Everything started with this shirt. It’s from United Colors of Benetton, and I bought it for probably £15-20 more than 2 years ago. How do I know it was more than 2 years? Last time I remember wearing it was 2 summers ago, when P and me celebrated our 3 years together. I was still overweight. So it’s been sitting around for a while.
Earlier this year I had a closet clearout when friends came to watch me try on nearly everything I owned, and decided on what to keep, what to give away, what to just toss, as well as figure out a few outfit combos (an area I don’t think about enough). The shirt was about to hit the “give” pile… But I couldn’t do it. Something about the baby blue stripes, the white stripes, the combination, the pinstripe in between…. or the turquoise UCB sumbol and matching thread in 3 buttonholes. Go figure. So it went into the “alterations” box. Where it sat for nearly a year.
I took it out this Sunday. This is what’s happened to it.
I wasn’t entirely sure about what I wanted to do, but i did have 2 ideas to choose from, and neither involved sleeves.
So I undid the sleeve stitches and took the sleeves off. That alone took nearly an hour.
Each sleeve had no less than 3, yes THREE, stitches anchoring it to the main body of the shirt. *whimpers*. I can only be happy that I had my trusted seam rippers instead of having to do this with tailoring shears or embroidery scissors.
Then I thought about things a little… Doodled my options… realised I would have to cut off the shoulder seams as well, and went for it.
I also took off the collar, leaving me with a shirt body. By that time I’d decided I was going to go for strapless instead of halter top. This is what it looks like, folded on the doll. At this point, there’s only pins all over the place.
Then came the big guns. The collar. I tried two variations of how to position it. And darts under the bosom. With thread, basted (loosely sewn) in. And folds on either side of the waist that gather the fabric underneath, making it pop out, which I’m planning to either convert to folds on the front, or secure with criss-crossing ribbon for a corseted look on the side. So this is what the final thing looks like on the doll. I just have to get the machine out and secure all the seams. They’re either pinned or hand-stitched. And I can’t walk around with pins and loosely basted fabric. Or I could. But I’d cause accidents as soon as the wind picks up…
So I have nothing to post. I have done first-pass assembly (sewn the 8 princess-seam-dress pieces together) and do not intend to line it, as it’s already very heavy. The next step, therefore, is to cut out the pieces for the neckline and armholes in the same fabric as the dress, and iron out the seams flat. No time for that yet (I commute for 12 hours a week, on top of a regular working week’s worth of hours) but hopefully soon. I’ll make sure to take photos when I get around to it!
