Chiffon Shirt resizing

Slim a Chiffon Top

From too boxy to just right

I saw a shirt just like this at the mall and thought it was so cute. Of course I couldn't get myself to spend $28 on it so I passed on by. A few days later I was grocery shopping at Walmart and walked by the clearance section. I generally never bother with clothes at Walmart because they're usually too boxy for my body. But since this shirt was the same fabric as the one I wanted earlier it caught my eye. It was $7 so I got it. 

When I got home and tried it on I wasn't surprised that it was boxy. Normally I'd just return it, but I really like the fabric for some reason so I decided to try altering it instead.

Without thinking too much I took it off, turned it inside out and sewed a straight stitch up the sides, under the armpits and tapered off at the sleeves.

Then I trimmed the excess material.

And wore it all day.

Sounds great, except in my hurry to alter the shirt and get out the door I forgot to think about the nature of the fabric I just cut and sewed.

Little by little the chiffon fabric started to fray and was barely held together by the straight stitch I had made earlier. Oops! I should have cut the fabric with pinking shears, then folded each edge over twice and sewn with a good zig zag stitch. But too late for that now! Instead I resorted to my favorite invention on earth- my hot glue gun! I used it like a fray check and folded over the sides and sealed them in with the stitching.

Not the most professional alteration, but it worked! :) I get asked a lot about my hot gluing fetish. Honestly I've found that hot gluing lasts as long as I want it to. I like that it's permanent but not. It holds up in the wash and stays unless I pull it off really hard. Even if it did start to come off by itself I could easily just reapply. It sounds ghetto, but it's a great trick!