Giving Old Clothes New Life

Intention

I was very interested in the idea behind reviving old clothes instead of throwing them out. After I came across a book documenting some interesting ideas for modifying clothes like ties, mens shirts, and scarves, I was especially inspired by a particular "pattern" for modifying oversized button ups. I found some unwanted shirts at goodwill and embarked on a project to breathe new life into them!

Process

Most of my sewing process was derived from the pattern found in a book, shown below. However, the pattern was meant for one size, and included proportions rather than a cut out pattern. Therefore, I modified the lengths of cuts and amount of darts and pleats to better fit someone my size. In addition, I did not have elastic, so instead of threading elastic through the back or sleeves, I chose some alternatives.

I kept the sleeves loose and ungathered, and used a series of pleats and sections of another shirt to fit the back side of the shirt.

After deciding what I wanted to make, I made a quick visit to goodwill, which happens to have aisles and aisles of untouched oversized mens shirt. I chose the two below for their pattern, size, and color. I tried both shirts on and marked with pencil where the darts should be for the best fit, mostly through trial and error! I determined that if the back section was 15'' wide and the front section taken in by 3'' the shirt fit the best. I also marked the sleeve length I wanted. I was very careful to make marks perfectly symmetrical via use of a tape measurer.

Next, I began sewing. Sadly, though I did manage to get my hands on a sewing machine after break began, it had some major tension problems with the upper thread, and was unable to sew a straight line. This means that I had to hand sew all of this shirt, which is not ideal because it is a weaker and less straight stitch. I used a running stitch for almost all seams except for a few inner seams, where I used whip stitch. The fact that I was using a lot of the shirts' original construction was a big help!

Reflection on Project Proposal

In the process of creating this shirt, I used the following concepts learned in class:

- Darting/Pleating

- Hand Stitching

I also explored the

I am satisfied with how the front of the garment turned out in look and fit, but think I could have improved on the fit of the back. Some of the darts and pleats bunch incorrectly while wearing, and the length of the back is not visually ideal.