This is my first attempt at a “refashion” for an article of clothing for myself. I’ve done one other refashion project but it was taking a t-shirt and making it into a dress for Amelia. It went so-so. The dress was cute but not exactly how I pictured it. I decided that maybe I should start with something easier for myself since, up until this point, I had never successfully sewn an article of clothing that I deemed worth of wearing in public.

The idea was very simple. Take a shirt that I didn’t like anymore (weird sleeves, kind of awkward – what was I thinking when I bought it in the first place?) and transform it into something better and more wearable. Here’s the original.

I hesitated at first before making any cuts to the fabric. Thanks to the wonder of the internet I *knew* or at least believed to be true that I could cut knit fabric and it wouldn’t fray (is it made of MAGIC?! Seriously how is this possible?) but I was still worried that it wouldn’t work for me. I hovered there, scissors in mid air. Should I cut? And then I remembered that this shirt was recovered from my goodwill pile. I was going to give it away. So what’s the worst that could happen? I totally butcher it? And then give it away – like I was planning to do anyway.

So I plunged ahead – snipping first one and then the other sleeve off just below the shoulder seam. And in so doing discovered that there is something totally cathartic in just chopping up an article of clothing that you don’t like. I immediately felt better and more productive. The shirt without the sleeves was an improvement in itself, but I decided to take the fabric I had cut off and make it into some little flowers. Shirts with flowers are all the rage right now, didn’t you know? And every time I see one I think “man that is overpriced, I could definitely make that myself” So what better time than now to try?

Here is the finished product (photographed in much better light than the “before” picture – note to self – do not photograph things after dark in horrendous artificial lighting). I’m quite pleased with it.

I can’t believe I waited so long to try something like this out – it makes me want to run into my closet and pull out any shirt that’s “so-so” and hack it to bits. I have my eye on at least 5 internet tutorials for making cute girly shirts from abandoned large men’s t-shirts so I think I’ll attempt one of those next. Yay for making something you love from something you really couldn’t care less about.