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Time: 2h00

Button down turned into cropped, irregular hem top
I bought this long sleeve stripe button down at a local thrift store. It was on the sale's rack for 100 yen (1 USD). It is a rather un-unique striped button down, but the price was perfect for some experimentation. I've bought a few high waisted skirts this summer, and had been looking for cropped tops to pair with them, so I decided to use this shirt as the base for making my own.

Posted by vivatveritas • Published 14th November 2013 • See vivatveritas's 7 projects »

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Step 1
You will need:
- button down shirt
- scissors
- ruler
- french curve
- bias tape maker
- thread
- sewing machine
Step 2
First step is to mark your new arm hole. I wanted to refashion the long sleeve shirt to a sleeveless top, so I got rid out the sleeves. I wanted the straps to be a little bit narrower than regular sleeveless top, so I marked it accordingly. It is easy to use a french curve to mark the new sleeve lines. I cut one sleeve off, then placed the cut sleeves on the other sleeve as a guide, so the right and left sleeve curves matched.
Step 3
Don't throw away the sleeves yet! You will need them to make bias tapes to finish the new sleeve lines. You can skip this process if you want to use a ready-made bias tapes to save time.
Step 4
Bias tape maker makes making bias tapes so easy! I use 35mm width bias tape maker.
Step 5
Using the bias tapes you made from the sleeves, finish the new sleeve hems. I cut open the side seams first. Then sew the bias tape from one side, go around the shoulder and finish at the other side.
Step 6
After you are done with the sleeve hems, try on the top to see how it fits. Since I wanted the top to fit tight to the body, I took in 2 inches of both side seams. After you determine your new side seams, sew, and overlock the side seams.
Step 7
You are almost done - now you need to finish the hem. To make high-low hemline, first draw straight line from the side. For the front side of the top, mark 2" above the straight line you just drew in the center. From there, you draw a curved line to connect the center to side, making sure that the center front is "high". For the back side of the top, mark 2" below the straight line you drew, and draw a curved line to connect to the side, so the center back is 2" longer than sides.
Step 8
Cut according to the line you drew, and hem narrowly.