Banded Blouse Tutorial!

Here is the first project that Paige and I made with the suspender elastic that we scored this week. A vintage-inpsired refashion! 

This is an incredibly easy refashion.

I used a long sleeved button up shirt that Paige had in her closet. It was a little too warm for the weather in our part of the world these days. (It was 86 degrees here yesterday-yikes! But we had a great thunderstorm last night which was awesome.) Weather report aside, I thought it would be nice to shorten the sleeves on this little shirt and when I picked up the navy elastic...they were just drawn to each other! Like peanut butter and jelly. Like honey and the bee!  Like Paige and Tapfish2. :O)

It was adorable on her. 

I love how it looks kind of like it could be from the 40's era. 

(A mid dance snapshot)

I cut the sleeves off at the shoulder seam and because the shirt was a little on the large side, it ended up with almost a cap sleeve look, which I really liked.

How to?

Check it out:

Detailed instructions:

• Cut the sleeves off about 1" from the armhole seam.
• Fold arm hole edges under twice and pin.
• Sew along the folded edges to hem the armholes.
• Cut off the bottom of the shirt 2-3" lower than desired waist length.
• Measure elastic around waist and add 2". Sew ends together to make a waistband for the shirt.
• Pin the elastic to the shirt evenly with right sides together and edges flush. 
• Stretch the elastic to match fabric length as you sew together.

The only thing I wasn't happy with was that I should have made it an inch or two longer. I only added one inch to my waist length. Better to give yourself more room than less in that area!

Feel free to make it in adult sizes as well! The same steps will apply. And don't forget, you can use those sleeves you cut off to add ruffles (tutorial here) on the front if you wish! 

I really loved this shirt, but I couldn't help adding more to it. I should have that finished up tomorrow, so check back to see what I turned it into. :O)

Have a great day!

Love,

Disney