love the pattern on the fabric

the fit - not so much

I picked this Golden Girls style t-shirt up at a garage sale for – you guessed it – $1! I figured that if I couldn’t turn it into a wearable top that it would make a great skirt. The fabric is super soft but very thick so perfect for a skirt. Once I tried it on though I really liked how it looked with my skin tone so I was determined to turn it into a top. I played around with it quite a bit and even considered making it into a halter but the fabric was so thick that when the weather was hot enough for a halter top I would be sweating it out in this top. Back to the drawing board – or in my case – the dress form.

This beaded collar has got to go!

First step – cut away the collar band. Now the top falls off me! I like an off-shoulder top but this one would fall to my knees if I let it. I made a casing by folding 3/4 of an inch of the neckline to the inside and stitched it down, leaving two small holes for inserting elastic. One hole was at my left shoulder and the other hole was a couple of inches to the left of the front center. I’m going to gather just a small portion of the neckline at the front left of the top. I inserted my elastic and tried it on before stitching the elastic into the casing.

A note about the elastic I used for this shirt. I cut strips from a pair of pantyhose that had a run and used these strips for my elastic.

Next step – cut a u-shape at the bottom of the shirt with the bottom of the U at the front and back center of the shirt. I also inserted some of my pantyhose elastic into the hem of the sleeves to gather them slightly.

Now with the elastic at the top, the slightly off-shoulder neckline and the u-shaped bottom I like how this new top looks on me. I also like that it’s a heavier fabric now that the weather here in sunny southern California is a bit cool.

love the new neckline

The rounded hemline gives it a nice drape.

Give me a nice Golden Girls top any day!