chop tops

The more refashioning I'm doing, the pickier I'm getting about my clothes.  Honestly, I was sort of hoping it would go the other way.  But now that I know how tailor-made clothes fit, it's really hard to wear something that just sort-of works.  I keep staring in my closet and bemoaning, "I have nothing to wear!"  And then I reply back to myself, "How do you have nothing to wear when you sew something new for yourself at least once a week?  What are you doing with all your new clothes??"  It's like a mother and daughter are arguing inside my head, yikes.

I took a close look at my closet and cleared out a lot of clothes I haven't worn in a long time.  No more--"I love that dress....I'll wear it next summer!"  If I hadn't worn it in a year, it was headed to the chopping block.  Literally.  I chopped.

The first dress I chopped was from my wedding shower.  I couldn't bear to part with it, but it was see-through and made of cream lace.  You really can't wear that to anything other than your own bridal shower without looking like a bride at someone else's party.  And I HATE wearing those skintight squeezy things that someone decided should replace normal slips.  Who ever thought up that torture??

The other dress was way too short.  I somehow had the idea to wear it to a wedding for a coworker last summer.  A ridiculously short dress to a daytime wedding with all of my colleagues.  I can really be brilliant sometimes...  To give you an indication of how short it was, I only cut off about eight inches to make it into a shirt.  Also, for the record, my mother did teach me not to wear white to someone else's wedding, but you can see the blue, right?!

Here we go!  Put on your dress and mark a good length for a shirt.  Then add three inches because you are invariably judging it too short and you'll never wear a too-short shirt (also you need extra material for your hem).  Take it off, lie it straight, and CHOP.  It feels so good, doesn't it??



All that's left is to hem!  For my hems, I usually fold the fabric twice, about 1/4 inch each time, iron it flat, and put in a straight stitch.  If you cut it too short, like most of the things I do, cut it with your pinking shears and then use a zig-zag stitch to prevent fraying.

I've worn both of these shirts twice already since I made them!  It makes me feel so much better that they aren't sitting in the back of my closet with my beanie baby collection anymore. (Lies, my beanie baby collection is in the attic.)