a 'new' old top - an experiment in 're-purposing'

My almost 21 year old daughter has been cleaning out her closet and I found this shirt in her give-away pile.   I thought it was cute and on a lark tried it on and was actually kinda' surprised it fit.

So many creative ladies in blogland write about 'repurposing' their clothes, I wondered what I could do with this top because there was something about it I didn't like but couldn't quite put my finger on what it was, even though I thought it was cute.

Finally decided it was the sleeves.  They were finished with a serged rolled hem with a 1/8" elastic sewn-in @1" from the sleeve's hem giving it a 'poofy-ish' 'little girl' look.

I'm not a 'poofy-sleeved' person and definitely not into a 'little girl' look at my (ahem) 'mature' age, so the sleeves were decided upon to be re-done.

No other changes were made.

I (carefully) ripped out the elastic, pressed, then hemmed and finished each sleeve with a straight stitch with a 1/2" seam allowance.   I left the serged rolled hem alone and simply turned under and finished it where it would not be noticeable, yet still be there to keep the raw edge from raveling.  You can see what a dramatic difference simply re - finishing this top's sleeve's hem made. 

Again - BEFORE:

AFTER:

BEFORE:

AFTER: 

Changing the finish of the top's sleeve's made the entire top look better - even different.  Took out the 'poofy' 'little girl' look of the top and this is definitely something I will enjoy wearing.  I wondered if my daughter might want it back now, but she says it's still mine.  What's funny, is that she mentioned how she never liked the sleeves either - AFTER she saw the change(s) I made.  :)

I like this whole idea of 're-purposing' our clothes and thinking outside-the-box in a creative way....

....and I am still working on my NEWLOOK 6110 'stripes' top and am happy to report I'm done with matching all the stripes and am past that point.  I've just been stuck on the inside facing of that top and hope to have that figured out soon to share.

Hope all is having a wonderful 'creative' weekend too!