diy upcycle

Hi Everyone!

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I have been waiting on this refashion for a while, since June to be exact. The reason is that I keep changing the length and the hem. This one is a perfect example of the fact that things do not always work out right the first time. I could kick myself because I did not save the pictures of the changes (that will never happen again), but take it from me, this one has “Gone through the wringer.” Here is how it started:

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I am finally happy with it now. Here it is:

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Now I will tell you what happened in between. My first version was knee length. Call me lazy but I wanted to keep the original hem. I wore it to work and by the end of the day, it looked like I had slept in it. It needed to be shorter so the fabric did not bunch up in my lap every time I sat down.

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After that, I made it shorter with a shirt tail hem. I wore it again, but it was still a rumpled mess by the end of the day. There would be no avoiding some wrinkles. The fabric is such that it needs to be ironed and starched. I decided to make slits on the sides. This was just what it needed to let the garment move with me and keep it from wrinkling so much.

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Here is the tutorial for the end result:

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1) Cut the sleeves off and make changes to the side seams.

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This always seems to be the first step.

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2) Overlock and 1/4″ topstitch the new armhole.

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3) Cut out the ruffles with pre-made pattern. Overlock the edges.

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4) Turn under the edges of the ruffle and topstitch. Pin down the ruffles on the side of the top placket and topstitch down.

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5) I wanted to add a feature to the back so I made a line of stitching across the center and pulled to make even gathers on the center back.

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6) I removed the cuff from the sleeve and picked off the topstitching.

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7) Place the cuff over the center of the topstitch line and pin down.

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8) Topstitch around the cuff over the original topstitch lines.

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9) Add matching buttons (from the other cuff) on the opposite side.

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10) Create a shirt tail hem with side slits.

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Here are close-ups of the design features on the form.

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Whew! This one was a hard fought battle but I did it! I still need more practice with ruffles but not bad for my first time in years. What do you think??

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‘Til next time…

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Love y’all!

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Mary

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