tshirt to fancy top

My sister had a very nice favorite t-shirt top with embroidery around the neck. The problem was that it was faded and was too short so any movement of the arms made the stomach ride up. So I decided we needed to make some changes.

I cut it about 3 inches below the armhole to give me enough room to attach a bottom but still have the seam below the bust. Next a dip in some red dye to refresh the color. I like to soak the fabric well and since I live in Texas there is always a lot of heat. I have a clean tall trashcan half filled with water and set on my deck. I had a pan of boiling water a cup of salt and the dye I stir with a long pole and put in the items one at a time. I leave it sitting in the sun for several hours stirring well 3 or 4 times an hour. then I wring it out place in the washer and have someone dump the liquid in the washer and wash normally. I always get a good color. Also if I want something dyed a lighter version of the color I will add it to the wash where it will get a light to medium tint of the color depending on the fabrics original color. Its also good for touching up something a little faded.

In one of our many thrift store shopping binges I found this lovely chiffon skirt. I took out the waistband and separated the inner liner which I have plans for. The skirt was a XL circle skirt so to get the top opening I needed I folded it into quarters.

(I am actually showing the liner because I forgot to take a picture of this step) To get the measurement I folded the shirt in quarters and measured adding a 1/2 inch. Then I measured carefully from the top as I needed to keep the circle shape of the opening. It took a couple of tries but I found the right distance from the top to give me opening size I needed. (I could have used my sister the math teacher for this one)
I attached the top to bottom and since the hem was already done I had a very nice tunic.

The chiffon skirt adds a nice touch and moves the shirt from casual to office dressy. Now I just need to make her some leggings. As for the left over piece  from the t shirt I cut about 5 inches from the overall length, hemmed it and tossed it into the dye. My sister had seen a Pinterest where they used t shirt bottoms as belt/sash. We found that a Medium/Large t-shirt makes a sash the perfect size for her even though she wears a 5X. I was shocked to realize just how much they stretch once separated from the top. Now we will keep an eye out for unique colors and patterns in smaller shirts to make the belts.