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Mrs Bowden’s top tip – shirt upcycling

Mrs Bowden’s top tip – shirt upcycling

   Blog    April 19, 2018  |  0
Felixstowe Sewing School

https://www.felixstowesewingschool.co.uk

Mrs Bowden’s top tip – upcycling shirts.  A few snippets to help you refashion shirts into things of loveliness.
So much has been in the news about conserving the resources of our lovely planet and trying not to waste quite so much.  It occurred to me that fashion changes at such a pace we can sometimes grow tired of our existing clothes BUT we also have the benefit of being able to make use of the clothes others have discarded.  Charity Shops, flea market and boot fairs are all rich sources of treasure from which we can create lovely new clothing and accessories.
Some of you lovely people may have heard me on https://www.bbc.co.uk/radiosuffolk talking to Mark Murphy about the rise in interest in sewing and upcycling.  I also worked on a shirt project whilst there which has rather inspired this week’s little blog post.
I recently completed this viscose sunshine yellow button back blouse.  I rather liked the use of tucks to create shaping and decoration.  When I was snuffling round a charity shop recently I stumbled across a polka dot blouse.  The styling of it was very loose round the waist which didn’t appeal to me.  I wanted to create a more 1940’s/50’s vibe by adding shape to the waistline and tucks was the way!
First of all I had a good look at the shirt on the stand and also compared my own measurements to the shirt measurements.  No point in it not fitting me if I accidentally took too much out!
I marked 8 cm either side of the centre front and on the back of the shirt marked the centre back line and also where I wanted the tucks to start.  I was guided by the lovely, and regular, polka dot print on the shirt.
I then started to pin the tucks into position.  The tucks nearest the centre front are 15 cm in height, next to that 13 cm and the tucks nearest the side seams are 11 cm in height – creating an arc effect which is flattering and draws the eye to the centre front of the garment.
What is a tuck I hear you cry?  A tuck is a fold of fabric used for decoration, to hold fullness and to give shaping.  Hence why I’m using them around the hem to add waist shaping to this unshapely garment.

Set your sewing machine to an average stitch length (between 2.5 and 3).  Tack the tucks in first if you wish and you can also press to stop the fabric slipping.  Use the seam allowance guide on the throat plate of your machine – if you aren’t sure what this is go to this blog post s it’s all about seam accuracy.  https://www.felixstowesewingschool.co.uk/4970-2/ 

Press your tuck on the right side.  I am going to press these tucks so they travel from the centre of the garment towards the side seams.
I am a firm believer in the power of buttons!  I am going to swap the plain blue ones on the shirt for some rather lovely vintage red shirt buttons I have had for some time in my considerable button collection!
The other feature of this shirt which I wasn’t keen on was the voluminous underarms.  The garment has something called ‘grown-on’ sleeves’.  This means there isnt an armhole seam that the sleeves are set into – the sleeves are cut as one on the front and back bodice.  This is a lovely feature and one you see frequently on 1950s garments but for me I wanted to reduce the amount of fabric around that area to give a sharper silhouette to the blouse.
Tackling the underarm volume.  I turned the shirt inside out and flattened the underarm seam.  Using a french curve, I redrew the seam line.  However, I didn’t want to take any more out from the waist so blended the line to the waist.  I used tailors chalk to mark the new stitching line and stitched.  Trimming the excess fabric is important and you can either overlock, zigzag or pink the edge of the fabric to stop it fraying.
Tadah!  A cute little blouse, fitted and ready to wear in this scrumptious spring weather.  Keep your peepers peeled for more shirt upcycling ideas.

Cost: £1.50 for the shirt, had the thread and buttons in more store cupboard.

Thinking up more ideas for next time!

Until next time,

in stitches,

Mrs Bowden x

Plain

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