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.