Top hi low upcycle

This is top I made from old tattered flannel shirt and knit hoodie shirt.

Here is the back.

Here are two shirts I upcycled.

You can see stains on shirt so I cut above stains but if you have no stains do a dropped waist cut-look at my photo.

Here is the cut I made.  Now cut the finished bottom to attach to the top from underneath.  I used a lighter thread to make it wabi-sabi-perfection in the imperfection-I like this sort of look but you decide on the thread colors you want to use.

 Lay it out and you will probably have extra material here so pin it and sew the bottom piece together before you pin it to the top.  Does not need to be perfect-this is knit and you can adjust easily.

 Now sew it to together and sew above the cut line or above where I have my pins.

Here is what it looked like prior to sewing.  I ran into a problem later and did not like the way it hung when sewn to skirt but you may not have this problem.  When upcycling I run into challenges and just think a minute of some options I have to make it look the way I want it to.  I frequently run into some sort of problem and do not giver up.  Very often these "mistakes" become some of the garments best assests.  Even covering up mistakes look like art.  I will address some of these techniques in later blog.  The way I addressed my issue comes later so hang in there with me.

 Now it is time to tear apart-literally-your other garment.  Mine was a tattered flannel shirt.  Here I cut a wavy from hi to low from seam to seam.  This picture shows the bottom center back and set aside.

 The fun begins-start a cut in places you want to rip and then tear apart the seams of the shirt leaving the sleeves.  Tear at all seams.

 Now disassemble the sleeves by cutting about 1/4 inch or enough to sew on on the inside of the hem at the sleeve.  In other words you are going to have a seam and a little material to sew on when you look at your sleeves.  Then cut and rip the sleeve itself just about 1/4 inch (to sew on) all the way to the cuff.  Then do the same thing with the cuff-do not cut the cuff itself but cut (don't try to tear-too many possible accidents) the shirt sleeve and take one of the cuffs-your favorite-and set aside to sew onto the shirt.

Here is the material for the skirt-prior to cutting sleeves.

Sew the cuff of your choice onto the top.  You can refer to the pics at the end for my choice of placement but you decide for yourself-this is one-of-a-kind art were talking about there is no right placement.  Sew at the top of the cuff over the seam and leave the raw part showing or sew there.  You will be eventually going around the entire waist again a few times to attach the skirt so don't worry about more than one stitch but leave a pin or two for placement for later sewing.

Now I have a dress form so I can fit the pieces together and see how they will hang.  If you have one use it, if you don't keep looking around at thrift stores and garage sales, Craig's List, newspaper classified, friends, etc.  I got mine for $30 at thrift store and it took awhile.  If you do not have one do it over your table or on the floor and piece the skirt together with pins.  Try it on if you don't have form to see if you like the way you placed pieces. You can adjust easily with pins if not prior to sewing.  I wanted hi low skirt so I placed material around top of skirt and then used those wavy pieces (tattered side as hem) to get the effect.  Consult me I am here every day if you need more on this or if you run into problems.

 Now attach the skirt first around the dropped waist.  I used a darker thread for this and wanted you to see the double seams on skirt like denim.  Sew the pieces of the skirt together from top to bottom.  Take one seam just inside of fray (we want this to show after finished) and then follow your seam line pretty close about 1/4 inch inside.  You can eye this pretty easily and remember wabi-sabi.

When I was finished and tried it on I did not like the way the front poofed out so I cut up the middle of the top to the button placket and along skirt under shirt (do not worry about where you already sewed if you need to adjust-we are gong to go around bottom where these two meet a few times so it will lay flat and look even more artistic and tattered. I cut into the skirt and pulled the material over itself and sewed my double seams.  It turned out great and laid even better because I had double material in the front.  This was not my intention but only added to my accomplishment and would not have the look it does if I had not run into some trouble.  I took the seam on top all the way to the buttons and then did another seam-double seams the theme.

 Seriously here is where I cut the material from the waist and repinned.  You can't even see it in the finished garment, just make sure you sew over these at the end.

Here is the excess material I cut out to ease the overlay of the skirt material in front of garment.
Then go over the bottom of the top in circles sewing over both the skirt and top.  I made three circles but made sure to leave about 1/2 inch or more of the overhang of the t-shirt free. 

 Here is the finished product and I am wearing with my 20 minute skinny jeans.  Leggings would be awesome too-maybe some heels or boots (I love biker boots, booties or long boots that come over my knee with long socks or toppers peeking over boots).

It almost looks like I have a shirt look like tied shirt around my waist with one garment.  Have fun and remember. . .

Mistakes are sometimes our friends!