Summer recap no 4 - Pants double bill

Project number 4 - A double bill: 

3/4 and 7/8 pants into shorts and full length color blocked pants 

My sister had 7/8 pants which she didn't wear, because she prefers full length pants. On the other hand, my husband had a pair of 3/4 which he wanted turned into shorts. To make them more comfortable, I used navy bias tape for the hem, allowing me to keep more length for length for lengthening the other pair. As for the 'stacking' result - it looked good. To reinforce the part of the paints suffering from the most wear and tear, I have ironed on the adhesive fabric.

Yoga pants to jumpsuit!

Recently, I learnt that jumpsuits are a big fashion thing this summer. And, I thought, I should get myself one. Only, I couldn't find a truly good looking plus size jumpsuit in Sarajevo, while the prices are anything but friendly (starting from 50 euro). So, I decided to make myself one.

 

I had this pair of really large yoga pants which became too large since I have started loosing weight. They cost 2 euros at an outlet store. They seemed like a perfect piece for transformation in a jumpsuit.

 

 

First, I unpicked the horizontal seam, detaching double layered waist band. Then, I removed the elastic sewn in the side stitches of the waist band, reattached these pieces to form a tube and stitched the tube back on the bottom part of the pants. This action resulted in a very long tube-y upper part of the jumpsuit. This picture shows jumpsuit to be pinned with two safety pins and hanged:

See? Then I figured out that I should unpick the side seam down to the point where my armpits would be once the piece is a jumpsuit. Which I did. As soon as I did that, I could put it on as a safety pin in and out jumpsuit. Only, it wouldn't do. Although, I did really line the cowl neck thing, deciding to keep it at front, while back had to be tackled differently.

All together, there was not enough fabric to reach over the shoulders, so I had to make an insert. As I decided to make a cowl neck, it was logical to 'amend' the back with a different fabric and lace was perfect for it. For this purpose I have use d rather opaque stretchy lace.

 

In its past life it used to be underwear. Having removed worn-out and ripped bits, I was left with two identical pieces which I decided to use for the back and the shoulder part of this jumpsuit. Therefore, I have chopped off a part of back above the armpit line to make room for the lacey insert. To make it right for the first time, I decided to use a pattern. The only pattern I had at hand was for a dress, so I used it, as shown below:

 

I have laid down the back pattern on the lace, connecting the front pattern to it at the shoulders, which allowed for the back panel to extend to the front and be easily connected to the cowl.

 

As for the front, I made very little changes - I created arm curve by using the front of the above pattern, tilting it outwards to achieve the cowl front. This required several tries to connect the lace and the front, but once they were pinned correctly, the rest was easy.

 

As for getting in and out of the jumpsuit, i decided not to stitch together the left and right side of the lace, but rather make them meet at the centre and attach by a hidden patent button. 

 

This is the jumpsuit: 

The back:

And closer front look:

 

I hope you like it and attempt a similar adventure with your old yoga pants!

Funky pants

When I came across photos of tie bleached jeans, I immediately knew I was going to try to make a pair myself. I found a number of tutorials online, and all of them were consisted of the same instructions.
All they entailed was rubber-band 'estrangulation' of jeans and some patience towards bleaching them. As far as I am concerned, I felt like every tutorial I came across was fine, so all it takes is to google the term 'tie bleach jeans tutorial' and you will have some decent instructions to get a unique pair of jeans.

I had this pair of dark grey jeans which were pretty worn out and I made some effort to make the necessary fixes before I proceeded with tie-bleach routine.

These pants needed to be cropped, as they were a bit to long and ripped at the heel. The zipper needed to be replaced, as it kept opening.

 

They also needed some reinforcement between the thighs, which I also did, along with the other two repairs.

 

Once I was done with all the repairs this project entailed, I have proceeded with tying the jeans with rubber bands. I'd like to make a point that there is no right or wrong way to tie your jeans for bleaching, however I would like to make a few points on that matter:

• there is no way to exactly replicate a design
• more ties and more random tying will yield a more intricate design, while
• fewer ties, similarly arranged will yield a more like 'tie dye' design
• there is no certainty what colour will emerge during this process
• if you feel like you must know the underlying colour of your jeans, try making a bleach test on an inconspicuous place prior proceeding with the project.

Supplemental: I have an additional precaution - perform bleaching outside (balcony, porch) or in a well ventilated space, as bleach fumes are harmful for humans and pets. They can also aggravate underlying respiratory issues. So, proceed with caution!

To cut the story short, here is the result of this tie-bleach job:

 

 

 

Refashion No. 3 - Blouse into beach dress

I was contemplating for a while, what could I make of the blouse I bought couple years ago and have worn it occasionally. The blouse seemed fun to wear, but the fact it was black made me look rather 'chunky' in it. But as the material was so gentle and pure cotton, I felt that I needed to find it a better purpose. Here it is, and what I made it into:

There it is! Now I have the first out of several planned and needed pieces of clothing for my August seaside holiday!

The idea for the refashion was simple, as shown at the picture below.

 

I have cut the raglan sleeves along the seam, proceeding with the cut along the collar. As I wasn't going for a halter top (any type of halter is driving me crazy), I have snipped the collar at the center of the back. At the same time, I have cut off 2 inches of fabric at the back, folding the top to make a channel for the string to connect the straps (collar ruffle). The reason I wanted to execute it this way is that I wanted to make the back of the dress flexible.

As the whole thing is black and rather difficult to show the intervention on any photo, I have made a drawing that represents the look of the dress from the back. String is shown in red, and it can be tied in a couple of ways, as desired!

In addition to this, I have added a lace scrap from my stash to the front, replacing the non-transparent black triangle connecting ruffles. And that was it!

I can now enjoy my sundress!

Refashion No. 2 - Denim shirt!

I have discovered that it is quite difficult to squeeze in some a refashion project every week, especially if you are working with anything that is beyond simple cut and sew. Especially if one is out of practice, like me.

However, I have been trying my best to juggle full-time work, and a whole mess of other household and family related tasks and jobs and have managed to squeeze in some refashioning time in the evenings. This means that I was picking seams one evening, seeking necessary material on the next day, and getting my hands dirty with chopping and pinning the next day.

The part of the process I have undertaken thus far, took me to the stage where I have a shirt with hacked sleeves and front panels. But, let me start from the beginning. This is what I started off with:

Denim shirt covered with eye-impaling embroidered red fabric panels

 

Pardon my hubby who took this picture, but you get the essence - it was a shapeless and intimidating shirt, with a denim inner core :)

The first step was to remove the red panels that were sewn on the front panels, which wasn’t as difficult. The next step was to remove the plaid material from the shoulders, which was somewhat more difficult as the shoulder panels were sewed into the shirt sleeves and collar.

Next, I have cut off the sleeves and front panels above the breasts. The scheme of the shirt in progress is shown on the picture below.



Red lines represnt the cuts and blue ones pinned shaping seams (side and back)

After the cuts were made, I have used the off cuts of the front panels to create lace inserts. Use the off cuts as a pattern. I have laid them over the lace, pinned to avoid the need for drawing the pattern (me=lazy) and cut the lace pieces leaving 1 cm seam allowance at the top and the sides, while the bottom seam will require additional centimetre, as the denim will have to be folded, creating a centimetre larger gap that will need to be filled by the lace inserts.

Once you have cut the lace panels, pin them into the place and make a running stitch. If you are too lazy to make a running stitch before machine sewing it, I recommend that you make it at least along the collar, as this one is somewhat more complicated than the others, as you will have to tuck the lace between the two sides of the collar. Once you are done with these steps, proceed to machine stitching. I found this order of sewing worked for me: shoulder, collar, along the buttons and the bottom. The latest I have sewn the sleeve-side of the lace with 2 centimetre wide reminder of the sleeve.

Ill-fitting armhole!

Putting on the semi-finished shirt, I have realised the take-ins I have initially made at the front and the sides of the shirt were not right, and I was thinking of making breast dart (represented by the pins shown in the picture) to achieve a better fit. As I was working in small periods of time I had available during the day, after work and cooking for the family, I wasn’t able to deal with the shirt immediately. I have turned to my mom with the shirt ill-fitting problem and she advised to remove the front sew-ins, and to make more significant take-ins at the sides of the shirt and to make take-ins at the back at the back of the shirt. I have listened to her advice, only it has proven to be rather impossible for me to pin the shirt sides, or to brief my husband sufficiently for him to do it, while I was wearing the shirt. Therefore, something had to be done. The weekend started with dress form making according to Burda tutorial, with my husband in the role of chief dress form maker, and with me being the model. After we have finished all the tape we had in the house, which was just after I became way too nervous, I have called the end of the taping stage and moving onto the cutting stage. To shorten the remainder of this tale – thanks to the mentioned tutorial, my hubby and a crazy Saturday morning I now have a dress form. It is far from looking like the one in the tutorial, but it serves to its main purpose – it does well in imitating my torso for tailoring purposes!

Using my new dress form, adequate side and back take-ins were easy-breezy to make! I have pinned the shirt from the sides and the back to make it form-fitting, followed by the running stitch, machine stitch and cutting off the excess fabric with pinking shears (since my machine’s zigzag option doesn’t work).

Next up, I have conducted fray-preventing actions (pinking, machine stitching) on the leftover sleeves fabric, followed by pinning it inwards. This time, no running stitch was necessary and I have proceeded with machine stitching straight away. One round of machine stitch I have done upon the original shirt sleeve stitch all along the armhole. For the inner stitch, I have moved it 3-4 millimetres inwards to secure the sleeve fabric to the inside of the shirt. In sewing the inner stitch I have started at and finished after the lace panel. Repeating the same steps for the other sleeve I have finally got my refashioned denim shirt! Yay! It fits beautifully now!

 

Parading the shirt at my balcony

Now that I have my dress form, I really hope my refashions will not be taking me three weeks a piece any longer… Especially since I plan to make several summer and beach dresses for my vacation in August.
 

Refashion No. 1!

Well, the hour had come! I have finally made my first large girls refashion!

A simple one, but still! This one was pending since the last summer, and it was well overdue! As the summer had finally reappeared, I found it to be just the right time to get my little sister a skirt I have promised to fix for her!

So, after a family Sunday get-together I have decided to make myself useful and finally do it! Since I have forgotten to take the original picture of the dress before I have snipped it, I will try to make it up by posting a really fun picture of my sis dancing with her husband at their wedding, wearing the exact dress that was subject to this refashion.  

Going back to the fact – why would one want to snip a dress that seems to look perfectly fine – but here is the thing:

1. she wasn’t happy that the dress was actually not a maxi dress, as it showed her ankles
2. secondly, this dress, similarly to all other big girl’s dresses had a high waist making a pear-shaped girl looking like a blob, which all of us want to avoid
3. and thirdly, the comfort of the silk muslin the dress was made of was simply to wasteful to be worn on rare occasions, especially as it was everything but flattering.

So, the refashioning decision was made! The dress would become a maxi skirt, one that actually covers ankles and allows for some flexibility in wearing during the summer.

For that purpose, I have chopped of the top part of the dress (as shown below) and cut a curve at the front part of the dress (also shown on the sketch I made). The reason why we do the curve on the front of the skirt is to assure a better fit and avoid fabric bulging and gathering in the front. This is a tip most of the girls with any belly bulges can use when sewing and refashioning, and the easiest way to measure the curve is to put on the skirt and decide how deep the curve should be to have the best possible fit. To make a curve, mark the middle-depth point for it on your belly, take it off and cut the curve starting from the side seams towards the marked middle point.

 

As the second component for this dress, I have chosen to use a cut-off middle part of a cotton turtle neck (the neck part I use as a head band for bad hair days), while the rest I have used as an addition for the special pillows’ filling.

Firstly, as the fabric was really sensitive, I have sewn the skirt along the waist, so that I could sew the muslin together with the cotton knit from the repurposed shirt. After the first step, I have stretched and pinned the back of the skirt with the back of the shirt cut-off, machine sewing it together. I have repeated the same for the front, paying attention to pin the cotton shirt trim along the curve I have previously cut-in at the front of the skirt. Lastly, I have folded the shirt cut-off (now the waist part of the skirt) and sewn it with the inner seam, achieving the look shown on the picture below:

 

And for the show-off part of this refashion, here are pictures of a blouse tucked-in and worn over.

 

I hope you will like this refashion! Please leave your comments below!