upcycled men’s dress shirt p ro je cts

SINGER® PROJECTS

Upcycled Men’s Dress Shirt

Add a little twist to your button down by switching out the front placket to a contrast print.Experiment with different textures, colors and more with this unique project.

PROJECT SKILL LEVEL:

Singer, the Cameo “S” Design and Design and Sewing Made Easy are trademarks of The Singer Company Limited S.a.r.l. or its Affiliates. © 2021 TheSinger Company Limited S.a.r.l. or its Affiliates. All rights reserved.

Shopping List

Everything you need to complete this project in one place. Use this convenient checklist toensure you have all required materials in your sewing room, or take it with you while you shop forsupplies.

o Button Down Shirt

o 1 Yard of Coordinating Fabric

o ¼ Yard of Medium Weight Interfacing (optional)

o Seam Ripper

o Thread to match both button down shirt and contrast fabric

o Sewing Machine

o Pins


Project Steps1) Start by taking note of the finished width and length of your original front placket. You’ll needthese measurements later to cut your new placket pattern piece.

2) Take off the original front placket with your ripper. Be sure to disconnect it from the collar.


3) The shirt pictured has a front placket that was part of the front shirt pattern, not a separatepattern piece. If yours is like this, you will need to trim the placket from the shirt. To do this, markwhere the original placket overlapped with the shirt front, shown by the pin in the photo. Thencreate a cutting line 3/8” past the pin for seam allowance, shown by the yellow pencil in thephoto. Trim placket from shirt on seam allowance line.

4) Now that the original placket is removed, cut a placket from your new fabric.To get the size use the following formula:

New Width = (Original width x 2) + (Seam allowance x 2)

Ours was (1 ¼ x 2) + (3/8” x 2) = 3 ¼”

New Length = Finished Length + Seam Allowance at collar + Hem

Mine was 25 ¾ + ¼” + ½” = 26 ½”

My new placket piece was 3 ¼” wide by 26 ½” long.


● Pro Tip: We recommend cutting the placket an inch longer than you need because youcan always cut it later when you hem it. The width will need to stay the exact size youfound in the formula.

● Pro Tip: If you want to interface your placket, you can cut interfacing the same size asyour fabric and press it to the wrong side of the fabric here. The tutorial photos will notshow interfacing.

5) Attach a new placket to the shirt front. Be sure the pieces are right sides together and startfrom the top of the shirt and sew down to the bottom. Your seam will be sewn at 3/8” from theedge of the fabric.


6) Stitch a row of stitching on the other side of the placket (not attached to the shirt). This willalso be sewn at 3/8”. You will only be sewing through one layer of fabric. We will use that line forpressing.

7) Press the seam attached to the shirt toward the placket.


8) Press the other edge of the placket along the stitch line to create a finished edge.

9) Press the placket in half, aligning the pressed edge with the seam on the body of the shirt.Use a ruler to make sure the placket has been pressed at a consistent width all the way downthe shirt. Also make sure the finished placket fits neatly inside the collar.


10) Topstitch at ¼”* along the placket on the side closest to the shirt body. This topstitch willalso close the open edge on the other side. Although more challenging, you will have a betteroutcome if you stitch from the top side of your shirt.

● Pro Tip: If you like the looks of a closer topstitch, feel free to do so. The closer you get tothe edge, the more challenging it will be to catch the open edge on the back side.

11) Topstitch the other side of the placket at ¼” from the edge. This topstitch is for decorativepurposes only.


12) Mark new buttonholes by pinning the shirt front together.

13) Overlay the original placket, and use it as a guide for placement of the new buttonholes.


16) Create buttonholes using markings.● Pro Tip: make a practice buttonhole on a scrap of fabric first and compare the original

buttonholes before moving on to your new placket.

14) Press the placket, and then hem it and stitch it. Match the hem size of the rest of the shirthem.


13) Topstitch the collar to the placket using the same color of thread used on the rest of the shirtand same topstitch distance. Overlap stitches so that they blend into the original stitches.

15) Finish the loose hem of shirt body by following the same distance as original hem.


16) Enjoy your new shirt!


upcycled men’s dress shirt p ro je cts

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