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Four recycled shirts

April 2005

I have found among my clothes four large tops that were too large and not flattering at all. I decided to take them all apart and make new shirts from them. I used my pin-traced pattern that I had already succesfully used on some of my previous projects.

Instead of ripping apart all of the seams, I decided to just cut them off and save lots of time. I figured the 1/4" seam woudn't make such a big difference. Most of them I totally took apart, on one of them I kept the neckline and shoulder seams intact. Here are the results:

This navy shirt was a very good quality knit and I think it has some lycra in it. I used some decorative elastic to finish the neckline and sleeves. I like this one the most and it is pretty dressy.

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This fabric is a bit too drapey for a fitted top and reacted quite different to the same pattern. On this top I left the neckline and sholders seams intact, as I liked it and didn't want to ruin it. Also on this top I used the original sleeve hems and just recut the top of the sleeve. I made these sleeves a bit longer. This was originally a off-white shirt that had a stain and I died it with a burgundy color. But what came out is this interesting pink shade (some of the fibers dyed, others didn't).

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This black shirt came out great as well, unfortunately the fabric is not as good. It's 100% cotton and stretches very much. There wasn't enough length to make a curved ham, so this is a shorter straight hem shirt. I like the neckline, but because I bound it with self-fabric (from the original hem) rather than some kind of elastic, it gaps a bit when I bend. I think I can't have a wide and low neckline at the same time =).

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And this is the last one and it's the least succesful. But only because the fabric is also 100% cotton, very stretchy, no recovery at all. Although I used the same pattern, it came out much larger and it is not very suitable for a fitted shirt. I also bound the neckline with fabric from the original hem, but it stretched a lot. So did the hems, even with a double needle. I since washed it and the hems look a bit better. It's OK for home.

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Things I have learned:

~ fabric make a huge difference in how a knit shirt will look (although from the same pattern)

~ I lengthened my original pattern on the first two shirt (where there was enough fabric) and I like it better.

~ the curved hem is my preference

~ I like the sleeve and armscye after the changes I made.

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