Summer Fashion Show Day 5: Out of Mistakes...

..sometimes come wonders.

This is the thrift store tank before:

Nothing special, just a deep hunter green knit.  I picked it up because I'm a fan of deep colors, comes with being pale as paper.  I had the idea applique a bunch of petal shapes in different colors running down one side of the front; a thing better done with fusing and hand-sewing than pins and a machine, which is what I attempted.  I didn't even get two petals on before I abandoned it.

Sadly, the trying ruined part of the shirt--there was no way to pick all that stitching out without damaging the fabric further.  I sat on the problem a few days, wondering what to do instead--after all, most of the shirt was fine!

During that few days, I happened to blog-hop over here, and I knew that I wanted to try the technique--I'm much more fond of semi-improvisational patchwork than the (plodding) planned variety.  I'm just not fussy enough to cut perfectly and line up all my corners properly, though every once in a while I try again, hoping I'll get better.  But the method, like most patchwork, is obviously intended for the woven fabrics of traditional quilting, so it didn't occur to me to use it to fix my shirt.

Until this morning, when I had my lightbulb moment connecting the two.  Why this morning, I don't rightly know, but it happened, and less than three hours later, I had a new top to show for it.

The half of the front that I removed became the sashing for the scraps; I wish I'd had a little more so I could have bound the neck and arms with it as well, but I didn't, so I just turned under the edges.  I absolutely want to do this again, I am in love with it--I have a black turtleneck in my recycle pile, so I'm thinking reds, purple, and blues.  I'll either take off or shorten the sleeves to get extra sashing/binding strips.  I might also do half the back next time as well!