The never-ending and the near-instant refashion

Two refashions at either ends of the time taken scale.  

 

This first one I thought about for a looooong time as it involved cutting into a hand-knitted jumper.  I probably should have thought some more.

As is all too typical I jumped in without getting all the photos, but it was a bit like this - a long sleeve lace knit jumper in very soft lambswool.  Over time it had stretched out and the sleeves were now really long and the ribbing didn't hold them in place.  Super annoying to wear as the sleeves drooped over my hands.

I took in the sides and tried out a few different ideas for the sleeves.  I was somewhat inspired by a similar top I owned in a not so nice acrylic.

I took in the sides.  Luckily it was so oversize to start with, as the first experiment with the overlocker did not go well.  I could not adjust the differential feed enough to stop it going really wavy.  A very wide and loose zigzag on the sewing machine worked better.  I needed to go over it a more than once to catch the loose yarn.  Don't ask my why I unpicked the neck, but it seemed look a good idea,  I knitted it over with remnant wool and it now looks exactly the same.

 Tried out a few different sleeve variations and settled on short.

 Got them both sewed on and hated the puffiness when I tried it on.

Success!  I finally ended up taking the sleeves off altogether and knitting a rib edge to make a sleeveless vest.  Which I really like and will get much more wear out of when it's too hot for a full jumper but too cold for a long sleeve t-shirt on its own.  The remaining wobbliness in the sides drops out when worn.  The whole refashion and refashion again took 2-3 years in total.  Yup, 2-3 years.  I will think more than twice before cutting a lacy knit jumper again (probably).

By contrast this second refashion, for which I took no before pictures, took a day from the thrifting to  the finishing.  These are chef uniform pants I picked up because I wanted loose, light cotton pants for weekend summer wear.  I removed the last of the hook and loop tape on the back pockets, reinforced some broken seams and rolled up the hems.  They looked too chefy, so I threw them in a navy dye pot, which came out as a pale blue-grey colour due to the poly-cotton fabric, and done!

Happy refashioning!

Mimi

80s jacket rescue sans shoulder pads

Take a look at those shoulders hanging right off the end of Gabbi's form!

As you may have guessed, this is an 80s era jacket.  I think it was my Mum's. It was actually made in Australia (gasp! - doesn't happen much now) and quite well made too - fully lined and quite good pattern matching.  Awesomely capacious patch pockets.  I'm pretty sure it's a polyester blend fabric, which I don't love, but it's okay for what I had planned and it's clearly very durable.  The buttons are horrible though, a very cheap looking plastic.

To work - obviously those shoulders needed revision.  Since the sleeves were too short on me, I decided to get rid of the whole shebang and just cut the sleeves and oversized shoulders off.

The sleeves were filled with this weird orange powder which got everywhere.  I believe it to the be remains of the disintegrated foam shoulder pads.  The sleeve caps were also padded.

I pinned in the new shoulder edge 5cm shorter (about 2 inches in the old money) and also tapered them to my sloping shoulders.  Then I cut both the outer and the lining fabric to the new line.  I also added bust darts which is why the vest hangs so much better on Gabbi in this photo than the jacket did previously.

I removed the buttons.  Although the jacket was double-breasted I like the jacket hanging loose so I've left buttons off  The buttons holes blend in quite well, even in real life.  Maybe I'll change my mind but I've already been wearing it this way.

And those huge pockets are indeed awesome.

Happy sewing!