Baby Blue Shirt, plain and tall

So I found this pale blue shirt in the closet, and cannot figure out where it came from!  It is a big and tall shirt, and the collar is stained.  My favorite!  Great fabric,  and lots of it!

Here we go!

I started drawing it out on one side, changed my mind and redrew it a bit smaller (a little more multi-sized). 





(I also thought I could do something with the sleeves, like make a little pair of bloomers for underneath, but upon dreaming up what that would look like, I passed.  I really like repurposing, but I don't think sleeve cuffs for pant legs would be as cute as it would look like an arts-n-crafts project.) 

After cutting out one side, I folded at midline, and traced the other side.  There!  Cut out front and back in one cutting. 

To finish, side seams stitched and serged.  So now what?

I have a stash of ribbons and ric rac bits that fills an milk crate.  So I got to play around til I found a layout I liked.

Thinking about finishing the raw edges....enter sleep shirt!  Lots of fabric, nice amount of stretch, and a little pink print to give boring blue a girly sweetness.

Moving forward....


I cut out 2 inch strips, folded them in half and pressed them, then serged the raw edges, right sides together, to the neck and arm openings.

And.....

Yeah....I must be honest, I didn't like the look.  It looks too bulky on the finished edge.  Not petite and girly.  So I tried it on my niece....and confirmed.....I need to fix it.  I said I would post today, so I'll leave you in suspense to see what the "fix" looks like.  Next post will have the finished, store-ready product.

We all have ideas that don't work out.  I just like to post mine!  The joy of working with salvaged fabric and no pattern is that I don't have to hope for the best, I make my own best work happen.  Just have to be creative.  See me tomorrow. :)