Friday, May 14, 2010

White Strapless Top From a Longsleeve

I have been feeling a little guilty for not posting any of the projects that I have been working on lately so today I have decided that I need to do a refashion post.
I started with a long sleeve shirt and transformed it into a stylish strapless summer top. Hope you like it!

Here you can see the original long sleeve. Be sure that the shirt fits you well - it should be TIGHTER (but not too tight) otherwise it won't stay up once you refashion it.

The first thing you will want to do is turn the shirt inside out. Once you have done this you will need to turn the sleeves back right side out. This is so you can close the sleeve seam.

Here you can see that I sewed along the sleeve openings. After I sewed it the first time, I realized my line wasn't straight when it came to the whole shirt so I had to resew it. So don't follow the armhole exactly- there will be a bit in the armpit that needs to be trimmed out so the seam is straight.

Now chop off the collar/shoulder area.  It can be straight or dip a little in the middle.

Turn the shirt right side out. Fold over the raw edge at the top opening and sew down. Be sure that you use a ZigZag stitch if you don't have a twin needle function on your machine. If you don't your seams will rip out (break) when the fabric stretches.
Now it's time for the folding! The next three pictures will show you how to do this. Basically you bring the sleeves across the shirt diagonally, twist, bring back to the side the sleeve is on and pin down.



When you pin the sleeves there may be some excess fabric. Simply trim this off. You will need to open up the seams in the sides of the shirt now.

Only open the seam in the area of the side where the sleeve is going to be sewn. Tuck the sleeve end inside and turn the shirt inside out.

As I said, you may need to trim off the ends as this would make a very uncomfortable shirt!
Once it is all trimmed and sewn down - turn it right side out again.
TADA!

A beautiful summer top!!

I hope you all have fun making this shirt, show me your results!
Ciao!

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