2013 Refashion #2: Light Jacket Upsizing & Relining

A lengthy refashion project I started a couple of weeks ago: to upsize my old linen jacket and reline it.

• In order to evaluate how much to add to the too-small jacket, I unpick the lining and used that as my "muslin". I guestimated that I needed 3 inches added to each sides of the front bodice and under-arms of the kimono sleeves for wearing ease. I contemplated under-arm gussets for a while, but ditched that plan and stick to just adding panel insets. I added the same amount to panel inserts for the jacket.
• I used the matching linen pants to cut up panel inserts for the jacket.

• Using the old lining-turned-muslin as pattern pieces, I cut out new lining for the upsized jacket out of a set of thrifted grey and beige rayon blouse and skirt.

I am very happy with the outcome! The relining took 2/3 of the sewing time because I got side tracked by other ongoing projects and a sewing meetup I went to this recent Saturday (was the first actual sewing meetup I participated in, I had great fun and did not feel out of place! How could I not: talking to kind and warm adults other than my husband about sewing, fabric, crafts and whatnots without the toddler sitting on my projects or trying to pull out my pins? :) )

I did not re-sew the buttons and snaps back on (there wasn't buttonholes on the original, the self-covered buttons were just there for embellishment) because I kind of like it left open like that. Very casual. (I might consider adding some sort of closures in the future...)

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Currently on my sewing table: 

• Refashion project of an ultrasuede skirt to a handbag (status: pattern adjusted and pieces cut)
• A white rayon-cotton knit V1261 alice + olivia vogue patterns view A (status: maybe 80% done, but man, i'm now thinking that at this stage of my sewing clothes I should consider getting a serger finally. sewing a light knit on regular sewing machine is a beast. Not looking for anything fancy, a lower end but can do good cover stitch, rolled hem, and whatnot. Using twin needles and this and that fancy detachable feet on my regular, cheap but beloved sewing machine is not cutting it anymore...)

Anybody have any suggestion on a good lower end (by that i meant $300 and lower) serger/overlock to start on? Are you using one currently?

Itty Bitty Quilt / Unfinished Quilts

Just sharing pics of a baby quilt I finish last year for our nephew.  It's just a simple design (or no design? :) ). I love the colors I used for this though: light blue, orange, dark brown, white :). I handquilted the whole thing, hence why my wrist was in further agony... I am not going to handquilt anything anymore, esp not blankets! And no more basting my patchwork pieces.. I have the 1/4 in sewing machine foot now... I'm keeping the handstitching parts to my garment sewing thank you very much. Urrmmm, although I suspect I will still be hand stitching close the quilt bind... Ugghh...

Front

Front close up

Back

Back close up

I also made 6 orange and burgundy colored quilted placemats (meant for Thanksgiving, but only completed in time to post for Christmas pressie) for my mother in law, but I was in a rush to post that time and now can't find/remember if there's any pic of those.... Those I machine piece without basting (it was just squares), machine quilt, although I still hand stitch close the binding coz it looked neater that way....

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This particular blanket which is meant for the Bean (yet to be quilted) are mostly made from cut up thrifted men's shirts. The light blue square is from thrifted fabric. The white fabric is thrifted flat sheet, and the gray striped backing fabric is a thrifted flat sheet. The only brand new is the cotton batting. I started this one when the Bean was born (during my maternity leave) and he is going to be 2 and a half in 2 weeks ;). To be fair, the patchworked top was done 2 years ago, I basted the layers earlier last year, but of course I have yet to finish quilting it. I started to hand quilt this long before I finish the baby quilt (in the pics above), but I'm not going to continue handquilting this anymore...

 

This is also intended to be baby quilt made earlier last year... Unfinished yet. :) I used some Moda jelly roll (it's called jelly roll i think? those long rectangle strips) and some nice peace sign designer cotton purchased from Fabric.com wayy back when.

Front

Front with the backing showing

:) Hope that Liz saw these pics... :)

Old Refashion Revisited II: My First Project Ever

Day 8 of Me-Made-May 2012 challenge saw me wearing my very very first refashion ever! It was a t-shirt project, where I took a thrifted 2XLT men's long-sleeved cotton t-shirt, and made it into a top for me. However, the night before that I did make considerable tweaks on that original version.

Here is the original refashion that was done not quite 2 years ago:

Version 2010

It is longish (I wanted a tunic, so I retained the original t-shirt length), also retained the original round neck (with its neck bind), cut off the sleeves, and cut up the sleeves into strips that I then sew back onto the t-shirt's front in a swirly design. 

I did not come up with this idea though! I was just looking around online and stumbled on sewing and craft blogs (for the first time), and found this amazing tutorial by Suzannah of Adventures in Dressmaking (fyi she was blog swapping with Alli of One Pearl Button for this particular tutorial) and thought that since I had by then, during maternity leave, finally mustered enough bravado to tackle the sewing machine I should try it. The tutorial I mean.

It's quite a straight forward DIY project, so I think if you just click on the link above, read her how-tos, you'll get the gist of it and can go on your merry way. Which was what I did. 

I am not familiar with Anthropologie (still don't) but I get the benefit of seeing the pretty things from the many fabulous bloggers that get a lot of inspiration from them (and other fashion brands, especially now with people sharing on Pinterest). 

Anyways, I wanted a longer top and not a tank, and did not want the strips of t-shirt fabric to hang off my chest and tummy (errmm, I just gave birth at the time y'all. And 2 years on, I still feel the same re this).

Since my t-shirt strips curled up immediately after cutting (and my guess was of heavier/thicker cotton material than theirs), it gave me a different look and texture than what the tutorial and its inspiration top did, and an opportunity to have them (the sewn strips) stay closer to the t-shirt fabric (also because I sew in the middle of the strips instead of more to one side). A reminder though, a thicker t-shirt material means all those additional material sewn onto your front = heavier/warmer top.

You can of course further personalize your top when you decide what design you want to have. I tested a few variation (by pinning the fabric this and that way) before settling on what I considered the best for me. 

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So that was what it looked like when I made it back in 2010. I wore it often but mostly at home, or buried under down jacket and scarfs. The color of the t-shirt is what my mother will call poo color :) and being clueless re fit and proportion, the way I sew the sides, the length plus the weight of the top made me look like stuffed sausage or cylindrical... not flattering much.

The hubby was more hesitant when I told him I'm about to refashion my first refashion. More nostalgic and said that I should keep it for posterity. Hmmm? Say what? At least I think that was what he said. I said, okay I will just take pic of it for documentation and put it on this page :) Taraaaa...

I ripped out the neck binding, and just stitched down the opening. A much better frame for my face, and I can breathe better too. Would have done this sooner if I knew what was wrong....

Close up of neckline and the sewn up swirly strips:

I cut off the bottom/hem by 7 inches, and used all that fabric to make the bottom sides wider. It gives a better shape/proportion to my body.

Version 2012

And here is my pic for MMM'12 day 8! IMO an interesting, casual top....

 You can check out what the other MMM'12 participants put together on our Flickr group.

Bye bye UFO, hello Sorbetto

I'm happy to announce that the refashion project I started when my son was born has now been completed. All the bindings are "neatly" hand-stitched and pressed. And like all of my self made clothes will see heavy wearing and washing. A casual tunic top, I'll wear it with jeans/pants proudly!

I've been searching for the picture of me wearing the "before" dress but to no avail! So here's my lame attempt to illustrate it:

Even brand new it was very snug on the bust, and the sleeves were just not flattering to me IMO. The sleeves were pouffy on the shoulder and then got tighter with elastic and then flare out a bit. The A-line skirt of the dress started right under the bust (like an empire waist) and down to the ankle. Made me look pregnant even when I was not (and can't fit when I actually was), so I was so over empire waist silhouettes.

The Sorbetto pattern (free from Collette pattern) has been my go-to pattern, the base of many of my refashions because I can squeeze out a simple top (or adjust to make tunic/dress) that makes me feel fabulous from the limited fabric of a pre-loved garment.

Addition: Post of how I added the white band to my Sorbetto

Of UFOs and upcoming projects

Yesterday I decided to finish off my very first attempt at sewing, a very old UFO* as old as my son. The back story is that I cut out my old dress (can't seem to find any picture, but it's a navy colored empire waisted long maxi dress with a faux wrap top - how's that for a description?) to make into a tunic top from a pattern (the only pattern I had at the time). The fabric of this dress is slinky, silky-ish polyester I think. I stop at cutting out the fabric pieces and then put it away for a whole year. Took it out August/September of last year when I became a SAHM, and turned it into a loose Sorbetto top, but never finish it. Didn't want to turn and stitch the armhole and hem (coz by this time the fabric has frayed like crazy), didn't have enough fabric to make self fabric binding, and didn't have anything in stash that matches or complements it too!

But 3 thrift store trips ago I found a white fabric (difficult to know the types of thrifted fabric unless it's noted on the tag, printed on selvage or I take time to do the tests that I do not know how to do, or that I do not have the tools/time to do ---> lazy...). Initially I envisioned something else for the fabric, but when I took out this UFO, they just go together so well!



Okay, technically this Sorbetto is not yet done. I've done the hem part and the length now is more of a tunic than a top which I prefer anyways, but have not yet stitched down the binding on the neckline and armhole. I probably will handstitch it as usual.

One reason why I'm not done with this is because of this boo boo:


My pinking shears accidentally got caught out with the front part of the top when I was trimming the seams where I attached the white to the bottom of the tunic. See the "small" hole on the purple fern in the picture above? As the Bean would say, OH NO!!!

So, last night was spent making these in the hope to cover up the mishap:

That's my very first attempt of making a fabric rosette (this morning I glued on safety pin on the back, so that I won't ruin it in the washer like I tend to do without fail...). I used the same white fabric, and hand sew Czech beads from my stash to the middle parts. Tutorial to make extravaganza fabric rosettes can be found on this site.

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Talking about UFOs, a most recent project that is being put on the back burner is a refashion of my favorite Massimo Dutti wool & angora tan coat that I shrunk in the washer fall of last year. I think the shrinking of that coat really made me so upset that I am trying my best to watch my laundering... I've never sent anything to the drycleaners here, so I am not sure of the cost, frankly I am being very conscientious of pricing and cost now that I'm here in the US/with a baby. I did it every month back in Malaysia because we wear a lot of silk/lace etc traditional outfit for events/work and so on.

Here is where it's at:

The coat shrunk from a European size 16 (US size 14) to a child sized one! So it was quite brutal for me to rip up the seams, as there was a lot of puckering (to the many many interfacing) and the wool and angora hide a lot of the stitches too.

My plan is to make a clutch, incorporating the collar and so on to the design. The black fabric with gold, white and bright red flowers is a thrifted fabric that I am using as the lining.

I will only go back to this project once I'm done with at least one of the following upcoming projects:

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1) Sporty dress with exposed zipper - I've wanted to make this dress for a while now, but only got the right fabric for it last Friday. It's a Sangria-colored (like darker hot pink) Sophia ponte knit that I bought from Vogue Fabrics. I haven't decided on the type of zippers yet, I bought several types from Joann's but the only gold colored ones are for Jeans and they are stiff... :(

Pattern for this dress is McCall's M6395, and I want to make the long sleeved red version (on the pattern).


2) Kimono-esque style top from purple stretch poly charmeuse bought from FabricMart (provided that I have enough yardage will follow pattern M6204, or else will have to wing it). Beading/embellishment will be optional.


3) Making a 3-quater sleeved version of the Date Dress from pattern M6518 from this thrifted cotton fabric:


This fabric I think was my very first thrifted fabric that's not cut out fabric for quilts. I have 3 yards of it. For the dress, I will leave out the ruffles from the pattern and this version will incorporate the tweaks I want to make for the pattern. I might need to make another muslin for this purpose... hmmm...

4) Top - long sleeved/3 quarter sleeved version) out of this floral knit also from FabricMart using pattern M6513



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Anyways, time to hand stitch the tunic and officially close it's chapter as a UFO.

*UFO = unfinished object

Silk skirt to blouse

Found a very pretty & simple A-line skirt earlier last year at a thrift store. I love that it's made of silk, and the pretty print, and knew that I just have to take it home, and refashion it into something.

Over the year I've considered it for a project or another, like as a lining for example, but it didn't feel right. Finally last week after finishing up my wool knit sweater dress, I decided to just go ahead and I worked on that into this:

The skirt has a few french seams to it, and I didn't want to rip them unnecessarily, so what I did is I took my adjusted Sorbetto pattern pieces to it and pinned and then cut. I had enough fabric for a little cap-pish sleeves and binding for the neck, so I was set. I incorporated the french seams to the front (near the bust darts) and also the hemmed bottom part of the skirt (which showcased its border print).

I usually do hongkong seams when working with nice but raveling fabrics, but for this project I pulled out all the stops, hehehe, and practiced my french seams, in line with the original ones :)

For the neck binding, I used the same fabric (from the waist band of the original skirt - has a thin interfacing that i just left in) and did not cut it in the bias as i want the print not to be skewed looking. The interfacing, or that it is not cut in the bias may have caused it to be looking a lil wonky, but it's nice i think.

This blouse is joining Recycled Fashion Finds #32 at:

My Leopard tote bag

It's finally done! Yay!!!

Materials:
Some synthetic leopard print fabric "harvested" from a thrifted vest-and-bermuda shorts set

Leather scraps from a gifted thrifted long black leather coat
Thick interfacing


Pattern:
Based on Bag F of McCall's Fashion Accessories (Laura Ashley) M4400


Alteration/modification to the pattern:

I wanted a leopard tote bag like the one I saw on Boden's catalog, so I made some modifications on the pattern.



Firstly, I added if I'm not mistaken horizontally: 4 inches to the middle of the bag, 1 inch each to the sides, vertically: 4 inches to the middle, and 1 inch to the bottom.

I also added length to the straps. I top-stitched leather (same material as the applique at the base) onto the strap, this is also modification from the pattern. Instead of setting the straps inside the seam, I sew them onto the body of the bag, like the inspiration photo above, and sew scraps of leather onto it to cover the stitches that attached the straps to bag, and also as and added design element.

Since my last post re the bag, I've made another little change to the pattern: eliminate the facing portion (that also holds drawstring for the bag) because my upsize of the pattern rendered that portion to be too small. But no biggie. Without the facing, the tote bag now is more true to the inspiration picture, although I also added a button (it's a leather covered button, and came from the same coat that I "harvest" the leather for strap and appliques on the base).

Conclusion:
The bag is 15.5" tall, 17" wide and 6" thick. I used a thick interfacing, but it's not stiff. It's tough when sewing multiple layers, and sometimes this cause the stitches to skip :(.

I love my leopard bag! It's huge! And I'm so glad that it's finally done!






Linkup:



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Now I can move on to other projects. But first I have to finish my Sew Cute Dresses class project. I didn't last night at the class, I'm very slow like that. I'm making Dress #11, I am Tiny Tucks. I think I'm going to make adjustments to what I've already done, snip** snip**. When I'm done, will have to go back to the workshop to show my lovely teacher. So I better get going!