the refashioners

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The Refashioners 2015 – Wendy

08/18/15

I love menâ€™s traditional formal dress shirts with the bib fronts, I think that bib section provides the perfect blank canvas for a bit of textilian magic and have had ideas buzzing around for a long time.Â What more perfect excuse than the Refashioners?!

I wanted to use one of the patterns from my book â€œThe Beginnerâ€™s Guide to Dressmakingâ€ as a starting point, hereâ€™s how I combined the two.

What do you need?

2 large menâ€™s white long sleeved shirts
1 large menâ€™s striped long or short sleeved shirt
lightweight iron-on interfacing.

Â Preparing the pattern:

Iâ€™ve used the sleeveless shift dress pattern from â€œThe Beginnerâ€™s Guide to Dressmakingâ€ as a starting point, but I wanted it to be a looser more flared shape.

Flaring the dress front and back:

Move the bust dart to the neck end of the shoulder. To do this, draw a straight line through the middle of the bust dart and the middle of the waist dart, where they intersect is the bust point. Extend the bust dart to this point and draw a straight line in the new position (neck end of shoulder) to the bust point.Â

Trace off the section formed by the top edge of the existing (lengthened) dart and the line of the new dart onto a new piece of paper and cut out. PIC3

Place this section back onto the pattern but â€œcloseâ€ the old dart.Â

Drop a vertical line (parallel to the centre back) from the point of the shoulder dart on the dress back. Do the same from the point of the new bust dart that youâ€™ve just created on the dress front. Cut up the lines and fold out the darts and the cuts will open.Â

Drop a vertical line (parallel to centre front and centre back) in the same position on the armhole on the dress front and back, cut up the line leaving it just attached at the armhole and open each cut half the amount of the first cuts.

Re-Shape the neck:

Slightly lower the front and back neck so that the dress can be pull-on. Do this by placing the dress front and back together along the shoulder seam lines (overlap the seam allowances) to ensure a smooth join at the shoulder.Â

Trace off your new dress front and back pattern pieces.

Trace off the bib front:

Draw the shape of the patchworked bib onto the dress front. This is the bib seamline.Â

Add notches to the bib seamline and trace off the bib piece. Add seam allowance of 1cm maximum to the curved and notched bib seamline. Do the same to the dress front.

Work out patchwork design on bib:

Draw out your patchwork design onto the bib pattern piece and sketch in which direction you want the stripes to run â€“ itâ€™s useful to start on the half pattern and then mirror what youâ€™ve done to see how it will turn out. Â AddÂ notches to the seamlines and trace off the individual pattern pieces, add seam allowance and number the pieces so that you know where they go when youâ€™re piecing the bib section together!Â

It will make joining these pieces easier if you also mark dots where the seamlines intersect.

Cutting:

From the white shirts you will need 1 dress front / 1 dress back / 1 bib lining.
From the striped shirt you will need the patchwork bib pieces / bias strips to finish the armholes and neck.

Prepare the shirts â€“ I removed the sleeves and cuffs and cut the side seams to give me the biggest area of fabric to work with.Â

Patchwork together pieces from the white shirts until you have enough new â€œfabricâ€ to cut the dress front and back.Â

A certain amount of â€œinterpretingâ€ of the pattern is ok here! As you can see I decided to make mine longer than my pattern so I could keep the original shirt hem. Iâ€™ve also placed the centre front of the pattern along the button stand.

Cut the patchwork bib sections very carefully noting stripe directions and mark the notches and dots accurately.Â

Putting it together:

Prepare the bib:

Join all the patchwork sections carefully, making sure the notches and dots match exactly.Â (above)

Interface the lining bib that you cut from the white shirt.Tack the 2 bib sections together with the wrong sides touching.Â

Neaten the edges of the bib.

Attach the bib:

Time to attach the bib to the dress front! Â As this seam involves joining two opposite shaped curves a lot of pins will be required. Match the ends of the seam, the centres and the notches. Then work your way around in between, pinning at right angles on the seam line so that the pieces will fit.Â

I then tacked this seam, again on the seamline. Â Trust me it makes the machining easier!Â Machine carefully with the dress layer on top.

Clip the curves of the dress layer only and press the seam away from the bib, towards the dress.

Topstitch the seam in place on the dress side of the seam. Use an edgestitch foot if you have one, it will make it much easier to keep your stitching an even distance from the seamline.Â

Great work, the bib is in!Â

Assemble the dress:

Join the shoulders and side seams and neaten the seams.

Finish neck and armholes:

Cut some 3cm wide bias strips from the shirt fabric that you have left over.Â Fold the strips in half along the length with the wrong sides touching and press. Tuck in one short end towards the wrong side.Â

Starting with the tucked in end, place the binding to the right side of the neck with the 3 cut edges level. Pin the binding in place around the neck.Â

Machine with a 0.5cm seam allowance, start your machining just after the tucked-in end.

When you get back around to the start of the binding, tuck the binding inside the tucked-in end.Â

Clip the seam allowances around the curves, press them towards the binding and turn the binding around to the inside of the garment, just beyond the seam youâ€™ve just machined.

Tack close to the loose folded edge of the binding and then machine in place.

Finish the armholes in the same way.

Press, wear, enjoy and be proud!

Wow! Well THAT was pretty epic right?! Soooo much work has gone into this Wendy! Thank you so much. I adore the bib effect detail and let’s face it….who doesn’t adore a bit of directional stripe play?! Â Incorporating quilting techniques and “piecing” fabric from a shirt is a great way of getting the maximum amount of yardage from your shirt. (look not only at the decorative bib on Wendy’s refashion…but also at the dress front and back…yep….also pieced! Combining smaller pieces to create a moreÂ usable/sizeable piece of fabric and the seaming involved creates added interest and texture too. I played around with this method in a much more simplistic way for my recent article for Simply Sewing Magazine (You can see the results in the cover image in my side bar). There are 2 methods of achieving this effect. Wendy takes the pattern cutters route by drawing her design onto an existing pattern piece then splicing it up along her design lines, adding seam allowances, then reassembling. It’s precise, accurate, and let’s face it…pretty impressive! I, on the other hand, am untrained. And my brain approaches this piecing ideaÂ in a different order. In my project for the last series of The Refashioners (and the shirt refashion for the mag) I piece my fabric together to FIRSTÂ form a larger flat piece of fabric. THEN cut the pattern piece from it. It’s my arse about face way of doing things! But both methods work and each will work for different people. If you like precision and detail…or…if youÂ leanÂ more towards aÂ simplistic approach. Piecing your shirt piecesÂ using quilt block techniques is a useful and fun approach to shirt refashions. Both in terms of practicality and decorative effect!

You can find WendyÂ Â here and shop her pattern rangeÂ here. She is a designer, teacher, pattern maker based in Brighton, and author of the awesome Beginners Guide to Dressmaking. And guess what….she’s adding a signed copy of her book toÂ theÂ prize package!!Â Â Take a look at ALL theÂ amazing prizes to be won as part of The Refashioners 2015 Community Challenge. AndÂ get involved for a chance to win!!! Grab a shirt and get refashioning! You have until Sunday 27th Sept to enter! Stay tuned for more inspiration throughout the WHOLE of August!

DIY, how to, refashioning, Restyles, Sewing, the refashioners, the refashioners 2015, Thrifting, Tutorials

The Refashioners 2015 – Tasha

08/17/15

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Thanks so much to Portia for organizing another amazing round of the Refashioners, Iâ€™m so, so tickled to take part again! This challenge is great to push you outside of your comfort zone and really think about clothing and construction in different ways. Since this challenge was all about shirts, you can truly say you have to â€œthink outside the boxâ€… and what I started with was indeed a pretty boxy shirt!

My item started life as a menâ€™s Hawaiian shirt, sent to me by the lovely Marie from A Stitching Odyssey. I am a huuuge sucker for Hawaiian themes.Â Hilariously, my first thought was the exact same as Oonaballoonaâ€™s and her Hawaiian refashion shirt . This shirt would look great on my stepÂdad, a stylish fellow with good taste in boisterous shirts. And likewise unbeknownst to one another, my refashion thoughts ended up going down a similar path to hers.

I turned mine into a vintage cropped top! My general plan was to use the shirt as constructed in the front, with the original button placket down the front as the button placket down the front of my cropped top. The main concerns were working around the armholes, the patch pocket (I knew it would be less faded underneath), and the button placement on the center front placket.

I used the bodice pieces of a vintage dress Iâ€™d sewn before, McCall 6116 from 1945, and instead of adding on a skirt, simply finished the bottom edge with bias tape. I actually did this once before last summer so I knew my idea was sound.Â Then since I was using the original button placket at center front, I finished the neckline with bias tape, too. Easy concept, right? But placing the front pattern pieces was HARD!

That probably took the longest of anything, plotting that out. Kimono sleeves on my pattern made the original shirtâ€™s armholes fall beyond the shoulder seam line into the body of the shoulder a bit. I could have switched them to sleeveless, but I really like the kimono sleeves for extra coverage when Iâ€™m bearing a bit of skin elsewhere. The cropped top length made trying to place 3 of the original buttons in a pleasing and useful way difficult. And the less faded fabric under the patch pocket (once I ripped that off) was going to show up on a shoulder no matter what I did.

Of course, I couldnâ€™t turn it all upside down and try that on for size either, as the palm trees were directional! In the end, I sloped the shoulder line down towards the armhole to place the original armhole seam within the seam allowance, figuring with kimono sleeves, youâ€™d never know the difference. I placed one of the buttons at about the fullest part of my bust, making sure that the top most button fell beyond where I planned to topstitch the bias tape binding, but close enough to the top to be useful and not look too low.

I used Emmieâ€™s gaping button band trick to add a secret inside button between the bottom two buttons, so that the top didnâ€™t gape open under my bust, which worked perfectly. (Seriously genius idea.) I even kept the nice wood buttons.

Actually the last button was broken, but the beauty of this refashion was I had plenty others to swap it with with the cropped top was so short compared to the original shirt. And last but not leastâ€¦ that patch pocket area, right?

Yeah. Itâ€™s totally just hanging out up on my shoulder left, as a shadowy remnant of the original shirt. There was just no way at all to work around that. So Iâ€™m calling it â€œliving historyâ€. Itâ€™s a â€œthingâ€, okay! Itâ€™s not a mistake, itâ€™s a purposeful thing. Í¾Â) I was going to take the original patch pocket and make it smaller and place it back on the shirt, but decided it was just too busy for that. So, the sole reminder of the patch pocket lives on with my incarnation up on my shoulder. To use up the last little bits of fabric that I could, I just threw together a matching headband.

Thereâ€™s an offÂcenter seam somewhere towards the back so that I could piece the remaining shirt fabric together, but itâ€™s a headband, so who cares? I lined it with some turquoise cotton so that you get a peek of that when itâ€™s tied at the top, or I can reverse it for the opposite look.

So thatâ€™s how I took a big olâ€™ menâ€™s Hawaiian shirt and turned it into a vintage cropped top for summer. Which I think Iâ€™ll wear the hell out of!

Thanks again to Portia for organizing such an ambitious round of the Refashioners, and getting us to all think outside the box… but inside the â€œshirtâ€ box. As her hashtag says, get shirty!

Ah! I love this so much Tasha! It’s very “you” and Marie did a GREAT job choosing thatÂ Hawaiian number! Â Tasha makes good points about the things that need to be considered when cuttingÂ pattern pieces on existing garments. That armhole curve can be really limiting….even on an XL shirt there’s rarely enough for a Â pattern piece with a grown on sleeve like this. Often the answer is to flip the shirt upside down and cutÂ it Â from where the shirt is wider. However in this case….the directional pattern scuppered that idea! It’s these very obstacles in refashioning though that get your brain working in a kind of “right! I AM going to work this out” kind of way! And when you do overcome those obstacles and finally nail it like Tasha has here….it’s very satisfying indeed! And I like the little pocket shadow Tasha. Let it serve as a reminder of your ingenuity 🙂

You can find TashaÂ Â here and here. Tasha hasÂ also very generously a selection of goodies from her private stashÂ to theÂ prize package!!Â Â Take a look at ALL theÂ amazing prizes to be won as part of The Refashioners 2015 Community Challenge. So get involved for a chance to win!!! Grab a shirt and get refashioning! You have until Sunday 27th Sept to enter! Stay tuned for more inspiration throughout the WHOLE of August!

DIY, how to, refashioning, Restyles, Sewing, the refashioners, the refashioners 2015, Thrifting, Tutorials

The Refashioners 2015 – Sarah

08/14/15

Hello, sweet sewists! This is Sarah fromÂ Grey’s Fabric and Notions, a li’l fabric shop located in beautiful Boston, MA. I was thrilled when Portia asked me to be a part of Refashioners 2015, but also nervous because, aside from a couple of tees that I awkwardly altered at the beginning of my sewing career, I tend to avoid refashions. I love the idea, I’m just not super confident when it comes to making alterations on finished garments. I think that is why, when confronted with a plain shirt, I ended up refashioning it into (brace yourselves)Â a slightly smaller shirt. I’m a real wild child.

I started with a nice-looking button-up of John’s from Banana Republic that he never wore because the French cuffs didn’t fit quite right under his suit jackets. It was simple and boxy, as men’s shirts are wont to be, and while it’sÂ stillÂ a simple design, it is pretty far removed from the original. Drat and blast for forgetting to take a full pic of the “before.”

My idea was to make it into a sheath dress (my favorite pattern of all time, actually) and I thought I had enough fabric after totally unscientifically holding it up and pinching some darts into it. Turns out, not so much. John is a size small and while it was more-or-less dress length on me as a shirt, after cutting it was once again, just shirt sized.

I considered buying more shirts to try to make up for the missing fabric, but ruled it out because it felt likeÂ just buying more and more stuff to try to fill the shirt-shaped hole in my soul was a little bit contrary to the make-do-and-mend spirit of the challenge. So, I decided to work with what I had.

I kept the button plackets and shirt tail hem and cut the rest into the basic bodice of my sheath dress. I added four darts in the front and two in the back and finished the neck and arm holes with silk bias tape.

Since the button placement wasn’t quite right for my shape anymore (*shakes fist at boob gaping*), I switched the orientation of the plackets and closed up the original buttonholes with a small zig zag stitch. Then, I added more buttonholes to the other placket. Hilariously, I made three beautiful buttonholes going the wrong way from my markings and had to rip them out and start over. I’m glad that the Sensormatic buttonhole foot on my lover-ly Pfaff Creative Performance is so easy to useÂ because I would have been really frustrated otherwise. I have a little video on my blog showing how fast they are.

I added my favorite buttons, iridescent blue Czech glass shank buttons, to the front. I want to dive into a pool of these little lovelies and swim around, Scrooge McDuck style. Wheeeeee!

Then, I added lace to the collar. I tried a few different configurations before settling on the final version. I sewed it to the collar and then flipped it so that it is doubled over, adding a bit of volume. I started with the same lace, but in white and it was fine, but a little too bridal. Luckily, I have been learning to dye using fiber reactive dyes for ourÂ bra kits! The lace is rayon embroidered onto nylon net, which means that each fiber requires a different kind of dye. The rayon calls for fiber reactive and the nylon for acid dye. Because I used fiber reactive, the nylon stayed white and looks almost translucent, an effect that I quite like.Â I really love this lace and can’t wait to dye more. I hope to have some dyeing process shots up on my blog soon. Here are some detail shots:

Many thanks to Portia for inviting me to be part of this challenge! It was tons of fun and I’m loving seeing all the other refashions out there. Viva la Refashion!

Thank YOU Sarah! Â Sassy! Â I love that there is a touch of lingerie lace, knowing your love of bra making!!Â I’m always a little taken aback when talented sewers like Sarah say they don’t feel confident refashioning. But she’s not the only one to have said that during this and previous challenges 😉 There’s a temptation with this challenge to go all out and try aÂ really complicated refashion. I know, because I feel it myself. Â After all, I’ve lined myself up alongside all these awesome sewers! Gah!! (My shirt refashion is done and in the bag so no going back now! ) Personally I’m a great believer thatÂ keeping it simple can create as much of a show stopper refashion as a moreÂ complex one. Â It really depends where that particular garment, and it’s restrictions, lead you. A few clever tweaks is often all it takes to completely transform a garment to suit your style. Those few darts, tucks and embellishments make the world of difference. So if Â you’re thinking of trying your hand at refashioning (and entering to win that fantastic prize!) remember that the best refashions are almost always those that perfectly express the style of the person wearingÂ them. Not necessarily the ones that were the hardest, and took the longest to do 😉 I think Sarah just proved that!

You can find SarahÂ Â here and here. Greys Fabric Â haveÂ also very generouslyÂ added a $25 gift voucherÂ to theÂ prize package!!Â Â Take a look at ALL theÂ amazing prizes to be won as part of The Refashioners 2015 Community Challenge. So get involved for a chance to win!!! Grab a shirt and get refashioning! You have until Sunday 27th Sept to enter! Stay tuned for more inspiration throughout the WHOLE of August!

DIY, how to, refashioning, Restyles, Sewing, the refashioners, the refashioners 2015

The Refashioners 2015 – Zoe

08/13/15

Itâ€™s super exciting to be part of the Refashioners challenge again, and I feel really proud to be included in the handful of sewers who have taken part all three times. My life has changed significantly since the first one took place in 2011, and my refashions for this series have really reflected that!

With such an amazing selection of sewing/style bloggers for the 2015 edition, I canâ€™t lie, I definitely felt a bit intimidated! Not that it is in any way a competition, of course, but I didnâ€™t want to let the challenge down by making the least exciting project. So rather than allow myself to be overwhelmed by all the amazing things I imagined everyone else would be creating, I reminded myself that the most fun outcome for this challenge would be for each of us to make something that truly represents our own style and creative spirit. In that vein, I decided to make something for my daughter, as that is a major focus of my creative energies these days. I did consider making something for myself, perhaps an adult version of this top , but I also really wanted the outcome to be something that will see lots of wear, and I feel that a dress for her is more likely to.

Whilst this refashion project was underway, I visited the â€˜Fashion on the Rationâ€™ exhibition at the Imperial War Museum. It was all completely fascinating and inspiring, but the exhibits that spoke to me most were the sections where adult clothing had been transformed into clothing for infants and children. The parallel between those activities and what I was currently engaged in really struck me.

So on to the actual refashionâ€¦ The shirt I received was chosen and sent by Sally from Charity Shop Chic. It was a menâ€™s bias cut gingham dress shirt. My initial observations were that the shirt was in excellent condition, so I didnâ€™t need to avoid certain parts of it, and in general the fabric was quite crisp.

My favourite part to reuse when refashioning a shirt is the button stand. Who wants to mark out and make buttonholes and stitch on rows of buttons if they can help it?! So I knew I was going to retain that feature to form the fastening of the garment. I decided on a fairly uncomplicated silhouette and was lead towards an A-line as I felt that the crispness of the fabric would hold the shape well. The preppiness of the gingham leant itself to a cute little white collar, and I decided to use an applique to keep it looking like childrenâ€™s wear.

With the design elements in place, I foraged around my pattern stash for something suitable. I ended up making a franken-pattern from the babiesâ€™ blouse pattern in Burdastyle 9/2013 (which I have used in various guises twice before) and Newlook 6578. I self drafted the pointy collar, and initially altered the sleeve pattern piece to give it a slightly puffed sleevehead, which I later trimmed away again in favour of the original set in sleeve shape.

I dissected the shirt by cutting along the seam lines and pressed the front, back and sleeve pieces flat ready for cutting. A few years ago, whilst working for TRAIDremade, I learnt a trick to use when recutting shirts; button the shirt front pieces so that the right sides are together.

Then lay the front pattern piece on top so the Centre Front of the pattern runs down the centre of the buttons of the shirt front. That way you can cut through both layers of short front and donâ€™t need to worry about getting the buttons and buttonholes positioned correctly. The only other thing was to make sure that the first button/buttonhole was positioned about 2.5/3 cms away from the top edge of the pattern.

I wanted to add the applique whilst the front pieces were still separate from the rest. I ummed and arred about what type of applique to add to this dress. Wjilst hunting through my scraps box looking for inspiration, I found this little matryoshka doll motif that Iâ€™d salvaged from the scraps hamper at a former employerâ€™s years ago. Using iron-on bondaweb to secure it in place, I used a small zigzag to stitch round the edges.

The next task was to attach the front and back pieces at the shoulder seams. Because of the fiddly nature of sewing tiny childrenâ€™s wear, I took the opportunity to prep and stitch on my collar at this point, before stitched side seams or inserted sleeves could make access to the neck hole any trickier. My method for attaching the collar was this: I basted it to the neck edge, then overlocked round the entire neck hole. Next, I folded the overlocking to the inside and topstitched it in place, which should keep the collar from flapping up too much.

With the most time consuming aspects complete, I inserted the sleeves in the flat, stitched the side and sleeve seams in one go, and hemmed both sleeves and bottom edge of the dress. Ta da!!!

The finished dress is currently a bit big for Dolores, but I had to stop her from wearing it too many times before we could take the photos of her wearing it…

…so Iâ€™m classing it as a success!

Thanks so much to Portia for both inviting me to take part, and for all the energy and effort she has put in to organizing this challenge. Every element of this challenge has been thought through and carefully planned, and everyone was kept well informed at every stage so it was totally easy and fun to be part of it. I truly hope that all the (no-doubt amazing, although I havenâ€™t seen any of the others at the time Iâ€™m writing this!) finished refashions will encourage everyone who likes to sew to consider reusing existing garments and textiles, rather than always buying new fabric, when they embark on a new sewing project to dress themselves, their families and even their homes.

Too. Flippin. Cute. Â Oh my goodness! How adorable is Dolores?! Makes me smile just looking at that happy face! Shirts are fantastic sources of fabric for clothes for the little one’s right??Â Pinterest is swarming with “Daddys Little girl” diy shirt dresses and I’ve seen some equally cute stuff for the boys too. Their diminutive size make kids clothes perfect for shirt refashions! (Sorry Dad! One more reason your shirts might get pilfered!) And thank YOU Zoe for being part of all 3 series. Mwah!

You can find ZoeÂ here and here. AndÂ she hasÂ also very generously donated a copy of her Dolores Batwing Top pattern toÂ add to theÂ prize package!!Â Â Take a look at ALL theÂ amazing prizes to be won as part of The Refashioners 2015 Community Challenge. So get involved for a chance to win!!! Grab a shirt and get refashioning! You have until Sunday 27th Sept to enter! Stay tuned for more inspiration throughout the WHOLE of August!

DIY, how to, refashioning, Restyles, Sewing, the refashioners, the refashioners 2015, Thrifting, Tutorials

The Refashioners 2015 – Jenna

08/12/15

When Portia asked me to join in with this yearâ€™s Refashioners I was seriously overwhelmed!Â I mean, the lineup is phenomenal!Â Once I got over the shock though I remembered that I had already been planning a shirt refashion for a while so I calmed down a bit and began to think.Â I do love a bit of refashioning â€“ whatâ€™s not to love?Â Itâ€™s cheap, environmentally friendly and often quick as parts of the existing garments can be reused.Â IÂ blogged last year about making a shirt into a NewLook 6808 and recently I made a pair of shorts for my child from an old dress.Â I have also just made some nightwear from three old shirts.Â But I wanted this refashion to be something more experimental, maybe to push my boundaries a bit further than I had before.

It just so happened that I had found a seriously nice quality white shirt in a charity shop for about Â£2 (bargain!) and then my Dad visited and left me with a pile of his shirts that he doesnâ€™t wear any more….

I really wanted to make a sundress out of shirts as I thought the fabric would lend itself nicely to a dress.Â Of course there isnâ€™t enough fabric on one shirt for a sundress so the obvious answer is to use two!Â

I started looking at patterns to use as my base and quickly dismissed a vintage sundress pattern as being too fabric hungry and was just about to turn to a vintage nightie pattern when Portia kindly lent me issue 4 of Simply Sewing Magazine which included the jumpsuit/camisole pattern from the last series of The Great British Sewing Bee.Â Obviously this isnâ€™t a jumpsuit but the bodice was exactly what I had in mind.

I decided I wanted the buttons running down the back of the dress as an accent so this was my starting point for the cutting out.Â The main pattern pieces fitted on to the shirt quite easily but I did have to put a seam in the centre of the ruffle which was a bit of a shame.Â

Also the shirt fabric is thicker than the recommended fabric so the ruffle doesnâ€™t ruffle quite like it should, but I still like the effect.Â There was not enough fabric for the facings so I used a sleeve from my second shirt for these.

For the skirt section, I cut the shirt just above where the armhole starts, separated the front from the back and reattached them together with the front slightly lower down to compensate for the tail of the shirt now being the front.Â

In truth, the front is still longer than the back so I could have gone further but I donâ€™t really have a problem with this.Â The new side seams are slightly angled outwards creating more of a shaped skirt than a straight one.Â

The final things I had to do were to create a channel for the elastic to go through at the waist and add some extra buttons and button holes.Â I used the remaining sleeve from the blue shirt to make the bias binding for the channel.Â As the fabric has a check running through it was really easy to make sure I was cutting correctly and I didnâ€™t need a lot to go round the waist seam.Â

The two extra button holes were needed just above the waist seam which was near the bottom of the original shirt, and at the bottom of the skirt.Â I also added a popper right on the waist seam so the gap in between the buttons doesnâ€™t gape under the strain of the elastic.Â And done!

I have loved this challenge so much!Â Refashioning is such a fun thing to do, whether it is simply harvesting the fabric to reuse or altering something so it fits better it always gives me joy to know I am giving something new life!Â Thank you so much to Portia for all her hard work organising this and for inviting me to take part, itâ€™s been ace!

Thank YOU Jenna! ( Love this lady!) Such a cute way to combine two shirts. (and did you notice the nice little touch of a line of sahiko’esque embroidery on the ruffle?!)Â I’m a big fan of combining garments; and combining shirts is easy because the fabric is generally of a comparable weight and handle so they blend pretty easily. Â So don’t just stop with one shirt! Use a whole array of them and combine different elements. Colour block. Pattern clash. Slice em all up and put em back together in a different order!

You can find JennaÂ here and here. And just like Marie, Jenna has also very generously Â delved into her own personal pattern stash to add to theÂ prize package!!Â Â Take a look at ALL theÂ amazing prizes to be won as part of The Refashioners 2015 Community Challenge. So get involved for a chance to win!!! Grab a shirt and get refashioning! You have until Sunday 27th Sept to enter! Stay tuned for more inspiration throughout the WHOLE of August!

DIY, how to, refashioning, Restyles, Sewing, the refashioners, the refashioners 2015, Tutorials

The Refashioners 2015 – Marie

08/11/15

Although refashioning is not a natural instinct or skill of mine, there was no way I could pass up Portia’s excitingÂ invitation to take part in The Refashioners 2015! I had so much fun beingÂ super adventurous last time, and it felt good to push myself out of my comfort zone. This year, however,Â I took a slightly different approach which involved ticking off anotherÂ #vintagepledge makeÂ off my list.Â There’s still plenty of time toÂ sign upÂ by the way, with some great prizes up for grabs!

First came the shirt, of course. IÂ chose to pick my own this year and I was over the moon when I found this 100% linen Boden shirt for a mere Â£4.50 in a local charity shop. It was in tip top condition and although I’m not usually a huge fan of pink, this shade of blush really appealed to me.

I wanted the fabric to sing and I also wanted to end up with a classic wardrobe staple. So I turned to 1950s Simplicity 4656…

…and the rest as they say… is history…

First, I took apart my shirt, taking extra care when unpicking the breast pocket. I didn’t want any unsightly rips to scupper my plans.

Instead of following the pattern’s instructions for a side zip, I really wanted to utilise the shirt’s buttons for some cute detail. So I cut out my back pattern piece on the folded shirt front and my front pattern piece on the folded shirt back.

Instead of facings to finish my neckline and armholes, I used stripy bias binding for an extra pop of interest.

I finished the hemline in the same way and I must say, I really love the result! Pink and navy is such a chic combination and the cherry on top of course, were the matching buttons I stumbled upon on ebay.Â Â

Compared to the creativity of my fellow refashioners, my simple blouse may seem a little humble…

But I’m so happy that I now have a go-to,Â chic blouse in my wardrobe. Thank you so much again Portia, for encouraging me (and many others)Â to think outside the box!

Nothing humble about that Marie! Such a feminine silhouette and classically vintage. Can’t you just picture that with one of Marie’s full circle skirts and those killer eyeliner flicks she does?! I’m totally with you on the striped bias and buttons too. In fact, making your own bias tape from stripe shirts will give you some great directional stripe playÂ . And of courseÂ finding linen meterageÂ in the charity shop for Â£4.50? Well….nuff said!

You can find MarieÂ here and here. Marie has also very generously Â delved into her own personal pattern stash to add to theÂ prize package!!Â Â Take a look at ALL theÂ amazing prizes to be won as part of The Refashioners 2015 Community Challenge. So get involved for a chance to win!!! Grab a shirt and get refashioning! You have until Sunday 27th Sept to enter! Stay tuned for more inspiration throughout the WHOLE of August!

DIY, how to, refashioning, Sewing, the refashioners, the refashioners 2015, Thrifting, Tutorials

The Refashioners 2015 – Elisalex

08/10/15

The way I see it, a refashion can be approached in one of two ways (generally speaking) – 1. Let the existing garment provide the foundation for your inspiration – nip it here, tuck it there and transform the overall shape and style, or, 2. Unpick your garment at the seams and make something entirely new from the fabric you reap. I chose to go down the latter road for this refashion, partly because the surprise shirt Zoe sent me was already so great that I couldn’t see past it, but mostly because I already knew exactly what I wanted to make!

Let me start by saying a huge THANK YOU to Zoe – we had a bit of a post related drama in that the first shirt she sent me never showed up. Time was running out and it had been a good two weeks since she sent it (Brighton to London not exactly a major shipping conundrum) so very much dedicated to the cause, she went out and found me a new shirt and once again, faithfully sent it out into the void that is the Royal Mail.

Two days later, Shirt No.2 arrived safe and sound, and a day after that, Shirt No.1 sheepishly shows up. Oh, Mr Postman. I now canâ€™t remember if itâ€™s Shirt 1 or 2 that I ended up refashioning, but either way, they were both gems and I already have big plans for the navy check number waiting in the wingsâ€¦

Back to business. With my current obsession with all things Mejicana, one thing high on my to-make list has been a ruffled off the shoulder crop top, something very much inspired by this one at Tara Starlet. As I fondled the soft Swiss dot-esque cotton of my shirt (and it is so soft and fondleable, believe meâ€¦) and eyeballed some black pompom trim in my stash, I set about drafting the pattern – all the while fingers tightly crossed that Iâ€™d have enough fabricâ€¦

So intent was I not to screw this up for fear of wasting this truly lovely fabric, I made a quick muslin from some white dotted Swiss voile. And thank goodness I did! Although pretty and wearable, this first attempt needed a little tweak to the shape of the armhole, and the ruffle wasnâ€™t nearly as ruffly as I was hoping it to beâ€¦

For anyone who might like to whip up a few of these pretty tops over the Summer, the pattern is simple to draft-it-yourself, and sews up in under two hours (including cutting). Hereâ€™s how I did itâ€¦

How to draft a ruffled off the shoulder top

Take a piece of dot and cross paper or whatever you prefer to make your pattern from – brown paper is great, so is baking paper. Start by drawing a vertical line roughly 10â€ long. This part doesnâ€™t need to be accurate yet, itâ€™s just our starting point for the rest of the pattern. This vertical line represents the centre front and centre back of the main bodice portion of the top. Both front and back pieces are identical, so we just need to draft one, and cut two.

From the very bottom of the centre front, draw a horizontal line that measures (your bust measurement + 2â€) Ã· 4 (shown as a red dashed line in the diagram below).

Now, measure up the centre front line about 3 Â½â€ from the bottom – this will be the depth from hem to just above the fullest part of your bust, so may need to be deeper or shorter depending on your own shape. From this point, draw another horizontal line out measuring (your high bust + 1â€) Ã· 4 (shown as a grey dotted line).

To draw the side seam, connect the grey line with the red line.

Now measure a further 4â€ up the centre front from the grey line and 6â€ horizontally out from this new point. This is your neckline.

Using a French curve, or your best hand-drawing skills, connect the neckline to the side seam.

Finally, we need to add seam allowances. Please bear in mind that I had to be a little stingy with my seam allowances as I was working within some strict fabric limits! I added Â½â€ along the neckline, side seam and hem, and Â¼â€ at the armhole.

Youâ€™ll also need another rectangle that measures 65â€ x 6Â½â€Â for the ruffle.

Sewing it all up

Cut out your pieces – two of the main bodice piece and one of the ruffle.

Close the side seams of your bodice and press open.

Press the scant Â¼â€ seam allowance at the armhole in, press and stitch. Clip carefully into the curves to release the tension. If you have more fabric/time/patience I would recommend finishing the armholes with bias tape instead.

Next, finish the raw edge at the hem, press in by Â½â€ and stitch, leaving an inch or so unstitched at one of the side seams. This is where weâ€™ll be feeding the elastic through.

Now for the ruffle!

Close the back seam to create a loop and press open. I actually had to make my ruffle from multiple strips pieced together, as the shirt didnâ€™t have sleeves long enough to cut it whole. And in case you were wondering, I cut my bodice front and back from the shirtâ€™s back; and I cut the strips for the ruffle from the sleeves and shirt fronts. After setting aside one final strip for a waistband (for my matching skirtâ€¦), all I was left with was a collar, a placket, a pair of cuffs and some serger spew (donâ€™t worry Portia, I took a picture of that too).

We now need to mark the centre front (CF) and centre back (CB) on both the bodice and the ruffle to make sewing the two evenly together a doddle. Do that simply by folding the bodice in half so that the side seams are facing and notch the folds either side. For the ruffle, your CB should be marked by the seam, and the CF can be marked by folding it at the CB seam and notching the fold on the opposite side.

Now place the ruffle over the bodice, right side of the bodice facing the wrong side of the ruffle, and make sure that your CF and CB notches match up too. Pin the ruffle to the bodice along the front and back necklines and baste into place.

Finish the entire neckline and press in by Â½â€, again leaving an inch or so open at the centre back seam through which to feed the elastic.

The final thing to do before elasticating the neckline and hem, is to hem the ruffle and add any decorative trim such as pompom trim, lace, ricrac etc whatever rings your bell. Â

Finish the ruffleâ€™s hemline and press in by Â½â€, pinning your trim into place as you go. Stitch the hem and trim in one go from the right side. Or, stitch your hem first, then appliquÃ© your trim over the top.

Nearly done!

Take your elastic (I used regular lingerie elastic as I wanted something narrow with a soft stretch to it, if you know what I meanâ€¦ I felt like anything too harshly elastic would dig into my skin) and cut two lengths – one that fits snugly under your bust and one that sits securely but comfortably around your shoulders.

Use a safety pin to feed the elastic into the tunnels at the hem and necklineâ€¦

…And then either tie the two ends in a secure knot or stitch together when it reemerges. Stitch the tunnelâ€™s opening shut and Â¡ay caramba! Your top is done!

This top looks great dressed down with a pair of high waisted jeans or a sarong, but a top like this also needs a proper dancing partner, if you know what I mean, in the form of a matching skirt.

Obviously! I decided to use up some beautiful pink chambray I had knocking about at home to make a gathered skirt, complete with waistband made from the remnants of the spotty shirt to nod to the top, and embellished with the last of that black pompom trim.

Luckily I had my very talented and enthusiastic little brother to take some shots of me in the finished outfitâ€¦ For the record, he is 10 years old and he art directed every shot. I must say, I think he did a killer job at picking up on the details, making me feel at ease and mixing it up with some interesting locations and compositions. Here are my picks:

And Portia, as a thank you for having me, and because I know how much it turns you on, hereâ€™s my official Refashioners 2015 #sergerspew:

Â¡ay caramba indeed!!!! Bloomin heck Elisalex! You really went and nailed this one and what an awesome shirt find from Zoe too!! Often when you think of shirt refashions you think of Â classic pinstripes or solids. But don’t forget back in the 90’s & into the 00’s there was a huge trend for florals and more feminine prints in mens shirts. So keep your eyes peeled for those! Silk and cheesecloth shirts had a phase too and I often come across them in charity shops! Â Both great fabrics for a more feminine incarnation. And of course, the addition of some fun trim is never a bad thing!Â Oh and thanks for the serger porn Elisalex…that’s not just me….right?!

You can find ElisalexÂ here and she and the team at By Hand London are including your choice of three pdf patterns from their range in the prize package!!Â Â Take a look at ALL theÂ amazing prizes to be won as part of The Refashioners 2015 Community Challenge. So get involved for a chance to win!!! Grab a shirt and get refashioning! You have until Sunday 27th Sept to enter! Stay tuned for more inspiration throughout the WHOLE of August!

the refashioners, the refashioners 2015

Stop Press – The Refashioners 2015 Prize Package Update!!!

08/08/15

We interrupt your refashioning to announce that, courtesy of the generous peops at Quadrille Craft, we can now add the following top top top sewing titles to The Refashioners 2015 Community Challenge Prize Package!! Now included are…

With jargon-busting tutorials and a down-to-earth attitude, the book takes you from the absolute basics of threading your sewing machine through to creating a wardrobe full of gorgeous clothes that you’ll be proud to say you made yourself.

With 30 garments to make at home, including the 1950s WALKAWAY DRESS and lots more projects AS SEEN ON THE TV SERIES, you can take on many of the same challenges as this year’s sewers. Accompanying the book are FIVE FULL-SIZE PATTERN SHEETS giving all the pieces needed to make the 30 garments in WOMENSWEAR SIZES 8 TO 20 and MENSWEAR SIZES XS TO XL.

With over 30 exclusive new projects â€” bags, cushions, baby gifts, bathroom tidies and many more ideas â€” in a mix of vintage and modern Cath Kidston prints.Â Step-by-step illustrations and templates for all 30 projects make this a perfect book for sewing novices as well as enthusiasts.

And don’t forget all the otherÂ amazing prizes to be won as part of The Refashioners 2015 Community Challenge. So get involved for a chance to win!!! Grab a shirt and get refashioning! You have until Sunday 27th Sept to enter! Stay tuned for more inspiration throughout the WHOLE of August!

Announcement over troops. Resume your refashioning…..stat!!

DIY, how to, refashioning, Restyles, Sewing, the refashioners, the refashioners 2015, Thrifting, Tutorials

The Refashioners 2015 – Oonaballoona

08/07/15

When Portia asked me if I wanted to refashion a man’s shirt, my response was HEEEWWWWWL NO. I can barely bring myself to make a man’s shirt from scratch. Could I actually bring myself to deconstruct and then reconstruct menswear?! And come out sane? I thought not.

But that Portia has a way with words. So flattering was her response to my tepid reply, my psyche would’ve be more bruised by refusing the challenge than by picking up the seam ripper. The clinching sentence on that lovely emaiI: “Shirts are just fabric and you’re awesome with fabric. ‘Nuff said.”

CHARMER! Was my response. And I was in.

Now, there was zero chance that I was going to snag a shirt from Ruggy’s closet for this challenge, seeing as how I’m made him 3 shirts in my 7 years of sewing , only 1 of those being wearable. That’s just bad math. A few short weeks later, this arrived from our fearless leader’s neck of the woods:

I did NOT want to rip this up! In fact, I wanted to give it straight to my Dad, a very stylish guy! I was stumped, which began another Portia conversation, involving her Lolita vision of me turning it into a woven Watson bra, then me picturing my dad in a Watson bra, then me needing to go wash my brain.

After a thorough rinsing, I got to ripping. Kiiiiind of. I hacked the sleeves and collar off, then cut it open at the side seams. To be honest, I was all about as little seam rippage as possible on this reboot. Although I am aware that the whole refashion thing is about being green, this was admittedly not my primary concern.Â I was more into being happy and not worrying about scraps.The sleeves and collar went into the remnants bin without a thought of reappearing in the reboot. Mea culpa.

I flipped one front panel upside down and re-buttoned the front pieces, shifting the buttons up by one to get a pleasing print placement. Why did I do that? Hard to say. Maybe I thought there was (*extremely slight and now completely unnoticeable in hindsight*) twinning on the original shirt? Maybe it made me feel like I was really refashioning the shirt?? Maybe the gin and tonic was especially ginny that evening?

Imma go with ginny. Because my next step was going to be pleating and draping and pulling this into a cute top on my dressform, and I abandoned that route seconds after beginning it. Instead, I reached for my little pile of vintage patterns and came up with Simplicity 6284, a three piece women’s suit. The vest had two simple pattern pieces. BOOM.

I used the original placket and changed up the buttons from black plastic to blonde wood, for a bit more tiki vibe, and used red braided piping for my seam finishes. Just stitched and turned under. Less worry, more happy.

Though the pattern had a little gapiosis in the front, requiring an extra dart at the neckline, the back fit beautifully. I love the racerback vibe!

And it gives me enough armsyce coverage, which, guys. I HATE it when my shirts show Texan sized real estate of arm cleavage. What’s that you say, you can’t really tell from these shots? Again, mea culpa. I’ll let you in on a little secret: Ruggy full on ABHORS this vintage denim skirt. But I did think it was the perfect mate for this crop top. I’ve tried to wear this skirt out once on a date night. The look on his face was so pained, I changed immediately. Guys. If you know how I dress, you know that this look said a lot. And then I made him take eighty pictures of it.

I think he had a hard time doing it. To wit, whatÂ is the focal point of this next shot?

Mmmm hmmm. What a pretty red wall. But there’s the armscye for ya. Thanks for bearing the vibe, Ruggy.

And thanks for nudging me into this, Portia! I love my little top, and since diving into this challenge, I’ve refashioned three RTW tops in my closet into a more pleasing configuration! This refashioning thing is infectious!

Ha ha! As are you my lovely, lol! But you had to go and remind me of that conversation about your Dad in a Lolita style Watson bra didn’t you?! Now I’m picturing it all over again. Sorry PapaÂ Balloona!! ;)Â So, yes. I selected this shirt. Well I had to pick something a touch “kerching” for Oonaballona didn’t I?! But it’s a case in point in terms of looking at shirts as fabric. Those really crazy 80s print shirts you see but would never wear? They mayÂ not be de rigeur as they are but boy do they make awesome sun tops! Look for huge oversized mens shirts in crazy prints and get chopping!

You can find OoonaballoonaÂ here and here.Â And don’t forgetÂ amazing prizes to be won as part of The Refashioners 2015 Community Challenge. So get involved for a chance to win!!! Grab a shirt and get refashioning! You have until Sunday 27th Sept to enter! Stay tuned for more inspiration throughout the WHOLE of August!

DIY, how to, refashioning, Restyles, Sewing, the refashioners, the refashioners 2015, Thrifting, Tutorials

The Refashioners 2015 – Sew Over It (London)

08/06/15

As a huge fan of customising and upcycling, I couldnâ€™t have been happier when Portia asked me to be part of this yearâ€™s Refashioners project. I loved reading along in 2013 â€“ so many great transformations! I knew I had to get involved.

The theme this year is shirts, and Portia asked us whether weâ€™d like to be sent one â€œblindâ€, or if weâ€™d prefer to source our own. Â I got lucky as our Course Coordinator Andreaâ€™s boyfriend was having a clear out, so I scored this lovely blue oxford shirt for my refashion. Very pleased not to have to scour the charity shops of Clapham on a shirt hunt!

Initially I struggled with what I might make from my new shirt. I wanted it to be classic and wearable â€“ it needed to look like Iâ€™d refashioned it with purpose. I wanted it to be able to integrate into my wardrobe so I could mix and match it and get a lot of wear from it. After a quick jolly on Pinterest I went for a good old dependable skirt!

I cut the whole skirt from the body of the shirt, cutting straight across the shoulders and lopping off the arms. With the side seams and the buttonholes already sewn, I fashioned a waistband from the top of the body, measuring around my waist to find the correct size. To give it some stability I interfaced it with a good quality medium-weight interfacing. I then gathered the skirt into the waistband, making sure to match up the side seams, before stitching a buttonhole onto the waistband.

Waistband buttonholes take more strain than the rest of the buttonholes, so itâ€™s best to make this one horizontal. I also did a line of decorative topstitching around the waistband as I thought it was in-keeping with the original shirt design.

It was as easy as that! Itâ€™s not the most exciting refashion in the world but I love my new skirt, especially as the original features of the shirt are still there.

The hem is slightly curved, and I am really enjoying the cute little tab details at the side seams.

If youâ€™re new to refashioning try this project out! If youâ€™ve got a big enough shirt you could even just elasticate the top to make a waistband and leave the buttons as a decorative feature. Or if youâ€™re feeling adventurous why not add some pockets? Easy to make out of the sleevesâ€¦ Ooh Iâ€™m giving myself ideas now.

A great big thank you for Portia for having me, long may the refashions continue!

Lisa x

Thank you so much Lisa! Refashioning needn’t be complex and this kind of project is a great starting point if you’re feeling trepidatious!Â ShirtsÂ come in all manner of fabrics. (Some of you may recall Tasha’s plaid flannel version from the last series). I’m thinking denim or corduroy shirts (oh yes they exist. I’ve seen them! So do velvet ones. Just ask Karen!) would be awesome for this too!

You can Sew Over It LondonÂ here and here.Â Their Vintage Shirt Dress pattern isÂ just one of the amazing prizes to be won as part of The Refashioners 2015 Community Challenge. So get involved for a chance to win!!! Grab a shirt and get refashioning! You have until Sunday 27th Sept to enter! Stay tuned for more inspiration throughout the WHOLE of August!

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