Shirt Shirt

I have been inspired to sew a lot lately, though still trying to cross things off my list rather than start new things, or intentionally use up material that is in the stash, rather than let it sit and languish longer. With this in mind, I pulled out a dress that I wore ten years ago that didn't fit any more. I had put it away because it had lots of material in it and it was a beautiful print, so I figured I could use it for a girls dress somewhere along the line.

I took the thing apart, put it back together to fit Sophie, realised I should have paid a little more attention to the bodice section and decided it would be a good dress up dress. At the end of that day, I was a little disheartened. So was Sophie. 

So I got out some other things from my stash, including this stripy Ralph Lauren shirt that had once been my Dad's. It had loads of material in it that was much less fiddly than the dress had been, and I was sure I could make it into something. As always, I wish I had taken a photo before I took it apart. Here it is laid out on the floor minus sleeves, collar and yoke.

I liked the wavy hem and the working buttons, so I kept all of that. I saw this photo in Pintrest that I really liked. I would link to where it came from, but the Pintrest link is broken, so I actually have no idea.

It took a little while for me to decided on which tie would match, but I did have lots to choose from, so soon we were on a roll.

Of course, I didn't think enough about how things were going to come together, so I did have to do some unpicking - and here is proof!

Steve teases me that I never unpick (I'll admit, sometimes I just use scissors...) but there you have it people: unpicking proof. Anyway, I gathered it, bound it, and hand stitched it on to the tie. And now I have a shirt shirt.

 I possibly should have ironed or pressed it at some stage... especially before these photos... meh.

Because it's winter, I'm wearing it for these photos with a long sleeve underneath. Obviously, this is more of a summer shirt. I love that the tie is still functional, so I can retie the shoulder whenever I like. And the buttons at the back are also still functional... should I need to unbutton them... which I doubt... anyway!

Here is a photo of me in my shirt shirt riding my five year old daughters bike on the street that I grew up. Yes, I'm crazy. Enjoy.