Dropping a dress size and a half, (thankyou peops for all your lovely comments and yes Marie. New hair too!) means that pretty much everything I had in my wardrobe no longer fits me. So I’ve started rebuilding my wardrobe pretty much from scratch. This week I finished up a couple of versatile wardrobe basics….
Refashioned Jeans: I picked these up at a local charity shop for £1.89! They are brand new M&S jeans in a supersoft khaki denim with a bit of stretch. Guess what…..they’re a size 10! I can’t remember the last time I fit into a size 10. In my teens I think! Granted the stretch element of the denim probably helps, but who cares! Anyhow, M&S jeans always fit me nicely in the waist, bum and hips. But the leg styles can often be a little frumpy so I just narrowed them in my usual way.
Black kimono tee: made from fabric that J’s Nanny Flo gave to me. The length means I can wear it out like this, (without fear of builders bum 😉 or tucked into a waistband without causing too much bulk underneath. It’s self drafted using this method, and then sliced up to insert a triangular panel with pintuck detailing. (The “slicing up” part to be detailed in a post to follow shortly) The neckline, sleeves and hem are all faced with bias. Using bias as a neckline facing is a new revelation to me. I can’t believe I haven’t done it sooner! It’s sooooo easy and negates the need to draft a neckline facing.
I first used it on my pleat front tunic as detailed in the original pattern instructions. I can see this being a particularly useful and time saving technique for future makes. Especially for refashioning; where if I wanted to recut a neckline, I would otherwise have to draft a facing by tracing the curve from the fabric. Something that has always stumped me in the past. Daft really when I think about it. I’ve used bias to bind a neckline before. So I don’t know why it never occurred to me to go one step further to steam it into shape and turn it in as a facing instead! a bit of “doh” forehead slapping moment! I’m probably late to the party for that one. You clever lot all knew about it already I’ll bet!
