Jenny of Cashmerette and The Curvy Sewing Collective
I’ll confess: as a sewist I mostly stay in my comfort zone. Wrap dresses, tanks, jeans and the occasional coat, and I do just fine with my TNTs! But when Portia invited me to participate in the Refashioners 2015 challenge I took a deep breath and decided to try something new for the first time.
Unlike lots of people who learned to sew as teenagers, I never went through the “oooh I’ll hack up this old top” stage – no, I just jumped straight into the magical world of fabric shopping! But I’ve always been amazed by people like Portia and Charity Shop Chic, not to mention those refashioning challenges on the GBSB, so I thought I’d give it a go.
Off to the charity shop I went (Goodwill, in America) and I immediately looked for the biggest men’s shirts I could find – my bust rivals the chest measurement of a large chap, and I wanted as much to go around! I did make a rookie mistake – I bought an LLBean shirt because it looked in great condition.
Turns out, that’s because it’s been treated with something to make it stain resistant and crease resistant – which also means it doesn’t really press… at all! So, please excuse upcoming not-entirely-pressed-looking darts.
For my inspiration, this shirt from Pinterest popped up and it immediately stole my heart. So chic! I love the use of the floral on the collar, button placket and sporty stripes up the sides. I had remants of a blue floral rayon that sadly didn’t weather well in the wash, but was fine for details, so I dug that out to accompany my shirt.
Here’s how I went about my refashioning:
Cut it apart – I removed the collar and stand, button placket and sleeves, and unpicked the breast pocket
Placed an existing shirt pattern over the pieces, and cut around them – perhaps not entirely in the spirit of refashioning but it worked pretty well! I didn’t have enough width in the front once I put the darts in, but that was OK because I still needed to add the floral stripes. So, I marked where the existing shirt piece came to on my pattern, folded to remove the dart, and cut a princess seamed side piece.
I sewed the shirt back together at the shoulders and side seams. For the armholes, I made bias tape from the floral and attached it the usual way.
For the button placket, I cut a piece of the floral 3 inches wide by the length of the front, and interfaced it.
I attached it to the front by pressing over 5/8 to the wrong side, sewing the other raw side to the shirt front, pressing it in half, then topstitching it down.
I constructed the collar by sewing the interfaced collar stand to the shirt, making the collar, basting it to the stand, then placing the remaining stand piece on top and sewing around.
Finally I made the buttonholes in the placket and used my Japanese buttons to finish it off!
I really like my final shirt! It’s a little boxy for me, and those darned darts won’t lie flat, but it was so fun transforming something mundane into a much more fun garment.
Next time, I’ll pay more attention to fiber content, and might even try draping instead of using a pattern (which I suspect is “cheat” refashioning!). I’m also excited to find interesting fabrics and use them… I’m a sucker for a big print. All in all, a successful comfort zone challenge!
Thanks Jenny!! LOVE this too! And no…using patterns in refashioning IS NOT cheating, lol!! Nor is the addition of fabric which as you can see here, elevates a plain white shirt from bland to edgy. I think that’s the big take away from this. That beautiful contrast between the floral and white and the substitution of the original collar and placket is something I think I might have to copy! As a side note, (excuse the pun!) the addition of gussets (love that word) in the side seams is a great way to add fullness and/or detail. I have myself fallen prey to the unpressable fabric of some men’s shirts in the past!! I think they DO actually treat fabric with Teflon right?
You can find Jenny here and here. her Curvy Sketchbook is just one of the amazing prizes to be won as part of The Refashioners 2015 Community Challenge. So grab a shirt and get refashioning! You have until Sunday 27th Sept to enter! Stay tuned for more inspiration throughout August!
Very inspiring, I want to have a go! But I am new to refashioning so what did you do about the marks from where the pocket was?
Hi Erica! Not sure what Jenny did but this post tells you what I do; and indeed this is what I did for my shirt refashion as part of The Refashioners 2015 (yet to be published) and it worked great 🙂 http://www.makery.uk/2015/07/how-to-remove-stitch-marks-from-fabric/
Hey Erika! I tried to do what Portia suggests and it sort of mostly-worked. If you look carefully you can still see some little holes, but I doubt anyone will notice 😀
What I do to with the marks from where the pocket were: take a pin and try to put the vezels of the fabric back in there original place. It’s a time consuming, but worth doing it.
Absolutely love this shirt! Even I could love florals in this combo 😉 And I had the same problem with my shirt, thankfully I did not have to iron many new seams but for the hem it was a challenge!
This is fab! Definitely one I want to make myself. Thanks!
Love this!!!
Awesome, right?!
Love this! The floral contrast really makes the garment, and I think it looks great on. I often have that quandary about whether using a pattern counts as refashioning or not – I just don’t have the vision to create something completely new. But I suppose that making something out of something else is the point, not how you get there!
EXACTLY Helen!
So cute! This shirt looks so crisp and cool but the floral softens it to be feminine too!
Looks fab and refashioning can be anything you want, pattern or no pattern in my opinion. Life’s too short for rules! 😉
Ooooh this is nice, Jenny!
What a cool shirt!
I love this Jenny! The floral parts are really cute and I think it looks great 😀
Love the pops of colour against the white.
I love how you used a plain white shirt. I tried this side pieces method myself to make a shirt bigger but was left with huge gaping armholes, which needed to be corrected, so good idea to use a princess seam shaped side piece.
Gosh, this is so great! I love the pop of moody floral against the crisp white shirt…I’d wear this in a heartbeat!
I love how this looks so chic and clean, but with the perfect shot of feminine with the floral fabric. Inspired!
That turned out beautiful! It looks great on you! I have never tried a refashion either, you have inspired me!
Your refashioned shirt it looks great Jenny ! I love re-inventing clothes.
Great job, Jenny! I loved seeing a more curvy refashion here (although they’re all great). I love finding and wearing men’s denim shirts, but have always wondered how I can “tart” them up. LOL. Adding the floral to the collar and sides is perfect! bobbi c., down in Texas