It took a spell of warm weather to realise how overdue I was in dealing with the quantity of t shirts mounting up in my ‘refashion’ pile.  I’d been thinking that a set of elbow patches could easily double as shoulder patches. Now was my chance to test the theory.

Before:  I’ve had this t shirt a while but I’m quite fond of the scoop neck, so decided to see if it could be given a new lease of life.

 
After: With the help of some plaid elbow patches and some matching scrap fabric,  I’m pleased to say that it could.

Here’s how the refashion happened:

These Vintage-Patch Plaid Elbow / Knee patches were a great colour match.

Fold patches down the centre

Align the fold of the patch along the shoulder seam and pin into position.

Mark the neck and sleeve lines; I’ve used a wheel, but you could just fold the patch along the curves to mark them.

Cut the patch to shape, and then with right sides together (and matching any patterns if necessary), use it as a template to cut the second patch.

 
The trimmed patch placed in position.

Iron patches into position following instructions in the pack.

 
I prefer my patches overstitched; I’ve used a running stitch here.

 
I wanted to add a trim at the bottom of the t shirt as it was a little on the short side.  As these patches are reclaimed from a shirt, I used the plackets from the same shirt to make the trim.  Where there’s a pattern which needs matching, I always baste before machine stitching as it helps stop the fabric slipping.

Here’s the finished trim.

 

The final result; I’m pretty pleased with it.  It was a useful exercise as I discovered there are lots of ways to position the shoulder patches to get different shape effects.  I’ll definitely be doing more shoulder patch refashions in the coming months.

What do you think?