Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Horizontal Stripes and Dye

Hello Readers. I have heard many times that horizontal stripes are not flattering but I had a men's shirt with gray and wine colored stripes. It was soft cotton and my husband put it in the give-away pile. That means it is mine to use.


I found a pair of wine colored jeans at a clothes swap. I had been wanting some denim in this color so I was pleased. But these pants need help. The fit is awful. It doesn't show in the pictures as much as real life but they are a little faded too. That's OK I can work with this.


The first thing I did was refresh the jeans with wine colored dye. It is very easy to use the dye in the washer.


After using the dye and freshening the color I made the jeans smaller and more fitted. I sewed along the side seams and I also shortened the legs too. It took a few tries to get the size right. These jeans didn't have any stretch so I had to be careful not to make them too tight. Tight jeans with no stretch mean you can't eat and keep breathing.


When I was done with the jeans I got to work on the shirt. It was too big and the horizontal stripes made it look even bigger. And it made me look bigger. I decided to make it shorter, smaller and I thought 3/4 length sleeves would be more flattering.


I thought I was done. I put these clothes on and took a picture. When I looked at the picture I decided that I wasn't done at all. The shirt just looked too big. I thought the extra fabric in the shirt and the stripes made me look bigger in the upper body. I may be a little crazy but I just wasn't happy with it. The jeans were also a little baggy in the calves. Back to work!


I made the shirt a little smaller and shortened the sleeves. If there were less of the stripes that would look better right? I just wanted lees of this fabric.
I was honestly getting tired of these clothes. They were just taking a lot of time for some simple alterations.


I was done! I liked the short sleeves and the overall fit of everything. Finally!


Thanks for reading, now go make something fun for yourself.

*Year end update- I still think these colored jeans a fabulous. I honestly don't remember what happened to the shirt...it probably got eaten by the bad washer. We replaced that washer eventually because it was so destructive.

4 comments:

ae.speer said...

When I do this type of refash on a shirt, I always feel like it looks too big... unless I go through the trouble of detaching the sleeves and shortening the yoke/shoulders in addition to making the body and sleeves themselves smaller.

Looks great though :) Love the shirt/jeans combo.

I Can Work With That said...

I agree, that would have solved this case too. Men's shirts are always made for bigger shoulders and women usually don't fit the shirts easily.
Happy sewing to you!
Chickie

Queen Of Rods said...

Very nice refashion! You are very talented at making clothes fit and flatter :)

I Can Work With That said...

Thanks Queen Of Rods! That is nice to hear.
Happy sewing to you!
Chickie