the refashioners 2013

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The Refashioners 2013 – Lauren of Lladybird

06/06/13

Hot Hot Shorty Shorts

You know, Iâ€™ve refashioned hundreds of garments, but this is the first time Iâ€™ve ever given full reign to someone else and let them choose the starting point. This is mildly terrifying, because you have no idea what might pop up in your mailbox, not to mention you canâ€™t shove it in the garbage can and pretend it never happened should something go terribly wrong (oh yes, I do this. Often. No shame.).
This is what ended up in my mailbox â€“ a large pencil skirt in my favorite shade of Nard-Dog orange. After hearing everyone else talk about how evil and sneaky Portia was with what she sent (I was one of the last people to receive my package, figures!), I was actually pretty relieved!
I would have loved to put this thing on and model it for yâ€™all, but srsly that shit was so big I could literally pull it over my shoulders without unzipping the zipper. I had to pin it to my form to keep it from falling off.

Refashion Inspiration! Don't miss out on the new upcoming series of The Refashioners at www.portialawrie.co.uk

I knew exactly what I wanted to make the minute I pulled it out of the package â€“ pin-up style shorty shorts, using the Rite of Spring shorts pattern from Papercut Patterns. Saucy!

The very first thing I did was rip the entire skirt apart. The fabric is actually a really lovely cotton sateen, lined with some polyester lining in a slightly darker shade of orange. I pulled the seams apart, ripped out the hem, and ironed everything flat.

I saved the zipper and the button, as well as kept the waistband intact.Â The pieces were juuuust big enough where I could fit my pattern pieces on, cutting one layer at a time…

In true refashionerâ€™s form, I decided to utilize the lining as well â€“ and turned it into bias piping!

First, I established a straight edge by giving one side of the fabric a good rip.Â Determining the straight edge makes it easy to find the bias â€“ just fold the edge over to form a triangle, then cut.

The resulting angle is right along the bias, making it easy to cut your bias strips.
(No, my cutting mat didnâ€™t magically turn black â€“ thatâ€™s just my self-healing mat. Apparently, rotary cutters are 100000x easier to use when you have a self-healing mat WHO WOULDA THOUGHT)

To make the piping, I folded one bias strip around a piece of cording.Â Then sewed it shut, using a long basting stitch.

I used my zipper foot to baste the piping along the edge of the fabric.Â When sewing the front and back pieces together, I made sure to sew just barely outside the existing stitching to be sure that everything was nice and enclosed.Â

Et voilÃ ! Piping!

Thereâ€™s not much else to say about the construction of these shortsâ€¦ I basically just followed the pattern and treated my pieces like plain olâ€™ fabric. I did reuse the skirt waistband, instead of cutting/interfacing/sewing a new oneâ€¦ partially out of laziness, partially because I wanted to keep some of the ~flavor of the original garment. Â I also reused the button and the zipper! Can you believe the zipper was EXACTLY the right length? Fate, yâ€™all. Fate.The shitty non-fate part was when I cut off the end of the waistband with the button hole (since it needed to be shortened by several inches), thinking, â€œI can make a prettier button hole with my machine.â€ Spoiler: Itâ€™s not prettier, I done goofed that one. But it works!

One thing I like to do with my refashions is keep the original label on the garment. It cracks me up to think that someone might see these shorts and be familiar with this brand, and wonder why the hell they produced a single pair of booty shorts. HAHA.

Speaking of booty shortsâ€¦

Well, what do you think?? I would have loved to make a matching top â€“ this one is thrifted, soooo close enough!Â

…but my time management tends to run either super-duper early, or at the last possible second. Guess which one this falls under? 😉

Ha, Portia is probably staring at these pictures thinking, â€œIâ€™ve made a huge mistake.â€ (and you know, I should probably be thinking the same thing, with regards to SHINY COTTON SATEEN ON MY ASS, WHAT WAS I THINKING), but this is what happens when you give me free reign to make whatever I want. I end up half-naked in a pair of booty shorts :B

I had a lot of fun with this project! Letting someone else choose the refashion definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone, and coaxed me to try new things (like utilizing the rest of the skirt â€“ the lining, the button, the zipper, even the waistband â€“ instead of *just* using the main fabric). I love my shorty shorts and Iâ€™m excited to wear them out all summer â€“ maybe even to the Hot Chicken Festival? They are the color of hot chicken, after allÂ J

Thanks for letting me be a part of this, Portia!

Lauren of Lladybird

I’m ACTUALLY staring at these pictures and thinking, “I WISH I could rock a pair of half naked booty shorts like THAT!” These are phenomenal Lauren. I love the piping detail. It really ramps up the retro vibe. I’m picturing retro bowling shoes and a striped tee. Cute! Great re-use of the fabric and notions! Now go get you some hot chicken girl. You deserve it!

the refashioners 2013

The Refashioners 2013 – Marie of A Stitching Odyssey

06/05/13

When Portia asked me to take part in her challenge -Â The RefashionersÂ – I was super excited, having watched in awe as the action originally unfolded in 2011. I said ‘yes’ immediately and then broke into a cold sweat later on when I remembered that I’ve never actually refashioned anything before…ever! So, how did I do?

Well, it certainly was a challenge for me, but a thoroughly fun one at that. At this point I really must thank Portia for taking my relative inexperience into account and not sending me something too scary…I don’t think some of the other participants got this lucky!

I got extra lucky because my item – a rather large men’s shirt – had a lovely drape to it (polyester that felt like rayon) and was electric blue (one of my favourite colours since a little girl)! So it didn’t take long for inspiration to come – in fact I had so many ideas that I had to create aÂ Pinterest boardÂ for them all!

To begin, I started by creating a more flattering and girly silhouette,Â an idea I ‘borrowed’ from Liz, fellow participant and seasoned refashioner. So, I cut the sleeves off my shirt, removed the pocket and then cut the shirt in half, measuring to make sure that the ‘new’ bodice ended at my natural waistline.

I then measured the length of my shoulder, marked it on the shirt and roughly sketched in a new armhole. I also pinned the side seams to get a nice snug fit. When I was happy with the fit I cut out the armhole and sewed up the side seams.Â Because the shirt was originally so big, I added in bust darts to counteract the baggy side boob effect. To make the darts I put the shirt on inside out, pinned the excess fabric into darts and then sewed them up.

For the waistband, I chopped off a strip from the bottom half of the shirt and took in the side seams so it measured the same as my new waist measurement. I then sewed the waistband to the bottom of my bodice, right sides together. Â Once I was happy with how my bodice fit, I gathered the upper edges of the bottom half to fit the bodice. I then sewed the gathered bottom half to the waistband, right sides together again. And the best thing is…this required no hemming at all! Yipeee!

Now, you’re probably wondering why I still haven’t talked about the sleeves. Frankly, they’re an abomination! They caused me a lot of stress and in the end I cobbled them together randomly, so I’m not proud of or happy with them. At the stage of cutting the sleeves off, I really should have used one of my existing commercial patterns to shape the armholes…but I didn’t. I savagely hacked them instead (I blame the world’s brilliant refashioners who make it look so easy) and ended up with oddly shaped and massive armholes that the original sleeves were too small for. Disaster! So my advice to you is this:Â use a tried and tested pattern to shape your armholes and sleeve heads.

Anyway, my refashioning didn’t end there. Once I got the fit right I wanted to make my blouse a bit ‘edgy’, just for a change from the florals and chintz I’m usually attracted to. I started by covering my buttons with pyramid studs (bought here on ebay)Â using thistutorialÂ by another fab refashioner and DIY blogger. I also added a couple studs to the collar – I just pushed the sharp rivets all the way through the fabric and pressed them closed tightly.Â

The finishing touch was the feature I knew I wanted from the very start of this journey: a cut-out! Inspiration hit when I was randomly flicking through channels and came across Rochelle from The Saturdays…of all people…wearing this cool blouse. And this is my take on it. I’ll tell you what! To make up for the lack of construction details on the sleeves, just stop by my blog tomorrow and I’ll share a step-by-step tutorial on the cut-out. Deal?

Anyway, sleeve drama aside, I am actually really pleased with the result! How do you think I did…considering I’m a newbie at refashioning?

Thanks once again for this opportunity Portia, it’s been a wonderful experience and I’m definitely feeling more confident about tackling more refashions in the future!!!

Marie of A Stitching Odyssey

What a way to turn something “blokey” and baggy into something feminine and edgy! I love how flattering the fit is on Marie and the way she’s combined inspiration from 3 different sources.
Marie has already hit the nail on the head when it comes to the stand out qualities of the base garment. I knew right off that this colour would look amazing on Marie (I had no idea it was her favourite colour when she was a little girl!). The second quality was the feel/drape of the fabric. You may notice a little bit of a theme building here. So far we’ve had 3 mens shirts.(Here and here). 3 very different refashions. BUT, all with things in common. All with redeeming qualities in the base garment. 1.Great colour/pattern 2.Quality and/or quantity of fabric. (If you can get both these things in a base garment, that’s a great starting point for a refashion!)
I can’t wait to see the tute for the cut out part Marie!

by gum by golly, DIY, refashioning, tasha, the refashioners, the refashioners 2013, Thrifting, Tutorials

The Refashioners 2013 – Tasha of By Gum By Golly

06/04/13

Â Hello everyone, itâ€™s Tasha from By gum, by golly! I was so excited when Portia asked me to be part of the Refashioners project. I am not a consummate refashioner like she is, so I knew this was going to be a good sewing challenge for me. And what did Portia send me? A menâ€™s flannel shirt that dwarfed my dress form!

I really was stumped at first. But as it happened, when I got the shirt in the mail I was sewing up a gathered skirt from a 1940s pattern, and it hit me not longer after: turn the shirt into a skirt!

My plan was this: use the basic shape of the shirt as-is. The length of the shirt from the yoke to hem was a perfect skirt length for me if I used a narrow seam allowance and left the original hem intact. The front and back would be gathered into a waistband that buttoned at the center front with an overlap, above the original button placket. This all meant cutting off the back yoke, collar and sleeves, and carefully taking off the front pockets with a seam ripper.

I then cut down the side seams, and narrowed the back by cutting off the few inches on either side of the armhole so it was a rectangle. I left the front Â with the armholes intact because in a flash of brilliance I realized I could make inseam pockets like in the Sewaholic Cambiepattern! You can see what the front and back looked like after cutting, but before I lopped off another little bit on the front to get them the same length:

I made a pocket pattern piece based on the Cambie pocket piece, (above right) making the scooped side the same shape as the former-armhole of the shirt. I used the sleeves as fabric to cut out the pockets. Thatâ€™s when I realized the sleeves had the plaid pattern upside down! So I corrected that on my pockets.

Because believe it or not, I actually had enough fabric to match up the plaid!

However, no matching plaid on the back: it was upside down, too! But since I was preserving the original hem, the back stayed that way.

I used the back yoke to construct the waistband. I thought I was going to have to piece the waistband together with lots of seams originally, but as it turned out the yoke was a double-layer of fabric, so the waistband only has one seam. And with the busy plaid, youâ€™d never know that I did all my math backwards, so the seam is off-center. (Excuse the messy work table!)

Last but not least, I swapped out the buttons for some matching vintage ones.

You can see what the finished inseam pockets looked like. Can you believe that they were once armholes?

In the end I had a wonderful and very cozy new skirt!

When I started the project I wasnâ€™t even convinced there was enough fabric to pull it off, but I have to say Iâ€™m tickled pink with the final skirt! And now Iâ€™m not sure Iâ€™ll ever be able to pass up a nice, extra large menâ€™s shirt at the thrift store again.

Oh Portia, look what you startedâ€¦

Tasha of By Gum, By Golly

Firstly, I love that Tasha has a pair of shoes that perfectly matches the turquoise in the plaid! Secondly…erm…GENIUS!! Using the original armhole curve as shaping for the pockets! Isn’t that just one of those things where you smack your forehead and wonder why that never occurred to you before? I know I did! I am soooo trying that….Thankyou so much Tasha 🙂
This shirt was actually quite poorly made and a boxy unflattering shape. What stood out for me when I found this in the charity shop was the lovely colour way, supersoft feel of the fabric and the fact that it was 100% cotton. Being a large men’s shirt there was scope there. I love that Tasha has proved that you can refashion and STILL retain that authentic vintage look and feel to your makes. It’s all in the details and the styling…

Did you Make That, DIY, Karen, refashioning, the refashioners, the refashioners 2013, Thrifting, Tutorials

The Refashioners 2013 – Karen of Did You Make That

06/03/13

When someone sends you an oversized, purple velvet shirt in the post, what do you do? Faint? Laugh? Wring your hands?

Miss P had invited me to take part in her second Refashionistas challenge. I like being challenged, so I was in there like a shot. All we’d had to do was give Portia a hint about our preferences and I’d mentioned the colour purple. Well, I was taken at my word. Hung out to dry might be another way of putting it!

This wasn’t luxury velvet, it was thick cotton velvet. I’m amazed anyone ever thought this was a good idea as a shirt – you’d pass out from the heat, wearing that thing. It felt more like upholstery velvet. What, oh what, to do?

I took Ella for a walk. By the time I arrived back home, I knew my plan. I ordered the V8812 pattern and then … sat on my behind for two months. This experience has taught me that I’m a deadline fiend, a fact that makes me feel really uncomfortable. I like to think I’m organised, but clearly not!

It helped that I knew exactly what I was going to do, so once work began it went fairly smoothly. I’ve

had an ambition for a while to work with velvet, but I’ve always been put off by the horror stories. Velvet’sÂ nap can become damaged during pressing and even from the pressure of a sewing machine foot. So, basically, any normal part of the sewing process is a risk to your fabric! Gulp.Fortunately, I was working with the ‘working man’s club’ type of velvet rather than the ‘American Bar at The Savoy’ type of velvet. Â My fabric friend was going to stand up to abuse. Even so, I joyfully used my velvet pressing board. Â My sister had found this rare item for me at a car boot sale.

What can I tell you about construction? Because the velvet was thick I had to trim away any excess in the darts. I varied from the pattern instructions by inserting a full lining in polka dot satin – yum. I absolutely did not ignore the pattern instructions for shoulder pads. This bolero needs shoulder pads!

There was one fairly significant variation I made. The sleeves. They were really not doing it for me. Boxy and too long. I trimmed 1.5 inches from the length and – I still don’t know where this inspiration came from – I decided to add an elasticated gathering down the centre of the sleeves. I think this gives the sleeves a feminine touch sorely needed. I also think this would only work with certain fabrics.

Finally, I carried the refashioning theme through to make a brooch out of some vintage hat feathers I found at Camden Passage market. The feathers cost Â£1-Â£2 each and I liked how the emerald green worked against the purple, so set to with a button and some lace. What do you think? Yay or nay? I’m sure this isn’t to everyone’s taste!

I hope I turned a monstrosity into a fairly sophisticated make. I learned some lessons about velvet, I used my imagination and I enjoyed the liberating high of slicing into a garment with shears. Hack, hack, hack! Surprisingly, this ickle bolero used up most of the fabric from a voluminous shirt, probably because of the wide shoulders.

A word should be said about the photos. I paired the bolero with the Simplicity 4934 dress I made last summer with Beth of Sunny Gal Studios. That’s one great dress, I’m not gonna lie! As I prepared for the shoot, Ella chewed her way through two tubes of body lotion, a hotel sewing kit, the contents of my bedroom bin and a sewing magazine. This little dog needed a distraction, so she came out with me when I went to take the photos. She calmed down almost immediately.Â Turns out my dog’s a super model…

Karen – from Did You Make That

Karen’s not kidding! This shirt was SERIOUSLY “hugly” in it’s former state. I did feel a fleeting pang of guilt as I packed it up to send off to Karen. (Soon replaced by a mischevious cackle which by the sounds of it Karen heard when she opened her parcel. I’m kidding Karen, I’m kidding!) It’s saving graces in my view were the colour, quantity and weight/sturdiness of the fabric. It absolutely did not work as a shirt. But I just knew there was potential there; and WHAT potential Karen has uncovered! From dodgy 80’s shirt to a sophisticated and elegant bolero fit for a day at the races. Pass the Pimms Karen…..

DIY, the refashioners, the refashioners 2013, Tutorials

The Refashioners 2013 – Starts 3rd June!

05/27/13

People, I’m so excited! This year’s instalment of The Refashioner’s is just around the corner, and it’s promising to be a total inspirationfest, let me tell you! For newer readers who may be unfamiliar with the series, let me recap I first ran this challenge back in 2011. You can catch up on all past posts here. Essentially this is a blind challenge. A call to arms of some of the interweb’s best sewing bloggers to flex their creative muscles and step up to the plate. All of the bloggers below have done just that; and about 2 months ago they received a “mystery” package, from me, in the mail. A garment (or maybe something else…) that they were charged with turning into something amazing. They had no idea what they would receive. Would I be kind to them? Or would they hear a faint evil laugh echoing as they opened their parcels?? Well, in the fullness of time, they’ll tell you that themselves…..

The Refashioners 2013: Joanne, Â Tasha, Â Liz, Â Zoe, Â Karen, Â Marie, Â Elisalex, Â Lauren, Â Sally, Â Dixie.

Starting from 3rd June, there will be not 1, oh no, but 2 weeks of guest posts from the talented stitchers above! Some of whom are old hands at refashioning, and some who are dipping their stitching toes in the water for the very first time; and pushing themselves out of their familiar comfort zones. All in and effort to inspire us all to have a go at refashioning and show you Â that a flat length of fabric is not the only starting point. That you have all the raw materials you need at the back of your wardrobe, or in your local charity shop/thrift store. I for one can’t wait to show you what they’ve come up with. This is going to be AWESOME!

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