Topsy Turvy

This tunic is another piece I swiped up at the last second at the October clothes swap. I liked the bright peachy color and the embroidery, but it's really unflattering on me. I've found that I'm too short-waisted to pull off a top like this. I've decided to turn this thing on its head!

First, I cut off the top portion in an arc from underarm-to-underarm and between two of the embroidered motifs. This will be my new bottom hemline. I also cut about 9 inches up each side seam from the old bottom hem. These will form my armholes.

From the top portion I also trimmed off the sleeve edging, which will come into play soon.

Since this tunic was essentially a big rectangle with elastic in the middle, the sides needing to be taken in a bit. So I pinned straight down from the elastic on each side and took in what used to be directly under the original armholes. Now I won't have weird little wing thingies on my hips.

Next, I wrapped the former sleeve edging around my freshly-cut arc of a new hemline and sewed right on top of it.

With the bottom edge complete, I turned my attention to the sleeves. I overlapped the front and back of the top edge and sewed them together in two places, but only about an inch long on each shoulder.

Finally, I hemmed the raw edges I cut earlier to finish off my flowy sleeve flaps.

And it's finished!

Now I just have to wait for it to get warm enough to wear it.