Conditioner
Table Salt

The Process

Measure the t-shirt.
Fill your bucket with warm water.
Add in a generous amount of conditioner.
Mix in the conditioner into the water as best you can by breaking up the suspended pieces.
Submerge it for 30 mins.
Mix it up again before taking it out.
Rinse the tee in warm water.
Stretch it!
Lay it on the towel to dry.
Weigh down the corners (with the salt) so it holds the stretch while drying. Make sure the bottom hem is “even-steven.”
When it’s fully dry the following day, measure again, and marvel at the new dimes!

We asked the GOAT a few follow-up questions for clarity:

The salt isn’t added to the water, it’s just one way to weigh down the t-shirt while it’s drying.
Josh used a 100% cotton t-shirt in this demonstration and tells us he has yet to test this on a poly-cotton blend.
In his demo, he stretched it length-wise, but it can be applied to the width too, just take care not to “stretch the neck!” he said because nobody wants a bacon neckline t-shirt.
Sadly, if you put the t-shirt in the dryer again it will revert back to its previous form, so air-dry it to maintain the stretch and repeat the process if necessary.

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Jimmy J

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Jimmy founded Defunkd in 2004 when he started selling vintage t-shirts online. 20 years of experience later and he hasn't looked back since. Actually, he looks back all the time given he's a sucker for nostalgia. For more, check the history of Defunkd and Jimmy's Expertise.