My first "Recon"

Reconstruction, that is. I've been wanting to try to recycle some clothing for some time. There are so many awesome ideas and tutorials out there! I finally found a project that looked about my speed (also, Logan needed some new shirts), so I decided to recon some of my old sleepshirts into raglan sleeve tees for Logan. There is an awesome (free!) pattern here. I did have to shorten the sleeves a little but otherwise the size was good, which is good - one thing at a time.

These are the sleepshirts that I started out with.

I wanted to preserve the screenprinting on the front for cuteness sake, so I started out by cutting out the shirt front, attempting to center the images on the new front. I also turned Mickey right-side up. Then I cut out the back and sleeves from the remaining fabric in the body of the shirts. I also thought it would be fun to swap the sleeves for contrast. I didn't follow the instructions that came with the pattern, as they called for a set-in sleeve. I didn't see the point in a raglan style top, so I sewed the front and back pieces to the sleeves, then sewed the side seams as a whole. I also salvaged the ribbing from the original shirts to make collar bands. Then it was just hems and wear! I did save myself a little time by cutting the sleeves on the existing shirt hems, so that I didn't have to hem the sleeves. I hate hemming.

Anyway, here they are! Logan models the first one that I made, and plays with my tape measure. Here is the second one. I think it is the cuter of the two, but then, I like Mickey Mouse! Logan with both his new shirts.

Yay! Now I'm ready for some serious recon! Bring on the Goodwill jeans!!