It is time for another Goodwill fixer-upper. I found this shirt, falling instantly in love with the bold pattern, but with its high neck line and boring style we thought it would be fun to take it apart and make it age appropriate. (On a side note I took those capris I am wearing in the before picture and distressed them in a previous blog post if you would like to see my DIY).
We both adore the website Pinterest and are constantly looking through the women's fashion page to find inspiration. This time we found this gorgeous two piece dress that looked like it would flatter anyones body type. I already have a high to low skirt sitting in my closet but hardly ever know what to wear it with. This outfit was the perfect idea to help us get started on this shirt.
Anne started off by taking apart the shirt seam by seam, literally, until there were two pieces of cloth, the front of the shirt and the back. Once that process was done she folded the two pieces of fabric in half so she could make a symmetrical line and cut off the sleeves before hemming around the edges. It was then time to choose the shape of the neck. We wanted to stay pretty true to the picture we had found and went with a low rounded cut for both the front and back and cut those off as well, sewing up the seams so the would stay together.
She then sewed the two sleeves together, having those be the only places the two pieces touched. It gave me the opportunity to try on the garment, seeing how the neckline and sleeves looked on. The neck fell a little awkward on me so Anne pinned the extra sections in on both the front and back so she could make darts to tailor to my specific body type. We also measured the length of the shirt, seeing that the inspired shirt was just below the elbow so we looked at my elbows and put the line to cut 1 inch below them. I carefully took it off and Anne went back to work, cutting and sewing the bottom of the shirt, and finally completing the piece by sewing the sides together.
This piece came out better then expected. It is always hard for me to see the end result until it finally arrives, but with Anne using me as her model in the step by step process, the piece is always tailored to my body. This piece is perfect for the summer and gives me a very feminine touch to my wardrobe. With the extra material left over I was able to make an oversized hair bow which I will be doing a tutorial on in an upcoming blog post.
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