You see the racks and racks full of printed button-ups at thrift stores. The fabrics are gorgeous but do you ever feel like you just can’t “rock” that oversized blouse? Maybe it’s the wrong size or maybe it’s just too much of a print. I often get friends asking me how I get so lucky when I’m thrifting and it’s because I always try to think about how something can be reconstructed.
A friend of mine gave me a pretty crazy printed shirt that she knew she would never wear and I knew exactly what project I wanted to share with you guys this week. Today I’ll show you how to take an oversized blouse and turn it into a trendy cropped sleveless button-up!
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
- A button-up shirt
- Fabric scissors
- Another button-up that fits well!
- Pins
- A sewing machine
TUTORIAL:
[ FLIP ] – Flip your shirt inside out and make sure it is laying flat with the side seams lined up.
[ OVERLAY ] – Take your old button-up shirt that fits you well and overlay it onto your new shirt. This acts like your pattern for your new shirt, so make sure you pick a shirt that is of a similar stretchiness. Use some chalk and trace the side seams of the shirt and the curves of the sleeves as well.
[ CUT SHIRT ] – Carefully cut the sides of the shirt according to the traced lines from your old shirt! At this point, I also cut the bottom half of the shirt because I would be making it into a cropped style.
[ SEW SIDE SEAMS ] – Pin the sides and sew the side seams (as the red lines indicate on the photo). I serged them because my shirt was a knit fabric but you can sew the sides with a strandard straight stitch, zig zag or a french seam if you’re using a chiffon shirt.
[ FINISH EDGES ] – Finish the bottom hem and the sleeves. I used a coverstitch machine but you can also use a zig zag or do a rolled hem!
The great thing about making a huge shirt into a tiny one? You get leftovers so you can make a matching foldover clutch. ;)
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Thanks for reading! Are you gonna try this DIY? Tweet us a photo @everybodyisugly!
by Sylvia of lipglossandblack
Images by Syl and Sam
