Before
So here’s the first project I’m tackling for this series: a way-too-small lime-green cotton top, which has excellent seams and binding, and some very attractive pintucking detail.
My personal interest, with upcycling, is to exploit what’s already beautiful. Why spend time on pintucking when someone has already done such a good job of it?
During
I wasn’t getting any joy from playing with it in its whole state, so I took the plunge with the scissors, up the side seams. All sorts of options now opened up! As soon as I turned it sideways I knew where it was going. It seemed to have found a new luxury home…
At this point, all I’ve done is pin the front and back to be sleeves. One shoulder has the pintucking and buttons, and is slightly more blouson because of the darts, but I like the faint asymmetry.
I’m undecided whether just to leave it as a shrug, or attach it to the lower half of a shirt. I suspect the shirt idea will win – watch this space!
