Quick Fix: Button-Down Shirt

So I've had this little button-down shirt in my closet for about a year, and even though it fits really nicely, I often wrinkle my nose and pass it over when I'm planning outfits because of these pesky little belt loops on the waist panel.

They interrupt the continuity of the line to my eye, and on top of that, they're completely pointless: if I were to wear a belt with this blouse, it wouldn't be there.  I have a feeling it had a self-belt or black tie belt that came along with it that had been lost by the time it made it to the Goodwill where I bought it.

I also have a feeling that this is a super cheap blouse from K-Mart or the like.  But it's cute, and it fits, and it avoids the pitfalls of the usual button-down on a large-busted person like me: giant and yet still gapping in the bust, and huge through the waist.  Instead, it's trim-fitting and has lovely puff sleeves.  I got it for something like five bucks, so "almost perfect" is totally acceptable, especially when it's something I can fix so easily.

So this morning, I grabbed my stitch-ripper and went to town.  I removed the loops by cutting through the stitching on top, being careful of the stripes - they are black thread, not printed, so I had to make sure I didn't cut any of them in the process of removing the belt loops.

When they were first removed, they left little pinprick holes where the stitches had been.  However, a firm scratching with my thumbnail took them from this:

To this:

I think that with a washing to set the fibers even more, you won't even be able to tell that they were there.

And the results?

Before



After

They're not dramatic, but sometimes the best tweaks aren't.  The shirt reads cleaner and less busy to me.  Up close it's a little more noticeable.

On the left, before; on the right, after.

It took me about 15 minutes, and has taken the shirt from a closet dud to something I might actually wear.