Friday 14 June 2013

Refashionista!

Well, okay, no. I'm far from an expert, yet. But I DID finally bite the bullet and jump in to the refashioning pool! I had two tutorials (this one, and this one) pinned to one of my Pinterest boards (don't you LOVE Pinterest??) for a Polo-shirt makeover, and the idea has intrigued me for a while. So when I was last in Ye Auld Thrift Shop, I took a skim of the racks to see if I could find something that appealed.

 So this is the one that jumped off the rack at me. Not bad looking, huh? It's a men's XL.











So the first thing I did was cut off the collar and give the neck more of a scoop in the back.


Then I tried the shirt on and pinned the sides to take them in. You can just barely see the pins. I tried to make them approximately even in terms of the amount of fabric being taken in on either side. I had to do this twice. The first time I pinned too far in. After I moved the pins out about an inch or so, the shirt felt much more comfortable. I also marked approximately where I wanted the hem to be, because the shirt was too long, and I cut off about four inches, or so.


Then I stitched along the line of pins, and tried the shirt on again to make sure I liked the fit. Once I was satisfied with that, I trimmed away the excess material. I didn't bother running a zigzag stitch along the edges, simply because knit fabric doesn't fray so that extra step is completely optional.


Just for a little bit of added detail, I sewed about five inches of elastic along the lower side seams, gently stretching it as I went. This put some soft gathers in the sides -- just a bit of a feminine touch! This photo shows the inside of the shirt. The following photo shows how it looks on the outside.


I didn't bother hemming the bottom of the shirt because I liked the so-called "deconstructed" look of it. Along the neck edge, though, I folded the fabric in approximately 1/4" and stitched it down. That's it!

And now, the final product. The front:


The back:

I chose not to pick off the pocket, as I was worried about any potential holes left in the shirt. I didn't know what I'd do to patch them, if I needed to. So I just left it.

The verdict? I like it. It's quite comfortable, and in theory I could wear it right-way forward, if I wanted. I've caught people looking at me curiously, though. Seems people start wondering when someone appears to have her shirt on backwards...