Sweatshirt and knit dress

I've been meaning to share some of the refashions I have created at my work for a while now, but organising, participating in and documenting Me-Made-March '11 seemed to sap March up! I made a couple of these casual dresses which are now on sale on the website (so sadly they were not for me!), which is where I managed to swipe these wierdly professional images of my handy work. I wanted to share this particular design with this blog because I think this design is a pretty good way to re-use really common garments that most people could find easily in their local charity shop/thift store/op-shop. Each dress requires two large mens sweatshirts and one piece of knitwear, so not the most efficient ratio of old to new garments, but if they are going to be made into something you will get lots of use from, then I personally don't think that ratio matters so much. One of the sweatshirts forms the skirt. I made sure to allign my skirt pattern pieces with the hem of the sweatshirt so the ribbing part can be incorporated so you don't need to figure out how to neatly finish the bottom of your dress. From the other sweatshirt I cut the back of the dress and the sleeves. I also removed the hem ribbing from this second sweatshirt. I trimmed the ribbing piece down and folded it in half to form the binding of the dress's neckline. The front panel is cut from the knitwear. Most of the knitwear we get to work with has moth holes or stains down the front, or is pretty worn or bobbled in places. This dress design means you can cherry pick the salvageable part of the garment. I really like how the textures of the knit and sweatshirting create a contrast. You could use stripey, argyle, cable or any crazy patterned knit to make the contrast even more fun and pronounced. In case you were wondering what pattern I used, if memory serves it was self-drafted based on tracing round a jumper for the top and an existing skirt pattern from the bottom. I think I free-styled the gathered sleeve (I LOVE how forgiving knit, sweat and jersey can be compared to woven!). But if you wanted to create something similar, I think the patterns in the Sew-U: Home Stretch book would be a great starting point. Check out my blog for more of my refashions, plus other creations and warbling! Happy refashioning peops! Zoe xxx