Just Peachy + DIY

So to celebrate the end of my school year, Rose, Sabrina, and I went thrift hunting, and yes it was more of hunting for thrift shops than hunting in thrift shops. I found this gem in the Haight-and-Ashbury-neighborhood Goodwill. Upon bringing it home, my sister April (pictured below) asked me, "Aren't you supposed to be making yourself for sophisticated??" To which I claimed, it is summer and it is very me. I mean, it's fruit...come on! 

I felt it needed a little makeover before I wore it out, so see how I re-designed this short sleeve button-down to a racer-back, tie-front. 

Before! 

Here's how I made it! 




 1) First, I pinned where I wanted the new sleeve to end, and how high I wanted the hem to be. 

 2) I laid out the shirt on a table and, working on the left-side of the shirt, started to draw the new armhole. 

 At the shoulder-seam and side-seam, I made a 90º angle about an inch long to help smooth the shape. 

  To connect the dots, I hand drew the curve, then used a French curve to smooth it out. 

2) I used a tracing wheel to transfer the curve from the shirt to dot-paper. I laid the paper underneath the shirt and traced the line I drew on the shirt with the tracing wheel, which is a wheel with small pins on it to mark the paper through fabric. If you don't have one, use pins to trace the line. I re-drew the line with pencil on the dot-paper, and drew another line, slashed this time, 1/4 linch away on the outside, for seam allowance. 
Do this on the front and back of the shirt, but on the back, curve it in near the shoulder blades to make a racer-back. 

 3) Cut. I slipped a binder between the layers of the shirt to separate them. You can use a magazine, or piece of cardboard too. 

 I pinned the pattern piece to the shirt, and cut away. Repeat for the front and back of each side. When cutting the right-side of the shirt, flip the pattern, so it will be a mirror of the curve. 

 4) Facing. I took the armhole patterns and laid them on a fresh piece of dot-paper and traced the curve. Back:

 Front: 

 To make the facing, I extended the curve to the inside, 2 inches, so without the seam allowance, the facing will be 1 3/4 inches. Cut them out. 

5) I found space at the hem of the shirt and the cut-open sleeves to use as facing. I pinned them down and cut them out. 

 6) Interfacing. I folded a piece of fusible interfacing in half and pinned the facing pieces down, then cut them out. 

 Iron the interfacing to the back of the facing fabric, and make sure the bumpy side of the interfacing is touching the wrong side of the fabric. 

7) I drew a line for the new hem-line across the back piece - from side seam to side seam. 

 8) The side-seam needed to be taken in, to fit me better. So I tapered in 2 inches in at the armhole and connected the line to the new hemline. 

 9) With a hip-curve, I drew a new hem line on each front piece (from side seam to center front) 

 10) Sew side seams. I used a French seam for the sides. Start with the shirt wrong sides together, so it looks like it would if you were wearing it. Sew on the "imaginary" line from the 2 inch point to the hem. To help you sew straight, pull a length of thread from the needle, like shown, then insert the needle into the fabric. Pull the thread down towards the endpoint, and put the presser foot down. Sew along the thread guideline. 

 Cut off the excess fabric to 1/8 of an inch to the seam. 

 Iron open. 

 Fold the front and back together, right side to right side, and sew AGAIN along the SAME side seam. When you sew this at 1/4 inch, you encase the first seam so it is clean on the inside and outside. 

 As my sewing professor says, Be like a French seam, be beautiful inside and out! 

 11) Sew together the front and back facing pieces. Sew them right-side to right-side. I referenced my patter pieces to remember the orientation of the shapes. 

 12) Sew facing to shirt. With the shirt inside out and the facing right-side out, slip the facing in between the shirt. Pin and sew around the armhole at 1/4 seam allowance. 

 13) Flip the facing inside the shirt so the wrong sides are together, and iron. I under-stitched the facing. 

 14) Sew the hem. I folded the hem 1/4 and then 1/4 again and ironed. Then I sewed along the whole hem. 

 Done!