Creative articles about sewing

Refashion: Men’s shirt into a unique top

Refashion: Men’s shirt into a unique top

read the blog in Dutch here/lees de blog in het Nederlands hier

With a closet filled with men’s shirts and no work appointments to go to, time to clean out hubby’s closet. The result: a stack of men’s shirts that are perfect for refashion. Keeping as much of the original details as I can. You can read about this process in this blog. What I did with a white shirt you can read in this blog.

Asymmetrical inspiration


The inspiration for the top I took out of the piece of fabric that I received from Pauline Greuell during the #REFEBULOUS challenge earlier this year. It is a canvas fabric that she printed by hand. I drew the pattern of the top myself. In addition to the men’s shirt and canvas fabric, a leftover denim blouse has also been reused. Double refashion. In terms of characteristics and thickness of the fabric, these three matched perfectly.


Front & rear

The front of the men’s shirt is used for the back of the top. Including the button closure. I reused the front of the top from the back of the shirt. First I thought of adding an open back to the top, as you can see from the basting thread in the photo. To make it easier for myself, I left this one out eventually. Refashion by doing

I sewed the top of the back shut, so that I could finish the neckline with a facing. Especially with an asymmetrical neckline, this finishing works best.

Cap sleeves

As sleeves I reused the cuffs of the men’s shirt. The existing sleek finish of the cuffs inspired me to do this. You can still see the buttonholes, a nice detail. I did take off the buttons though. When I had put on the sleeves, I thought they were relatively small. With the fabric that was left, I made an addition that I reinforced just as much as the cuffs and stitched it on. See the refashion steps below:

Finish

The rest of the armhole is also finished with a facing inside. At the bottom of the top I stitched a nice hem at 0.7 cm with my BERNINA 540. For this I let the bottom fall flush with the first mark on the stitch plate. An easy way to stitch straight.

Image of BERNINA 540.

BERNINA 540

Thanks to the Adaptive Thread Tension you get optimal thread tension for perfect stitch quality on both sides of the fabric.

Learn more


A perfect refashion of a preloved men’s shirt in a unique top, I am happy with the outcome. And it is completely in line with blue week of # sewhappycolor2021. Another fun Instagram challenge.


Take a look at my Instagram to find even more fun in blue? 

I’ll see you there!

Love,

Marlies
@madebyLIESL

Free sewing tutorial: Refashion - Men’s shirt into a unique top

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