the refashioners

refashioning, the refashioners, The Refashioners 2017

Announcing The Refashioners 2017!!!

07/26/17

I know some of you have been wondering where the dickens this years series of The Refashioners has got to, right? I mean, right about now we’re usually just days away from launching into Â a month of inspiration from some amazing sewing bloggers before the community challenge gets underway after that.

Well, this year we’re doing things a little differently. And while there are quite a few exciting bits of info I need to share with you, I’ve had to break it up into little chunks so I can handle it all with out blowing a circuit in my brain. (There’s ALOT going on this year). So for now, let’s start with the dates and the theme:

The theme this year is …….(mimes drumroll)….

Yep! SUITS! Think fugly out of style suits from the 80s that you wouldn’t be seen dead in….and you’re there! It’s our most challenging one yet! But before you pass out from fear (or is that just me?) take a look at the dedicated pinterest board I’ve set up to help you get your creative brains whirring with ideas! (Full rules etc to follow. Just start wrapping your head around the basic idea for now!)

But wait….before that…you’re gonna have the blogger element of the series providing you with loads of inspiration, tutorials Â and tips to get you going! So mark these dates in your diary (and make sure you’re following me either here or on IG to stay updated):

Blogger Element: Running from 1st Sept to 30th Sept this year. Why? Firstly, summer is a crazy time and we all get less time to sew because of all the lovely stuff going on. Secondly, this theme….suits…just felt more Autumnal to me. Simple as!
Community Challenge: This will run right from 1st Sept to 31st October. There will be the usual phenomenal prize package for our winner(s) at the end.
Hasthtags: Do love a good punny hashtag to go with this series. So this year we have #suitsyou and #therefashioners2017 (not so punny….but very necessary if you want me to find your entry on social media once we get to that stage!)

So yeah, I’m just gonna drop this little tantalising morsel of info on you, buggar off to Greece for a few days, and I’ll be back next week to reveal the “Oh my freakin’ goodness” blogger line up we have for you this year 😉

refashioning, the refashioners, The Refashioners 2016

The Refashioners 2016: And the winners are….

10/14/16

This is a really exciting decision to reveal! But HARD. Man this was hard! This years challenge, I think it’s fair to say, has captivated people’s imagination, creativity and ingenuity more than any series before it. Maybe it’s because we ALL have old pairs of jeans that we keep meaning to “do something with” and this challenge has given us the impetus to actually get on and do it. Â Maybe it’s because denim is such an awesome, versatile and timeless fabric. Maybe it’s because jeans themselves throw up so many challenges that the only option is to take the ingenuity up a gear in order to overcome them. Maybe the inspiring makes that have been appearing all over this blog & the various social media channels has opened our eyes to the potential in old pairs of jeans. That jeans refashioning is NOT inevitably going to end up looking all “Becky home Ecky” (unless you want it to which is equally fine of course!). Maybe, just maybe, it’s a combination of all of those things. This years challenge has achieved everything I wanted it to….and then some!! I have been FLOORED by the amount of time, thought and creative energy that has gone into everyone’s makes. Â Which of course has made it all the harder to arrive at this decision. But arrive at a decision we must. So without further ado…

This dress by Messy Essy had me (well, all of us) floored from the moment we saw it. The sheer AMOUNT of work that went into this is almost enough on it’s own. That intricate central panel of Â quilt pieced cubes itself took days of painstaking work. When I first saw that on it’s own (before it became a dress!) it occurred to me that you could frame it and put it on a wall as a piece of art in it’s own right. Add to that the careful thought and placement of the various hues of blue to achieve not only a 3d cube effect, but an ombre 3d cube effect!!! Hello!! Then, add to that the way it sits perfectly as part of the overall design of the dress, brilliantly executed and perfectly suited to the wearer. The simple elegance of this dress when worn, belies the intricacy and skill needed to make it. All of this making “the cuboid dress” a worthy winner of the first prize.

You can read more about Essy’s process and thoughts on the challenge here.

Our special recognition prize goes to Selmin forÂ this awesome denim sweatshirt. The general consensus is that it was just so well executed, so wearable. Edgy, bang up to date, makes clever use of the original seams. The colour blocking is so well considered and the subtle sashiko detailing acts to tie all of those blue hues together even further. I’ve heard it said that many people prefer their refashions not to look like they were made from jeans. I don’t think this does, but it does subtly nod to the garment’s original incarnation, and denim’s workwear history; and plays a little homage to the way clothes used to be repaired rather than thrown away. Yet it does all this whilst looking modern and, more importantly, really reflecting the wearers individual style. And I just love it for all of those reasons. (And actually would like to steal it for myself!!)

You can read more about Selmin’s process and thoughts on the challenge here.

It has honestly been astounding, and at times quite emotional (I know I’m a sop) each time a new entry popped up. Â And to read all of your blog posts and hear what you have gained from this challenge. That it was hard, but you were glad you did it. That it made you realise that if you push yourself out of your comfort zone, you realise how much more you are capable of. In many instances that this refashioned garment is your proudest make to date. That you will never look at a pair of old jeans in the same way again. That you’ve caught the refashioning bug despite having never really considered it before. Seeing all of those makes and hearing all of your thoughts on this challenge, has made me so proud. Proud that I set the ball rolling on this challenge. But the truth is, I am not responsible for all of this. You all are. Â I just set the scene and lit the touch paper. And just LOOK where our sewing community took it. THAT I am proud to be a part of.

Thank you to everyone who lent their energy to this years challenge. And while you may not have won “the big prize”, you have inspired me. And you have inspired your fellow sewers. And you have proven yet again how amazingÂ our sewing community is. Hopefully you will have taken new things from this challenge that you never knew about yourself and about refashioning. And those are all wins. Bigger ones in my book. So thank you.

Question is……what the hell do I come up with to top this next year????!!!!

refashioning, the refashioners, The Refashioners 2016

The Refashioners 2016: Your Makes – Vol III

10/11/16

So this will be the last round up of your makes before the winners are revealed on Friday. Eeeeep! It’s not been possible to share everyone’s makes here on the blog but you can see them all by perusing theÂ Instagram, Pinterest and Facebook posts that people have been submitting for the past couple of months. There are LOADS and there has been so much creativity and ingenuity out there. This challenge seems to have really captured the imagination!!

So without further ado, check out these beauties….

Source

The next time you hear from me on here, it will be to announce the winners of The Refashioners 2016. How on earth we arrive at that decision I don’t know! So feel free to chime in in the comments with your favourites!

See you Friday!!

refashioning, the refashioners, The Refashioners 2016, Uncategorized

The Refashioners 2016 – Your Makes – Vol II

09/20/16

Welcome to Vol II of your makes. And maaaan! They just keep coming! So SO good. As a reminder (or a kick up the backside if you prefer it that way) there are 10 days left until the deadline! (30th September. Midnight. BST/UK) So if you want to enter to be in with a chance of winning that amazing prize, then get moving! I’d also like to clarify that not appearing in one of these round ups does NOT mean your entry is out of the running. It simply means that I couldn’t use your images for reasons of size/resolution/quality etc. So make sure there are plenty of large size images knocking around for me to use. Either on one of the sharing groups (detailed below) or on your blog. Because I want to share as many as possible on here!

So…what’s been coming in? Wellllll…….

Big love for this fab sweatshirt from Selmin of Tweed & Greet. The subtle little sashiko detail is so perfect!

Although I don’t wear dresses, I could be tempted by this. Right up my style strata!Â Â If I wore dresses then this dress by Stitch Remedy would be in my wardrobe for sure. Love it.

Vicki’s briliantly executed refashion has yielded a supremely wearable wardrobe staple. More deets and images in her facebook post here.

What a difference some dye makes! Â Looks like 2 completely different jackets right. Also intrigued by the back yoke of Linda’s jacket. Are those the original crotch curves I wonder??

Proving that denim isn’t all blue is this awesome floral bomber from Trish.

I didn’t realise I needed a relaxing neck pillow until I saw this from Sewing a la Carte! Complete with Refashioners 2016 embroidered on one of the loops!

This bag by Vicky Myers is the perfect combo of denim and sashiko. Full details/tutorial here.

This dress from Helen is a brilliant feat of engineering. You MUST hop over to her blog post and check out the insides of this too!

Great waistcoat from Debra. The pocket details and original patches of wear/pocket shadows really caught my eye on this one.

I’ll leave you with this beautiful face and a real one of a kind jacket from Falafel and Bee. Â More beautiful photographs and detail here.

Inspired now?

You can see all lastÂ month’s awesome inspiration postsÂ here. And if you’re inspired to get your refashion on and enter the Community Challenge and be in with a chance of winning some epic prizes…DO IT! Like….NOW! Â Deadline for entries is 30th Sept. Midnight GMT (BST/UK).

….IÂ think you’ve got the idea now right? Essentially we want you to refashion some jeans! (You can find the full details/small print of the brief here). BUT, if you want to be in with a chance of winning one of these amazing prize packages you need to SHARE that refashion with us in one of the following ways:

On Instagram: Share a pic using the hashtags #therefashioners2016Â and #jeanius (using any other variation of the hashtag may result in me missing your entry)
On Pinterest: There is a community board here where you can pin your makes. (You will need to request an invite to join)
On Facebook:Â There is a community board here where you can postÂ your makes (You will need to request an invite to join)

Only entries shared via the above 3 methods will be entered into the competition. Closing date for entries is 30th September 2016 Midnight BST/UK. Good luck!!

refashioning, the refashioners, The Refashioners 2016, Uncategorized

The Refashioners 2016: Over to you!

08/31/16

I tell you what….I think this year’s series is shaping up to be the best so far. Something about this theme, and the (amazing) blogger inspiration posts, the way you are all engaging and embracing this challenge, and the STUNNING competition entries that are already coming in…something about all of that tells me this is gonna be good. REALLY good. The aim in selecting this years theme was not only to encourage the reuse of existing garments and textiles…but also to put pay to this idea that all denim refashions are “Becky home eccy” (to coin a rather amusing phrase that I’ve heard several times recently). And, well….I think we’re achieving that don’t you? Just take a look at what the series has yielded so far…

Looks pretty impressive when all put together like that doesn’t it?!! Not a “Becky” in sight…and there is more….SO much more to come! If you haven’t seen already…there are some phenomenal competition entries coming in already.(I’ll be sharing those as they come in over the next few weeks) I’m floored by the amount of work that has gone into some of them, and also by the sentiments that are being expressed in terms of what you are all learning and gaining from this challenge. For me, there couldn’t have been a more gratifying and exciting start to this challenge.

So,Â if you haven’t already done so, get yourself involved. I can’t wait to see what you come up with!

You can see all this month’s awesome inspiration postsÂ here. And if you’re inspired to get your refashion on and enter the Community Challenge and be in with a chance of winning some epic prizes…DO IT! Deadline for entries is 30th Sept. Midnight GMT.

On Instagram: Share a pic using the hashtags #therefashioners2016Â and #jeanius
On Pinterest: There is a community board here where you can pin your makes. (You will need to request an invite to join)
On Facebook:Â There is a community board here where you can postÂ your makes (You will need to request an invite to join)

Only entries shared via the above 3 methods will be entered into the competition. Closing date for entries is 30th September 2016 Midnight GMT. Good luck!!

DIY, how to, refashioning, Sewing, the refashioners, The Refashioners 2016, Uncategorized

The Refashioners 2016 – Me (no pressure!)

08/30/16

**UPDATE: This coat has been shortlisted as a finalist in the “Dressmaker of the Year” competition for Make it Today: Dressmaker magazine in both the refashioningÂ and readers choice categories. If you’d like to vote for me you can do so here! You have until 25th April 2017. Â OK, back to the post…….**

I think sometimes, because I run this challenge, there is a misconception that I am some kind of Â refashioning queen. I certainly don’t regard myself in this way. I prefer to think of myself as a refashioning cheerleader. Â Much less pressure! The Refashioners challenge has always been about inspiring other people. To showcase Â what Â they can do with refashioning, rather than showcasing my own skills. It may come as a surprise to some when I say, that I have never refashioned jeans in this way before. The extent of my jeans refashioning is mainly centered around re-fitting and reshaping existing jeans. I’ve never completely deconstructed jeans and turned them into something else. Never. So in selecting this year’s theme I was pushing myself as far out of my own comfort zone as anyone else! Of course, I was characteristically laid back about that. It’ll be fine, I thought! Won’t take long, I thought! Ha! Â This project wasÂ characterised Â by challenges, delays, changes of direction, obstacles and frustrations. But I got there!

I’d originally shelved this idea as “too ambitious” and decided on another idea, that would have been relatively quick and easy. (That’s MY comfort zone people!). As the projects from the other bloggers popped into my inbox it became apparent that great minds think alike. And my intended project was going to be similar to a few others.Â I wanted the series to offer as much variety of ideas as was humanly possible so I did an about turn about a fortnight ago and came right back to this idea…..

Quilted denim! Because of course, when it’s hotter than it’s been all year, sizzling temperatures are the perfect time to work on a big thick quilted coat. Naturally! Â I knew I wanted a thigh length coat. I figured I could get enough fabric from 2 pairs of jeans (wrong!) for the shell and I had lining etc in my stash. I also knew I would have to piece the shell together from smaller component parts. The green jacket above gave me a massive eureka moment there. I fell in love with that diagonal yoke and the directional use of quilting lines and my idea was born….

I don’t think I was the only one to snap up the Tamarack Jacket by Grainline as soon as it was released! This was the perfect opportunity to crack it out. Â I lengthened the front and back sections by 6″ and shortened the sleeves by 2″. Cut it out and sew it up, I thought. Hmmm….maybe I’ll toile to test the size & fit first before I cut into my scarce denim. Then ensues 3 days (I kid you not) of faffing and fitting around the sleeve/shoulder area. The drop shoulder of the pattern was not working for me at all. Twisting and drag lines that I was worried would translate weirdly to the thick quilted denim I had planned. (I have narrow forward shoulders) I tried in vain to fix it. I could probably have just gone with it. With hindsight. But my inner obsessive came out at this point (and stayed with me for the rest of this make) and I couldn’t let it lie. So I lopped the top off the pattern and spliced in a set in sleeve configuration. Which I then proceeded to fit within an inch of it’s life and after about 4 days of faff, Â I had my base pattern…..

Turns out that switching to a set in sleeve was a good move. Not just for fit, but because the pattern piece is MUCH narrower that that of a drop sleeve. Handy when they need to be cut from narrow jeans legs….just saying 😉

I sat for a while staring at my pattern on the morning that I started this part. SwipingÂ through my pinterest images. Basically procrastinating and being indecisive. I was still thinking about lines, directions, how to break up the pattern pieces. So I threw down a quick and very crude sketch to try and get things moving thinking I would end up doing a few sketches. But this one was enough….

It cleared the “log jam” in my brain and from then on I knew what I was working towards. So I began to transfer the style lines from my pencil sketch, onto the pattern itself…

From then I traced each piece of individually…

Added seam allowances, marked the grainline, and named my pattern pieces (that one made me snigger!)…

I ended up using 2 pairs of jeans (I actually needed 3 which I’ll come to in a minute) This pair was languishing on the Â£1 rail of the charity shop. Lot’s of panels, pockets, worn and wrinkled areas. They were very wide (44″ waist) but very short. And because of the construction or complex darts and pannelling “flat” fabric was sparse on this one. But I really liked the denim and thought the pocket shadows on this pair would be awesome…so they went home with me…

The second pair (above) was a pair of size 10 fitted jeans donated to me by a friend when they no longer fit. NormallyÂ size 10 fitted jeans would not be “up there” when it comes toÂ amount of useable fabric. However….

…these were huge bell bottom jeans! Ha! They provided the perfect amount of fabric from which to cut all four pieces for the bottom of my coat..

Cut on the cross grain…the longer back pieces were cut from the widest part of the leg at the bottom (so the outer leg seam now runs horizontally across my pattern piece) and the shorter front piece cut from the middle part of the leg….also on the cross grain.

One problem you may encounter with more fitted/flared/shaped jeans is the fabric not laying flat once you’ve cut up the inseam. This is due to the shaping built into the curved side seam.

On the reverse, look what happens to the fabric either side of the seam line when you pinch it together….

Essentially you can add some shaping of your own at that side seam to counteract the original shaping to get the fabric to lay flat 😉

Middle sections of the coat were cut from the upper legs of the Â£1 jeans. Â I took my time to line up the details on the fabric (pocket shadows etc) so that they would be symmetrical on the finished coat…

When deconstructed…because of all the panels on these nutty jeans…Apart from the torso area, the pieces I was left with after this were actually quite narrow! Which was a pain in the arse because I had planned on cutting my yokes and sleeves from that pair of jeans too. There was no way THAT was happening…

I still had the bum part of the bell bottoms left so I played around for a while seeing if I could squeeze them out of that. I could….but it wasn’t ideal. It would be wonky off grain (like, not even cross grain!) and I would have original seams intersect at the armhole where I was already worried about bulk. Plus I had these sections earmarked to cut pockets and binding from…

My project had stalled. It became apparent that I would need a 3rd pair of jeans to have enough fabric for the yoke and sleeves to match. (Another design element that I had become obsessed with). Problem was I didn’t have another pair of jeans and a scour of the local charity shops, twice, Â proved fruitless. I couldn’t find a pair of jeans in the right weight of denim. (Because of the quilting I had planned I needed lightweight denim; which the other two pairs were). In the end I had to use a denim remnant from my stash if I had any hope of getting this finished in time. I couldn’t afford to wait for the right pair of jeans….so on this occasion I conceded defeat and the yokes and sleeves are cut from stash fabric. I was gutted by this BUT it is TOTALLY possible to get those pieces (and the sleeves) out of a pair of jeans if you have them as evidenced by the measurements shown below…

I do feel a little like I “let the side down” here. I overestimated the fabric I would have from my Â£1 pair of jeans and got caught out because of all the panelling etc. But I had to move on and finish this thing….if I could have waited and found that third pair of jeans I would have done. But at this stage, and this close to deadline….I had to compromise.

Moving on…I used what I had left to cut bias strips for the edge binding…

I cut strips in the 3 different colours of denim I used so each section of the coat opening and hem would be bound in it’sÂ corresponding denim…

This is all I was left with from the bell bottoms. The front torso area….which I used to cut the pockets for the coat…

Before I could begin construction there were some holes and rips in some of the pieces I had cut…some fromÂ a slipped seam ripper…

….and some from where I had removed the rivets during deconstruction…

A pretty simple fix from the underside …

I just applied patches of interfacing to protect against future tearing etc…

With all my pieces now cut I began assembling my shell. My first attempt at joining the yoke to the middle was a fudge…

I’d just gone onto auto pilot and aligned raw edges and stitched. When I turned it out it was, of course, off!!

So as a reminder for anyone else who may want to attempt this, the pieces need to be joined so the seamlines match. NOT the raw edges…so the whole thing is sewn slightly offset. By an amount equal to your seam allowance…

And then everything lines up perfectly!

Front sections were joined top middle and bottom. Back section is the same and then joined together with a CB seam…

I get really obsessed with getting intersecting seams to line up. I pinned at these points first and foremost. With the pin going directly through the seamlines on both layers to ensure the are lined up…

This gives me accurate alignment where several seams intersect like at the point of this back yoke (and makes me feel “like a boss!”)

The lining I used had also come from a charity shop several months ago. It had the softest flannel underside and the shiniest satin RS. It had obviously been exposed to light whilst folded because there was fading along all the fold lines. It had turned a peachy colour in those areas which I actually really liked. So I decided to make a subtle feature out of it Â and found a variegated peach/thread with shades of pale khaki and cream in it to use for the quilting lines on this side of the fabric…(That streak of faded peach is placed centrally on the back piece of the finished coat lining. Only I can see it. That’s how obsessed I got with detail and symmetry on this make!!)

I did a few practice swatches and loved that effect in particular…

The quilting part itself presented a couple of challenges. Not least because the sturdy nature of denim kind of fights the batting..and instead of the batting pushing the denim up…the denim is inclined to flatten the batting…which diminishes the look of the quilting…

In the end I found I had to use a pretty thick (cotton) batting in order to get the “loft” I needed to make the quilting visible. This had a knock on effect with the overall sturdiness of the finished garment. This was going to be one seriously thick and sturdy coat!!

I made a quilt sandwich for each piece and was ready to get started quilting. This is the extent of my quilting experience to date. I am NO expert, lol!

I began by hand basting length wise and width wise. I did NOT want this shifting or distorting. Construction of this thick wadge of quilt sandwich was going to be tricky enough without that. So baste people. Definitely baste. This wadding was self adhesive but denim didn’t stick as effectively to it as quilting cotton. So it was definitely worth the added “security” not to skip this step!

I first quilted the diagonal yoke seam and the horizontal hip seam….then laid down my vertical quilting lines between those two points….using my variegated thread on my bobbin…

And dark thread on the top…

I used 1″ masking tape as a quilting guide to keep my lines straight and evenly spaced. Starting in the middle and working outwards. I started and finished my lines of stitching just a fraction inside those diagonal yoke and horizontal hip stitching lines and left loooong tails of thread….

Which I then secured by hand and buried within the quilting channels. I was determined to achieve a clean finish on the inside and have all the quilting lines meet and line up perfectly on the lining where any mistakes would be really obvious. I counted, 172 thread tails secured and buried by hand to achieve that finish…

But it was well worth it. That back piece in particular, the quilting lines on that lining, remain one of my favourite elements of this coat, to the point where I almost want to wear it inside out, lol!

I repeated this process on all 5 pattern pieces, edge stitchÂ all around the edges of my pattern pieces and cut away the excess batting/lining and I was ready to finally construct this thing!

I won’t go step by step into the actual construction because that is all in the pattern instructions for the Tamarack jacket. But I will share with you the parts that go “off pattern”. Including a solution I found for the bulk element of this make…the pattern is designed for lighter weight fabrics so the seams wouldn’t be as thick as this!

As you can see on this shoulder seam…pressing these seams flat was gonna be a challenge. Super thick!

I peeled back the lining and trimmed the batting right up to the seam line…

Ta dah! Bulk reduced…

…and seam presses flat!

I repeated that process on shoulder seams and side seams and I was ready to insert my sleeves which had me all kinds of scared. Because…

Well….these suckers are so thick they stand up on their own, ha ha!! This picture kills me every time I look at it. This was becoming more like an engineering project than dressmaking. At this stage I was working right at the limits of what my little Janome could cope with…every line of stitching, every bit of binding…everything added just a liiiiitle bit more bulk. I swear my little Janome whimpered when I approached her with these…

Basting the sleeve in place was a must. Luckily I had removed a great deal of ease from the sleeve cap so easing the sleeve head in was relatively trouble free.

And ta dah! Â They were in! I basically had my coat!

Of course a coat needs pockets. What I really wanted was a nice clean welt or inseam pocket that wouldn’t visually disrupt the quiltiing lines of the bottom section. But I had to compromise here. The fabric was just too thick for the turning required for that kind of pocket. So patch it would have to be.

I played with a couple of ideas. The one below was what I wanted. The angled pocket opening echoes the same angle as the yoke, and the curved corner echoes the curve of the hem…(see….told you I was getting obsessed with symmetry)

Buuuut I didn’t have enough fabric left for that (of course not. That would be too helpful, lol!) so I squeezed what I could out of the leftovers of the bell bottom jeans. My plan was to quilt them so that the quilt lines matched the ones on the coat itself. Blending the pockets visually with the coat. But I was worried about adding more bulk and used only a thin layer of batting on the pockets so it didn’t work out. The pockets are actually the only part of this coat that niggle me a little. But you gotta have pockets on a winter coat, right?

Last, but definitely not least is the 28″ chunky gold zip that finishes this make off. Basted then rebasted in place to ensure that when it’s zipped up, all those points at the yoke and hip line up perfectly…

All the binding is single fold, in an effort to reduce bulk, and edge stitched in place. So there’s a very slight raw edge finish to all the binding. Which actually I really like. I like all theÂ contrasts of this make. TheÂ utility/worn feel of the denim, with the luxury feel of the lining and gold zip, and the precision of the quilting against the rawness of the denim edges. It’s a coat of contrasts. Of juxtaposition if you like. It’s a coat of many elements. It’s a coat of blood, sweat (literally) and stress. Â It’s definitely one of a kind. And I absolutely love it and couldn’t be prouder. Even though it was a bitch to me at times I wholeheartedly forgive it. All I can say is…it better be a bloody cold winter this year after all this! 😉

Turns out, this project, was the hardest, most stressful, and longest I have ever undertaken (largely because I am my own worst enemyÂ and became somewhat obsessed and uncompromising). But it was also the most satisfying because, despite (or maybe because) of the challenges and the blood, sweat and near tears that went into this, (I didn’t quite cry, but “head in hands with bewildered look” became a firm favourite during this make.) Â I persevered. Â And eventually, I won. Â And I’ve ended up with a garment Â that I am SOÂ proud of. Â That I look at and think, I can’t believe I actually made that! You see, I think when we challenge and push ourselves, we find we are capable of much much more than we ever thought.

So, are you ready to challenge yourself too? This is me, signing off, pouring myself a stiff gin, and handing the baton to you guys for a month. Show us what you got people!!!

On Instagram: Share a pic using the hashtags #therefashioners2016Â and #jeanius
On Pinterest: There is a community board here where you can pin your makes. (You will need to request an invite to join)
On Facebook:Â There is a community board here where you can postÂ your makes (You will need to request an invite to join)

Only entries shared via the above 3 methods will be entered into the competition. Closing date for entries is 30th September 2016 Midnight GMT. Good luck!!

the refashioners, The Refashioners 2016

The Refashioners 2016: Gabby

08/29/16

Hello everyone! Â I canâ€™t even begin to explain how happy I am to be involved in this yearâ€™s Refashioners #jeanius team. It is an huge honour to jump in at the last minute and let my jeans flag fly! Thankyou Portia for the opportunity and for all the awesome makers for inspiring me everyday with their jeans recreations.

Iâ€™m going to start with the moral of this storyâ€¦ donâ€™t unpick until you know how much material you will need. For instance spending hours, nay days, unpicking 8 pairs of jeans when you only need 3 may turn out to be a tremendous waste of time and letâ€™s be honest, who has time to waste?! That of course is exactly what I did!!

It started with 11 pairs of jeansâ€¦ the day after I got the exciting email asking me to get involved I was rushing around Battersea Car Boot Sale with one thing on mind â€˜get as many pairs of jeans for as little money as possibleâ€™ and I did extremely well getting 11 pairs for Â£11 in a range of sizes (luckily some HUGE) and colours.

I knew from the start I wanted to make a gown – a big theatrical dress that would really let the material sing and I made some (awful) sketches that looked very steampunky with big full skirts and belts made from the back pockets and zips going down the front but I didnâ€™t have a clue how I was going to make it a reality. My husband was beside me whilst I was sketching away and he said â€˜can I have a go, as I have an ideaâ€™ now this is something that happens a lot as Stephen and I love to get involved with each other projects and get excited about creating things together (cheesy but true) so this dress is very much a team effort. I did all the sewing but the ideas were from both of us – as Stephen has one of those brilliantly creative minds I would be a fool not to get him involved! So this is where things picked up – we got excited about having a sort of outer skirt, layering and a corset type bodice.

So I started unpickingâ€¦ for AGES. I thought I would need as much fabric as I could get my hands on so basically spent a week taking apart these jeans- first the waistband, then take off the back pockets (I still thought these would be a feature at this point), unpick the crotch seam and then the inner seam of both legs. Stephen even helped me take out some rivets (with pliers and a flathead screwdriver) so I had 8 pairs of flat jeans ready to turn into a dress that was taking shape in my head.

I did consider using patterns – especially for the bodice and using the jeans as just normal fabric but the moment Stephen started placing jean legs over me and it just seemed to fitâ€¦ the crotch seam became a perfect armhole and just by using the two legs from one of the biggest pairs of jeans is was already starting to look like a pretty cool dress especially with the waistbands as a sort of dungaree straps (which is the only remaining element from my original sketch!)

So I discarded the patterns idea, got the mannequin out and just started draping instead! First I tried to recreate what we came up with on me and pinned everything to Betty (my mannequin). I fell in love with the look of where the pockets used to be on these jeans – like the fabric time forgot – the general wear and tear, sun bleaching and fading hadnâ€™t touched this bit and I think it leaves a lovely effect so I was very happy to make that a feature of the bodice.

I started by sewing down the hems as that was the easy bit – they were already creased to shape so didnâ€™t even need pressing down. I did this to the neckline and all the way around the back. Oh I was so very thankful for my amazing Gutermann jeans thread set, jeans needle and my lovely Pfaff Passport 2 for making it seamless, if I tried this on my old machine there would have been tears and a few choice words spoken!

Then the interesting part started – how the hell was I going to sew this thing?! I had the shape that I wanted pinned to the mannequin, but there were complicated tucks and pleats to make it fit that I just donâ€™t know how to transfer to a marking to sew up from the wrong side.

I am not a hand sewer, Iâ€™m very bad at it and have to be forced into kicking and screaming into it but I had a strong word with myself and got out the needle and thread to tack my way through this.

Actually, my hand sewing wasnâ€™t too bad (yay!) and now I had the shape of the bodice I wanted and a interesting dress starting to emerge. I sewed together the raw edges of the waistbands for the straps and folded over the belt loops so they were the same width as the waistband as that was another detail that I was determined to use.

The turning point came with the discovery of the perfect zip in my stash – a giant open ended chunky zip that was the perfect length to go all the way down the back of the dress. From that moment on it something special at the back too and I loved the idea of having a dress that you could completely unzip for ease of getting into (as a performer one of my pet hates is spending ages doing a huge hair style and intricate makeup only to have to pull a dress over your head – nooo!) Also I was worried about all the shaping and hand sewing I was doing would need some wiggling about to get into the dress and this zip meant I didnâ€™t have to worry about that – eureka!!

I put the dress on and it looked great, lovely bodice and perfect fit until I looked down and realised I hadnâ€™t covered my…ahemâ€¦ modestyâ€¦ at all!! I needed a bottom to this dress and so I went back to the sketches and got excited about our idea of making the overskirt -so I made a big old triangle out of a massive jeans leg.

And laid it under the dress.

It became clear that more draping was needed to create the waterfall effect we wanted so back to Betty, lots of pins and hand sewing, which Iâ€™m happy to report didnâ€™t feel like a chore for the first time ever. In fact I would go as far to say as The Refashioners ignited my joy in sewing by hand!!

The last thing I did was add a gathered hem in a darker denim to make it a proper full length gown. I used two legs, cut off at the crotch, sewn together and gathered up along the edge using twine to pull up the gathers. I attached it to the bottom of the dress and matched the hemmed sides either side of the zip. DONE!!

Everything in this dress is made from the recycled jeans except for the zip and I added buttons to the bodice top as we tried pulling off the old jeans buttons and gave up/ran out of time. Luckily I have this awesome Prym punching tool that made it a doddle.

I freaking love it! It is by far the most complicated and original thing I have ever made. Stephen and I are pretty darn proud of our denim baby that Iâ€™ve been called The Dream Jeanie Dress, as a nod to the late great David Bowie. This piece deserves a stage and I canâ€™t wait to wear it on tour!!!

The rest of this post is pictures – Stephen (I told you he was brilliant) is behind the camera and his newly finished summerhouse is the PERFECT back drop. The paint is only just dry and it basically looks like we painted it to match the dress! The sunglasses suited the look far too much not to use them and it was a sunny day afterall so I decided to rock chick it up for this shoot! You may notice my bra is showing – I had to take it off for the back shots but I think I might bring up the straps a bit to reveal a little less chest or just wear it with a stripey top underneath?!

So thatâ€™s all from me folks!

I know Iâ€™m the penultimate blogger of this series which means tomorrow itâ€™s time for Portia herself to show us what sheâ€™s been up to, I may or may not have had a sneak preview and canâ€™t contain my excitement for you to all see her icing to this epic #jeanius cake!

I hope you are all joining in – I would totally recommend giving it a shot – you learn so much just by taking apart jeans and itâ€™s a fantastic fabric to work with. Oh and have you seen the prizes?! DO IT NOW!! 🙂

Sew much love,

There is so much I love about this. Admittedly not everyone could pull off this look. It’s flamboyant, unique….verging on the avant-garde. Just the kind of look that Gabby Â rocks on stage all the time. Which is exactly why I was so excited to see her take on this challenge. And boy oh boy did she rise to this challenge. But there are so many elements to take inspiration from and use in your own makes. Â Detail after detail of the original jeans reworked and referenced in unexpected ways. This dress was essentially sculpted and allowed to evolve. I for one cannot WAIT to see this worn on stage!

You can find GabbyÂ here or here. And if you’re inspired to get your refashion on and enter the Community Challenge and be in with a chance of winning some epic prizes…DO IT! Deadline for entries is 30th Sept. Midnight GMT.

On Instagram: Share a pic using the hashtags #therefashioners2016Â and #jeanius
On Pinterest: There is a community board here where you can pin your makes. (You will need to request an invite to join)
On Facebook:Â There is a community board here where you can postÂ your makes (You will need to request an invite to join)

Only entries shared via the above 3 methods will be entered into the competition. Closing date for entries is 30th September 2016 Midnight GMT. Good luck!!

refashioning, the refashioners, The Refashioners 2016

The Refashioners 2016: Elisalex

08/26/16

REFASHIONERS 2016 – A Fish Called Elisalex

Let me begin by stating for the record that denim is not my jam. In fact, thinking back over the last two Refashioners challenges I’ve been a part of (thank you Portia!), menswear is also not really my jam, and needless to say, denim menswear is the least my jam. For that, I’d like to extend my deeply heartfelt gratitude to Portia for pushing me well and truly as far away from my comfort zone as she possibly could!

All joking aside, that’s one of the things I look forward to most with The Refashioners. Although we, as a community, are united by our mutual love of fabric and sewing machines, we couldn’t be more diverse in terms of aesthetics – yet we manage to appreciate and celebrate each other as a whole, without siphoning ourselves off into bitchy sub-cliques (Iâ€™m looking at you, Fashion Industry) – and it’s that wonderous diversity that really shines through when a bunch of women – and man! – who essentially do the same thing, and are given the same materials to work with, come up with such an inspiration smorgasbord! Fabulous.

Anyway, where was Iâ€¦? Right, me no likey denim. Having said that, the dress I made from the denim shirt two years ago, and the off the shoulder top I made from a manâ€™s shirt last year have both been much loved and much worn, so I wasnâ€™t worried in the slightest about the #jeanius brief. I headed straight for Pinterest and started thinking in terms of how to make denim work for me and my aesthetic ideal. While I love the unstructured off-duty look, and could definitely rock a floaty chambray trapeze dress, weâ€™re talking jeans here – heavy duty fabric, built to last not drape – so I found myself drawn to an uber feminine silhouette, immediately excited by all the curves and figure sculpting potential of panelled jeans denimâ€¦

Â As I was hatching my plan, a favourite 80s film suddenly sprang to mind, and one scene from A Fish Called Wanda in particular where Jamie Lee Curtis meets John Cleese for the first time and pretends to be a nerdy law student in order to strike up a conversation with him, and happens to be wearing a knockout denim dress that barely contains her bosom so what hope does the poor man have anyway? Â And so it was decided – I set out to make the Wanda dress….

I came home from the charity shop with three pairs of menâ€™s jeans – two mid blue and one a darker indigo, with a view to making a panelled wiggle dress contrasting the light and dark denim in order to further accentuate the curvaceous silhouette.

Luckily our Kim Dress pattern could not have been more perfect, and with a little hackaroo to the petal skirt I had me the perfect pattern, and better yet, all the panels fit perfectly on my limited supply of fabric harvested from the jeans.

The construction was pretty straightforward, although when I say it took me all day to turn the bodice out to the right side, having joined the shell to the lining (a pretty printed cotton I snaffled from Amy aka Almond Rockâ€™s recent destash), I literally mean exactly that. The summer holidays had just begun so I had sewn up the lining and joined it to the bodice one morning while my son was watching post-breakfast cartoons. I started trying to turn it out to the right side through the shoulder straps before heading out to the skatepark, but quickly realised it would be one of those that gives you a bit of hell before it magically pops out and you have yourself a bodice, so I took it out with us.

I wrestled with that bodice, I fought, I gnawed and clawed while my son skateboarded, throughout lunch, back at home, back out at the park… I had a break over dinner then hit it hard again at bathtime (not mine of course), and by God it was 10.50pm by the time I got the whole thing out, minus two nails and having significantly compromised the integrity of my front teeth. That lonesome beer I found lurking at the back of my fridge must have been heaven sent.

After the bodice debacle, the rest of the dress came together super quick and was a dream to sew.

The finished dress fits like a glove, and feels like a pair of super-Spanx with bonus in built lower back support, but in a really sexy way. I have never received more wolf-whistles, propositions and â€œCorrrr, blimey!â€â€™s in my life, and so my conclusion is this – me likey denim now!

Finally, and in homage to the image that inspired me to make this dream dress come true, I felt it would be rude not to try and recreate that scene. Iâ€™d like to thank the two random blokes we dragged away from the pub for being such great sports, and my sister for her flawless direction and photography skillz.

Thank you Portia for having me on the Refashioners again! It has been a meaty challenge, as ever, and one that has left me with a newfound love and respect for denim as well as a killer dress – score and score!

Sheesh Elisalex!! I’m not even sure what to say to this one except maybe….AROOOOGA! (Another 80’s reference Jessica Rabbit is the only clue you’re gettin’!) I am literally speechless. Such a well conceived and brilliantly executed idea. I can only apologise for the strain caused to your nails and teeth trying to turn that bodice and in terms of pushing you out of your comfort zone…you are most welcome!

You can find ElisalexÂ here or here. And if you’re inspired to get your refashion on and enter the Community Challenge and be in with a chance of winning some epic prizes…DO IT! Deadline for entries is 30th Sept. Midnight GMT.

On Instagram: Share a pic using the hashtags #therefashioners2016Â and #jeanius
On Pinterest: There is a community board here where you can pin your makes. (You will need to request an invite to join)
On Facebook:Â There is a community board here where you can postÂ your makes (You will need to request an invite to join)

Only entries shared via the above 3 methods will be entered into the competition. Closing date for entries is 30th September 2016 Midnight GMT. Good luck!!

refashioning, the refashioners, The Refashioners 2016

The Refashioners 2016: Erin

08/25/16

When it came to working on the latest Refashioners challenge, I knew I wanted to do something simple. Mostly because it had to be simple. My sewing skills are beginner at best, and I know nothing about how to draft a pattern, so these projects are always a bit tricky for me. Fortunately, I tend to love to wear very simple designs. I own a lot of huipil style dresses and tops, and I adore them even if they are essentially two pieces of fabric sewn together. So I got to thinking about other styles of clothing in a similar vein and it dawned on me: a poncho! Which is, by design, â€œa single large sheet of fabric with an opening in the center for the head,â€ according to the Wikipedia definition.

I used the legs of two pairs of jeans to create the fabric for the vest, which is essentially an open-front poncho.

The fabric panels for the vest portion of the jacket were simply the legs of the jeans. Bonus: you now have some jorts to wear in the summer, if thatâ€™s your thing.

Simply trim the pieces of fabric until they are identical in size, and youâ€™re ready to start sewing.

I lined-up the bottom hems of the trousers to create the bottom hem of the vest. Face the fabric inwards and sew both the two pairs of panels together horizontally across the top edge. These are the two shoulder seams.

Now that the shoulder seams have been sewn, weâ€™ll sew up the back of the jacket. PlaceÂ the two long panels RS togetherÂ and sew along the back, stopping short of the shoulder seams.

Now you have created an open-front poncho. You can stop here and ponder different variations. The remaining edges can be finished and worn as a vest.

You can leave an opening for the collar and continue sewing down the front for a top, or you can add Â sleeves to create a jacketâ€¦

Which is what I did! I decided to get a bit adventurous and used two more trouser legs to create the arms for a jacket. I cut the fabric in such a way that I was utilizing the finished hemsÂ of the trousers as much as possible while constructing my jacket. (they ended up being my cuffs)

Simply line-up your trouser leg with the shoulder seam, pin it in place, and sew it on. Once those have been attached, you can sew the side seams and finish the front edges.

Â As a very optional last step, I decided to use a natural indigo dye to create a single deep blue shade for the entire garment, but this isnâ€™t really necessary if you start with a pair of dark wash jeans.

And there you have it! Â A simple denim poncho jacket ready to wear!

The fun part is that you can do the same with a closed front if you prefer a shirt, or you can skip adding the arms for a shorter length vest or top. Hope you enjoy!

Gloriously simple right?!! The earliest clothes were made from simple rectangles of fabric and while clothes have gotten alot more complicated construction wise since ancient times; the appeal of simple styles and shapes has endured through it all. If anything it’s seen a significant resurgence in recent years. Refashions (sewing in general in fact) needn’t be complex. It’s all just shapes sewn together. So start with simple rectangles, (conveniently you have some sat right there in the legs of those unloved jeans!) sew them together in different configurations, try stuff….see what happens 😉

You can find ErinÂ here or here. And if you’re inspired to get your refashion on and enter the Community Challenge and be in with a chance of winning some epic prizes…DO IT! Deadline for entries is 30th Sept. Midnight GMT.

On Instagram: Share a pic using the hashtags #therefashioners2016Â and #jeanius
On Pinterest: There is a community board here where you can pin your makes. (You will need to request an invite to join)
On Facebook:Â There is a community board here where you can postÂ your makes (You will need to request an invite to join)

Only entries shared via the above 3 methods will be entered into the competition. Closing date for entries is 30th September 2016 Midnight GMT. Good luck!!

refashioning, the refashioners, The Refashioners 2016

The Refashioners 2016: Sally

08/24/16

This year’s challenge for “The Refashioners” refashion series is to remake a pair of jeans into something, with the majority of the finished project coming from the source garment, that is, it should be a mainly denim item.

Personally, I rarely work with denim as I do worry that I’d get carried away and end up with something like this, that is, something very obviously having been made from a pair of old jeans. It looks a bit strange because there are very few garment types that are typically made from the same heavy denim as jeans are – even denim jackets use lighter weight denim.

So, my target garment for this fabric had to be another pair of jeans. Cut up jeans to make more jeans, you ask? What is the point?

Well, the look I’m hoping to emulate is a designer pair of jeans which is made from… old jeans. These Vetements Fall 2015 jeans originally retailed at $1450 (here they are on Net a Porter) and they came in several different styles. The label basically bought up loads of vintage Levi 501s (!!) and cut them up using their own pattern to make an interesting new style.

Key to the look is the ‘pocket within a pocket’ shapes on the back (no actual back pockets), seams down the front and back legs, and uneven, unfinished hems.

These were absolutely everywhere at one time… like you could barely read a fashion blog without seeing them at some fashion week or other.

I actually read quite a few articles praising these jeans before coming across one that mentioned they use TWO pairs of vintage Levis for each finished pair. Two! Pairs! Of vintage, wearable jeans!

Of course, I’m going to emulate these using something ugly and turning it into something… interesting, if not 100% beautiful.

I started with a pair of ordinary jeans.

These particular jeans are bog standard Marks and Spencer dad-jeans of absolutely no fashion merit of any kind (no vintage Levis were harmed in the making of this project). The only criteria for selection were that they were a little big on me (but not massively outsized) and they are a fairly light wash (so the pocket shapes will show up once the pockets are removed).

I picked these up in my local Cancer Research shop for Â£2. Bargain!

First step obviously was to remove the back pockets and remove the lint (urgh). Note the lovely colour difference between the washed areas and the original denim (this is key to getting the look).

I unpicked the waistband everywhere except the centre front section (that would be hard to sew back on).

I also unpicked the back seam.

I merrily cut up the back legs and at ninety degrees into the centre back seam.

Sewing the back sections in gave me the look I wanted for the pocket sections, but my overenthusiastic seam allowance left me with a bit of a gap at centre back, as it turns out.

Trying them on, I made a new centre back seam.

Because of the aforementioned gap, I ended up with a dark blue stripe in the middle. No big deal.

I cut up the front legs, making sure to cut far enough away from any rivets that I could sew it back together without having to sew over any.

I included the pocket bags in the seams, so the front pockets still work.

The slight colour variations in the wash help emphasise the new style lines, I think.

I made some fitting adjustments on the back seams to make them a bit tighter, but overall the fit was OK.

The only issue was to shorten the waistband accordingly.

I cut it and reattached it in two places (to avoid bulk from seam allowances at the join between the centre back seam and the waistband). I actually ended up sewing the belt loop back on by hand as it was more than my machine could take!

And here are the finished jeans!

There is room for my phone in the front pockets, just about.

I left the hems uneven and unfinished. To get them to unravel a bit, I just ran them through the washing machine.

The back pocket pattern I think looks great!

Thank you Portia for asking me to be part of this series again!

Yep, been seeing these everywhere too! Such a subtle change that completely transforms a pair of jeans fromÂ shapeless and styless to fitted and edgy. Not only does this process provide really interesting style details but it also fixes the issue of a too big pair of jeans. Win win I’d say! Thank you so much Sally!!

You can find SallyÂ here or here. And if you’re inspired to get your refashion on and enter the Community Challenge and be in with a chance of winning some epic prizes…DO IT! Deadline for entries is 30th Sept. Midnight GMT.

On Instagram: Share a pic using the hashtags #therefashioners2016Â and #jeanius
On Pinterest: There is a community board here where you can pin your makes. (You will need to request an invite to join)
On Facebook:Â There is a community board here where you can postÂ your makes (You will need to request an invite to join)

Only entries shared via the above 3 methods will be entered into the competition. Closing date for entries is 30th September 2016 Midnight GMT. Good luck!!

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