Sunday, February 28, 2010

The *new* shirt

I have, apparently, got really long arms so alot of shirts tend to fit well everywhere else but the arms are too short. This top was one of those, but it was on sale and I had to buy it. It sat in my closet for nearly a year until I almost put it in the donation pile. I decided instead, to try my elastic bobbin thread on it and cut the sleeve and give them some 'poof'.
I sewed a rolled hem on the very ends and then used the elastic thread near the edge. My sewing machine has a rolled hem foot so that was relatively easy and the elastic thread worked pretty well for me. I've read of lots of people having trouble with it, but somehow I have been spared that headache. Next time, however, I will sew the elastic thread a bit further from the arm hem, give it an inch or so of extra fabric...just as an aesthetic thing. I like how the top looks and it took all of 20 minutes to salvage it. I might just have to try this one again.

Don't you love my pose in this shot? Not exactly a natural stance for me, the whole self-portrait thing.

3 comments:

Three Owls said...

great salvage. I rarely redo clothes into other clothes they almost always get turned into animals :) That's probably why I'm always looking for something nice to wear....hee hee.

Juniper said...

Nice save on the shirt, looks great. Funny your stance does look like you are in the army.

ten finger workshop said...

I love it, sometimes it takes the threat of the donation pile to make our clothes stand up and speak to us again. Great job, perfect in spring. How do you use elastic thread?? any tutorials that are helpful?