How to restyle your sleeveless shirt

Here’s my quick and Easy tutorial teaching you how to restyle your sleeveless shirt. Time to fix this less than flattering closet piece.

I’ve Had this shirt in my closet for years. My grandmother had been given it and she, in turn, gave it to me. I have worn it a few times because the material is EVERYTHING. It drapes so beautifully and has a unique weight to it that just makes it enjoyable to wear. Plus look at those gorgeous warm colors!

The only problem is, the shirt was an XL… and I’m a small to medium. The shirt did more sitting in a drawer than anything simply because it didn’t fit me right. It just looked big and shapeless on me.

I finally decided it was time to give the shirt a new life.

The Process

It was honestly an easy fix and you can quickly restyle your sleeveless shirt too! I decided I wanted to keep the armholes intact because they fit fine, and who wants to finish new armholes anyway? I also decided I wanted to keep the amount of volume on the lower half of the shirt.

That meant the shirt was getting cut in half. After cutting it lengthwise, I removed a strip out of the center – both front and back – to make the shirt smaller.

To reassemble the blouse, I started by stitching the back pieces together again. Two darts were then put in the lower front to give some shape for the boobs, as well as a dart on the side seams to accentuate the waist a little. I used a complimentary zipper to close up the front. I intentionally chose a zipper that would stand out and be a feature on the shirt. Using a zipper to make a statement is SO much easier than trying to hide it. Plus it looks awesome!

To finish it off I stitched the bottom back onto the top. I didn’t take the top in enough for the bottom to need gathering, but I did add some tucks on the sides to add a tiny peplum effect. I actually was hoping the bottom would have had more material to gather and give it a little flare, but we work with what we have.