Make & mend roundup
Halfway through the Fashion on the Ration year, only 22 of my original 66 coupons remain. I’ve had to buckle down to some serious make & mend to eke out my wardrobe. It’s included a lot of the usual jeans-to-cutoffs stuff that doesn’t merit a blog post, but here are some other highlights.
Most of the garments in my Please Try Harder drawer have needed little more than refreshing and reshaping to bring them back into play. This green cardigan started life as a soft and lovely but rather frumpy thrifted Brora sweater — round-necked, demure and with a bow under the chin. Sweet on somebody, but not on me.
I unpicked the bow, slit the sweater up the front and cardiganized it — stitched a length of ribbon to each cut edge, turned it to the wrong side and worked buttons and buttonholes through center front and ribbon. It’s a fast and easy conversion, but it does require some nerve to take a pair of shears to cashmere. I also reshaped the side seams to be more figure-hugging, as Brora sweaters tend to have a mumsy silhouette. This is a mod I perform on most of my sweaters now — all it takes is a simple straight stitch with a ballpoint needle, and you’ve instantly got a much more nipped-in and flattering shape.
Then there was the beach cover-up I bought from Zara in 2004 and the monstrously unflattering ankle-length linen pants I bought from the Gap in 2006. I lopped several inches off the hems of both, shortened and elasticized the shirt sleeves, reshaped the pant legs and accessorized. Total garments bought: 0. Totally new outfit: 1. Valid grounds for a little smugness.
Next on my list: my new skinny jeans demanded a voluminous top. The Japanese are particularly good at this — until I got my hands on my first Japanese pattern book recently, I had no idea “loose” didn’t have to mean “shapeless”. I decided to convert one of James’s old shirts to a Japanese-inspired smock top.
I embarked on this project freehand. After all, I’ve screwed up the classic man’s-shirt-to-woman’s-blouse project enough times with a pattern to feel I could hardly do worse without one. I removed the sleeves, unpicked the fronts and back from the yoke, cut the yoke narrower to fit my shoulders and then reattached the fronts and back, adding some red piping and dart tucks over the bust and at center back to fit them to the new smaller yoke.
My modifications had made the armscyes smaller, so I redrew the sleeve caps more or less freehand, without ease, and stitched them on. This is against all the rules, including mine, but seems to have worked okay; I’m not sure what the moral is here, unless it’s “Don’t sweat the sleeve caps.” Then I cut a new neckline and finished it with bias binding folded to the inside, put on some new buttons, hemmed everything up and voilà! It really was that easy, mostly thanks to the shirt’s check print. I highly recommend using stripes or checks — it’s like having graph paper to guide you all the way. Cutting, pressing, tucking and seaming can all be done with mathematical precision.
In our next installment: dresses from things that weren’t meant to be dresses!
you might be interested in having a look at the small collection I made from second hand men’s shirts called “none of your business”…it is part of my MA in fashion about make do and mend…I have also made a lingerie collection from an old pale pink lace curtain which I will post on my blog soon. the link is below, sorry no html you will have to cut and paste…look forward to seeing the dresses from things that weren’t meant to be dresses!
http://paperdoll-lingerie.blogspot.com/2010/07/i-have-just-installed-small-collection.html
Wow! That’s some sexy make do & mend!
The smock is unspeakably cute!
Have you read the entry on Fashion Incubator called Sleeve Cap Ease is Bogus? I think you will find it enlightening. http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/sleeve_cap_ease_is_bogus/ http://www.fashion-incubator.com/archive/sleeve_cap_ease_is_bogus_pt2/
Read it? It’s my sleeve gospel!
I love the Japanese-inspired top. It looks breezy and comfortable, with out sacrificing shape. I’m going to have to try this myself!
you do great work and I’m seriously jealous. LOL Kitty
ooooh, so fascinating! And please do show all the “dumb” remakes because what you take for granted might be a new idea for some of us. Pretty please.
After reading your version of your new cardigan, I know exactly which wool sweater I’m turning into a cardi! THANK YOU. When I do it (it’s waaaaay too hot here to touch wool), I will blog it and link back to you.
I love the men’s shirt re-do, too! I’ve always adored men’s shirting fabric so much but never sure what to do with it. My friend told me to make John-John suits for my son, so that’s an idea I haven’t done yet.
You may be interested in the drafting series here http://www.ikatbag.com/2010/07/series-on-drafting.html
if you are freehanding armscyes.
Here’s another re-do, jeans into a skirt:
http://theopulentpoppy.blogspot.com/2010/02/how-to-make-perfect-pantskirt.html
I adore these kinds of makeovers, can you tell?!
I love clothing makeovers! It’s so tempting to think “Ugh, why resurrect this skirt I’m sick of when I could just buy a new one?”, but a little snipping and stitching does rekindle the love.
Thank you for the drafting tutorials!
Wonderful! When I finish, I’ll send you photos of two re-makes I’m working on. One is a silk blouse in what I think is a Liberty print. It was a little small for me, but I’ve decided that with some judicious piecing I can remove the sleeves, add two narrow side panels, and turn it into a sleeveless blouse for me.
The second is a pair of thrifted Ralph Lauren 100% wool trousers in charcoal. They’re nice and fit across the hips, but had that horrible partially elasticized waist. On some people it’s fine but it becomes unattractive baggy fabric around my waist and upper hips. Even though the pants already have darts, I have to take them in a further 3″ at the waist and taper it downward. I’m thinking two darts on each side as this is a bit much for one dart.
Anyway, great job!
That top is amazing! On my list of things to try.
I like what you did with the sweater and the man’s shirt. I used men’s shirts to make little girls dresses for the granddaughters, but never a blouse for myself….have to try it!