Another clothing remake!

This black blouse is sheer rayon with embroidered vines. It's lovely fabric, but the blouse was at least 12" too big around and those style sleeves look awful on me. Do not like elbow length sleeves!

So I laid it out flat, pinned it together so that the fabric was even and unwrinkled from the side seams in, measured two inches in on each side, all the way down- including the armscyes. And cut the excess fabric, sleeves and all, off, leaving a 1/2" seam allowance.

I then sewed along the new sides, making the side seams open for about 3" up as the original seams had.

Then I tackled the cut off sleeves. They were almost elbow length, with a large ruffle attached. I wanted that ruffle back on, so I cut it away from the sleeve right against the seam line. This circle is what the ruffle was.

Right sides together, I pinned the ruffle, largest point at the top, into the armsyce. The narrow points didn't quite make it to the bottom of the armsyce, so after I sewed the ruffle to the armsyce I made a narrow, double turned hem along the bottom of the armsyce to finish the edge. I don't normally like to leave an opening like that without a facing, but in this case, with the transparent fabric, it was the best solution- and the easiest!

The finished top now fits me with a fair amount of ease, and the ruffles make cute cap sleeves. It dresses up a contrasting tank top nicely, and will be great for summer!