Deep Purple

I bought this deep purple cardigan with multiple flounces and frills, from my local charity shop for just £1.

I liked the colour, I liked the price, and I liked the fact that it didn't look worn at all.  There was just a bit too much frilly stuff.

I de-frilled the cuffs, a pretty straightforward exercise.

I decided to close the opening and convert it into a jumper by making a fake button border from denim and ribbon.

More pictures and info here





Crazy Patchwork Creation

I wanted to make something from a pattern and thought this top made from panels would be ideal for using up small pieces of fabric.

The crazy patchwork centre panel was a lot more difficult than I imagined, here's the back of it.

I am quite pleased with finished product and it fits well but I do think it looks a bit too home made.

More details and photos and self doubt here





Doily meets t-shirt

Snowflake t-shirt

I've noticed quite a few lace applique items on the fashion rails lately and I thought this could give a few doilies a chance to shine.

I bought this pair for £1 from a charity shop.



I had originally planned to use one on each shoulder to embellish a plain t-shirt, but a central neckline decoration seemed to work better.

I've got a few more details and photos here

Vintage Scarf Refashion

1960's scarf refashion

I have a passion for scarves, the fabric can be so dramatic because its meant to brighten up a dull outfit. Sometimes the fabric seems too good to be hidden folded around your neck - it should be taking a centre stage. I mean, look at this one which I bought for only £1 at roundabout  in Sheffield, a local charity shop.  You need to see the whole picture to appreciate it.  That's what was in my mind with my latest refashion.

The label revealed it was a circa 1960's St Michael Rayon Satin fabric, made in Italy.

The second component of the refashion was a plain pale blue long sleeved top also from Marks and Spencer but from their modern Autograph range, and I bought it from traid in Brixton for £2.  This shop normally sits at the upper end of the charity market selling vintage and higher end items at what I consider to be high prices, but they were having a sale and it looked like they had pulled out a number of less trendy items from the back of the shop and were flogging them off cheap.

This top was made of 85% cotton, 15% silk fabric which was very thin and stretchy and the neck binding was a nice organza strip.

My idea, put simply, was to sew the scarf onto the front of the top in a flattering, stomach hiding (I wish) draped way.

I don't really like interfering with a vintage item, but there was a small hole in this scarf.

I had actually worn it as a scarf a couple of times as well,  before re-directing it to refashion.

The t-shirt fabric was thin and stretchy, the scarf fabric was silky, slippery and shiny and had no stretch whatsoever, so I had to find a way of combining the two which would work for both.

I spent a whole evening pinning tacking and trying on -  a dress form would have come in really handy.

In the end I just had to start sewing.

I added some pleats  and darts at the lower end of the sides, an idea copied from a top I already have.  The theory was to add drape. I kept using my seam ripper to hold everything flat and in place as I was sewing along.

 

I didn't cut the scarf at any point, instead I folded it over, mainly because I was worried about fraying, but I doubt you could deconstruct this top and wear the scarf again.

Here's the finished article.

I left the armpit to neck section open to allow for stretch and movement in the base top.  I quite like the way it looks a bit like a strappy top with a shrug. 

I have got a blog featuring this re-fashion here but I've put I decided I'd go for a full detail post on refashion co-op so there's not much point in heading over there unless you're interested in previous posts.

Christmas T-shirt

Christmas T-shirt

It's wear your Christmas jumper to work for charity day today.

I have got a Christmas jumper but its so unseasonably warm I made this Christmas t-shirt.

This one is actually for a present so unusually for me I went in a shop and bought a new t-shirt to embellish.  So hooked am I on second hand that it's actually a long time since I bought something new.

It was just a couple of hours work, all hand sewn using scraps of fabric I already had that could vaguely be classed as Christmassy.

Hope the recipient likes it.

Happy Christmas everyone!

Too small linen dress to skirt

  

I bought this too small linen dress from my favourite charity shop for £1

It was made (in China) by Laura Ashley and was 100% linen.

I liked the style and my plan was to make it bigger by adding extra panels at the back, but this proved to much complicated work and I changed to the simpler plan of making the bottom part into a skirt.

I added a cord frill, the fabric from which came from an old jacket, and also used the lining of the jacket to cover up the back of the frill, which looked quite messy.

More details of the process here

I couldn't resist adding some flowers.

I thought length of this skirt would be suitable for wearing with boots when the weather eventually gets colder, but at the moment it's still t-shirt and sandals weather.

Refashioners 2015 - Alternative Angles



Before and afters - front and back





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I have really enjoyed  refashion runway and The the refashioners 2015.  These talented sewers are so inspirational, who could resist sewing along?

I took this pretty standard men's shirt and flipped it 90 degrees so the sides became the front and back - I'm not particularly recommending this, it was fiddly and took ages, but I'm happy with the end result.

I used the shirt collar for a neckline with and added contrast trim. 

 

 

I also re-used the pockets to make one central pocket

 



I'm planning for this to be my men's shirt refashion entry, there are more details of the process here



Club Tr Op icana

I bought this T-shirt by Ocean Pacific for £1

It was to be the subject of a plan I had to embellish the neckline, while at the same time obliterating the golden sunglasses.

Firstly I reshaped the t-shirt by taking in the side seams in the normal way and shortening the length.

Next I cut a long brightly coloured strip and pleated it to form a sort of frill.

The sunglasses have now disappeared!  All that remained was to cut the neckline to shape and stitch the pleated frill in place.

There are more details and photos here .

Here are a few of the finished product.

 

The other side of the counter



Sew here's one I made earlier

I wandered down to my favourite charity shop and Oh no! it was closed for the summer (it's in a school), so I thought I would post my first re-fashion which I made before discovering re-fashion co-op.

I own a lot of scarves which I don't wear enough but have such lovely fabric.

There are no before pictures but I think you can work out what I did with this viscose scarf and cotton t-shirt.

This is the rather messy inside of the t-shirt where I sewed the scarf corner on, but did not cut away all of the t-shirt fabric.  This helps with the stability of the thing.  I left the back of the t-shirt as it was.

I'm going to use this method again, but the scarves fray a lot and some don't wash well and some are vintage so it would be wrong to cut them up. So guess what I've done, yep I've bought some  extra ones.



It was also quite fiddly to get the points of the arms and shoulders exactly in the middle, but I was and still am, pleased with the result.

Made in Italy, restyled in London

1. 

I pulled this garment from the 50p bin in my favourite charity shop
I think it was so cheap because it was in need of a wash and an iron.

I didn't know what it was meant to be, maybe a beach cover up bought on holiday in Italy.  The label said 'Made in Italy'  but no brand, and it was 100% linen.

There were some nice elements, the lace yolk at the back and the rope edge the collar.

 

The mottled colour reminded me of a cloudy summer sky.

I shortened the sleeves, took in some of the width and removed the two flaps at the bottom of the front, and was left with this.

I decided to keep the hemline shape higher at the front, but add a bright check binding.  I could also not resist adding this superdry badge because it featured 2 crossed sewing needles.

More details available here  Apparently I inserted an unusable link last time, hope it works now.

Finished look, its still quite roomy, worn around Old Leigh near Southend.  I like the check contrast against jeans. It needs ironing again!

 

Happy sewing x

Party dress to Gypsy Skirt

I bought this dress in my favourite charity shop of the moment for £1

I nearly missed it because another shopper picked it up first, but put it back because it was too small - I grabbed my second chance, their loss, my gain.

I deconstructed the dress

Added a denim frill and finished the frill with a strip of red lining



I made a waistband, and wore the skirt around while out and about

More details available and photos here