Featured Archives - Mary's Thrifty Chic

**My newest project in my busy corner of the world**!

Hello Refashion Friends!

I have been hard at work in my studio making refashions happen! Getting used to my new site has been challenging but I am learning new things every day. Make sure you put your email in the subscribe area of the sidebar to receive automatic updates every time I post.

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I know you are dying to see how this latest project started so let’s get going… The tutorial is a long one but it is worth it!

Before

**I picked this men’s shirt up for about $3.50.**

This chambray stripe shirt was in like new condition. It appeared to have been never or rarely worn. I love anything chambray or blue jean friendly so it had to be mine. The goal was to make it more feminine and work appropriate for those initial days of school in the sweltering Southern California heat.

After

**I’m ready for work in the little number!**

Tutorial

Step 1-Cutting

**Cutting the blouse using a well fitting pattern**.

**Here you can see a close up of the little triangle of fabric you need from the sleeve to keep the armhole complete. (Don’t worry, I will show you how to cover that up later.**

The first step was to open the side seams all the way up through the sleeves and exactly line up the front and the back on the centers as shown. Then I laid my pattern on top with the shoulder seams pinned together. In the picture you see the sleeves already cut off, but I didn’t cut them off until my pattern was set. This is because you might need some of the fabric from the sleeves to make a complete armhole with your pattern. This is because men’s shirts have armholes that are way too big. I cut it this way to get the armhole spot on but at this time I do not cut the side seams or length.

Step 2:Pockets and darts

The next step was to remove the pockets and sew the darts. You can see this was tough to do but I had plans to make my own pockets from the sleeves.

Step-3-Side seams and gussets

First I sewed the side seam and and you can see what that looks like before I cover it up with a custom made gusset. the picture on the right is gusset shape before I duplicate it for the other side.

Making a gusset is not an easy task but I think it finishes projects much better than leaving the seams of the old armholes showing. I’m planning on getting a Youtube site going and promise to show you the process from start to finish once I get it rolling.