Alterations

I haven't done much garment sewing for a long, long time, but recently I remodeled some readymade knit shirts that I had purchased to make them more appealing and stylish. For one of the projects I started with two basic crew neck t-shirts that I bought at JoAnn's when they were on sale for $2 each. With one of them I removed the ribbing around the neck and cut the sleeves off. Using the second shirt, I cut new sleeves that were 3/4 length and then cut strips of fabric across the torso part of the shirt to use for a new neckline finish and some ruffles. It didn't take much time at all and I'm much happier with the shirt now. Here are a couple pictures of the finished project.

And I bought two ivory long sleeved shirts on clearance at Walmart a couple months for $1 each. I cut one up and made flowers, then handstitched them around the neckline of the second shirt to add some detail and interest. Much better, don't you think?

With the minimal cost of the shirts to start with, it wasn't much of a gamble to work on these because if they didn't turn out right it was no huge loss of my investment. Now they look more like boutique shirts that would have cost much, much more in a specialty shop. Fun projects!