Refashioning: Turning an Old Lady Shirt Backwards. . .Literally!

I frequent my Goodwill on the weekends because all tags of a predetermined color are only a dollar! Honestly, most of the clothes you see in this blog. . .and on my person. . .come from this rack. Anyways, I'm always on the lookout for my "Type 4" colors, and my green in particular because it's my favorite. When I find it, I usually just buy it--even if the item is gross--because I love this color, and I know I can turn it into something else. I hope. . .as always, that this post gives you some ideas!

Here is an old lady shirt I found the other day. 

It's that really weird crinkly, yet stretchy, polyester fabric. It's usually really horrid, but on this particular shirt, the color really shines--almost sparkles. I can't stop looking at it. These pictures don't do it justice. (My camera has a hard time with greens, unfortunately.) Just picture the boldest green you have ever seen, and. . .that's it!

The first step was to cut the shoulder pads out!

Then, I cut the collar off.

Then, the sleeves.

Next, I pinned and sewed up the button placket. 

This used to be the front, but I wanted the buttons in the back, so I pinned it to the back of my dress form and used the form as my pattern. (This is actually a technic of pattern making called "draping" because you drape and pin the fabric onto a form and then cut away everything that doesn't lie flat. I don't do it very often, but I probably should. It worked really well.)

I also draped the front (which used to be the back).

Next, I worked on the sleeves. For this, I did my usual cheating method of cutting around sleeves of a shirt I already knew fit me well.

I sewed up the sides of the sleeves.

Then, I pinned the two bodice pieces together and sewed them.

I added elastic to the tops of the shoulders as reinforcement. This fabric is super stretchy and I didn't want the shoulders to stretch out. I've noticed this method on factory-made shirts I own. Turn your garments inside out sometimes! You can learn a lot!

I pinned , then sewed, the sleeves to the bodice.

Then, I sewed some black stretchy fabric to the neckline, but. . .I guess I forgot to take a picture. (I get ahead of myself sometimes and forget that blog posts need pictures. . .Tons of my projects never even make it on here because I forget to take pictures. . .Oops.)

Okay, so. . .It kinda looks like Star Trek, but. . .I love Star Trek (especially Mr. Spock, may he rest in peace), so I'm okay with that!

I added a leather Peter Pan collar necklace that I made (example of a project I never photographed), and wore it with a jumper so I wouldn't look like a Starship Trooper.

The End!

Couple Shirts Made from Two Skirts - Green and Grey

This one isn't inspired by any designers per se. I just remember an episode of Project Runway where the contestants had to make a similar look for a man and a woman. I was at work when I started thinking about something simple that would translate well for both genders' body types. I played with the triangle. If a triangle is point-down, it emphasizes the broad shoulders and small hips of the male. If the triangle is pointed up, it shapes the chest and follows the curve of the hips of a female. I drew this on a sticky note and my husband said it looked like Star Wars. . .

For some reason I always had this idea in my head using jade or a Kelly green. Maybe because the color is gender neutral? I dunno. I just love green. Anyways, I could never find the right color green jersey in any fabric stores, but I did remember that I had a perfect green colored skirt in my closet that I never wear. It was actually a skirt I'd made from a dress that I'd never worn! The problem with it as a dress: It was just too frumpy. As a skirt, the hemline was always wonky and hit my legs at a weird length. I really loved the color so I'd never gotten rid of it. Therefore, the third incarnation was destined to become two different shirts!

I had another grey skirt that I'd never worn because it was too tight. I found a perfect grey skirt at Goodwill a few weeks ago, so I had thrown this skirt into my sewing room wondering what to do with it.

Here are the two shirts. There are little mistakes in both of them because I had barely enough material to do both of these shirts, so some parts are kind of pieced together (see the shoulders of the girl's shirt especially). Also, the green was wayyyyyy stretchier than the grey, so there is a little puckering that I just couldn't help. I may one day reinforce the triangle seams with elastic, but. . .let's just see how they do without it for now, I say!

This is the back:

The original dress/skirt had this fold over in the front and the back, so I kept it. It helps add just a little something feminine without changing the whole "sameness" of the two shirts. Man fashion doesn't really like embellishment, so I didn't do it to the guy's shirt.

The End!