Ugly Top to Girly Tank

Another refashion project! Didn't I say last weekend last week was productive? Not this past weekend... the one before this one.*sigh* How often can I get a weekend like that I wonder? This past weekend was just... tiring.

Anyway... so here's what I had to work with:

Except for the fact that it's all wrinkled from being in my pile of clothes for disposal for a while... it doesn't look too bad in the photo... so let me give you this so you can appreciate it in all it's ugliness:

Shapeless blob that adds like 20lbs to my frame. And if you're really curious... yes, I actually wore this :-/ IN PUBLIC! Aarrgh!! See... every now and then, my morale dips to ground-level and when it does, I should really not be allowed to shop because I end up buying the ugliest clothes. This one for example. It was after I had a baby and I gained a lot of weight (still not back to pre-pregnancy weight by the way) and I wasn't feeling too good about myself and I guess it reflects on my fashion choices.

Moving on...

I told you I wore this right? What I haven't told you yet is... I wore it a lot ...eeeeep!

Sewn creases at the back almost tearing... I must have been that big back then :(

Another sign of wear.

Ok, that said... the top part is mostly not usable anymore because most of the decorative creases are there. So first... I cut the whole top off:

Since this is a really big top, I had enough fabric left from the bottom half. I  initially wanted to make a skirt. But after hemming, I will be left with a really short skirt and I don't do short skirts. So I decided to try for a simple tank instead.

I cut the sides for half of the armhole and hemmed the raw edges. And then from the sleeves, I cut 2 15 inch by 2.5 inches for the strap. I hemmed all sides of both 15"x2" strips and sewed them on the bottom half to where I think the straps should be (not a seamstress so I don't know if there was a science to that... you know... where to place the straps)... w

When I tried it on... several things were wrong... the straps were too far apart and the bodice was too wide. I was too lazy to remove the straps so I made pleats along the top of the blouse to bring the 2 straps closer together. Don't know what I'm talking about? Maybe this picture will help you visualize what I did:

There... see the folds along the neckline? Those aren't there for aesthetics... those are there because I needed a workaround :)

The tank is almost done. I just needed to take in both sides about 1 inch to make it fit me. Then I added a little trim along the neckline to hide my uneven sewing when I attached the sleeves.

And...

...worn with a gray jacket and my denim corsage. Or by itself, for summer:

Sorry, blurry photo... I can't get the lighting in this area of my house, or the setting in my camera just right.