I started with another dress shirt from that bunch of old clothing my brother had given me a bunch of months ago. I liked the delicate floral-ish print on this one, but clearly it needed some redoing to fit me.
I cut off the sleeves right outside the seam line so as to leave a somewhat-finished edge, then tried on the piece and pinned where my waist and bustline were. I then stitched a curve along the side to reshape the side seam to match those waist and bust measurements, flaring back out to the original seam at the hips. (You'll see in the photo on the right that I had to do this twice...the first new line still was too loose.) There's probably a better way of quickly refitting tops, but this worked all right for me! Then I trimmed the side fabric closer to the new seam.
And there we are...a long blouse/tunic thing. I'd started out hoping to be able to make it a dress, but there just wasn't enough fabric in the sleeves to compensate for how far away the hemline was from being a dress! So I can wear it as a tunic, or even better, tuck it in for a long blouse that won't pull out of my skirt if I lift my arms (anyone else have a problem with that?).
This outfit was basically what I wore yesterday, but with tights, a sweater, and oxford flats. Because apparently it is not QUITE spring yet here in the Northeast...or at the least is fluctuating back and forth between warm weather and colder weather unpredictably. It was amazingly lovely on Sunday, then cold yesterday and today... I'm now completely confused about how heavy of a coat I should bring at any given time.
Also, a sneak peek of my other weekend sewing project! (which I'm wearing today...so photos to come later!)
This week is off to a busy start... I'm choreographing a dance piece to be performed a week from Saturday, so my evenings are being spent leading very long rehearsals. It's also really an exercise for me in choreographic self-trust. I've been trained to create choreography with my performers in real time, but it's still a leap of faith for me to go into a 4-hour rehearsal without much idea what we'll be doing, trusting that I will have interesting things emerge from being in the space improvising with my cast of three others. It's a sustained, focused, creative effort, and one that I thoroughly enjoy, even when it scares the pants off me!
3 comments:
I know exactly what you mean about the blouse-coming-out-of-tucked-in-waist scenario. At work im constantly tugging at myself because the shirt isnt fitted enough :/
You have admirable skill -- this looks terrific. I love what you did to the sleeves.
What a simple refashioning. I do occasionally have problems with shirt tails wanting to pull out of my skirts. I wish you continuing good luck with the choreography.
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