Re-Fashionista! Silk Top Revamp

I have a love/hate relationship with revamping old clothes.

On the one hand I feel a sense of achievement in turning a hideous garment into something wearable, and it's certainly 'greener' than throwing it away. But, it just doesn't ring my bell like sewing and creating from scratch. You can't bask in the glory of "Oh this? I made it myself!" when there's a dirty great label sticking out of your neckline.

I've always altered clothes to improve the fit, and done repairs...(urgh, necessary but so boring). But I don't often revamp. However, here's one I did this weekend.

Silk top after

And here's how it started life

OK, the fact it's not ironed in the before photo doesn't help!

But yes it really did look like a shapeless sack in it's original form. I bought it because I loved the colour, it's pure silk and I adore the neck embellishment, but it did nothing for me. I looked like I was wearing a maternity smock, which is fine if you're pregnant, but not a look you want if you're not.

I was slightly concerned at cutting into a perfectly decent silk garment, but nothing ventured, nothing gained and all that. So my advice is "Be bold! Attack with the scissors, if you never wear it then you've got nothing to lose." (You can always use the fabric for something else if it goes pear-shaped - my strawberry pin cushions were scraps from a blouse).

So do you revamp old clothes? Do you consider it wrong to cut into wearable clothes? And what the heck do you call it? Revamp, refashion, trashion (my personal favourite) or upcycle (my pet hate, it sounds like an upmarket unicycle to me).