Shirt to Dress - Refashion

Remember that blouse I told you about?

The one with the arms that were too tight?

Well, I unpicked them, carefully.  Then cut the cuffs off.

Cut one up the centre to the seam line, spread it out to add volume, and made a paper pattern.

Cut out a toile or muslin & pinned it to the shirt, with the original sleeve on the other side for comparison.

Decided that looked OK, so moved on to the skirt.

I wanted an A-line style, as it is flattering to almost anyone, and fairly easy.  As the bottom section of the shirt is 6 panels, I decided to match my skirt panels to these.  The four side panels are all the same size, but the front and back panels differ from them and from each other - so three different panel patterns were required.

I decided that I wanted the skirt to start below the waist, but above the hips, no need to accentuate my widest part!  So marked & measured the panel widths 12cm above the shirt hem.  Then again at the hem.  Next I decided how long I wanted the skirt to be, and what circumference at the hemline (adding 700mm seemed a nice number to start with).  Worked out how much needed to be added to each panel to achieve that increase - proportional to the initial width of the panel at the hip line.  That is more was added to the front panel than to the side panels, and more again to the back panel.  This helps keep the angles and seam lines equal.

Drew the pattern pieces up & cut and sewed my first real muslin!  A simple one I know, but all the same.....

I was very happy when I tried it on, except I liked the length before turning the hem better than after.  So I modified the pattern, adding 2" to the length.  One thing I did with the pattern was keep the width constant from the hemline to the cutting line - this makes it a lot easier to turn a neat hem.

I zig-zagged all the raw edges of the seams, and top-stitched the seams down in the same direction as those on the shirt.

I stopped the left side seam at the level of the shirt hem, and then sewed the rest with a longer stitch to make it easier to unpick later, as this is where the zipper is (on the shirt).

I hemmed the skirt & added ricrac, because I thought it looked a bit plain otherwise.  But because I hate having to iron ricrac flat, I sewed it down the middle, and top and bottom too.  With four rows of stitching this hem is NEVER going to come down!

The arms were sewn in place and hand hemmed.  I chose the hem width so it would cover the raw edge of the shirt at the underarm.

And here is the finished result.

Well, I say finished but really.... I need your help with three questions.

1. Should I top stitch the sleeve hem?
2. Should I replace the white fabric buttons with self-covered ones to match the skirt & sleeves?
3. Should I add a fine matching bias strip to the collar?

Please, I would value your advice.

Ravs