Top-toberfest: Turtleneck Refashion with Guest Blogger Emily

Today I'm so excited to have Emily from Replicate then Deviate.  Although I've never met her face to face, she is just about the sweetest thing.  She's always takes the time to comment on a post, and my fellow bloggers will understand that nothing keeps a crafter/blogger going like encouraging comments. Aside from being sweet, she's also very talented. She sews, she plays the piano, she cooks,  she's the mother to an adorable little girl, she's basically what we all want to be.  Today Emily is going to show us how she turned a couple of oversized turtleneck shirts into these cute crew neck tops. Here's Emily...

I got each of these turtlenecks for about a dollar. They were a few sizes too large for me, which is great for refashioning. Now they're some of my favorites.

I used a shirt that fit well (with a similar amount of stretch as the turtleneck) and traced the body of the shirt, adding my seam allowance. (I kept the bottom hem of the shirt in tact). If you want the neckline to be more scooped in the front, open up the shirt and line up the side seams (so you're only cutting one layer of the shirt instead of two). I left my necklines symmetrical.

I kept the original hem of the sleeve bottom as the bottom of my new sleeve. My grey shirt had three quarter length sleeves and I wanted half sleeves so I didn't trace the full length of the grey shirt sleeves. (make sure the fold of your shirts line up). I was able to keep the sleeve seam the same too (only cutting the top curve for the shoulder).

I sewed the body of the shirt, right sides together. I sewed the sleeves in (shirt inside out, sleeves right side out). (not pictured) Using the scraps from the side of the shirt, I cut some strips to bind the neckline. (both the shirt and the strips are doubled in this picture). Since the fabric isn't stretchy in this direction, I should've cut more. (more like 90% of the neckline, rather than 80%). I'll show you what to do if that happens to you too.

Even out your strips if necessary and sew short ends together to form a loop.

On the right side of your shirt, sew the binding while gently stretching the binding loop. Start in the back of your shirt.

Open up your loop and add another scrap if you need to. Since you started in the back, it won't be as obvious. Reclose the binding loop.

Fold the binding up and over the neckline (so the raw edge is now on the inside of the shirt) and sew with a decorative stitch.

Go model your shirt. Skirt refashioned and blogged here. (They matched great when I got dressed in the dark).






Thanks so much Emily,  I love a good refashion!

Want to share your latest tops or tees?  Link them up to the Top-toberfest link party.