Was this a table cloth?

From a tablecloth that adorned a table to a designer shirt.

This is how she did it Was this a table cloth?

It began with a vintage linen table cloth with cross sitich embroidery in a sun yellow color and a vintage white linen button down shirt.

Whenever she comes to class she has a sort of vision of the end product. Not 100% clear so we have to wing it.

For her it is the opportunity to learn new techniques and create an interesting upcycled one of a kind designer product. And for me it is a chance to work with an enquiring and innovative mind and guide her on her way to implementing her design.

Working with upcycled products is interesting and challenging. Sometimes the fabrics are stained, or have holes. This time the tablecloth and the shirt were both linen but they were of different fabric weights.

Bearing that in mind, we looked at the fabrics trying to see which pieces we could use for her design.

She wanted to create a button down shirt using the tablecloth.

We looked at the linen shirt. When sewing using presewn pieces for upcycling I try to use as many of the fixtures as possible. The collar, the button placket with the button holes and the body of the shirt itself as pattern pieces. I love sewing but it is tedious to create button holes and sew buttons, so if there is a ready made strip why not use it.

She deconstructed the button down shirt keeping this for the back piece of her new shirt. The yoke and the darts are already there, a win win for reuse.

The collar and button placket was cut out in one continuous piece.

Pattern pieces which need to be cut out of the table cloth -

2 front shirt pieces and 2 sleeve pieces.

The trick now was to cut out 2 front shirt pieces matching up the embroidery design and finding areas that were not stained.

She cut out the first front piece using the white linen shirt piece as her pattern piece and then placed it face down on a matching embroidered area on the tablecloth and cut the second piece - making sure that the embroidered edge of the table cloth is at the bottom and side edge of the front shirt pieces

Next step - sewing the button placket to the front shirt piece - button side facing down

After sewing flipping the buttons up

And then top stitching in place very carefully

She did the same thing on the opposite side of the shirt

Making sure that the buttons and button holes line up

Ironing down the button placket

Then attaching the back shirt piece - the yoke to the shoulder areas on the embroidered front shirt pieces - after that attaching the collar

Before cutting out the sleeve pattern trying the shirt on for size

Cutting out 2 shirt patterns - using the arm scythe measurement on the shirt as the top of the pattern for the sleeve head - see here how I do it https://www.priganart.com/post/adding-a-sleeve-to-a-shirt

The edging of the tablecloth is a decorative edge on the sleeve bottoms

Pinning the sleeves and side pieces before sewing to make sure that the sizes are correct. The decorative embroidered edge sits on top of the edge of the back side of the shirt

Postioning of the sleeve and sewing the sleeve in place

Then sewing the side seams.The sewing line will be exactly below the embroidery

The finished back view of the shirt

Side view of the shirt

Front view of the tablecloth shirt

The embroidery design is mirrored on both sides as are the sleeves, and the button placket worked out perfectly.

A beautiful upcycled linen one of a kind shirt

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Find more clothing tutorials here on Etsy - https://www.etsy.com/il-en/shop/PriganArt?ref=shop_sugg&section_id=28357269

and here on the site - https://www.priganart.com/category/pdf-clothing-techniques