I'm playing fast and loose with the term "refashion" here but I didn't think "Check and Lace Shirt minor tweak" had quite the same ring to it. Adding a little lace has not totally transformed this shirt but it solved a problem and made it wearable for a while longer!

I love check/plaid/tartan - call it what you will. At last count I had 6 check shirts! This one I've had for about 5 years, I love the colours and the frill, but it is kind of tricky to iron the frill so it lies properly especially near the top.

I needed to do something to make it a garment I chose to wear in the mornings instead of something just using wardrobe space.

I had contemplated temporarily removing the button band to take the frill away altogether but buttons and button holes don't have a huge margin for error! 

I've seen a lot of lace with check around the place and so thought maybe this shirt could have a little extra embellishment that could solve the "frill issues" at the same time.

I had this beautiful crochet lace in my stash, it's just so pretty.

I just pinned a length of the lace to the front of the shirt, just to the side of the button band.

The top is just turned under.

And the bottom just turned under to the wrong side.

Then I just stitched down either side of the lace with the sewing machine.

The seam at the back needed a little something too so I added a length of lace there too.

And finally I added a little across the shoulder front too.

This is actually this shirts 2nd makeover. When it was new the back was very full and gathered into the back yoke and the whole thing was really baggy. 

I undid the yoke seam, cut away a strip of fabric from the back, joined the back together again with a centre seam and restitched the yoke with the back fabric flat. I also shaped the side seams at the waist a little and added darts front and back. It is a nice fit now, I can breath and move but it's a nice shape for not tucking in. 

Sadly I can't show you that process as it was all long before Sum of their Stories started but it is pretty easy. Next time I'll take pictures - promise.

So what do you think? Too much with all the lace? I'm contemplating unpicking the bits on the shoulder fronts. Does it deserve a place in my wardrobe for another 5 years?

Julie

I'll be linking up to all these great link parties