On the last Thrift-Shop Thursday, I showed you how to manage a couple of tricky alterations for Valerie’s stretchy knit thrift-shop top: shortening the straps, and closing the gap where the crisscross front panels overlap. The results were somewhat mixed; shortening the straps made a positive difference, but Valerie thought my attempt at invisibly stitching the front panels together was not invisible enough. (She’s right.)

Today, I’ll show you the newly altered alteration, which basically entailed removing my hand-stitching from the side where it showed.

Here’s what it looked like after the original alteration:

Again, all I really have to do is remove the hand-stitching on the side where it’s showing through (to the left of center in the photo), then make sure that the remaining stitching (connecting the overlapping parts to the right of center in the photo) is secure. I must say, with this easily-snagged fabric, I’m glad I don’t have to remove machine stitching.

After carefully removing the stitches and making sure the thread end was securely knotted in the center of the overlap, here’s what it now looks like:

And just to make it easier to see the difference, here are the before and after shots:

Side by side, you can see the difference, right? Having the overlapping panels only stitched together on the one side (to right of center in the After photo) provides just as much coverage, but it’s a much nicer finish.

The field-test follow-up: Valerie wore this top out dancing the other night, and reported that she was never concerned about anything showing that shouldn’t, and the shoulder straps stayed in place. Mission accomplished!