Old Dress, New Shirt

Moving right along to my next sew. When I have an upcoming event, I pull specific patterns out of my collection. When I don’t, I usually go in order and sew what is next in the drawer. Time is also a factor in the things I decide to sew. I like to be ahead. This particular sew I did weeks ago. With self imposed blog deadlines I need to be ahead of the game. If something seems like it will be more time consuming, I wait until I’m ahead, and then sew something that takes more time.

This shirt seemed simple enough, and my sister Michelle wanted it, and it could get me ahead!

Don’t be fooled by the $17.95 price tag on this pattern. Yes, if you decide to buy a pattern, that is the retail price, BUT they go on sale all of the time. This pattern I bought for $1. So always look for the sales, and never pay retail price! Also check second hand stores for used patterns, the patterns that I didn’t inherit from Grandma came from sales or second hand stores.

Yes, people used to sew their own clothes to save money, but nowadays it doesn’t seem cost effective. But it can be! By checking sales and second hand stores you can get patterns for $1 or less. By upcycling fabric, you can buy second hand things and turn them into something new. That’s just what I decided to do with this shirt.

One of my friends, Christina, asked me one day to take a look at some dresses that she got at a clothing party. Christina is one of my nearest and dearest friends. I call her my forever friend. It doesn’t matter if life gets busy, or if we don’t talk everyday, I know I could call her anytime and she would be right by my side, no matter what. Forever friends are hard to find, but one of life’s greatest gifts if you’re lucky enough to have one!

But back to the dresses. One she bought, and one she got in a mystery bag situation. They were inexpensive wrap dresses, but they didn’t fit her right. There really wasn’t much I could do to make either dress fit her.

She decided to cut her losses with the dresses, and instead of getting rid of them, she gave them to me, knowing that I could upcycle them, and use them in my blog.

Here are the two dresses, like most fast fashion they weren’t really well made, but I knew that I could breathe new life into them.

I started laying my pattern pieces out on the dresses. Before I pinned and cut I made sure that there was enough fabric for the shirt pattern. I also had to make sure that the pattern pieces could be laid on the grain of the fabric. Technical sewing terms, I know, but if you get this wrong the garment could hang funny.

It took both dresses to get the necessary pieces cut out properly.

When sewing a dart, always leave long thread at the end, and tie a knot. This keeps the dart from puckering.

OK, this pattern was getting a little weird. it had this big open spot in the back. I would have to sew in the back piece.

Seems easy on paper! HA!

Putting stabilizer onto the facing. I always use iron on stabilizer. I keep my scraps and piece it together on other projects. I try not to let anything go to waste.

Anytime I sew something with buttons, there is always more than one choice. I sent this picture to Michelle, and let her choose the buttons that she wanted.

She went with the ones on the left. They have a pattern and texture to them that is similar to the leopard print on the fabric.

Michelle wore her shirt out for a day of shopping. She and her boyfriend, Joey like to fish as a hobby, this might be her lucky shirt!

Acting casual in the fishing isle!

And off to look at some plants for the yard. You can really see how the shirt tapers a little longer in the back.

Michelle has put her shirt to regular rotation as something fun to wear whenever!

Coming up with poses is hard, and I had the great idea to reenact some of the poses on the pattern envelopes. So here’s the pose…

…and here’s Michelle! I love it!

Michelle caught a fun picture of her reflection in her car window, this shirt looks good at every angle!

I was happy with the way the shirt turned out, as was Michelle!

While making this I reflected on the support that I get from friends and family when it comes to my blog. No one says I’m ridiculous for taking on such an enormous undertaking, everyone just supports me with ideas, kind words, and in this case from my forever friend Christina, dresses to upcycle. Thanks everyone for the positivity!

As for me, onto the next!