I Sliced Up My Blue Boho Shirt

I thought I could make myself a popover shirt that would work as part of my winter uniform: jeans, cardi, shirt.  I used this 1970s pattern again, and this time I decided to insert some lace.  I was afraid I had made a cowgirl shirt, but Rebecca called it boho and talked me into wearing it (good job, R!).  I do adore the blue fabric, which I got for pennies somewhere. I had just enough for this shirt

But here is the slicing part:  as I was sewing the shirt, I accidentally made a 1" cut on the front hem.  I was squeezing this shirt out of very little yardage, so I couldn't re-cut the front.  Instead, I "mended" the cut with a little piece of flowered bias tape because I've seen some trendy labels put their tags on shirts that way.  Most of the time, the hem is tucked in my jeans anyway. 

I used that same pretty bias tape to make the casing for the elastic in the sleeves.  I opted for elastic to make the shirt more user-friendly in the kitchen with my hands in dough or water or whatnot; plus, it's easier to get dressed without buttoning cuffs.

 But unfortunately, even though I had measured carefully for my long arms, the sleeve elastic had pulled the sleeves back behind my wrists. I hate sleeves that are too short!  Instead of tediously picking out the elastic and casing and adding length there, I sliced the sleeves and inserted a few inches.  Uncoventional, but really not very visible, and now I truly have just a few inches of blue fabric left.  And the shirt is so comfortable and hard-working that I wear it often.