Up-cycle: Hubby Shirt to My Shirt

Hello there from Sew & Tell! I'm linking up this month with clothes instead of quilts! Isn't summer the best time for clothes making? Cute shirts and skirts, right! Well I want to share with you a couple up-cycled shirts I made using my husbands old button downs (old as in he never wears them!) This is sort of a tutorial but more of guidelines if you want to try your own - but if you do try and get stuck just shoot me an email at bluebirdsews @gmail.com!

I am a little addicted to sewing shirts right now. I spent the weekend holed up in the craft cave until 11:30pm each night! 11:30pm - so late for this lady as Baby J doesn't know when Mom is working on 6 hours sleep, but it was well worth it because I got some new clothes without having to go shopping!

Last week I scored some great patterns and I set about using them to turn old button up shirts of hubby's into cute little summer shirts for me. 

The key to using an old shirt for a new shirt is to make sure it's big enough to fit the pattern. This one worked but just barely. I used the original hem in the back as the pattern was just a bit too long & the sleeves work only because they are itty bitty cap sleeves. The shirt I used was an XL and I am a pattern size 8 so it just worked. 

I used Simplicity pattern 2255 and I like it! Super easy to sew together and the up-cycle worked well with the existing buttons. I made a couple modifications I'll show below.
I wanted to give you a big picture view of how to go about doing this and default to the pattern instructions to do the actual sewing part of it. But if you have some questions just shoot me an email and I'll be happy to fill in. 

Start by de-constructing the shirt at the seams

When laying out the top button the front sides
together with right fabric sides facing each other
Then lay out the pattern and match up the center
line of buttons with the existing buttons.
It's easy and pretty intuitive when you're doing it. 

All cut out, just barely! I even had to use the
 double layer upper back portion of
hubby's shirt to get the neck bands. I then sewed
them together at the fold line. 

Once you're all cut out just use the pattern directions to stitch it up. There are only 2 modifications I made due to the up-cycle aspect. One is at the open neck line, because I wasn't making a button band I had to sew the raw edge down.

Front neck modified by hand sewing seam down. Keep the
original fabric that runs down the button holes when cutting
out from the pattern.

And at the hem line I had to use the original hem in the back, but it worked out nicely.

Bottom hem integrated with original in back 

This shirt came together really well. It was easier than I thought using the old shirt and so much better than making my own button band - I'm kinda freaked out by that, lining up the two sides perfectly seems really hard! I'll do it one day, but until then I'm gonna go back to hubby's closet! 

Me and Baby J

I also made this shirt from Simplicity pattern 2936 using a tunic shirt of hubby's. It doesn't have the buttons all the way down but it works and is super duper comfy! Definitely going to use this pattern again. 

That's all for now! But just wait until next week, I've got a matte jersey tee half put together and I'm working on cutting out the most advanced shirt yet, it has neck ruffles and a fitted band at the waist. But it's really, really cute and I'm using some vintage voile in the cutest little pattern. Can't wait! 

Cheers!

Kelly