A little garment remake/reuse

NOTE: I’m traveling to Minnesota next week to help with judging (volunteer, not judge) of the Minnesota Quilt Show as part of my training for my Quilt Judge Certification. I won’t be putting out a newsletter this Saturday and no blog post or newsletter next week.

I clicked on one….. I clicked on one upcycle/redo of a men’s shirt and the floodgates opened! There are LOTS of people doing this. It’s amazing the creativity that is shared on social; this is social at its best.

I asked loooooong retired Hubby if he had any dress shirts that I could use for my project. We walked to his closet and pulled out a shirt, and another, and another…..whoah! This is what I have for inventory now!

All these were very nice shirts that have just a wee bit of fray at the cuff, or maybe a spot that won’t come out, or maybe he’s just sick of wearing that 10 year old shirt. All I know is that I ended up with 16 shirts!

I am not going to make them all into wearables okay? I instantly thought how cool of a quilt they would make. I would have to add quilting fabrics to the mix to get a blend of values, color and texture.

Here is my first try at a upcycle/redo of a men’s shirt. There are some flaws that I am a little unhappy with, but I may wear this…after I fix some things:

The proportions are a little off. On a petite frame, proportions have little wiggle room; they need to be spot on. The sleeves are a little long, and I wish the shirt was a bit longer. I don’t necessarily need it to cover the hem of the t shirt underneath, but I just feel like it’s a little too short.

It laid well on my mannequin at least:

I had added a bit of a flounce on the bottom to lengthen it, but it wasn’t enough of a flounce to look right and I didn’t have any more fabric to work with. It just looked odd (this is unpressed):

So I nixed that and of course lost a few inches off the length. I do not want to add any other fabric, ephemera, lace, etc.

I love the collar:

And even though they are too long, I like the sleeves:

There are a few things that I want to fix, but I’m not sure it’s worth the fix. The sleeve gather is a raw edge, well controlled since I double stitched it, but I don’t generally like a raw edge there. I know lots of ways to cover that raw edge, just don’t think it’s worth doing. I’ll leave that.

So I’m considering this a toile, maybe a wearable toile; I definitely want to fix those proportions. I don’t have any fabric left and the fabric from other shirts will look “added on”.

It’s my first try. I learned a lot. I DO like this look of a light weight, loose, outer piece. I just need to refine it next time. It was a fun romp!

I’ll be linking up:
Nina-Marie’s Off the Wall Friday