Silk Blouse Transformation

Well, it's been another crazy week of travelling and just all round hecticness.  I hate to say it but I think I'll be glad when my French class is over.  I have to drive to another city each week to participate and it seems like almost every week I get caught in a snowstorm coming home late at night.  So, in order to ease my frazzled nerves here's what I worked on this week...

Awhile ago my friend Gen gave me a pretty silk top that she felt she had outgrown.  I told her that I didn't think it was really my style but, she insisted that I take it anyway and if I didn't like it to just add it to my own pile of clothing donations.

But it was silk!  I couldn't just give it away.  So here's what I did with it instead:

Supplies

And a sewing machine/serger

Steps:
1) Close your eyes Gen...this might be painful to watch.  Lay out your sleeve and cut off the cuff above any stitching.

3) Cut the sleeve off the body of the top, from the underarm straight across.

4) Do the same thing to the other arm.  Now cut pieces from the body of the top in the same shape, long and skinny, approximately the same width.

I was able to get 5 pieces all together, 2 sleeves, 2 from the body sides, and 1 from the body back.  I didn't get all caught up in perfection here.  Because of the crinkle factor of the fabric I just played it by ear.

5) Open any pieces that are tubes, cut out any seam allowances and tags.  Then simply sew all of the pieces together, end to end until you have one long piece.

To create less bulk and tiny seam allowances, I used my serger to create a rolled hem.  If you don't have a serger, don't worry.  You can just do a regular stitch and trim your seam allowances after you've pressed them.

I should also mention that here's where I made one tiny error.  I had every intention of sewing down crocheted lace trim over each of the crosswise seams.  This would've hidden them completely and added a bit more character to the piece.  However, I was having so much fun doing rolled hems I forgot and went on to the next step.  If you want to hide your seams though, this is the stage where you'll add some extra trim over top.

6) Next, fold the whole piece in half lengthwise (right sides together) and sew the long edge closed so that you end up with a big tube.  You can skip this step if you want a flat scarf that's a little wider.

7) Turn it right side out and add some trim to the bottom edges.  If you didn't use an edge that was already hemmed when it was a top, make sure to do a quick hem first.

I played around with some other ideas for trim, like laces or fringe, but finally settled on this lovely beaded edging.  I needed something that would give the scarf a bit of weight and hold it down and this did just the trick.

Make sure to cut your trim about a half inch longer than you need so that you can overlap the ends to stop it from fraying.

And voila!  A shirt that not only one, but two people, didn't want, is now a pretty scarf that I know I'll wear often~

Before

After

Leave a comment and let me know what you think.  Was this a good recycle or should I have donated it?  I forgot to mention that I snipped the buttons off and kept them.  I have big plans for them too!

I've added a few new parties in the linky party tab so make sure
to check them out throughout the week for more great ideas.

And don't forget, if you're a follower,
you can post a link to your blog on the "Follow my Friends" tab.

Have a great week crafting~