I started with a long sleeved dress shirt that was my husband's. The collar and the cuffs had begun to fray and it was beyond repair. However, the rest of the shirt was in excellent condition. He's quite taller than I am with me being far closer to 5 feet than his 6 feet plus.....so the shirt was perfect tunic length for me, but swallowed me whole so to speak.
I cut off the collar (being careful to save all the extra buttons for my button jar) and rounded the neckline. A quick turn under and seaming finished it off. I chopped the sleeves to sit just below my elbows...this length gives me the most year round wearing out of a top. A quick hem and some tucking to shape them worked wonders there. Now for the body I did two things. I cut the shirt just below my natural waist to allow for seaming. I did some slight shaping to the top. I then gathered the piece I had cut off and reattached it. The portion of the sleeves I removed was used to help make a tie belt for the back. Then I pulled some clearance lace from my stash. I had a partial spool left from a long ago project. I added a lace that has a crocheted feel to the neckline and the sleeves.
This is really cute with a pair of skinny jeans and ankle boots. It looks a lot more feminine than a t-shirt and given how low pants are designed to sit now I much prefer a tunic length. The fabric is already soft from repeated wearing.
The cost was $0 and a little bit of my time. Not bad for a fall wardrobe addition.
Very clever! Next time your DH's shirt collar is tattered, try removing the collar and flipping it-that's an old trick. Would he wear a short sleeved shirt? If the cuffs were beyond repair, I'd make short sleeves. Just a few suggesions.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder about the collar trick. Sadly he only has about 3 or 4 weeks of the year he can wear short sleeves to work.
DeleteFortunately he is really good at getting a lot of wear out of his shirts. I'm careful with the laundering and he is careful with the wear. He actually has some in excess of 15 years old (classic button downs) that he is still wearing, but a few are going to have to come out of rotation. If nothing else I'll add them to quilting fabric and share with my mama, who is the more voracious quilter.