Gearing up for Wardrobe Refashion

This year I'm taking the plunge and going 6 months without buying anything new. Hopefully I can ~ in the words of Tim Gunn ~ "Make it work".

To get started, I'm taking this child's dress which is a favorite and lasted through two girls and making it over into a spring skirt.

The top is hopelessly stained and instead of trashing it, I'm going to give it the old college try. The bottom edge is a delightful garden of bright flowers with a little bit of sparkly beading to make it a little dressy. The whole affair is 100% cotton and is insanely SOFT. It was pretty soft to begin with, but 4 years of washing has made it even softer.

My plan is to cut the top off just above the pink dropped waistband and add *something* to make  waistband. I've got no idea how to proceed right now, but I'm definitely headed in the right direction. The back zipper actually stops just above the pink line, so it's a win/win situation. The skirt has a built in slip with lace edging that is just soooooo soft and girly.

I'm open to suggestions how to proceed. Please leave me some comments!

New Year, New Leaf

I'm not generally one for making resolutions because they're so easily broken. So this year, no resolutions! I've got a few goals though.

1. Rejoin Wardrobe Refashion. I'm working towards a "life" membership. It's a scary prospect to actually head towards sewing everything new or thrifting. Especially when sewing new is more expensive than shopping clearance and thrifting is NOT easy when there aren't any Op Shops about.
2. DONE!!! Catalog my pattern stash in a spreadsheet complete with picture and category. I might even get crazy and add a catalog number. But we'll see. I don't want to act all "SuperWoman" or anything. It might ruin my rep.
3. Write one pattern review per week. This should be easier to do now that I'm going to catalog my stash. I think I'll break these down by category (Men's, Women's, Children's, Crafts) and do them on a rotating basis. So you'll see 12 of each category per year. In a month with 5 weeks, you'll get a "bonus review" of my choosing.
4. Try one new thing per month. It might be knitting or needlework or something I'm not very familiar with or haven't done in a while. We'll see.
5. List one thing per month in my Etsy shop. It could be something I made or maybe something vintage, I dunno.
6. Participate more regularly in Iron Cupcake: Earth challenges.

Wardrobe Refashion - Ready, Set, Sew!

You know those items of clothing you never ever wear? The ones lurking in the dark recesses of your closets and the depths of your dresser drawers? And don't tell me you don't have at least ONE item you never wear for whatever reason. Well, those are the items I'm going to get started on during my 2 months of WR. Bear in mind I'm also sewing from scratch a wardrobe of outfits, so if the Closet Refugees don't get gotten to before the 2 months is up, don't sue me.

The first candidate is the sort of neat denim skirt. It's just HUGE in the waist. I mean HUGE. It rides so low on my hips, it could fall right off if I suck in my tummy. It also has these side button slits with brass buttons that dig into my rump and thighs if I sit down wrong. Tres Uncomfortable. So that's going to be my first victim.

To begin with, I'm going to revamp the waist and put the zipper in the side. Front zippers are mannish. Side zippers (or back ones, even) are sexay. Then, I'm going to rotate the skirt around so that the button slits are front to back not side to side. The back ones will be removed and the front ones will be expanded to get some sexyfront (as opposed to SexyBack). The inset pockets will be removed and either replaced with patch pockets on the front or foregone altogether. It depends on just how much fabric is left when I'm done frankensewing this thing backtogether.

[Forrest Gump]

One thing is for sure: those brass buttons are never going to dig into my but-tocks again.

[/Forrest Gump]

Before & After Pictures Coming Soon!

Wardrobe Refashion

I've decided to take the plunge and join in the pledge not to buy any new clothing. I wish I could say that I was able to make the pledge for life, but I'm chicken. REALLY chicken. So I'm going to join up for 2 months and see how I make out.

The Pledge

I Nina, not a llama, pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of
"new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 months. I pledge
that I shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my
own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge
that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoted,
recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so
that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings!

Signed Nina, not a llama.

I'm determined not to fall off the wagon.

This all gets under way May 1st, so check back!

The Intrepid Seamstress: She Sews, She Scores!

My darling Mother-in-law gave me a gorgeous sarong and shawl with coordinating fabric a while back and while I don't have the knowhow to wear a sarong, I dearly love the fabric and have wanted to *do* something with it for ever since she gave it to me. So, I decided that I was going to tame the beast and start sewing for myself rather than just for the kids. Partially because of Wardrobe Refashion and partly because I'm disgusted with RTW stuff.

I posted a poll over at SewRetro to see what should be my next project and unofficial result was a Very Easy Very Vogue pattern that used to be my Nana's. It's never been used before, so I wanted to make something from it. I took it down to my local FedEx/Kinko's and had them run it through the large format copier. $11.24 later, I had my pristine pattern ready to be altered. And boy-howdy did I have to do some alterations.

I had to add 6" to the bodice, 11" to the waist and 6" to the hips. Luckily, the empire-ish waist and A-line skirt made that a fairly simple endeavor. I didn't even swear ONCE! I guess that's why it's called "VERY EASY". I omitted the sleeves and pockets since I was going for a nice simple line and short sleeves and I don't coexist well. I've got fairly large biceps for my height and getting the ease right is twitchy.

The bodice is made from the front of the sarong:

I used the zig-zag pattern that used to run lengthwise down the sarong as the front and the back of the sarong makes the back of the bodice as well as the front of the skirt. The back of the skirt is made from the coordinating pink fabric while the hem is actually the border of the sarong cut and sewn along the bottom edge of the skirt.

The dress got the seal of approval from the Mini-Fashionista known as my oldest child. She's suddenly turned into an expert on anything fashion-related. Which doesn't surprise me since she's got an eye for color and so on. At 6 years old she painted an amazing rendition of koi fish. Look out world, she's coming. She's the one on the left.

Back to the topic at hand, not only does the dress fit like it was custom made for me (der), it totally matches the shoes I bought in Indonesia to wear to my brother-in-law's wedding. SCORE! I picked up some gorgeous beads at JoAnn's with a 40% off coupon and I'm going to make some matching jewelry to go with. Go me!