Men's Henley to Women's Tunic

Recently, my daughter and her family came to visit for the holidays.  She brought with her a dress that needed a bit of alterations.  Specifically, it needed some fabric added to the backside of some lace to make it modest.  I happened to have a navy blue t-shirt top that had been in my stash for a while.  I had always meant to do something with it, but never got around to it.  In anticipation of fabric needed, I also grabbed out of my stash, a men's henley t-shirt incase the first t-shirt wasn't going to work.  Well, the first t-shirt did work.  I cut off the bottom half of the shirt, which left the top embroidered piece untouched.  After all of the holiday company left, I decided I wanted a little sewing perk.  Looking at the two pieces, I decided they would work together to make a fun tunic.

I made cuts as shown below to the men's henley.  The bottom half of the sleeves were cut and reattached to become a better length.  The straight cuts up the sides left enough width to be comfortable at the hips and to provide a dropped shoulder.  I didn't even cut a curved armhole.  I just stitched the straight cut of the sleeve to the straight cut of the body, matching the center of the sleeve to the shoulder seam.  After that, I stitched up the side seams.

I didn't want the full width of the ribbing around the neckline.  To reduce it, I stitched the ribbing 1/4" from the edge and then trimmed it close to the stitching.  The ribbing doesn't fray when cut.  

After cutting out the desired shape of the embroidered detail of the first shirt, I laid it on top of the men's shirt to get an idea of the neckline cut.  I marked it with chalk, then cutting the front layer only, I added an extra 1/2" allowance to the inside of the marks, allowing me to turn under 1/4", press it, and pin it to the top of the embroidered detail.  I found that my walking foot worked well for topstitching the two knit fabrics together without stretching them out.

I opted to cut the front length 1" shorter than the back and hem it with side vents.  You could always just hem it straight across if you desired.

It was a little chilly outside, so I threw on a polka dot vest.

I like to link to these great parties!