Sewing 101 - Repurposing a Man's Shirt into a Tunic!

Today, I will show you step one in making this!

I love this frilly, girly top, and I especially love that all you need is one man's shirt to make it!!! I used an additional 1 1/4 yard of some vintage lace I had chillaxin' in my trims basket, but I would have been fine just using the shirt fabric.

OK, the nitty gritty. This post (and the other two parts of this tute) will be LONG. I really want to break it down for the newbies because I want you to sew. I really, really do. There are lots of pics and lots of 'splainin to do. Here we go!

Get that shirt and cut off the sleeves at the shoulder seam

Now you have a sexeh sleeveless top:

Cut that sucker in half -- just eyeball it.  I used the buttons as a guide and cut between the third and fourth buttons.  The shirt has six buttons.

Try it on and look like a trucker's dream girl.

Now, just pinch in the sides to get a comfy, but slightly loose fit. I pinned them with safety pins so I wouldn't stick myself. Then I pinched in the center front making a dart under my bustline.

Pin the shoulders where you'd like your shirt's finished shoulder to hit. This is a guideline for where you will be cutting your shirt to get a more feminine fit. See the heads of the pins?

I took off the shirt and drew my cutting lines on one side to show you where they would be. While I wouldn't make this a "have to" step, I do recommend it. It helps me visualize my seam allowances when I'm cutting.

Cut, leaving yourself a seam allowance. I use a 1/2" seam allowance for the shoulder and arm holes, and 5/8" for the side seam.

Pin baste* your shirt together and put it back on.

*Pin basting is when you pin your shirt through the seam lines so get an idea of how it will fit when it's sewn together. Click on this pic below to see what I mean; the side seam is pin basted. Sorry it's a little blurry.  :(

If you turn to the side, you'll notice that your arm holes gape a little. To keep from playing peek-a-boo-sideboob, you'll just need to add another dart from the sleeve hole.

 

I unfortunately did not get a picture of this while it was on, but laid flat it looks like the picture on the right (the new dart is the one with the blue lines, while the other dart below the bust is the one with orange lines -- technically my bottom dart [orange one] should have been wider, but I'm no expert and it really makes no difference to me with the finished product):

Fold your shirt in half so you have both fronts on top of the other. Cut notches to mark your starting point and mark a dot for the apex. To transfer your apex to the other front piece, pierce the first dot with a pin, flip your shirt over, and mark the other front.

Now we sew the puppy together!! We will use French Seams. Pin your side seams wrong side of your fabric facing each other and sew a 1/4" seam (normally you sew a seam with the right sides of the fabric facing each other). Trim a little to get rid of any wily strings.

Press.

Pin side seams with the right sides together and sew at a 3/8" seam (1/4" + 3/8" = 5/8" inch -- woo hoo!!)

You now have a French Seam!

Now for the darts. Pin, matching your notches.

I usually also place a pin at the apex so I know where my dart ends.

Sew from the notches to the apex dot.

Backstitch a few stitches to lock it in. Now, this is a little controversial because some people say to never ever backstitch the apex of a dart because it may cause a pucker. I say to hell with that. I'll take a pucker over a dart that comes undone any day.

Try it on to make sure you like the fit!!  Remember, the darts are just to give the bodice a little body since you have boobs and guys don't. You do not need to make some perfect-fitting top. Trust me, mine isn't and you didn't notice that, right?  (Right?)

That's it for part one! How do you feel?? Newbies, tell me if I've left anything out or I've confused you anywhere. I thought the pictures and explanation were a lot more thorough when I was putting this together and now I'm not so sure. The bodice is the hardest part though, so if you made it this far then you're set!

UPDATE: Part two is here and part three is here.

xoxo,