This pile of old sheets became this set of shirts
A friend of mine has been collecting old bed sheets for some time. She asked me to help her make them into some western shirts. So off I went on a sewing vacation for a week to sew. Have I mentioned that the only part I don't like to do is cut out the patterns. My friend cut out all 3 of the shirts and the interfacing. I then set out to iron on the interfacing on all these shirts and then started the process of sewing them together. She kept me well lubricated and we completed these shirts in about 6 hours, the pattern is Simplicity 8473 from the 80's. I have also used McCall 6380, it's a decent pattern from the 70's.
I liked the way this one matched. The pockets, cuffs and yoke are a different sheet than the main body and arms. But looking at the photos it's hard to tell that they are not the same. We attempted to dye the piping on this shirt but it came out as a very pale blue thus you can not really see the piping.
This is a very bright shirt, we made a different western shirt from the green stripe material (you can see that shirt below). The piping on this shirt is reflective, so my friends partner can wear it when he rides his bike, hoping that the reflective part will give him a little more visibility. I was happy that the front lines matched up, too bad we didn't line up the pockets better. Next time we will pay more attention to the lines, but I don't think it really detracts from the shirt as there is so much happening already.
The Blue and Purple combination is quite flowery. We used blue snaps on the front.
These were the shirts that started the whole vintage sheet western shirts. I had helped my friend cut out the polka dot shirt on the left several years ago and she sewed it together. She then cut out the striped shirt and sewed most of it together before she shoved it in a drawer. When I arrived, she pulled out the shirt and I sewed on the front placket, sleeves and cuffs...to complete the shirt. I hate to cut out patterns and iron on the interfacing, so the fact that she had most of the things I hate to do complete made it easy for me to finish the project.
Band from 1968 or today? The 3 shirts on the recipients. I believe they were quite happy and two of the men were surprised that they were allowed to keep the shirts. They all fit the men nicely we only had to make an adjustment to the length of the arms. I'm now on the lookout for vintage sheets, I will have to hit the garage sales this summer in search of cool looking sheets to make more of these lovely shirts.
