Upcycled Shirred Waist Shirt!

Dare I call it a peplum top?  Those are all the rage right now, right?  I mean, I see the internets.  People are wearing the heck out of those things.

Gotta work on my smize.

But I think I'll stick to a description I understand--this is a shirred-waist shirt.  It has several rows (six rows, to be exact) of shirring (sewing with elastic thread) around the waistline (well, starting just a teensy bit above, to be accurate).  Would you like a few more parentheticals?  I'm sure I can work some in as I go.  I love me some parentheticals.

Look at me, looking over my shoulder.

I made this shirt out of fabric I salvaged from the curtains that I made for our old Vanagon.  And those curtains were made out of a clearance Urban Outfitters bedspread, from back in the day when I ventured into Urban Outfitters stores.

Count 'em.  Six rows.  I had planned on seven, but my bobbin of elastic thread emptied just as I finished row 6.  You can't fight fate.

To make it, I followed the Most Flattering Shirtdress tutorial from Prudent Baby, but I made mine shirt-length.

But I did make one alteration, and I'm pretty excited about it.

It's this piping.

Necklace by my mom, Deb Steele

But guess what?  It's not piping!  I've never used piping!  I'm afraid of piping!

I didn't have any single-fold bias tape in a coordinating color, and I didn't feel like making any (I've never made bias tape!  I'm afraid of bias tape!  There you go, another parenthetical!).  I did, however, like the way this orange bias tape popped with the blue/green print.  I thought it was a shame for it to all be hidden inside the sleeves and neckline.  I started attaching it the usual way (the Prudent Baby tutorial above explains how to do it), but when I was ready to start sewing the 2nd edge down, I had a moment of genius.  Rather than folding it all the way flat, I folded it so that just a bit of it peeked out on the outside of the seam.  I pinned carefully, so that the visible edge of the bias tape would be fairly even all around, but I was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was to keep it even.  And I am not someone who is good at precision.

I kept waiting and waiting to post this, since I loved the way that it turned out so much that I immediately made a dress in the same way and thought I'd double up in the post, but I haven't been able to get photos of myself wearing it yet. {Edited:  the post about the dress is up now!}  These photos (except for the first one) are courtesy of my lovely friend in Tacoma, who agreed to take my picture outside in the cold (note the goosebumps) first thing in the morning when I visited her a few weeks before her sweet baby was born.  Hey pregnant lady, as long as you are hosting me and letting me sleep in your house, why don't you come out here in the cold and let me mooch your photography skillz too?  Ah, isn't it great to have friends to take advantage of?