I'm still on my quest for the perfect t-shirt but today I decided to take a totally blah shirt and see if I could make it a little interesting. I really like this color but the shape was so bland I rarely wore this shirt (and certainly not when I wanted to feel cute). This is just a cheap Walmart shirt (Faded Glory) that probably cost 3.00 so no harm in trying.
I started by cutting off the hems on the sleeves and at the bottom. Then I cut another 1" inch strip off of the bottom to "re-purpose" elsewhere. Oh, and I cut off the neck band and squared the neck opening.
I gathered part of the 1" strip and stitched it onto the front of the neck. I found some lime green elastic in my elastic stash (score!) and stitched it across the neckline (I think I cut it about 2" short and stretched it) to keep it from stretching open. It was still a little floppy (the ruffles kept wanting to fold into the shirt) so I tacked some of the gathers down from the inside and that seems to have done the trick.
Then I made two vertical 1" slashes and tied a piece of the hem through the holes. I had to hand stitch the holes up a bit since they stretched open too much. I would've been better off making the slashes much smaller. But I like the finished look anyway.
So here's the finished shirt! I like it so much better. It has a much more feminine shape while still being modest. I've lost track of the number of tops I've bought knowing I was going to have to take it home and lift the front up so everything wasn't hanging out.
Here it is with my new Lantern Bloom skirt. I used the same pattern as I used for my Vicki Payne skirt but shortened it and added a couple of rows of ruffles to make it a little bit fun. I'm having a good time playing with this pattern. It's very basic and versatile and goes together pretty quickly. So happy!
Remember when I posted about my impending project for Sew Simple Magazine and wrote that I hoped they didn't go out of business between then and now. Well, guess what? Yup, they've ceased publication. I'm not shocked since a lot of the scrap booking magazines by CK Media have been shut down and a lot of contributors haven't received the compensation they were expecting, but would have been nice if they had let me know instead of my having to track down the information. Hopefully I can get my samples back (since I worked my buns off on that tutorial!). I'm disappointed but oh well...onward and upward...right?
In good news....Oh Boy! and Be A Man are arriving at Fabritopia tomorrow so they are available for purchase right now (and so great!). Vicki Payne's fabric is marked down 20% through July 7th and all of Jennifer Paganelli's fabrics are 15% off (as well as Tanya Whelan's French Hatbox).
So much fun stuff to look forward too!!
