Pirate Shirt Makeover

I haven't looked into doing a makeover project since my vintage trench coat, which is surprising since I loved doing the makeover and I thought I would do it often more. One opportunity for a makeover came about when I bought a shirt I had no business wearing. But before I get into that....here I am in the shirt made over into a camisole with a ruffled front. By the way, I paired it with my tweed skirt and it looked great!

This is the shirt before I hacked it up. Long story short: I bought it online from Newport News for like $20. It looks FABULOUS on the model that had it on, but I just looked like a tiny pirate in it with my short torso. I am a HUGE advocate of people dressing to their proportions, so instead of offending, I made it some thing else of it. Plus, the fabric is a cream rayon and spandex blend knit and was too pretty to throw away.


I made a pattern for the camisole by tracing a one I already wear to pattern paper and adding the seam allowances. I went for circle method for creating the ruffles which is outlined in my readers digest guide, but I had to break out 9th grade math to get the circles the right width and length. I chose to use 5 circles all 5" long when expanded. The 2 outer circles were 3" wide and the inner circles were 2.5 inches. To spread them out I used 4 triangular spacers of the same fabric and interfaced it for support.


In case you were wondering why I didn't overcast the ruffles edges..let me introduce you to my lil friend... FRAY CHECK! I didn't want to mess with the integrity of the drape with stitching so i used this miracle in a bottle and applied it to every inch of the edges. It seals the fabric and prevents fraying.


I wanted to reuse the binding but after it was detached I knew it wouldn't give a clean finish so I used the sleeve to make new binding. It took several 14" section to make it all the way around including the straps. Since the back straps required 2 sections, I used the buttons to create a decorate the overlapping sections.



As Prince fan, I've always had an affinity towards purple and ruffles. I am soo loving how ruffles have made a comeback to the forefront of fashion. Check out this very popular dress by Black Halo. It was featured in the October issue of Lucky Magazine and indeed was my inspiration for the look. (All I need now is a professional photographer, lighting equipment, hair and makeup, and my pic will look that great, HA!)

Anywho, Merry Christmas again!