365daysofthrift

If you head on over to giveit2goodwill.org today-  you will find my Bonnaroo Style Tips Guest Blog.  I had soon much fun putting these looks together-  and there are some simple Bonnaroo Survival tips in there that you really don’t want to miss!  In the meantime-  I promised a tutorial for my first look-  so here it is:  How to turn a vintage pillow case into a simple summer top.

One thing I always check out at Goodwill is the linen section-  you can find GREAT stuff for your bedroom and beautiful vintage fabrics to create dresses, tops, skirts… the possibilities are endless.  I often find really incredible designs on old pillow cases-  so this is a great opportunity to upcycle these awesome patterns into something new and fun.

For this DIY-  I created a pattern that was a bit more fitted and “complex” (although it’s still really simple to do) but I will also include-  the super duper simple rectangle top instructions at the end of this tutorial-  for the top featured in my Bonnaroo Style Guide.

Step 1)  Go to Goodwill and find a fancy retro pillowcase:

Step 2:  Find a casual crop top type shirt that fits well and place it strategically over your pillow case…

Step 3:  Marking and cutting:  Mark and cut, then fold in half and cut again.  Cut a diagonal into the top of the shirt and cut (I made the front V a bit deeper than the back V) When you are done-  your fabric will look like the last photo.

Mark and cut

Fold in Half and cut again

Cut a V into the top

finished cutting…

Step 4:  Hemming-  some of you may have different ways to do this-  but for this pattern-  I like to hem all my seems BEFORE I sew it all together-  just makes it a bit easier for me in the end-  since there are a few side splits and a boat neck.

Press your edges once and then again.

Do this with all edges

bottom edges

Cut a small slit in the middle of the top.

press and sew all top edges

sew small dart at the top then press open and sew in place

pressed and sewn dart

front of top middle 🙂

Step 5:  Construction: Once all of the seams are hemmed-  I pin it together and sew-  this is pretty darn easy-  as the seams are very simple.  You will notice that a have a seam which cuts across the top triangular pieces at the leaves/neck.  For this I just cut off the excess fabric-  finished using a zig zag stitch-  ironed and then sewed the seam to the backside of the top.

Pin in place and sew

sewn of edges

cut excess fabric and hit it with a zig zag

press seam and sew back

Step 6: Iron and press.  I can always hear my home Economics teacher and my mom in my head telling me to “press as you go”  So iron all of your seams as you go along and then give it all a once over when you are done.

Step 7:  Wear that Sh*t like the sexy boss you are!

The super simple variation for the top in my Bonnaroo Style Guide- literally consists of cutting two rectangles, finishing all the edges (you can either iron and hem or just rock a super tight zig-zag stitch on the edges)  Then just sew at all the marked locations-  turn inside out-  press and wear.  You could even hand sew this in less than an hour  if you wanted to.  VERY easy and so cute for summer!

Have fun creating lovers!  Stay tuned for more fun OOTDs and simple upcycling projects!

Love and Thrift,

Elisabeth