tailor the polyester shirt

My mom gave me this 100% polyester blouse because it had some ink stains on the sleeve that we couldn't get out.  It was way too big for me, but I thought maybe I could alter it to fit and I could shorten the sleeves to get rid of the ink stains.

I started by cutting of the sleeves very carefully because I was going to re-attach them once I got the shirt to the right size.  I then put the shirt on inside out and pinned it to where it fit me (loosely because you don't want a skin tight shirt with no stretch).  Once I took it off, I straightened out the pins so that the side seams were the same.

I sewed up the sides and put the shirt back on to make sure it fit correctly, which it did.  The shoulder seams would be too long if I left it as is now, so I used my fashion ruler to draw and cut a new arm hole onto the shirt.  (I didn't take pictures of this). 
On a side note, I want to thank my grandmother for giving me her fashion ruler.  It is my favorite sewing tool and I always keep it handy.

the ruler shows you exactly where on the ruler you can trace your armhole curve.

I cut the new armhole and pinned the sleeve on.  The sleeve was much larger than the new armhole, which I expected.  I made tiny pleats in the top part of the sleeve to make it fit the new armhole and puff the sleeves up a little bit.  Gotta make it a little more girly.  After the sleeves were on, I put the shirt on and marked where I wanted the sleeves to hit with a straight pin.  I cut the sleeves off there.  I then cut another strip about 4" wide for the cuffs that go on the bottom of the sleeve.  After sewing the cuffs on, I inserted a piece of elastic into the cuff and sewed them shut. 
Sorry I didn't take pictures of any of that.  :(  I was having a bad day.
Anyway, the shirt fits perfectly and is super cute. 
Thanks for the new shirt mom!