Repurposed Shirt #7

The spiral mania continues with a very, very large man's shirt that required tweaking and retweaking during the process. It's large enough to serve more as a tunic, coming down almost to knee level (and I'm 5' 9"), and works well with black cropped pants.

Shirt front

This began as a classic, long-sleeve, button-down-collar shirt. The green touches were left-over material from Repurposed Shirt #6. I began by cutting off the sleeves and hemming cap sleeves instead. Then I cut away the collar and neck area entirely and used some of the original sleeve material to create a soft cowl collar. The two new front pockets were created from the bottom of the sleeves, and the original plackets and buttons from the lower sleeves make a nice pocket detail.

Close-up of one pocket and a black-on-black spiral

As with Repurposed Shirt #6, I sewed scraps of material into tubes and then sewed them down in a spiral pattern onto the shirt. Most of the spirals are green and use leftover material from Shirt #6. Above you see the sole black-on-black spiral, using a scrap of material from the original sleeves of this shirt.

Full back

Back detail

This shirt was so huge that at one point I realized it was just too big and shapeless. I solved the problem by turning the cap sleeves under yet another fold, and carrying that fold down the shirt on front and back to a distance underneath the sleeve. A square placket holds the folds in place and cuts the width of the shirt down to manageable (and wearable) size.

Placket underneath sleeves holding folds in place.

As with Shirt #6, I've capitalized on the deconstruction and reconstruction theme by using the shirt cuffs on their own. They can be worn as jewelry with another outfit. When paired with this shirt, they create the perfect abstract deconstructed garment, suitable for most any occasion.

Cuff with finished edge and sewn-on spiral.