Gingham Men's Shirt Refashion

I wasn't kidding when I said I'm obsessed with black gingham right now!

Friday's DIY Style post was partly inspired by this black gingham men's shirt I re-found
in my big box of "things to cut up and make into new things".
Of course I was way too excited to get started to remember to take a before picture...
Just imagine your basic, XXL, short sleeved men's shirt.



During Kid's Clothes Week, I remembered how nice it is
to use an old favorite sewing pattern when you want to get something made quickly and easily.
So I decided to try something new with this refashion - use a sewing pattern as my base.

I used the Colette Laurel bodice front, back and sleeves,
and did a little tinkering with the Colette Violet Blouse collar.
I knew that the Laurel would give me the easy, almost boxy shape I wanted,
but I really wanted to cute this shirt up with a peter pan collar.



Instead of trying to take in the sides and play with the fit like I would normally do with a refashion,
I cut along the seam lines to disassemble the front, back, and sleeves of the shirt.
Then I laid the pattern pieces over the shirt pieces and cut them out,
moving the pattern around to preserve certain elements from the existing shirt.

I kept the buttons from the front, and the hemline on the back and sleeves.
From the yoke of the original shirt I was able to cut the collar,
although I had to cut the undercollar from another fabric
and had to do piece the collar together.



With all the pieces cut, it just sewed up like a regular old sewing project!
No stopping to figure out what the heck to do next,
or trying (and failing) do some crazy piecing.
I was able to finish the whole shirt in about two nights of sewing,
and it was pretty dang nice I must say!



This is definitely one of my new favorite shirts!
I don't know why, but it makes me want to tie my hair up in a scarf
and do 50's housewife-y chores... haha!
Which is a good thing considering the state of our kitchen since I've started sewing again... Oops.