Altered Summer Clothes

Well here it is the first weekend in April and I am on a quest for some cute summer clothes.  Now I know there are parts of the country that is still in the middle of winter and some in spring, but here in the Phoenix area we are heading into the low to middle 90's for our daytime highs.  When I lived in the Denver area most of my wardrobe was for winter.  Here is how I look at the weather here in the Phoenix area.

January COLD

February COLD

March TRANSITION
April TRANSITION

May WARM

June HOT
July VERY HOT
August VERY HOT
September HOT
October HOT
November TRANSITION
December COLD

I will also add that I probably wouldn't turn on the air-conditioner untill it was 100 degrees, but that is just me.

Since we moved here, I have had to create cuter transition and summer clothes, and have been successful I think.  I have painted shorts.  I have done raw edge applique on shorts.  I have also taken to cutting tank tops off and layer them on top of other tank tops.  Anyway, here is my latest adventure in cute transition clothing. 

I started with a red tshirt from the thrift store. 



Disney shirt



 This shirt on the right is the shirt from Disneyland that is the inspiration for my redu.







 The pattern I used is on the left.  Of course I had to tweak the pattern to make it fit the t-shirt . I sewed the polka dot fabric to the wrong side of the t-shirt and then cut out the top fabric (red) exposing the polka dot fabric underneath.This is reverse applique



Here I am in my finished t-shirt NOT !

Peplums are very popular right now.  They have been long time favorites of mine.  In fact I have several patterns from the 80's I believe, that have peplums.  I decided to make a peplum to fit the t-shirt. I purchased another t-shirt from the thrift store trying to match the red color as best as possible.  Try to get the biggest shirt you can.  That will give you the most fabric to work with. 

I bought one of the new pattens now available that featured a peplum and tweaked the pattern to make it fit. To keep the peplum from stretching when I was sewing it on, I used tissue paper in my seam when sewing and then gently ripped it out afterwards.  My husband has recently told me that he likes me in red and I have forgotten how much I like wearing the color.  I really enjoy the look of the peplum, and I love the collar. Gives the beginning red t-shirt a total new look.