Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Shirt Re-do

I found this shirt for Lydia at an end of season sale at a consignment store.  I really liked the colors and the shape..... and the PRICE.  I figured that Lydia could wear it while it was still a little big, and thought it would look great with dark purple leggings this fall.  I was really happy with the result, the long shirt that is almost a dress.  There was just one problem.....
the collar was just too big.  It is an 8 after all, and Lydia is only THREE!  Watching her in it I had an idea for an easy fix.  The entire neckline is a gathered strip of fabric about 2 inches wide with elastic on the top edge.  I cut through the top layer of the fabric and fed a piece of ribbon through the neckline.
Similar to how I often re-size skirts to make them smaller, I used a safety pinto feed the ribbon all the way through. 
Finally, I pulled the ribbon to gather the neckline and make it a little smaller and tied it with a bow.
Now the neckline is smaller AND the bow adds a nice accent to the shirt.  When Lydia gets a little bigger, I can just remove the ribbon and she can wear it even longer. A few dollars for the shirt, some leftover ribbon, five minutes of my time and Lydia has a shirt that she should be able to wear for several years.  Not bad! Not bad at ALL!

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