Womens Shirt Refashioned to Halter neck Top

Its been a quite a long break since I last posted, and I'm hoping this will be the start of me getting back into the swing of things.

In my last post I gave a sneak peek of this shirt which is my first refashion for 2015...

Blah, blah, blah....

After getting this home, I decided to reverse the shirt to create a halter neck top using the existing collar for the 'halter'.

To make this happen I chopped off the sleeves and part of the front of the shirt.

After chopping those extra bits off and opening up the shirt, I had something that looked like this.

To tidy it up, I had to trim off all the uneven bits of fabric and sew new side 'hems'.

I added some darts so it sat properly around my bust.  I should have done this before I hemmed the new sides... but I didn't.

I then tried it on and wrapped it around at the back and had a muck about to see how I wanted it to sit.  When I was happy, I added a button on one side that would use one of the original button holes to fasten it up.  And on the other side I added an elastic loop that would loop over one of the original buttons on the other side.   

Done...

I've had to wear this top with a singlet underneath, as without it it would require serious quantities of 'Hollywood tape', and because of this need for layering this isn't one of my favourite refashions.

But I think it looks alright with these old jeans, and ancient Birkenstock sandals that I've had to start wearing again after more than 10 years in storage, thanks to a foot injury that for now requires me to wear shoes with heal and arch support :-(

This is what it looks like at the back with a strapless singlet underneath.

Having my photo taken for this blog really puts me out of my comfort zone as generally I really dislike having my photo taken.  But I just don't think displaying 'after' refashions on the dress form gives an accurate representation of the finished item.  In this photo my 7 year old was out of shot playing the clown to help create less 'wooden' looking photos.  

 Halter top: Thrifted $4 Shirt, Jeans, Birkenstock Sandals, & Singlet top: All old wardrobe items.

So there you have it. Combined with old wardrobe staples, I have a $4 outfit.  And despite my lack of refashioning so far this year, I feel confident I will be able to stay on track and not buy any 'new' clothes this year.