Upcycle me something pretty! part 1

 I've got this upcycling bug that has hit pretty hard.  You've seen what I can do with an old sheet over and over again plus another t-shirt re-do.  This time I've taken an IZOD boat shirt and turned it into something more girly and more summer friendly since it is still summer here in Arizona.

Here's the before and after.

Now let me show you how.

First cut off the collar and the sleeves.

Reserve the sleeve fabric.  It will become your tie.

Open up the sleeve by cutting out the seam.

Cut off the hem at the wrist and open up the stitching.  This piece will be the bias tape for the neckline.  Sew each of the hem pieces together to make one long piece of bias tape.

Now cut up the sleeve fabric into long strips as shown.

Sew the two strips together to make two long pieces, then fold in half and stitch along the edges to make the ties.

 Place the ties where you want them. I folded mine accordian style and placed them at the top of the shoulder.  Pin the hem bias tape to the neckline and sew in place.

 Here's a close-up of the neckline before stitching.















 Once the neckline is done, let's make this a little more flattering fit.  I cut a curve from the bottom of the sleeve all the way down.  Serge or zig-zag the seam to finish.

 With the small pieces left over from the sleve, make more bias tape to put on the end of the sleeve.























I folded it in half and placed it over the raw edge of the sleeve and stitched it down.

It gave it a slightly different look.

 I added a small piece of elastic up the middle of the top of the sleeve to give it a slight gather.  If you look close at the last picture, you can see the gather detail.  A simple and effective way to pretty up a plain sleeve.

This was part one of an Up-cycling theme I have going right know.  There will be two more outfits I've done in the days to come.  Please come back and join me as I create something new and beautiful from something old and plain.  Isn't creativity the best!