We all make mistakes. Thankfully, we don’t always have to live with them. I invested a little too indiscriminately in the current trend for button-down shirts and wound up with a couple that just don’t work for me.

In spite of being an apparently versatile shade of pale grey, the Arnsdorf shirt (above right) was too boxy and mannish – I just don’t do that casual, androgynous look very well. And while I’m still mad for paisley, the all-over print of the Herringbone shirt (above left) was simultaneously too much (pattern) and too little (cool).

Something had to go; I chose the sleeves. I’ve been noticing sleeveless shirts all over the place lately (call it a sub-category of the broader shirting trend), including this lovely surf-inspired one from Equipment. Lopping the sleeves off my two shirts seemed like the answer.

I’ll spare you the DIY details (take a pair of scissors, etc…) and simply say that when snipping, I followed the existing shoulder seam, which, on both shirts, sat about two centimetres outside my actual shoulder. The seam also provides a natural selvedge, so the shirts shouldn’t fray too much.  – Read more>