Linen tunic refashion

 

This top is a refashion of a refashion.

Here is the previous transformation:

 

This was one of my favourite refashions to wear,  I liked the linen I liked the blue, I liked the check trim.

On its last pass though the laundry I decided the armpits and rope neckline were too worn to be seen out in public again.

I had an idea to replace those worn out elements with some contrasting pink fabric (also linen but with a slightly closer weave) from my stash, and also set myself the challenge to complete the whole thing in 3 hours which is quick for me.

The first step was to cut off the worn out elements which just left a short hemmed and finished tube.

I sewed on a couple of fabric panels to lengthen the tube roughly the right size to have enough fabric to make a simple straight up and down top.

At this rough and ready stage I ‘tried it on’ get an idea where the join was going to fall, I didn’t want it to be on the bust apex,  and to find out where the armpits should be.

I sewed up the sides and top of the pink bits to make rough armholes and a neck, then tried on again.  Some unpicking and readjusting was involved to get things in the right place ( I had anticipated this and not backstitched)  and I obviously needed to do something to develop the neckline.

For the neck, which was currently much too high, I marked the centre front and cut down a 2 inch slit which was then folded under like so.  I re-attached the Superdry label for interest as it seemed to look right with the point of the triangle at the middle of the neckline.

For the back of neck I cut a shorter 1 inch slit but folded under in the same way, creating a sort of diamond shape for the neck. Its a bit rough on the inside but it will do. I considered folding the fabric to the outside to make a collar but this would be more time consuming and more likely to go wrong.

Finally, I hemmed the armholes using a zig sag stitch, took the side seams in a little to make the fit a little snugger and added a few hand stiches in some places to tidy up.

I quite like this experimental method of making by continuous refitting and the whole process was quite quick.

I already like this new version of the old tunic.