Nifty shirt refashion

I’m not a great one for refashions-I don’t think I’m very good at being creative with old garments although I’m getting better at it. T had a nice Gap chambray shirt which he’d loved to the point where the collar was almost falling off and the underarms were a bit….crispy…so I wouldn’t let him wear it anymore. There was still enough useable fabric however to make something else but not a complete ‘something’. My stash is full of bits of fabric left over from other projects, usually half a metre or less, so I rummaged around and found a cotton poplin with a bird print which I thought went pretty well with the pale blue chambray.

I started by cutting off the collar and back yoke section as they were unusable. I boobed slightly when I tore across the back under the yoke seam because it suddenly tore at a right angle half way across, near the centre back!! Arrgh! [why was I tearing it? Because this would give me a straight grain to work with] I didn’t know if there’d be quite enough fabric at this stage so it meant one of the first things I’d need to do would be a repair on the split-oh dear.

I’d recently been given a modest stash of old patterns by someone and there was a lovely little shirt pattern circa 1966 amongst them which I thought would be interesting to try and it was the right size.

I had enough fabric to make the sleeves, cuffs and collar and there was enough chambray (after I’d done the repair with careful use of Vilene and a zigzag stitch) to get the front and back out.

So far, sew good!

You can see the split I made at the top of this photo. By folding the remains of the shirt in half up the centre back I could get the back on and after perfectly aligning the button stands and placing the pattern directly over the buttons (see photo) I could get the front out too. I also measured the new side seams so that they were going to come out the same length. By utilising the original closures it meant I didn’t need to cut any new plackets-I’m not that bothered about my shirt doing up the ‘mans way’ instead of the women’s.

I pinned the sleeves,cuffs and collar on to the birds next, they were an excellent fit, and then I cut everything out.

As I wanted to ‘pretty it up’ slightly so that it didn’t look much like a man’s shirt I cut a bit of bias binding in the bird fabric and found some Broderie Anglais which I sandwiched into the shoulder seam (which is positioned slightly forward)

The repair falls at the back neck which is a pity because it’s visible (I have short hair too!) Never mind. I made up the collar and attached it and then neatened the inside edge with some bias binding I’d made last year from another of T’s old work shirts-there’s a pattern forming here isn’t there?

You can also see that I did two rows of top stitching around the edge of the collar. Then I joined the side seams. Next I made up the sleeves-I used more of the striped bias to finish the edge of the slit openings. The sleeves are set into the armholes rather than a shirt sleeve which has a slightly flatter sleeve head and are inserted on the flat before the underarm seams sewn up.

Because I had been able to use the original hems and centre fronts all that remained to do was put buttons and buttonholes on the cuffs and one more below the original bottom button so that I didn’t expose my tummy-never a good look…

I know it’s bit of a hybrid but I think it’s fun-the original patch pocket is perhaps a bit high but hey who’s fussing about that-if I’d taken it off there would have been holes which would look worse.

It’s used up two pieces of fabric that weren’t big enough on their own to do much with and it was fun to use a vintage pattern as well-thanks Phyllis, wherever you are…your 3/6d was well spent!

Hope you like it,

Happy sewing,

Sue xx