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Hello! I'm Suzannah, a serious DIYer and mom of two little ones. Follow along with my DIY fixer upper house renovations, sewing and crafty projects, real food recipes, and de-stressing goals.
I believe you can love your home just the way it is, AND have the power to design and make big changes to make it better.
I'm also the author of DIY Wardrobe Makeovers!

Pretty drastic experimental tee makeover


Ready for an experimental shirt makeover??

I've talked before about how I'm learning to wear more loose tops.  Big fan now, but still don't own many--most of my tees are more fitted and look boring to me now.  Gotta get my wardrobe up to 2011.

You also know that I looooooove stripes.  So, inspired by a few of these tops from various inspiring sources on Pinterest...








I went to Goodwill in search of stripes I could make over.  I bought this men's XXL polo shirt, the Target brand from the 90's, in hopes of making it cute.

I love the loose, dropped shoulder look, and you almost don't need a pattern for that--I have a dolman sleeve top from Old Navy this year that I could have traced, I guess, but I did want more of a tee shape.

I looked around at JoAnn when Simplicity patterns were $0.99 last time around, and had a hard time finding what I needed.  I bought Simplicity 2191, which is a pretty dern dumpy pattern if you ask me--but the shape of the sleeves was what I wanted, so I went with it.

I ignored the slit at the center front, and made the length whatever worked with the fabric I had.  I made the sleeves a little bit longer/more substantial.  My thought was that the princess front/side seams would sort of disappear and would just shape a little.

The transformation?


Whooosh--I like this pic even though it's blurry.

It's pretty easy to wear, as was the goal, and I love the stripes.  And the polo shirt fabric is way more substantial than what you can get at Forever 21 or wherever else I would have been willing to spend the few bucks on a storebought one!

I highly recommend the upcylcing route if you have any specific clothing needs and know you can make them yourself.  Often it's cheaper than buying new fabric, and it's eco-friendly!

13 comments

  1. This looks fab, well done! And I love your pinterest picks too :-)

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  2. wow you did such a good job.. when i saw the shirt you picked out I was thinking I wouldn't even know where to start with refashioning that! It looks awesome though, you've got skills! :)

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  3. wow, i am blown away! i am nowhere near being able to do that myself, but i'm working on it :)

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  4. super cute! You did a great job!

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  5. Super cute! Now I really want to make one for myself!

    ~Vicki
    deckedoutinruffles.blogspot.com

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  6. You did a great job! I think you should add a belt and it'll be perfect!

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  7. Very cute! I would love to know how you did the neckline.

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  8. Oh wow, what a great refashion! I'm really digging the effect of the narrow stripes with the princess seams. Makes it more interesting than just a straight striped tee.

    It's so great to see someone take a frumpy pattern I wouldn't look twice at and use it to make something adorable. So cool!

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  9. You are so talented and clever!!! I really admire your ability to remake items and knock off clothing. I would love to see you do a knock off Anthropologie's Precious Materials cardigan from last year. It is the white and black one with the big bow across the front. Then I want to copy it. I have racked my brain trying to figure it out.

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  10. This is such a great idea! Thanks for sharing :)

    Karen from
    simplylovethisblog.blogspot.com

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  11. you did such a great job w/ your shirt!!

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  12. Sometimes you can look fashionable by your own. Just be creative. Don't be afraid to try the things that you wanna do and make happen.

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  13. Oh, I love this. I had imagined you'd have the make the neckline a lot lower to work with what you had, but this looks great (and it's too loose either!)

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