How to Handmake a Shirt

Make a trendy top from colorfully patterned handkerchiefs.

Create a cool and trendy summertime shirt from a pair of handkerchiefs. You can make the shirt for a child or adult by choosing appropriate-sized handkerchiefs and then give the shirt a little bit of feminine flair with lace or ribbon shoulder straps. Add to the feminine beauty of the shirt with a row of tiny silk flowers along the neckline or a hemline full of tiny beads or iron-on rhinestones.

Things You'll Need

• 2 handkerchiefs
• Sewing needle
• Thread
• 3/4-inch-wide ribbon (or lace trim)
• Miniature silk flowers
• Iron-on rhinestones

Instructions

1. Lay the handkerchiefs on top of each other on your work surface with the good sides facing inward.

2. Sew a straight stitch along two opposite sides to make side seams for the shirt. Leave approximately 1 inch of fabric without any stitching at one end. This will be the top of the shirt.

3. Turn the shirt to put the top of the shirt in front of you, and fold over 1 inch of fabric onto the wrong side of the fabric, all the way around. Sew a straight stitch along the edge of the fabric, as far away from the fold as possible to make a wide channel in between the fold and the stitching.

4. Cut two pieces of lace trim or 3/4-inch-wide ribbon. Make each piece about 40 inches long. Hook one end of each piece onto sewing bodkins and insert the bodkins through the open ends of the channels in the shirt. Pull the ribbons through the channels. Remove the bodkins.

5. Tie the ribbon or lace trim ends in bows at the left and right sides of the shirt to make shoulder straps.

References

• "Handmade Home: Simple Ways to Repurpose Old Materials into New Family Treasures"; Amanda Blake Soule; 2009
• "The Sewing Bible: A Modern Manual of Practical and Decorative Sewing Techniques"; Ruth Singer; 2009