I have a printed shirt that I like the neckline and bodice, but am not fond of the cap sleeves. I have a black shirt that I love for the sleeves, but the body is lack luster. Time to combine!

I took a seam ripper and removed the cap sleeves, then used fabric from the body of the black shirt to trim out the black sleeves using a backstitch (yes, by hand). A hand sewn backstitch has some flex and stretch, unlike a machine straight stitch. I used a whip stitch to put the new sleeves on, leaving a gap at the shoulder since I also like the “cold shoulder” style shirts.

Now I’m eyeballing the rest of my shirts to see what I can improve.