Anyone ever done this (men's polo recon)?

[sweetcheeks]

I've been on a big recon kick lately as we've been clearing out the closets and weeding out stuff DH and I don't wear anymore. I've made some play dresses for DD out of old shirts and pants for DS2 out of some of DH's and DS1's worn out pants. DH weeded out a really nice polo shirt that has a permanent stain on the front near the bottom hem but otherwise is in great shape. So I was thinking I could reconstruct it into a polo for DS1. However, I haven't been able to find any kind of tute for it and I'm kind of scared to just wing it. I'm not a "winging it' kind of gal. So I'm wondering if anyone here has done something similar and, if so, how did you do it? Or does anyone know of where I can find instructions to do such a thing?

TIA!

[doubledutch]

i haven't done that myself, but here's how i would approach it.

cut the side seams from the bottom of the shirt up to the arm pits and down to the cuff of the sleeves. cut the sleeves off, staying close to the seam but leaving the seam on the main part of the shirt, not on the sleeve. leave the shoulder seams (at the top of the shirt) intact.

take a shirt that fits ds well, ideally sleeveless, and center it on the polo shirt for a template. use it to mark where you'll cut away from the sides for the sleeves and where the new side seams will go. take the template shirt away, make sure the lines are the same on each side of the polo shirt, and cut. (it's a good idea to pin the two layers of the shirt together before doing this, or cut the front and then cut the back with the front laying over the top of it.)

pin the center/top of the sleeves to the shoulder seams of the shirt. sew sleeves on, following the line you cut into the main body of the shirt based on the template. trim away excess sleeve (or not - you can trim after the next step if you want).

pin the side seams of the shirt, basically that seam that you first cut open - beginning at the cuff of the sleeves and working toward the hem of the shirt. sew those two seams shut and have ds try on the shirt. mark the length, have him take it off, and cut and hem to length.

good luck! i hope you have fun with it. i tend to just "wing it" when sewing, and this is how i would approach it but i'm not any kind of expert. however, it seems like it's worth a shot because what else are you going to do with it?