attitude adjustment

I had recently been given a maternity shirt.  I liked the color and the material, but with the temperatures in the 80s and 90s, wanted something a bit more fun and summery.  Not to mention short sleeves.  So this weekend I gave it a little face lift.

Here's the new look:

If you have a long sleeve shirt of your own that you would like to dress up a bit?
Follow along!

 First, take any long sleeve top that's big enough to cover your belly.

 Cut off the sleeves.  Don't forget to save them for a little later!

 Now, fold under the raw edge of the new sleeve and armhole and topstitch in place.  Be sure to use a knit needle.  You may also want to take the side in a little under the arm, to keep it from gaping.

Put on the shirt and mark the "waistline" just under the bust.  Also, mark about where you want the gathers to end (pins).  After you take the shirt off, make sure everything is symmetrical (chalk marks).

Sew 5 lines of shirring along the "waistline" from end mark to end mark, 1/8" apart. 

Your shirt should now look something like this.

Here's where we go back to the sleeves.
Cut one open along the seam line and lay it flat.  Cut it in to pieces as shown:

I used a fabric pen and traced the top and bottom of a cup and a baby food jar. 

Fold under the long edges of each 2" strip and topstitch.  Set them aside.

FLOWERS:
Start with 5 medium circles.  Bring a needle a thread up thru the center of one. 

Catch a few little folds in the center of the next circle and sew it down, folding the gathers so it covers about 1/3 of the bottom circle.

Repeat with another circle.

 

And another. 

Sew the last circle on the top of the others.  Stitch everything down so you have a nice, even, ruffly looking flower.

Repeat with another 5 medium circles to make the second flower.

For the center flower, sew the four large circles together as above, but instead of sewing a fifth large circle on top, layer the medium and small circle together and sew them on.

Arrange your flowers on top of the shirring and sew them down.  Pin the 2"strips in place about 1 1/2" to the front of the side seams, even with the shirring.  Sew them down.

Go show it off!