Upcycled summer top

For my daughter, who loves bright colors and patterns, although she recently claimed her favorite color is black.  This top incorporates both!!  I found a brightly colored t-shirt at Goodwill, then two solid t-shirts (the green and black) to match.  The new cross-over style top is made entirely from the original three tees.  At $2.99 per shirt, the total cost was about $9.00.  Not bad, right?!

I had an idea in my head of what I wanted the top to look like and, using a t-shirt with a similar silhouette, I made a pattern and figured out the details as I went along.  Luckily, knit fabric is pretty forgiving!  I read a bit about sewing on a knit binding, including this tutorial, then cut strips from the black t-shirt to bind the neckline and arms.  The horizontal black band is simply a folded strip of fabric sewn into the seam between the bodice and bottom part of the shirt.  And I cut the original shirts carefully so as to re-use the bottom hems, since I knew my stitches wouldn't look quite as neat and tidy as the original ones.

I made this to enter in Goodwill's Ultimate Upcycling Contest, but then found it so difficult to navigate their contest page -- I had difficulty even finding my own project at first -- that I didn't have the heart to ask others to try to find my project and vote for me.  Anyway, it inspired me to make Ellie a new summer top, and to grow my confidence in sewing knits.  So, definitely worth the effort, I'd say.  It looks comfy doesn't it?  Wonder if I could manage to make one for myself...