How to upsize a shirred top (a batwing shirt refashion)

How to upsize a shirred top (a batwing shirt refashion)

See that fabulously embroidered rusty orange shirt up there? It began life as a boringly beastly black batwing top.

Here’s how to upsize a shirred top (a batwing shirt refashion):

How to upsize a shirred top (a batwing shirt refashion)

Ugh! A too tight shirred waist, annoying flappy sleeves and nearly invisible embroidery!

How to upsize a shirred top (a batwing shirt refashion)

I really wanted to take that embroidery out of the shadows so I gave the shirt a 30 minute bath in bleach.

Get my top tips and techniques for bleaching garments here.

How to upsize a shirred top (a batwing shirt refashion)

Once laundered, I flipped it inside out and carefully removed that tight shirring at the waist and side seams.

How to upsize a shirred top (a batwing shirt refashion)

I then stitched the front and back together again to create a new side seam and much improved sleeve shape (+ salvage some more of that lovely embroidery that was previously hidden by the annoying batwing sleeves)

How to upsize a shirred top (a batwing shirt refashion)

Then folded the shirt in half and used the first finished seams as a template for the other side.

How to upsize a shirred top (a batwing shirt refashion)

Once the new side seams were created and all of the excess fabric chopped off I zigzagged the interior seams for extra strength and my groovy new top was nearly complete.

How to upsize a shirred top (a batwing shirt refashion)

A second bath in “rusty orange” dye finished it off! Check out that (now visible) fab embroidery!

Snag my tips and tricks for dyeing fabrics here.

How to upsize a shirred top (a batwing shirt refashion)

That too tight flappy sleeved top is now transformed into a loose and breezy wardrobe fave!

– Be sure to check out my all new upsizing tutorial category for more groovy fixes –

Want to transform your entire wardrobe for pennies? Grab all of my groovy CoaR tutorial collections right here:

8 Comments

  1. Wow . great work on sleeves 😉

    1. Thanks very much, it was such a great transformation! 😀

  2. MUCH better- I’ll have to keep my eyes peeled for one of those! 🙂

    1. Yup…when I first saw it I knew I could make it better but I had no idea it would so easily improve as much as it did 😉

  3. Wow, you couldn’t even notice the embroidery in the first! Absolutely gorgeous! And geez, that must’ve been a pain to rip out all the shirring! I would’ve been worried that the scrunching would’ve been visible forever afterwards, but it looks perfect. Before reading all the way through I was scrutinizing the top picture, trying to figure out where the seam was where you sewed the parts together after having cut out the shirring. Smart, smart Sheri! 🙂 Lisa

    1. Thanks chickaboo! The shirring wasn’t too much of a pain actually…once I had both ends of the elastic thread free I just had to (oh-so-carefully) pull it through the fabric, then it was a snap to pull out the remaining loose threads that had held it in place 😉

  4. Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful idea! And the embroidery is enhanced by simply changing the color!
    Grande Sheri! 🙂

    1. Grazie Anna! I’m so happy the embroidery isn’t hidden anymore…it is way too pretty not to show off 😉

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