One of my goals for this summer was to get more comfortable sewing with knits, and to finish projects I’ve had on my mind. I bought this blue shirt a few years ago because it was on sale and I loved the color; unfortunately it was very very cropped and I always felt uncomfortable wearing it. I envisioned adding some length to the shirt with a band of colored knit.

When I set out to actually alter the shirt, I discovered that I didn’t have enough blue knit fabric. I ended up adding some white knit fabric instead. It looked fine, though a little too reminiscent of the Argentinian flag. On Instagram, I came across a poppy patch from the shop Gravel & Gold that I absolutely coveted. I thought it would look perfect on this shirt, in the middle of the white square. The patch was also $5 and the shipping was an absurd $13. So, I used the patch as an inspiration and made my own.

I haven’t embroidered in a long time, and it felt amazing to do so again. I spent a very relaxing morning stitching this patch, then glueing it onto the shirt. I really really love the result. I think it adds something *extra* to the shirt and I especially love the poppy motif, which reminds me of my home. The end result did not look like what I had first imagined in my mind, which is just part of the beauty of creating and improvising.