Ties Dyes

 No, I didn't do the tie dying--I used tie dyed shirt parts that were in the things the friend brought from the relative's stash (thanks!)  There were several tie dyed shirts that had areas cut out, probably interesting graphics to use for other projects, leaving 90% of a (seemingly) usable shirt, so I decided to combine things back into a single loud shirt for the kiddo.

 

I started with three tie dyed shirts, but one was already manifesting a lot of holes.  I still could have cut usable amounts of fabric, but I worried that more holes would form, plus the fabric was significantly thinner weight than the other two shirt fabrics.  (I processed that shirt into cleaning rags.)

The main shirt had a big hole cut out of the front center, so, after cutting it apart into its component pieces, I cut out that entire section and sewed in the biggest piece I could from the other shirt (which, when I got it, was just the front of the shirt--with, as it turned out, a graphic I did not want to use--and one sleeve, nothing else.)

I still had mauve thread in the machine, so I switched to a ballpoint needle and didn't put a lot of thought into things, which means of course I did edge stitching, because that's my default.

 

 

I initially thought I'd do a simple hem for the bottom, but, between the rest of the bottom of the purple shirt and the single sleeve of that shirt, there was almost enough existing coverstitched hem to span the entire lower edge. I did have to stretch the purple fabric a bit to fit the width, although, in retrospect, I probably could have made larger side seam allowances to bring it down to the size of the purple band, too

 

I used KwikSew 1650, so the seam allowances as directed were only ¼".  I did make them that size for most of the shirt, going up to 5/8" for the side and under sleeve seams, because, as a 1980s pattern, its wear ease is...generous.

The long sleeves of the mostly-intact shirt turned out to have been cut very roughly (it was a commercially made shirt, although the only part of the tag that remained was what was left after it had been cut out for comfort.)  The remade sleeves ended up probably a bit shorter than they should be, and adding the band at the bottom probably made the whole shirt a little longer than needed

 But.  The kiddo is going to be in virtual school again next year, so the overall length won't be visible.

It's not a detailed project, but it did turn two otherwise unusable items into one (theoretically) usable item (more if you count the cleaning rags made from the worn out shirt) and got a few more things out of the "storage tub of things I had set aside to donate but decided to keep oh wow I don't have room for this stuff so I need to use it" part of the stash.