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      Let me tell you this – I am not big on refashioning or upcycling, not at all. In fact I believe that repurposing or redoing existing piece might take a lot more energy and time than making a new one. Although, there is one thing I am not going to argue – it is indeed a very creative process. Your mind gets twisted in all sorts of ways in order to come up with a solution on: “How can I RE-use this?”. A day ago or so, my husband realized that his favorite American Eagle dress shirt was slightly torn and that there was no way of fixing it after which I got an intriguing offer: “Would you like to use it for anything?”.  “Sure, just put it aside…” – if to be honest I said it just because I was in a rush and did not put too much of thought in that. It took me a day or so to decide if I want to do it or not an since it is quite a trend of right now, to refashion men’s dress shirts, I decided to give it a try! Originally I was inspired by this cute female top that I saw in Burda Style newest issue.

Materials: men’s dress shirt (cotton), contrasting color rayon or crepe, silk for necktie and bottom ruffles, lace for sleeves

Pattern: simple tank top or female shirt pattern

Steps:

1. Best if you iron the shirt before you start
2. Cut shirt open on the seams and sleeves
3. Cut accordingly to a tank top pattern, BUT alter the neckline (I altered it to a more conservative shirt neckline, rather than tank top neckline)
4. Pattern shows darts- do not worry, you can use them or chose to omit. It all depends on where the chest pocket sits. Mine was right on the chest so there was no way that I could insert the darts.
5. Trace out back pattern
6. Cut on fold
7. Sew side seams and shoulder seams. After your basic blouse is done you can now experiment on whatever you like. I added lase strips that serve as little cap sleeves and add a feminine touch to the look. In nave blue I sewed a necktie, which is basically just a strip of fabric, folded in half, sewed and then attached to the neckline. On the bottom, again for a girly-kind-of look I added pleated ruffles in the same fabric and color as a necktie. You can experiment with whatever you look as far as your creativity goes, but first you need to get the shape done correctly, making sure that it sits nicely on your body. Happy crafting! 🙂

10 ways of men’s shirt DIY

1. Definitely on of the BEST – a peplum dress from men’s dress shirt! Check this out at trashtocouture.com
2. From a male dress shirt into a cute shift dress from Diaryofamadmama. It definitely is a very good refashion post, I might have chosen different fabric combination, but it is just a matter of taste. Love the outcome!
3. This one is not 100% men’s shirt refashion, but it shows you how to go from an oversized shirt to a fitted ruffled top/shirt. Nice one at chicenvelopements.wordpress.com
4. I am not a fan of making skirts out of men’s shirts, but this NO SEW version seems to be… OK 🙂 By fashion by Ally
5. A very nice and unique peplum shirt to make out of men’s dress shirt, with full tutorial by madmim.com
6. Reconstructing men’s shirt into a tank top by smashworks.blogspot.in
7. Nice peasant blouse sewing  instructions at www.cutoutandkeep.net. I really like this one, simple ad cute + it does not look 100% upcycled, which is always good 🙂
8. Easy home décor make – pillow case out of men’s shirt www.justdrinkacoke.com
9. This one does not have a tutorial, unfortunately, but it is definitely one of my favorites. It takes a little extra, like adding chiffon layers and sewing up pockets on top, but it looks so cool – found at diyfashionsense.files.wordpress.com
10. This one is for that little person in your life, baby girls dress from dad’s shirt by www.mesewcrazy.com SO CUTE! 🙂

 Useful resources

While I was doing my research on refashioning and upcycling I found a couple of very useful sewing and DIY resources, check it out:

1. www.feathersflights.com
2. www.cutoutandkeep.net
3. www.mesewcrazy.com
4. blog.mjtrim.com