Friday Fashions #6, Purple Yo-yo Tee

This is my fashion statement for this week. 

So this is my shirt before I embellished!  I loved this tee.  In fact, I loved it so much there is a nice grease stain right in the middle.   

So, I really haven't been able to wear it for a while.  Well, a while back, I saw this post done by Ashley at Make It and Love It.  I fell in love with her idea. And realized I could use it to my advantage with this shirt.  Most of the embellished tees I see around make the embellishments out of a second tee in the same color.  Since this was an old shirt, I obviously didn't have an extra tee to cut up.  What Ashley did was take fun silky and sheer fabrics in similar colors and make ruffles.  Knits don't really ravel, so all you have to do is cut the pieces and then sew them on.  But shears and silky fabrics will, so there is a little more work involved in finishing the edges.  But I knew this was a perfect solution for my shirt.  I bought the materials that I like at my local fabric store in the formalwear fabric section.  About 1/4 yard each.  There is a glittery chiffon, a crepe and the dark purple is actually lining fabric. It was on sale 50% off, so I only spent about $4 in fabric.

And I was all set to cut strips to make into ruffles, when, I changed my mind.  I have been intrigued with the idea of making something with fabric yo-yos for a while.  Don't know what yo-yos are?  Heather Bailey has a great tutorial.   I had never made any before, and they looked so fun! So, why not sew yo-yos onto my shirt?  I went for it.  First I spent I while with paper circles planning various layouts for my shirt.

After I had a fair idea of the layout I wanted and the size of the yo-yos I wanted to end up with,  I cut out cardboard circles for my patterns.

Traced them on my fabric.

I ended up with 18 circles in 3 different fabrics and sizes that I then sewed into my yo-yos.  

After they were sewn, I played with the layout on my shirt a little more.  

When I thought I had it completed to perfecting, I pinned the yo-yos in place.  Luckily at this point I decided to slip on my shirt before I sewed it, just to double check the placement of my yo-yos.  While this might look cute lying flat on the table, it looked awful on my body. 

This time, I pinned the yo-yos while I was wearing the shirt, thus ensuring a flattering embellishment placement.  Then, I hand-stitched the yo-yos in place. 

I couldn't be happier with this sassy embellished shirt. 

I layered the circle yo-yos and sewed a button into the middle of each.  I love the fabric for the small yo-yos with the glittery beads.   It adds such a fun, flirty little detail.

I am happy to add this shirt to my gradually growing cuter wardrobe!