CLOTH REVIVAL - Frill Blouse from Mans Shirt

Welcome to the new CLOTH REVIVAL blog post, where I explain how I turned a very pretty….but very boring mans shirt into a lovely on trend (summer 2026…not summer 1982) frilled collar and cuff bouse.

I remember fondly my makes in the 1980’s that were inspired by the emergence of the Lady Diana Spencer (affectionately known as Princess Di) influence.  Lots of frills and floaty to counteract the very boxy hard lines of the Joan Collins, huge shoulder pads (please don’t bring that look back) business look. I had a pair of Joan Collins skinny jeans.  No lycra, so by the end of the day they were really uncomfortable. Such is the price you pay for being on trend.

Here I list the stages I went through to upcycle the shirt into something more feminine, that also remains very comfortable.  I decided not to add darts for shape.  Instead, I added a pair of shoestring ties at the back.  This leaves it as loose as you want it for the activity you will be doing on the day you are wearing it.

I was so pleased with it, that I felt confident enough to wear it on one of my Sewing Street shows (two actually, on the same day)

1.  Not that flattering in its natural state.   

2.      Carefully remove the Pocket if there is one and also remove the collar from the collar stand.  The collar stand will be open at the top.  This is where you will add back the frill.

3.      Decide how long you want the finished ‘blouse’ to be and cut away the excess.  Not forgetting you need to fold up a hem, so add this into the length.

4.      Decide how long you want the finished sleeve and cut away the excess.  You will be adding a frill to this.

5.      Cut all the excess fabric you have into 2” strips.

6.      Join all the strips together on the diagonal. 

7.      Press the strips in half and run a gathering stitch along the raw edge.  Pull up the gathers to fit in the open collar stand. 

8.      You can either round off the gathers at the edge of the collar stand or finish off the edge of the frill and leave it standing up straight.  Topstitch in place, closing the collar stand.

9.      Add frills to both sleeves. Place the frills raw edge to the right side of the sleeve bottom hem.  I have used an ovelocker to do this but you can use an overedge stitch on a standard sewing machine.  Once you have added the frill to the outside of the sleeve, turn it to the inside and topstitch in place.

10. Hem the bottom of the shirt.  You can see I have again used the overlocker with a single turn hem.  You can also do a double turn hem or use an overedge stitch on a sewing machine.

11. Cut the remaining strips in half, giving you two 1” strips.  Fold the strips right sides together and stitch a small hem along the raw edge of one short edge and then the long side to create a tube.  Turn through.  A tube turning tool is useful to do this, or alternatively you can stitch a piece of narrow ribbon into the short end of the tube when you start stitching, making sure you do not stitch the ribbon to the inside of the tube. Use the ribbon to pull the tube through.

12. Place the unfinished end of the ties at the side seam, with the tie facing the front.  Stitch in place at the shirt seam.  Now fold the tie to the back.  Trim away the tie so that the raw edge will be inside the tie fold and topstitch over the tie so that it falls backwards.

13. A good press, and there we have it. A lovely feminine blouse from a £3 charity shop find.

14. A discussion on the telly box.  Not bad if it impressed Mr. Scott 😊