de ja vu: my Castaway to Couture competition entry

I wasn't planning on entering this year's Castaway to Couture competition run by the Australian Sewing Guild, despite the amazing prizes on offer. I was just plain out of ideas, but the weekend before the competition closed I happened to find myself in an op shop where a large box pleat skirt made from wool in a bold print caught my eye. And in that instant I decided to enter the competition with only a few days to go.

Using New Look 6968, which is my go to sheath dress pattern, I turned the oversized skirt into a fitted sheath dress which is perfect for me to wear to work:

If you're thinking this refashion looks very familiar, you'd be right! I guess I am a one trick pony because this year's entry is pretty much exactly like last year's entry (posted here) which was also a large box pleat skirt I made into a fitted sheath dress using New Look 6968. I wear this grey dress frequently and there's always space for another great dress in my wardrobe, so despite being unimaginative I decided to stick with what I know works best and what I knew I could make in a short time:

In an attempt to be a little more creative, I decided to use the border print vertically instead of around the bottom of the skirt. There was enough fabric to make it either way, which is why a box pleat skirt is a perfect candidate for a refashion - once you've unpicked it and pressed the pleats out you have two large rectangular pieces of fabric just as though you had bought it fresh cut from a roll.

This skirt started life as a size 20 Fletcher Jones skirt, which was an iconic Australian label known for using Australian wool but has sadly since closed. I bought this on a 50% off day, so it cost me $6:

Using Claire Schaeffer's brown paper and vinegar method I managed to press the pleats mostly out, and although they are slightly still there it gives a bit of texture to the fabric.

I decided to place the coloured stripes on one side of my body, which meant that I had to cut one side out upside down. If you look closely you can see some white horizontal stripes within the grey and yellow vertical stripes which are on opposing sides on the front and back, but I doubt anyone else will notice this little detail.

I tried my best to line those stripes up vertically and horizontally, but the darts made that impossible:

I had to eke out the sleeves from the leftover fabric which meant that I couldn't match the stripes there either, but I think all these mismatched stripes makes the dress look very RTW. And the fact that several people have complimented me on the dress but no one has mentioned the stripes not lining up exactly just proves that no one cares about these details as much as we do!

Because I've made this dress so many times before, it came together quickly and fitted like a glove first time. The original skirt was unlined and had a short invisible zip, so I had to use new lining and a new invisible zip but I'll reuse the original zip in another project and there was hardly any fabric left of the original garment, and overall it was a good reuse of the original garment. The whole point of refashioning and recycling is to reduce waste, and it makes little sense to me when I see refashioning projects that use just a little bit of several garments - so much leftover scraps which absolutely no one needs anymore of. I'm also a little bit horrified when I see beautiful garments 'refashioned' just by chopping off sleeves or the skirt to make a mini dress, it makes me wonder if that project won't be worn often or last too long and is in effect just fast fashion as well.

Anyway, if you've read this far can I ask one more favour from you? You can vote for your favourite project over at the ASG website - there are some great other entries in the gallery, but if you like mine the best vote for entry 19 (vote here)!

Castaway to Couture - my grey skirt makeover

The Australian Sewing Guild is once again running a competition called 'Castaway to Couture' which requires entrants to refashion an existing garment into something new. The first prize is a Brother embroidery sewing machine, so if you are an Australian or New Zealand sewer you should definitely consider entering - you've still got until the 31st May so plenty of time. And if you're not going to enter yourself, well then - you should vote for me!!

I don't often bother with refashions since I have such a huge stash and refashions generally take much more time and effort, but the competition was enough incentive for me to finally getting around to doing something with this wool skirt I bought at a garage sale a few years ago for $5. This is what I came up with:

I've wanted to do something with this skirt for a long time because the fabric is so lovely. This is an Adam Bennett number, probably from the 1980s, and is made from pure wool. It was deeply pleated , but on me was too big and too long. It was really heavy too, due to how much material was in it.

Originally I planned to keep it as a skirt and make it smaller to fit, but I couldn't just chop a bit off the bottom because it would lose the proportions of the stripes, and I couldn't just take it in at the sides either because it was just one long piece with just one side seam.

The first thing that was required to was to get rid of those pleats. What a lot of work that was! If I didn't like this fabric so much I would have given up and just used one of the many perfectly good pieces of fabric in my collection.

I washed and soaked the fabric many times, and I pressed and pressed and pressed. I used the method Claire Schaeffer describes in her book Fabric Sewing Guide of placing on the fabric some brown paper that has been soaked with a 50/50 vinegar and water mix and pressing it with a hot iron until the paper is dry. It worked wonders at getting the creases out, but that vinegar smell sure did give me a craving for some fish and chips! The vinegar smell goes away though when the fabric dries. Here is the fabric after washing and soaking but before pressing:

And here is the fabric after pressing a few times with the brown paper and vinegar method:

The fabric feels very flat and smooth, but what I hadn't counted on though is that a visible line would remain along the edge of the pleats despite all the washing. You can faintly see in the photo above the visible vertical lines - I've just decided that it is a design feature, and that the fabric has vertical self stripes in addition to the horizontal coloured stripes!

These photos don't really show the vertical lines at all, but in the daylight they are quite noticeable.  The lines are evenly spaced across the front, and I managed to line them up on the bodice and the skirt, so hopefully everyone else just accepts it as a deliberate feature.

I used my favourite sheath dress pattern, New Look 6968, which I've used many times before with great success (see here, here, here, here and here!).  Funnily enough one of those previous versions was a refashion too - obviously the simple lines of this pattern and the small amount of fabric needed are perfect for refashioning.

I kept the hem of the original skirt, and managed to cut the skirt and the bodice out of the width of former skirt because it really was a very full skirt. The spacing between the stripes worked out pretty well when I wear it with a belt:

Without a belt at the waistline however it looks a bit plain and the proportion is a bit off there in the centre, as the stripe on the skirt is too far below the waistline:

There were a lot of stripes to match at the side seams and the centre back invisible zip, but with a lot of pinning and careful sewing I think I managed to get a pretty good match at all stripes, even the one interrupted by the dart at the bust line:

The reason I love this New Look pattern so much is that it has a waist seam with a separate bodice and skirt which means I can get such a good fit in the small of my back thanks to the waist seam and the darts. I find that putting darts into a single back piece never gets a close fit in my swayback as this style does.

There's not much more I can say about this pattern that I haven't said before - it's a great basic pattern that is quite simple to sew. I made this one a size larger than previous versions I've made because this fabric has no stretch and those previous versions are all a little bit tight now (they must be shrinking while hanging in my wardrobe, I'm sure!). This size is really comfortable to wear, but there is a bit of looseness around the bust and below the waist, but I think a bit of ease is necessary in a form fitting dress with no stretch.

I've fully lined this dress in some lining that has been in the stash a long time, and even used an invisible zipper that was salvaged from another garment, so this really was a cheap project to make. Unfortunately this project doesn't make any dent in my huge fabric collection at all, but it's certainly a great addition to my wardrobe.

So as I said at the beginning, the competition is open until the 31st May and I really encourage fellow Australians and New Zealanders to enter - who wouldn't want a fancy embroidery sewing machine or any of the other great prizes on offer?

The latest accessory in white (and clothes in black)

We've had a whirlwind two weeks around here, hence the blog silence. All the usual things - busyness at work in a new job, school holidays, Easter and then Anna does this to herself:

She slipped from the monkey bars whilst at vacation care and landed awkwardly, completely snapping the humerus bone above her elbow. You know things are going to be bad when you get a phone call at work that begins with "don't panic, Anna's fine but she's gone to hospital in an ambulance...."! She ended up needing surgery to insert wires into her arm to align the bones so that they regrow together correctly.

But kids are pretty resilient, and she's managed it pretty well so far. At the moment it's only a half cast with a bandage around it to allow for swelling to subside and the wound to heal, so it's pretty bulky and difficult to get clothes on with it. Luckily it's her left arm so she can still write and draw with her other hand, but she's quickly finding out how difficult it is to do things one handed!

And sadly a few days before this occurred, my father in law passed away after his condition rapidly deteriorated. It wasn't totally unexpected given how frail and ill he has been these last few months, but when we visited him just a few weeks ago he was doing remarkably well and preparations were being made for him to go home so it still came as a surprise. We've spent the last week with my mother in law doing funeral preparations and going through the Chinese cultural customs associated with death. I'm not particularly religious but I found the Buddhist customs quite comforting - there were monks chanting and praying at the funeral service, and before hand we burned incense money and clothes for his spirit to take with him to his next life.

I also had to quickly make some funeral appropriate clothes for Anna and Toby since their wardrobes are pretty much all brightly coloured and casual. For Anna I refashioned a dress that a friend had given to me that was made from some quality stretch textured fabric but in a horrible design - a wide, mid calf length skirt with an asymmetrical hem, ruched bodice and a bandeau style top. So all I did was shorten the skirt keeping the asymmetrical hemline, made a tube for the bodice and sewed on some gathered straps. I also added a ruffled band to the front neckline, and a gathered elastic belt. Mostly all sewn on the overlocker meant it took less than two hours to finish, and Anna loves it although worryingly she refers to it as her funeral dress.

 

 

For Toby I quickly made a pair of pull on pants in black cotton drill from McCalls 6061. There's nothing special to say about these, but a note for my future self (and anyone else thinking about making these) is that this pattern is really wide but really short! It's sized for up to 18 month olds, but the pants are really baggy so they still fit Toby even though he's now two and not a small child either. They are also really high waisted, so I lowered the rise by 4cm, and lengthen the leg by 5cm although looking at these photos I could have made them longer. I added the band around the knees for decoration, copying a pair of RTW pants that are too small for him now. The pockets are just patch pockets and there is a faux fly although you can't really see it in black.



Nearly all of Toby's pants are now too short - he's somehow shot up in the last few months without me noticing at all! Now that the weather is finally starting to get cooler in Sydney  I'll have to pause in all my selfish sewing to make him some more clothes - hopefully the dramas are over around here for now and we can get back to our usual busy but ordinary lives.

best sewing patterns of the year: New Look 6808

So here we are half way through 2013 and I've only just noticed the list of the best sewing patterns of 2012 over at Pattern Review which went up in February - clearly I live in my own little world for most of the time (and happily too, I might add!). Maria - I love your black and white print Peony dress featured there, and Melanie's Renfrew top pictured in Machu Picchu no less!

Anyway when I spied New Look 6808 there - a top designed for wovens with a variety of collars I knew I had to try it. Lately I've been thinking that I need a variety of tops in my wardrobe, and since knit fabrics and I are warming up to each other but are still not BFFs a woven top is just what I need.

New Look 6808

I made this version from yet another shapeless shift dress that my grandmother had started but not finished, in a lovely crisp white cotton with blue polka dots. She had only got so far as cutting and pinning the pieces together so unfortunately there were quite a few rust marks in random spots after being folded and stored for many years with the pins in place. Another reason not to let your UFOs linger? An initial wash and soak didn't remove the rust spots, so I had to carefully place the pattern pieces to avoid the worst of the rust marks. This meant that I couldn't cut both the front and back pieces on the fold, so I had to move the zipper from the side seam to the centre back, which also meant that I had to split the back collar piece and back facing piece into two pieces. But it all worked out fine, if you didn't know the pattern you wouldn't even glance twice at the back:

Size wise I found this pattern to run a little large. I've made quite a few successful New Look patterns lately that needed little adjustments, with New Look 6000 and New Look 6968 being my favourite dresses fitting wise (see here, here, or here), so I just assumed that this pattern would fit as well as those two. I cut out a size 8 at the top grading out to a size 10 at the waist and then a 12 over the hips, but I probably could have gone down a size overall. This top is also very long - I cut four centimetres off the bottom before I hemmed it, and it still finishes at my lower hip which being my widest part is not so flattering unless I always wear this tucked in with whatever I pair it with.

Speaking of which, I did a quick refashion to this poly-wool blend knit sunray pleated skirt in a yummy caramel colour that I found in an opshop ages ago to wear with this top. It was mid calf length but I lopped off about 15cm from the bottom and did a narrow hem, and then I used a blunt disposable razor to shave off all those annoying pills that certain fabrics get and re-pressed all of those pleats to revitalise it and now it looks as good as new.

I decided to make view C with the bow neckline, which is a bit different to my usual corporate, plain minimalist look but I guess every now and then you need to let your inner librarian out to play! Plus I am loving the caramel coloured skirt look, from my pinterest pins I found these outfit inspirations:


from left: maisouivintage.com, perfectsuits.tumblr.com, hautesplainesgirl.blogspot.com

Overall I agree with this being included as one of the best sewing patterns for 2012 (although it has been out for several years now) - it is an easy make, could be a well fitting top if you took the time to fit it better than I have here, and it could look dressy or cute depending on the fabric you choose.  I can see myself making a few more versions of it. Sometimes it is worth following the crowd.......

This from that: Kwik Sew 2276 and McCalls 5962

Thanks everyone for your comments on the last post and your helpful hints on swimwear sewing - I'll definitely keep them in mind for the next round of swimsuit sewing. Actually I've already tried out the method of sewing elastic on to fabric with the overlocker and then turning it over and topstitching as suggested by both Angie and Maria - I discovered that to disengage the blades on my overlocker all I have to do is half turn a knob so it's easy peasy to do.  My precious Babylock, I love thee more and more each day!

My sewing lately has been so non productive thanks to Toby being a little clingy and whingy lately, he seems to have a sixth sense and just seem to know the exact moment I step foot into my sewing room because he'll then wake up and scream hysterically until I hold him. I've 90% finished my June Burda project, have started a refashion project and cut out a top, but none of these unfinished projects are blog worthy (yet).  I did get a bit of time last Saturday in my sewing room when my husband took the kids to the zoo, and I managed to finish up two pairs of pants for Toby because he's growing so quickly out of his other clothes.

My mum gave me a pair of lovely teal green corduroy jeans that she used to wear when she was younger - I distinctly remember her wearing these and another pair of cord jeans to my school when she was on canteen duty much to my embarrassment at the time. Of course now I would love to wear them myself, except that I can't fit into them and the small issue that my inner thighs are so flabby that when I wear corduroy jeans the noise of my legs rubbing together when I walk sounds like a black hawk helicopter taking off!

So instead I made Toby a pair of jeans from Kwik Sew 2276, a long OOP pattern that I've used before for jeans for Anna. I deliberately made these a size larger and with a little extra length in the legs so they are a little too big for Toby right now, but I'm sure that in no time they'll fit him perfectly (even if only for a nanosecond).

I reused the waistband and belt loops, and added some elastic across the back to make sure they fit properly, and I'm really pleased at how they turned out.

My husband's clothes are perfect candidates for refashioning since he's a six foot something giant and likes to wear his clothes loose so there's a lot of fabric to work with.  Seriously, check this out:

He seems to have a lot of tshirts from charity golf or cricket days etc that are made from really nice fabrics but are covered in sponsors logos which means he never wears them again after the day, which is such a waste of resource.  Refashioning them is such a better idea than sending them out to a charity shop where it's unlikely anyone else would want to wear them either.  I decided to remake this tshirt that was made of a thick, woven knit in grey and black threads into some baggy pants for Toby to run around in when we're at home - no constraints on his overly ambitious climbing and running around now!  I used McCalls 5962 which ironically I whinged about the sizing previously, but this time the oversized, slouchy look is what I was after:

 

This is the waistband I sewed the elastic on with my serger and then turned under and overlocked - such a better method than sewing a casing and threading the elastic through with a safety pin because it stops the elastic twisting. I can definitely see this being a much neater finish on swimwear than a zig zag stitch. The only problem of course is that it's harder to tighten up or loosen the elastic waist if it's not fitting properly because you'd need to unpick all of the waistband, so you need to get that fit right the first time. I sewed on some black cotton tape at the centre of the waistband purely for decoration.

And so these slouchy pants are perfect for hanging out at home and getting into mischief - such as pretending to play golf with the toy golf clubs but really just hitting things with it (such a boy thing to do!)

or running around popping as many bubbles as he possibly could reach:

I braved the city Lincraft store at lunchtime today to buy an invisible zipper for my June Burda project - fingers crossed that Toby sleeps a bit better tonight so that I can finish it, better late than never!

Simple red dress: New Look 6968 yet again

So I survived my first week back at work, but boy was it hard.  Hard to stay awake and paying attention that is! Toby has developed a bit of a cough so he has been waking quite a lot during the night, which combined with his early rising means that by about 2pm or so I'm done for the day and need a nanna nap...

I did get to spend a good chunk of Easter Monday up in my sewing room spending quality time with my fabrics.  I decided to give the red shelf of my stash a clean up, because it was in a horrendously messy state:

I didn't actually ditch too much of my red pieces: red is my favourite colour even if I don't sew with  too often, but at least it's tidy now:

Two pieces went straight into the wash, one of which is this gloriously deep red ponti knit that had been basted into a shift dress that was ginormous on me:



This is a UFO from my grandma's stash (now in my stash), recognisable by her handstitching - I've unpicked enough of her garments for refashioning to know her stitching as well as her handwriting.  It actually has a matching jacket that was completed that my mum currently wears, but I guess a dress and jacket combo might have been too much for my grandma and she didn't finish this.  I was going to take in the side seams and put some darts in, but it was just way too low under the arms for a quick refashion like that.  So instead I pulled it apart completely and just treated it like two oddly shaped pieces of fabric.

I used New Look 6968 again (first, second and third time), not only because it's a great fitting dress but also because it's really economical in it's fabric use so I knew I could squeeze it out from this.  I did need to lower the neckline though because the pattern is for a high round neck but the neckline of the dress was cut too low to fit that in, but apart from that I managed to cut the rest of the pattern pieces out from the fabric:

Check out my new 'back to work' haircut - even if my heart isn't in it at the moment at least I look the part!

I fully lined this dress with some lining fabric in a deep purple colour bought by the roll from the Remnant Warehouse last year sometime, so I didn't have to use any facings luckily since there wasn't any fabric left over for those.  I attached the dress to the lining at the vent at the centre back, but thanks to this photo I can see that I didn't do it properly because there is a slight bulge above the vent.  There is value in taking photos of these unflattering angles after all

I can also see how bad my posture is too from this photo - I always knew that my right shoulder was lower than my left, but the wrinkles above the waistline on my right side seem to indicate that I am slumping quite a bit.  Hmmm, perhaps I need to see a chiropractor or physio before it gets any worse.

I don't about you, but when I think of a red dress I think of either an overly sexy, va va voom style dress or a tacky dress best worn with stripper heels! But it turns out a red dress, at least a dress in a darker, deeper red like this one, is quite versatile.  I can tone it down a bit with a beige jacket (RTW from Jacquie E) to wear to work:

or make it really casual with a denim jacket (made by me) and some flats:

And I've even cut out and started sewing a second piece in red - I'm so happy to be using my red fabrics finally.