DIY Boxy Button Down Shirt - Make New Clothes From Your Old Favorites

If you have an item of clothing you really like and want more of then one thing you can do is straight up copy it. Use that piece, in my case this boxy button down shirt and duplicate it. You already know the shirt or whatever fits decently enough. If it doesn't then this is where you can make adjustments and fine tune it to achieve your best fit. I've done this before with other clothes. It's an excellent learning experience for sewing your own clothes.

All you do to use your clothing as a pattern is turn it inside out, lay it atop your fabric and trace around. Make sure to leave yourself a similar seam allowance.

For my copy of this old Madewell embroidered cactus courier shirt, I went ahead and mixed in this piece of black and white check gingham. Reminds me of a picnic. I really liked the combination. I made this new top a bit longer but otherwise pretty much the same. This shirt uses a lot of double seam top stitching which I should have been using a double needle for but I couldn’t find the one I had so I did it one seam at a time.

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I try to post little time-lapse videos on my IG throughout the process. I ended up making matching fabric covered buttons for this. It's all about the details. Add things, take away, it's all up to you, make it your own. Get creative with it. I loved the result so much I'm already looking for more cotton prints to work with. I know it's not exactly upcycling but (#diydontbuy) I hope you give it a try.

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