Reducing the punishment pile

 

 

 

Do you have those refashion items that don't work but you can't quite let go?  This is one of those: I like the colors, but it was all wrong when I put it on (length / fit / style).

It's been in my maybe one day pile for a long time.

 

Then one day when I was fossicking in my maybe pile that top and this striped one fell together.  They shouldn't work because one is raspberry and the other grape and grey but they look the same colour when they are together by some weird alchemy. 

Meant to be?  Maybe, and maybe not.  The neckline on this one is alarmingly stretched when wearing so there was one way for them to go together.

 

I messed about with options and then cut them apart for sewing back together better.

 

Which is when the 'fun' started. I cut the raspberry one / top part to my block pattern for knits exactly.  But when I tried it on it was way too big.  Did I stretch it all out of shape trying it on? Nope, checked against the pattern and it was fine.  I safety pinned it on me to where it needed to go and that was about 8cm (3in?) each side.  Unbelievable.  I split the difference and took it in 4cm each side and that seem right next time I tried it on. 

Then this - little did I know that the stripes were mismatched by 5 between one side and the other.  Disguised on the original version but it would have been obvious against the block colour.  Did I give up (when I should have)? NOooooo, I cut one side open, pinned every second stripe and sewed the striped section together - with wrong sides together. <Sigh>.  Unpicked and sewed them together again.  Then I had to finagle that sharp point at the bottom side seam, still matching the stripes.  So. Much. Time. Then I stitched the top and bottom together perfectly aligned.  Then I set in the sleeves...  

...and tried it on and hated it.  I dunno, maybe being tortured during the sewing process means I was never going to like it.  I can't put my finger on it.  I added the neck band and I'm going to donate it and hope it makes someone else happy.  It's looks fine on Gabby there.

Lessons learned: 1. I don't have to save everything.  2. When it stops being fun, stop and do the next thing.

I hope your up-cycling is going well, now and in future.  May it always be fun.

Mimi

Useful if unspectacular alteration

 

Bear with me, this is very difficult to show in photos as it's not a massive change.

 

I like viscose t-shirts because they drape really well, and this one is in a favourite colour.  But over time the neckline stretches out until I spend all day faffing to cover my bra straps and keep it in place. 

 

You can see how stretched out it had become. I finally had enough and was thinking of completely replacing the neckband.  But I couldn't match the colour.  Then it occurred to me the existing neckband was stitched in such a way it was effectively a casing.  So I very carefully unpicked where the neckband was sewn together on one shoulder and threaded through 6mm elastic. 

I had to use a large eye needle for knitting, and sew the elastic down to itself in a loop after I put it through the eye.  The neckband is too narrow for a safety pin.  It has stretched the fabric a little, and I did need to arrange the gathers once I'd finished.  I sewed the neckband back together and good to go!

I hope you found this useful and happy sewing!

Mimi

T-shirt from the stash / scraps

I've had the stripe fabric I used for this t-shirt in my stash so long I don't remember where it came from - but it was an off cut and I only ever had enough for part of a t-shirt.  The strips are navy, light blue and white, and I love the colour combination, but it was hard to find other fabrics that worked.

Then I started planning an Alabama Chanin t-shirt project with the two t-shirts above (more on that eventually) and the light blue t-shirt was a perfect colour match.  I also had some scraps from a navy blue maxi-dress that I've been cutting up for years - and the plan came together.

The light blue t-shirt has a mysterious white-ish mark which I thought was bleach but it only shows on the right side.  So I used the 'purl' side of the knit fabric on the outside.  I can tell but I doubt anyone else will ever notice it's technically the wrong side.  I took a close up photo but you can't tell in the photo either.  The pattern is one I've been tweaking for a long time and this t-shirt has a slight high-low hem.  Buttons on the neckline for fun. 

I'm happy to have made something useful from items in my stash of refashions and fabric left-overs.

 Happy refashioning!

Mimi

2 wins and a fail

I'll start with the fail, because that's the way my pictures uploaded.  I wanted to change this oversized, shapeless t-shirt into something that would suit me better.  I trialled a few other t-shirts because it was clear from the start I was going to need some extra fabric.

Got out my TNT t-shirt pattern and messed about a bit... 

 And ended up with this fail.  It's not an epic fail, more a 'meh' fail.  I just don't like it on.  I like the colour combo.  I like the sleeves a bit, apart from the cuff (but I could cut that off).  But, for some reason, it turned out much wider than it should have given I've used the pattern before.  It's also too short and the band at the bottom is just wrong.  This is going to be the problem for me re-fashioning t-shirts - they're always too short to start with.  So if I don't like different bands at the bottom I'm going to have to do some more thinking... back into the re-fashion pile for now.






On to the 2 x wins - sorry, there are no 'before' pictures.  What can I say: a sunny day, a few hours free, I was setting up the dye pot and away with never even a thought to 'before' photos.  These were done in the same navy dye pot at the same time.

The first one was a white t-shirt gone a bit dingy. I scrunched it up and wrapped it with rubber bands until it was a tight ball and threw it in the dye pot to mature.  Voila - stormy sky t-shirt.

The second one was a jumper that has been dyed at least twice before, both previous times a reddish maroon, which have washed out unevenly over time.  It was originally beige.  Now it is a purple, with a completely unplanned but awesome marbled effect from all those previous dye jobs.

Happy re-inventing!

Miri

Refashion a Faded T-Shirt Into a Heart Cut-Out for Valentine’s Day

Valentine's Day is coming up so I wanted to remake myself a t-shirt to commemorate the day. The original design doesn't matter, but I thought that the faded-out part actually made the final result nifty. I don't think I'm going to wear this on Valentine's Day date-night because it's too casual, but I'll be sporting it all day!

I used one faded-out t-shirt that didn't fit right, and a man's XXL t-shirt that I grabbed from Salvation Army for $2:

Head over to my original blog post to see how I refashioned a t-shirt into a heart cut-out for our day of love.