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Tuesday, June 26, 2012

Picasso, A T-Shirt and A Skirt

A few years ago my husband and I went to ski in the very small country of Andorra. It was a magical trip. I must admit that until we planned the trip, I had no idea that Andorra even existed. While I was there, I did find a fabric store that was by far the best fabric store I've ever visited. The woman who owned the store was able to purchase the end pieces from Italian and French designers. I have a piece from Ungaro fabric that I have yet to cut into.
Before we came back to the United States, we had a stop in Barcelona, Spain, another magical place. I loved every moment while I was there. We visited the Picasso museum. What an incredible experience. As we were leaving the museum, we came across a small boutique and in the window was the t-shirt pictured above. I immediately loved it as it reminded me so much of Picasso. We went in and my husband bought the t-shirt as a nice little souvenir and reminder of our visit to the museum.
 Now here is my dilemma with the t-shirt, it didn't shrink around the body, but in the length. So now the shirt is much shorter than what I want to wear. A few weeks ago as I was going through my clothes and deciding what I would keep and what I would give away, I came across this shirt. The idea of giving it away was just impossible for me, so many lovely memories. 
I know, I don't need to have the shirt in order to have the memories, but I just didn't want to part with it. So rather than leave it languishing in the cedar chest, I decided to get it out and see what I could do to remake into a useful garment. 
To begin with, I cut off all the serged seams.
Then I straightened out the neckline,
 and the side seams.
 Now I had a nice little a-line shaped panel.
I took the sleeves and sewed the hem of the sleeve to the top of my new panel. Then I sewed the back panel to the sleeves just as I did the front panel.
I had a small scrap of some black bamboo knit that I used to make as yoke for the waistline and added a trim to the hem.
So now I'm set, my t-shirt was saved and I have a new skirt.
I'm happy.

22 comments:

  1. Wow-fun re-fashion! I like it better now as a skirt!

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  2. Never thought to do something like that. I will have to try it. I know I have something that could be saved the same way.

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    1. Post a picture when you finish it. Would love to see what you do.

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  3. I love this! What a perfect way to use your tee.

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  4. That tee looked great, but it's equally funky as a skirt. Fantastic re-purposing!

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  5. What a great save. That is a fabulous skirt! Very eye catching.

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  6. Best up-cycle ever. You are quite clever. Thanks for sharing this.

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  7. Cute skirt and great idea to save it.

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  8. A fascinating story Rhonda. Glad you from enjoying this wonderful city. A nice memory too and a lovely skirt..!!

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  9. Such an eyecatchingly adorable and stylish skirt, Rhonda!

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  10. Amazing save! You preserved the memory piece in such a creative way.

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  11. Very creative and amazing way to save your memories and your shirt. How great. The skirt looks like it was always a skirt, not a shirt :)

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  12. Brilliant save! Very cute skirt.

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  13. Wow, thanks for sharing that wonderful t-shirt. And what a great refashioning. Enjoy your new skirt!

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  14. AWESOME! The colors are so ME :)

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  15. Brilliant use of a t-shirt. I will look at 'souvenir' clothing very differently in future!

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  16. Wonderful use of a t-shirt - I will never look at 'souvenir' clothing in the same way again!

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  17. Beautiful save from an awesome shirt. Love the skirt.

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