July 2018 American Sewing Guild: East Side Garment Group Meeting - Refashioning

A  challenge was proposed by our ASG group leader to refashion a garment for our July meeting. It was suggested that we visit a local thrift store, such as a Salvation Army store, or even search in our own closet for a garment, men's or women's, that might benefit from some refashioning.

 As an avid Pinterest pinner (LOTS of ideas for refashioning on Pinterest!), I had once considered remaking a men's shirt into an apron for myself, and had already purchased two shirts from Salvation Army for that purpose. But...that was a couple of years ago, and the shirts sat on my shelf, untouched. 

So, I decided to use this blue oxford stripe shirt in a Men's XXL for my ASG Challenge. I knew I wanted a summer tunic top, and I knew that I didn't want to cut up the shirt to use as fabric with a commercial pattern. I wanted to challenge myself to use the basic structure of the shirt and work from there.

First thing I did was cut off the sleeves and remove the chest pocket:

Taking in the side seams by 3 inches starting at the armhole and tapering down to the hem helped to eliminate some extra bulk, and closed the large armhole a bit, while still allowing for hip room.

I cut off the collar, and used my French Curve ruler to cut out a rounded neckline.

Since it was going to be impossible to place side darts, I decided to gather up the shoulder line to allow for more fabric to drape over the bust line. I love using shoulder pleats to achieve this in other garments that I make, but it was not going to work with this top due to the back yoke. Gathering up with narrow elastic worked okay.....

It did allow for some gaping at the back of the armhole though, so I took up some of the back by tucking it under the yoke and restitching.

This shows why I always need to make a sway back adjustment, but couldn't with this project without taking the whole shirt apart.

                                          Remember that chest pocket I removed? I reused it!

           This turned out to be a fun way for me to think out of the box  for a change! Though far from a "couture" garment, it is a fun summer top that I think I'll actually wear!  And I have some ideas for future refashioning that I'd like to explore......