Friday, January 22, 2010

The World's Worst Lumberjack!

That would be me.
I'm afraid of heights. and chainsaws and bugs, and sometimes trees. But those Lumberjack fellows have it made when it comes to the brushed cotton flannel. It's all warm and softie and nice.
And cheap. Well the shirt that I picked up from the dollar store way back in December was.
It might be a bit cheaty but I bought it specifically because I knew I was taking The Wardrobe Refashion Pledge and figured it could be the not-a-tragedy-if-I-pooch-it-up prototype for future shirty refashioning.
Anyway here it is in all it's unaltered glory...



I p'ticly like the inadvertent froggy fashion commentary. Apparently he writes for Women's Wear Daily.


And here' it is refashioned.
(This picture was the best of about a bazillion, so imagine if you will, how THOSE ones must have looked. And yah. little bit awkward and NO. I haven't so much as brushed my hair.)



Ok. and here it is without the distracting forehead shine.


What I did was,
1. Unpick the collar and remove the top part. Then sewed it up again.
2. I cut out the arms and then made the armholes smaller. Not terribly sucessfully actually, but now I know what to do next time.
3. I reattached the sleeves giving them a bit of puff. Next time I would totally have them puffier. I like this sleeve length though andI added these little pleats at the cuff (I need a better picture of them).
4. I added darts front and back. Unpicking them a squillion times each, just for fun.
5. I made 2 box pleated ruffles with the spare bits of sleeve. (I think I got the idea from a tute on Burda style. Maybe the one with all the ruffle techniques that I am now completely unable to find? is right here. Thanks Wendy!)
Do hit me up in the comments if you've a wish for a tutorial. I'll be making at least one more of these fellas (with thrift store shirts naturally!)
Crumbs. I forgot to say that I was HUGELY inspired by clevergirl's First Men's Shirt Refashion and that her tutorial is super clear and easy to figure out.

7 comments:

  1. I love what you did to that shirt. A tough mans shirt into a feminine blouse - without being too frou frou. I'm definitely going to give that a try.

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  2. Found you through Wardrobe Refashion - and just know, now you've got me eyeballing my husband's lumberjack flannels... Great refashion! :)

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  3. I think you did a great job and the frog...very cute. I wish my dollar store had things like lumberjack shirts.

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  4. What a fantastic idea to use the extra sleeve fabric for box pleats. I would have -never- thought of that!

    I'm currently trying to upcycle a men's plaid button-down and I just can't ge it right. I've got so much extra fabric that when I "pinch-n-pin" it ends up uneven. I'm also unsure of where the darts are supposed to go if you want the shirt to have more feminine shape (in the front or in the back? What is the answer??!?!)
    I'm a tailoring beginner so I'd love to get some learned advice from you.

    Jealous points from me to you: 3+
    great job!

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  5. Hi Roe!
    I am FOR SURE not an expert, and there was a heap of unpicking with the darts.
    I put them in front AND back. Slightly longer and more shallow at the back, and deeper and shorter at the front. I aimed for the front ones to be directly under the center of the uh, "girls". The back ones were pure guesswork!

    Resizing the armholes the way that Clevergirl does really helps get rid of some of the extra shirt bulk.
    I don't have a fancypants curve thingy like she does, so I just used a shirt I like as a guide.
    OK. Novella length response over!

    Very good luck and I'd love to see how yours turns out.
    Erin

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  6. I must try this!!!!!!! I'm a Northwest native and completely addicted to flannel. I can't wait to girl-ify my collection.

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