Men’s Dress Shirt Refashion
I’ve always loved the concept of a refashion–taking a piece of garbage and transforming it miraculously into a chic piece.
The reality however has often left much to be desired.
My refashions haven’t always made it into the daily rotation–sometimes even an attractive piece would have a limited shelf-life due to certain impracticalities (a refashioned sweater into a peplum with short flutter sleeves was too cold to wear through winter).
Which comes to the nub of my quandary. If you look around the web, most refashions seem to be starting with a thriftstore men’s dress shirt or otherwise oversized item to be essentially scrounged for fabric, but my goal is to utilize otherwise unusable items already in my possession.
My main source of raw garbage is from my husband. He has a tendency to wear through the elbows of his work clothes, so the bulk of his shirts and cardigans are in decent shape. But since he only wears a size M in Japanese size (size S in US), the amount of fabric available for a refashion is quite limited.
Which brings us to the refashion.
I was inspired by the following pinterest images, which seemed to be a clever way to make a stylish design while minimizing the amount of cloth needed.
When refashioning, I like to use my bodice block when cutting the fabric. A lot of DIY will suggest using an item you already own, which is probably a decent starting point for an inexperienced sewer, but inconvenient when you don’t own an item suitable for a starting point.
Here is a rough break down of the steps:
1. Begin by cutting along the sleeve seams to remove them entirely, then the side seams. I planned to completely cut out fresh bodice pieces, so I also cut along the shoulder seams, removing the collar, and the back facing. You should be left with a front, back and arms with usable material.
2. Since I planned to put the button up on the back of the top, I folded the original back piece in half, laying my front bodice block along the fold line. I was planning a high neck and loose fit, so I only cut along the neckline first (with a bit of distance for seam allowance). Since I planned to eliminate the darts, I shifted the bodice block closing the top dart, thus shifting the shoulder line, which I cut. I wanted a bigger armhole than the bodice block, so I also cut the armhole more generously open. The front piece should be cut at the desired length.
3. For the back, I mostly used my back bodice, although cut shorter to account for the gathered peplum bottom. I first aligned the bodice block with the original front piece opened to find the neckline, then having pinned the correct spot, folded the cloth along the center line, which was fully buttoned. Then I cut out the neckline and shoulder seam, and shortened waist.
4. For the back peplum, I harvested the remaining fabric from the sleeves, cutting out as generous a rectangle as I could manage. Since it’s only the back, a respectable gather was possible.
5. I wasn’t planning to win any awards with project, so I finished the armholes and hem with a simple fold over finish. The neckline was a sort of facing, by turning under the old collar stand I faked facing. To do a proper job, I would recommend an all in one neckline and armhole facing or bias tape.
Despite the haphazard sewing, this held up remarkably well over the years.
