Repurposed Shirt #6

The sixth in the series of repurposed men's shirts. This began as a classic, long-sleeve, button-down-collar man's shirt.

Adaptations include cutting off the sleeves and rehemming (which gives you all of that sleeve material to play with) and cutting the neckline into a boat collar. Some of the sleeve material was used to create a neck edging.

The real innovation is the spirals, which add visual interest and texture. Strips of sleeve material were sewn into long tubes and those tubes were then stitched down in a spiral pattern on the shirt. The inside of the shirt fabric was slightly darker than the outside, and the tubes were all sewn with the darker fabric showing so that in addition to standing out dimensionally, they stand out a bit due to a slight difference in color.

Back of shirt

Close-up of back spiral

A second innovation resulted from contemplating the cuffs. Usually when repurposing a man's shirt I end up tossing the cuffs (like throwing away the innards when cleaning a fish). This time they caught my eye and then became part of what is now a truly deconstructed, abstract man's shirt.

Shirt cuffs

Close-up of cuff

The unfinished cuff edge was bound using a blanket stitch. Another spiral made from sleeve fabric is added.

The result—a deconstructed shirt

The cuff idea is so good I'm already using it again, and variations will appear on this blog soon.