Shortening Linen Tunics

 Hello Readers. A lot of my sewing stems from being super short. I am only 5' tall. Clothing manufacturers do not have me in mind when they make clothes, everything needs to be shortened. That's OK, let's talk about shortening tunics. Tunics are meant to be long but what if you want a shorter length? How do you decide on a length? 

Before and after.

Is it a tunic or is it a dress? I like to thrift and I ended up with these 2 linen tunics. I love linen, it's so nice for summer. These tunic tops were too much to tuck in when wearing pants and not enough to wear alone as a dress. I really wanted 2 shirts. Shirts are kind of boring but we all need those kind of basics in the closet. Let's make a couple shirts from these tunic tops. 

 

You don't need a paper pattern from the sewing store, you just need a shirt you already own and like to wear. If you want to tuck your shirt in, get a shirt from your closet that fits you well and tucks in nicely. If you want a more cropped length, grab a shirt you already own that is a good length for that. I used a shirt I already liked as a guide for the length I wanted to make my new shirt. Using a shirt you already own and like is great because it doesn't cost anything and you know you will like the fit & length because you like the original shirt's fit & length.

 

I like the length of the floral shirt here and used it to cut the excess length from my tunic. I didn't cut it the same length, I need extra to make the new hem. Linen frays like crazy, a new hem has to be sewn. I left an extra inch in length to make the hem. Use sharp sewing scissors to make a clean cut. That will make it easier to sew the new hem.

 

I used the floral shirt for the pink tunic too. I left an inch of length to make my hem on both shirts. 

 

I used my serger on the cut edge of my tunics. I stitched all the way around the bottom of each shirt. Linen frays so quickly and easily, I wanted to keep that fraying to a minimum. 

 

You can see the serger seam here. I ironed each shirt with a very hot iron. I wanted the edge turned in so I could sew my new hem. I could have turned the edge under twice but linen can be thick and I did not want the hem of the shirts to be too thick or bulky. The serger will keep it from fraying and...

 

I used my sewing machine to sew the new hem in place. I sewed using a straight stitch all the way around the hem of my shirts to keep the hem in place and keep the serger stitches hidden. 

 

The shirts had long sleeves and my arms are pretty short. (Short woman-Short arms.) The blue shirt had straps and buttons to keep the sleeves pulled up a bit and out of my way. 

 

The pink shirt had plain simple sleeves and they were too long on me. I decided to add elastic so I could push the sleeves up and keep them out of my way. 

 

I used my seam ripper to open the end of the sleeve. I didn't take out the whole seam, I only needed a few stitches removed. 

 

I used a safety pin and narrow elastic to alter the sleeves. I attached the pin to the elastic and threaded the elastic through the opening at the end of the sleeve. This only took a few minutes. You can wrap the elastic around your arm to get the size correct. Everyone's arm will be different size so check your elastic before you put it in the shirt. 

 

I tied my elastic in a little knot to connect the ends of the elastic. When I was done, I tucked the knot into the opening. 

 

I sewed the opening closed again so that it will look nice and neat. The elastic is hidden but I can keep the sleeves out of my way. 

 

 Both of my shirts turned out great, I love the new length. And those long sleeves cover my arms but stay pushed up, out of my way. Thanks for reading along, now go make something fun for yourself. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One More Dress of Shirts

 Hello Readers. I have been scrap busting as much as possible and I got to an outdoor swap recently too. My plans to refashion for free in 2021 are going better than I thought they would. Today's post is one last dress made of shirts. These dresses have been fun to make, so comfortable to wear and I have been able to use up some of my scraps and pieces.

This dress was made possible because I had this large piece of black and white fabric from a refashion I did a couple years ago. I used a dress to make a bathing suit that covered everything I wanted to cover. 

This piece was the skirt of the dress. I always save the leftover fabric from refashions so I can use them later. 

I knew I wanted to make a dress so, I found a couple shirts that would work with this floral fabric. I started with a black tank top. I wanted it to be the top of my dress. I made sure to mark where I wanted to cut it. 

I started cutting shirts to make the tiers of my dress. 

I like red and black together so this red shirt is next. Cut, cut, cut. 

Cutting the hem off the shirt is important because the red is going to be the middle tier. 

I checked my pieces to make sure they would fit together well. To get a nice A-line shape I used the widest piece at the at the bottom and the narrowest at the top. I used a zigzag stitch to connect the pieces together.

My dress was a quick and easy project. I was ready to go out I the summer heat. 

*** BONUS TRACK ***

I still had the top of this red shirt left over. I thought it would be a great piece to use in a pajama set. 

I used these capri length pajama pants to make shorts. I cut them off and had the ends leftover. The fabric had a fun comic book design featuring Captain America.

I used the bottom of the capri pants to make a shirt. I cut each pant leg open and stitched them together into a tube. I connected that tube to the the red shirt. There is a seam in the front and back of the shirt but the design hides it quite well.

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

***Chickie's Year End Review-I liked this dress a lot and I wore those pajamas at least 347 times.

Another Dress of Shirts

 Hello Readers. I found myself with a pile of shirts on my refashion rack. And I am trying to use up my stash. What can you make from a pile of shirts? Lots of things! Today's post is about another dress made of shirts. 

My refashion stash has a lot of shirts in, so I needed to find a way to use them. I made a maxi-dress last week. I wanted to make something shorter this time. I pulled together the shirts that had harmonious colors. 

I adjusted the straps on this tank top so it wouldn't be so low cut. This will be perfect under the peachy colored shirt. The peachy is very lacey and sheer so the tank top will give some needed coverage.  

 

 

The next step was to add a skirt piece to this dress. This burgundy t-shirt is big enough to fit around my hips as a skirt. Men's big and tall t-shirts are great for this. I cut the shoulder and sleeve part of this shirt off the body. The body of the shirt is just a tube that will make a great skirt. What will I use as a waistband to keep the skirt on?

This peachy shirt has elastic in the waistband. It can be the waistband of this dress. I attached the peachy colored shirt to the big burgundy t-shirt. I stretched the peachy shirt as I stitched. I had pinned them together earlier so that the burgundy shirt would be gathered evenly all the way around. 

My new dress is finished. It was comfy and soft because it was all cozy knit material. The peach shirt hold the full skirt in place just right. I wore the tank top under the peachy shirt so that I was fully covered and would not flash anyone.

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

***Chickie's Year End Review-I loved this dress. I liked the colors and the lacy top. I never wore it again though. I need to go find it in the spring and wear it again.

Work From Home Wear

Hello Readers. Are you working from home? Are you going crazy trying to work from home? I think a lot of people are, don't feel alone! I decided to make a outfit for working from home and possibly doing video conferencing. Some of my work is online in a video call setting so I am getting really used to wearing casual office on the top and casual couch potato on the bottom.

This blue Polo shirt belonged to my husband. He has had it or a while and it got put in the give away pile. (That means I can take it.) I wanted to make that shirt into something else.

The floral shirt is from Talbot's and I think I got it at the last clothes swap I went to back in the winter. I loved the colorful floral design. It is comfortable and proper enough for work.

I decided to make a pair of shorts from the blue shirt. They would be soft and comfortable from home. If I have a video call, no one needs to know that I am basically wearing pajama shorts. Shh, don't tell.

That hem is uneven. I will fix that when I am sewing.

I made a simple elastic waistband. I am at home working (And snacking!) a stretchy waistband is ideal.

My shorts were finished just in time for work. I just needed a shirt.

This shirt was a great match. It looked nice and was super soft. I could wear it to work and to lounge.  Even if I am lounging I need to walk the dog and in this outfit my neighbors wouldn't be worried about crazy pajama lady out walking her dog. Again.

This is a dramatized photo. Working, kids under foot, not enough caffeine and pajama shorts on the video call. It's called working from home and it can be rough. Hang in there.

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

Pink and Purple

Hello Readers. Today's post is about 2 shirts that each needed some help. I worked on them at the same time so I am writing about them at the same time. It's a two-fer today.

Here are the 2 shirts. One is a pink t-shirt. It was bright and cheerful but pretty basic. The problem was with that deep V-neck. Why so low??

The other shirt is a purple cotton tunic that was very light weight and perfect for summer. I loved the material and colors. The problem? It was getting so old, it had some worn spots that didn't look very nice.

Let's start with the purple shirt. It also had a deep V-neck and it was getting really worn out. I liked the shirt so much, I wanted to fix it. I stitched the deepest part of the V-neck closed. The worn spots are all inside. No one knows they are there.

 Well, no one but you.

  

The picture on the left is one of the long sleeves. It was really worn out. My solution was to cut the sleeves as short as needed to get rid of all the worn areas. I turned the edges under and stitched them down. Now they were always short sleeves. I also shortened the entire shirt because bottom edge had a few rough spots too.

  

Here is a look at what was removed from the purple shirt. 

I basically cut off or hid all the bad spots of this shirt. It turned out well and it is still just as soft and comfortable.

The pink shirt was easy to fix. I took a small piece of purple material from the first shirt, that was not damaged, and used it to fill in the deep V of the pink shirt.

It filled in the V-neck well and the pink shirt isn't so revealing anymore.

  

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

***Year End update- This purple shirt was so nice and light in the summer heat. And it didn't seem to need ironing. The pink was such a happy color. I love that one too.