Cannibal Couture: There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Fly

Old lady with flies

This cannibal couture combines a thrift store man's shirt with a hand-stitched sleeveless top, seldom worn because the hem hit right at mid-belly, an unflattering length. Technically this is number 24 in the Repurposed Men's Shirts series. The basic construction is shown below:

I've recently become enamoured with insect images and the focus here is on flies. Iron-on images are used on scraps from the white shirt and then stitched onto the black camisole top. For the bottom half of the new outfit, flies are hand-embroidered in black thread.

Embroidered fly

Iron-on patch

The final outfit has 12 patches and 11 embroidered flies, totalling 23 flies.

Front - note breast pocket with 2 flies and the 2 lower pockets wrapping around the sides

Rear

Close-up of side pocket

Completed garment

Old lady with flies, front view

Old lady with flies, rear view

And a PS: As with all of my garments, this one incorporates vintage buttons.