Thrifty, practical sewing

Do you sew practical clothes or this which are fun/challenging to make?

I think most of us do a bit of both. In fact, I'm spending way to much time thinking about what to make lately, which usually means I should just jump into a new project and not worry about its practicality. It's hardly like I won't have anything to wear if I don't sew a pair of black trousers right now...

Sometimes one has to be practical though. Especially if it actually requires fairly little effort. And resques a well-loved item of clothing.

Resques? Yes. Like many other people who sew, I usually prefer to make something new rather than mend. But that is a bit of a waste, so, once in a while I do it anyway.

This time it was this shirt. It's vintage, I don't really know how old. It's a simple thing and I bought it very cheaply but it's 100% silk which makes it really nice to wear. But, recently, it developed a tear in the fabric just under the left sleeve. I think the fabric had just become too thin there because the shirt was so wide on me that I doubt I even put stress on that area.

Because it was so wide to begin with, I could do this. However, I couldn't just take the thing in normally at the side seam because the tear went on for about 7 cm into the front piece.

So, I improvised and moved the side seam towards the front. So, I kept the full width at the back but cut off the entire damaged area (and the corresponding bit at the other side) at the front.

It hangs better on me than on the dummy and I think I like this look better (even though arm movement is a little more confined)

P.S. Several asked about the skirt shown in the blue cardigan post. Of course I made that too, it was over a year ago and I blogged about it here.

Little silk blouse

Yesterday, I spent a lot of words on how much fabric to buy for what project. Today, I'm off in an altogether different direction. Re-fashioning.

As you may know (especially if you've been following this blog for a while), I often make things from second hand leather clothing. No problem there.

I buy second hand stuff more often than I use it. It's like having a double stash. On rare occasions, it will be an item too interesting to pass up but more often it's unappealing clothes which attract the fibre-snob in me.

That way, I have, slowly but surely, built quite a collection of silk shirts. They are all 100% silk, most were for sale at 1 euro a piece and they are all big, blocky and probably from the 1980's (or 90's. A lot of what we think of as typical 80's fashion happened in the early 90's for most people).

At some point, I used one silk shirt for my first draping experiment. Which was interesting and (un)fortunately taught me that Mary has a bit of a posture problem which I don't really share with her. That particular shirt was made of a slightly heavier and more matt silk than all the others.

Now, I have decided to do something about the silk shirt stash. After all, that silk would be great to wear if we are still getting a bit of summer and even in autumn and winter, nice silk tops could make great pieces for layering.

This little blouse is my first attempt. The shape is rather simple, but I thought that between that and its shy nude tone of colour (which is impossible to get right in a photograph), it could use something to jazz it up a bit. And I don't usually do decoration. At all.

The material wasn't easy to work with. Very thin, slippery and very stretchy when used even the slightest bit off grain (like in say, bust darts, or shoulder seams or even just slightly shaped side seams)

Susan wrote a post, a while ago about making a vintage-style chemise, using a double needle as a quick and easy way to make narrow pintucks. That is what I decided to try here.

And I had this narrow lace in my stash which matched the colour of the shirt quite well (bought way back, when I just started sewing and thought decoration was nice). I sewed that on using a small zigzag and cut out the narrow bits between the lines of stitching. I used a zigzag because I did a test in which I could just tear the fabric away if it had been attached to the lace with a straight stitch...

The buttons are mother of pearl and come from a very old card of buttons which I found in one of the little sewing boxes from my grandmother.

I'm reasonably happy with the blouse. The fit is Ok, I think I will mostly wear it tucked into a high waistband and I'll have yet to see how well it holds up with wearing and washing.

A 'new' bag

I made a 'new' leather bag. In fact, the bag is new enough but I made it from about half of an old leather motorcycling jacket. I already used the other half for a bag for my father. I just added a sturdy zipper, rivets, D-rings and a lining.

I used the welt pocket from the jacket's front for the front of the bag...

and unpicked the elastic at the back in order to have enough material for the new back.

And I made the lining out of some yellow cotton.

The shape of this bag is really easy, you only have to consider the order in which you put it together. Including a zipper and a lining means you have to plan ahead. However, this leather is really thick and quite stiff. I couldn't have done it with a lesser sewing machine...

It's quite a tough looking bag so it will be interesting to see how well it works with my usual 'look'. Although I usually pick my bags for practical purposes rather than for style.

'Effortless' is so hard to do...

It's a favorite fashion buzz-word: Effortless. Usually, it's part of a construct like 'effortless chic' or 'effortless cool'. As such, it carries connotations of comfort and not-trying-too-hard. While still looking chic, cool, hip and/or glamorous, of course.

It is, obviously, one of the fashion-system's (magazines, and production and promotion industry) little cruelties. A look which seems easy enough to achieve and can look like it would actually work in the real world.

However, to get the effect seen in the fashion spreads, you need the looks of one of their models. Tall, skinny and with a flawless complection. And some extremely careful editing of your 'look'.

Anything less and you risk looking like you just threw on the first thing you found in your closet...

If you've been reading this blog for a while, you may have developed a certain notition about my style (both in sewing and dressing). I think I tend towards a more put-together look, contemporary with a retro edge (hey, a girl can try...). 'Effortless' doesn't usually feature in my personal style vocabulary. And yet, it's not without a certain appeal.

Sometimes, I try. And whenever I do, I always seem to make trousers. Of course, the clothes for any 'effortless' look should not be visibly confining in any way and allow for full freedom of movement. This excludes things straight away, like strictly tailored jackets and pencil skirts. Both in cut and material, the should be comfortable without being plain or sloppy.

I gave the look another try with this.

(Obviously, I'm not really sleeping in this picture. I was using a self-timer and happened to look down in most shots. The end-result: my eyes seem to be closed in every otherwise-decent picture)

High waisted, belt pleated trousers (I know lots of people hate this shape but I have made other versions of it and I actually believe I got it to work on me) in dark green flannel-like cotton fabric with a mustard coloured lambswool jumper. The jumper was refashioned from a large sized second-hand one.

I wanted a big drapey cowl, but didn't have enough material. For the shape was made by a combination of tracing an existing jumper for the body and using my knit sloper for the shoulder and armscye.

I'm OK with the final look, but it takes some getting used to.

I wonder, is it strange to sometimes wonder about this 'effortless look'-thing? Do you ever chase it? Are you succesful? Or do you just think it is one of those annoying fashion-press inventions by which women are made to fret about what should be simple, comfortable every-day clothes?

Tetris jacket status report

Here's Mary showing my progress so far. Next order of business: that collar. Or the sleeves. And then the lining.

don't know whether I'll get much more done this weekend. The fabric market (held twice a year at several locations in the Netherlands, I'll write a little report when I'm back) is in town today and miss R is coming to pick up her suit. So, I will also have to put labels into her things, iron them one last time and clean up my sewing room just a bit...

The awesome power of pattern tetris

Today, I'm once more making something from re-purposed leather (just like the short-sleeved jacket in the banner). And I'm not using just any old piece of leather clothing this time, oh no.

Last year, my boyfriend finally decided to throw out his old leather coat. It was really necessary, the top layer of the leather had been completely worn down in some places and little bits of the surface of the pockets had been torn. However, it was also the coat he had been wearing all the time when we started dating (almost 8 years ago now). And every winter since.

So, because I had already found out about the advantages of re-using old leather garments, I claimed it. Apart from the wear, this coat had another major disadvantage: it was made up from quite a lot of pieces and the front was full of pockets and closure-construction. As a result, that big coat didn't yield a lot raw material for me to work with.

The leather from the coat sat in my stash for quite some time. I wanted to make something good from it. Something I would wear. A lot.

A while ago, I finally made some sketches which came close.

A short jacket, with armhole princess seams, long sleeves and a big collar. The real thing will have a zipper in the left princess seam.

A short shell with princess seams was easy enough to make. The collar was hard to do either. Then came the difficult part: how to cut that jacket out of all those small pieces of leather...

Enter the powers of pattern tetris:

I will also use some black wool from my stash for the sides at the back, the sleeves and part of the collar.

First draping experiment

Calling this a draping experiment is not entirely correct. Although I made it by shaping the material on Mary, it has little to do with the time-honoured craft of draping.I actually have a book on the proper technique of draping at home now (on loan from the local library. did I mention I love libraries?) and I'm dying to try it out. If I could only find Mary a way to stand. I went looking for options yesterday and once again, I returned empty-handed. Now E has offered his assistance...

This top started out as this 80's monstrosity, bought for 1 euro at second hand stall at the market. Not the roughly cut-off sleeves which I serged before washing the shirt.

There were large breast pockets and there was a notable difference in colour between the fabric inside and outside of them. As a result, this shirt was a poor candidate indeed for any kind of normal resizing or refashion.

Until I realised I could try and enlist Mary's help.

I started out, as I've shown before, by cutting the sleeves off and the sideseams open. Then, I put the shirt on Mary back-to-front and started laying the new front into pleats trying to achieve a pleasing shape. At that point, I wrote the earlier post about it. Then, I had to iron the shirt and re-do the pleats. The real challenge was creating a back and sleeves to match. I don't think the back really matches the front (which is in fact a bit of a pet peeve of mine) but I wanted to keep the collar and I didn't have that much fabric to play around with. The old top front of the shirt is now the back yoke and the rest of the back is made up from the fabric of the old sleeves. Darted and with an invisible zipper in the center back seam.

The sleeves were draped for what was left of the old front (minus those pockets). I actually only draped the sleeve head and the added the rest free hand. I think I did well for a first try. There should have been a bit more ease in the sleeve head (I had to ease the arm scye into sleeve a little bit...) and usually, my sleeve hems hang more straight, but it does look like a sleeve.

One of the big challenges of making this top came when I had to go from pinning and bits of hand basting on the dummy to actual construction. Suddenly, I had to determine where put the side seams exactly. And whether or not I had actually added sufficient ease for wearing... I made the body first, stitched it together and then I put it back on Mary to make the sleeves. I think that was the right order, knowing where the side seams are is quite practical when draping a sleeve.

When all was done, I couldn't find a zipper in the right colour. So today, I decided to break with my usual habit and buy an overpriced one at the fabric store. Now, my top is finally finished.

It's nice to wear because the fabric is ever-so-soft. The pleats are quite a bit lower and less straight then I originally envisioned them. I had pulled them taut on Mary, so I think it has to do with the added ease. Unavoidable really. There is a bit of a grainline issue with the back yoke. Which is, of course, terribly off grain and it sometimes shows. The worst thing is the fact that the whole garment twists a bit. The tight gathers on the hip somehow pull the side seam a bit to the front. I think that is caused by two things: the sheer weight of that pleated section and the weird grainlines at the side seams which are a result of all that pleating.

Regardless of all that, and of my usual fussiness, I think I will wear this. It's quite a departure from my usual, rather structured things and yet, it is sort of my style, the colour colour suits me and, despite being fussy about cut and fit, I always believe in wearing my learning curves ;)

Employing Mary

Mary still doesn't have a foot. I haven't had much opportunity to hunt one down and, unfortunately, using the foot of my regular dummy is not an option. To stay in place, it uses a mechanism that's inside the dummy, not on the foot. Mary is stuffed with newspaper and has a cardboard bottom. She will need a foot she can just stand on.

That said, something suddenly occured to me yesterday: if I want to work on a top, I could just put her on the table...

Which is just what I did.

I'm playing around with a big silk shirt which proved to be a rather unwilling candidate for refashion so far. Mostly because of its two breast pockets which rendered to front of the shirt pretty much useless.

After taking this picture, I've taken the shirt off and ironed it. Then, I put it back on Mary, this time making sure that it was on straight. I very carefully pinned the pleats, making them neater. I plan on basting them next. After that, I'll make the back. There is a plan for it.

In the picture, I've been playing around with white tape and a bit of Mary-fabric to try and determine a proper line for the armhole. It seems tempting to keep the shoulder width and call it a cap sleeve, but, unlike Mary, I need to be able to move my arms forward. I'm still contemplating sleeve options. I won't have a lot of of material left for it, so it will have to be a short sleeve at most. Any suggestions?

Check plaid

A few years ago, I spent three months in Edinburgh as an exchange student. I loved it there but unfortunately, I still haven't had a chance to go back and see more of Scotland.

Although Edinburgh is home to the most amazing vintage store I've ever visited (at the foot of Castle Hill, about three stories of an old building stuffed from top to bottom with anything from genuine antique garments to very affordable 'normal' second hand clothes) and tartan and kilts are sold everywhere (varying wildly in both heritage and quality), I did not buy this skirt there.

I found it last week at my usual vintage stall at The Hague's Monday market. It's 100% wool, from a Scottish wool mill and pleated the way these ladies' skirt usually are (real kilts, which are menswear, are much wider, up to 6 m, and the 'set' of the plaid is repeated in the pleating). It was also a size medium, and therefore a bit too big for me. But 'too big' can be fixed.

At home, on closer inspection, I found three small moth holes at the back of the skirt. I asked M for advice and ended up hiding two of the holes in the folds (stitching around them and then pressing the fold back to how it should be) and 'darning' the last one using water, steam and a needle. Sort of like needle-felting-light.

I also moved the inside closure and added an extra hole to the buckle strap. It's by far the laziest way to make it smaller, but I think it just works out.

I thought about making it shorter as well, but as you can see, I didn't. I kind of like this look, and I'm reading everywhere how longer skirts are about to make their big come-back so let's find out how this works in the real world. I can alway do more to it later.

I can always do a bag first...

I'm so happy at least some of you are familiar with chaotic sewing and posting ;)

Yesterday, I was trying to decide which sewing project to tackle first, when my eyes strayed across the shelf in my sewing room where I keep my less useful thriftshop finds... Hats, gloves and small handbags. About three of each.

Now the gloves and hats are all in fine condition but only one of the bags is. The other two were bought together. I was at the market stall one day admiring them for their nice frames and closures when the seller offered me the two for 7 euros... Of course I couldn't say no! They were both made from what looked like plastic coated paper, printed to look like animal skin, and looking very, very tired.

When I saw them on the self now, it hit me: I know you can't reuse a handbag frame which has the bag materials squeezed in (rather than sewn on), but I can always add a layer! The inside of the bag still looked great, and the sides weren't bad at all. It was just the front and the strap.

I took some pieces of thin black leather (once part of a large coat and left over from making the jacket pictured in the banner) and sewed them together so they were large enough to cover the bag. Then, I used spray glue to put the leather on the bag surface. I trimmed the edges to about 1,5 cm past the corners of the bag and folded those narrow edges over (mitering

the sharp corners).

I made a new strap by sewing the longest scrap of leather together to form a tube and turning it right side out. I inserted a piece of not-suitable-for-its-normal-use electrical wired, and sewed along the edges using a zipper foot. Then came the fiddly bit of attaching the strap to the bag frame. I stitched extra bits of leather to the strap ends and glued those around thin straps of leather, pulled through the loops on the frame, they I put rivets in.

The new strap is a bit longer than the old one used to be, so the bag can now be carried on the shoulder as well. I know there's a loose end visible on the strap in the picture, but I glued that down afterwards.

I'm happy with how the bag turned out, but I think it could use some spicing up. I made a button robot but it doesn't look half as cute when it is hanging down (the arms almost disappear inside the body). And maybe I shouldn't have used such dark buttons. I'm not good at decorations, so I think it will take several tries to come up with something. Do you have any suggestions for me?

'New' skirt

Let me start this post with an apology. I know some of you like my 'weekly outfit' posts, but I won't do one now. I've been feeling a little under the weather all week and right now I neither look nor feel very stylish. I'll make up for it as soon as I feel better though.

Despite the annoyingly low energy level that comes with having a cold, I have managed to get some sewing done. And something that has been on my mental to-do-list for months, no less.

Way back in October, a friend of a friend paid me to make this dress fit her. She had bought it at a vintage shop, loving the colour.

No idea how old the dress was. I would guess at early 70's but if anyone has a better idea, I'd love to hear it.

Whatever the dress was, it was at least two sizes too big for her, and quite a lot longer than she wanted (that dress would have been ankle length for an average sized women, but this lady is definately on the short side). I altered the dress for her, and while doing that I noticed it had to have been homemade originally. It had wide, irregular seam allowances, trimmed with zigzag stitching and the thread colour of that changed halfway through. And those bust darts had been poorly stitched and pressed, resulting in too much of a pointy shape. I fixed that too.

The final result looked great on her and I hope she has enjoyed wearing it since.

Of course, I got to keep the bit of skirt I cut off. The outer fabric is certainly 100% synthetic, probably polyesther. I would never buy that from the bolt, but the colour is great and it has this interesting abstract textured pattern. I also had a piece of lining left, which was rather nice, as lining fabrics go (= it doesn't cling)

The dress's skirt had 7 gores, so I didn't have a great deal of options for the design of my skirt. I knew I wanted pockets though, and no bound ones this time. This is the end result (the actual length is about 10 cm above the knee, but my dummy misses a bit and is therefore stuck at its lowest setting). I'm really happy with it and looking forward to wearing it out.

Weekly outfit nr.7

It was rather hard to take a proper picture of this one, but I assure you: it looks kind of nice in real life.

I made the jeans about a year ago. The shirt is new. It started out as this dress, with which I was happy at first. However, it didn't live up to that in wearing. The big pleat it had made it pull towards the back quite badly and all the buttoned bits made me think of various kinds of old-fashioned hospital wear. So, I cut it short, took out the pleat and decided to see if it would work any better as a shirt. I think it's Ok when teamed with high waisted trousers or skirts and it managed to get my boyfriends sign of approval.

On another note: remember those shirts for my boyfriend I told you about? He mentioned today that a collegue of his was absolutely amazed to hear they were home-made...

Just an update

Last week, I had some more time on my hands for sewing. I still dedicated most of it to sewing shirts for certain men in my life ;)My boyfriend has a new job which means he isn't wearing overalls all day anymore. And he happens to be addicted to the comfort and fit of my made-to-measure shirt block... In the past month or so, I've made him no less than three new shirts.The other man benefitting from my shirt making skills is my younger brother. It's his 22nd birthday next week and he loves the two I've made for him before.

For myself, I made the bag (see below) and played around with refashioning an old jumper of E's. I made the cardigan in last weeks outfit and this cowl-thing out of one.

This flappy-collared vest was made from the second jumper.

A few little tips for this kind of thing:

- Use a basic fitted t-shirt pattern as shape to start with. I used mine for both cardigans. It will give you a proper shoulder- and neckline and a proper sleeve (even if you don't use the side shaping, like I did in the last one). When using a thick knit, cut 1 cm wider than you would for jersey. Once you have your basic body-bit, improvise from there.

- I'm afraid you need a serger for knits like this. And take care with the settings. I tested them before I started sewing and ended up with the differential quite high to avoid pulling the fabric out too much.

- If you want to make a nicely finished, invisible hem, first serge the edges, then fold them in and stitch them down by hand.

The last thing is something I started on in the weekend and finished yesterday. Leather trousers. I bought a pair which I knew to be too large for me at my usual thrift stall a few months ago (for just 5 euros). I had to build up courage and come up with a plan to make them smaller. Eventually, I manage to get away with just taking in the side seams (although that meant taking out and re-attaching most of the lining). It's a new look for me and I have to get used to it, but these will be great in cold weather.

Weekly outfit nr.6

If you follow Wardrobe Refashion, you may have seen a part of this outfit already. I posted the cardigan there the day before yesterday, just after completing it. If you don't follow WR, here's the story: my boyfriend had two large sweaters in a tweedy wool-poly rib knit. They were outdated in shape and had been taking up space in our wardrobe without being worn for as long as we've living together (more than 4 years now). So I convinced him to let me have them. This cardy was one of the results.

Today, I've teamed it up with my beloved circle skirted wrap dress and thick ribbed stockings. I'm quite pleased with having found a way to wear the dress in autumn/winter (although I wouldn't wear it on my bike, or when going out for a long walk). I made the dress at the end of summer '08, in an effort to come up with a wrap dress that would work for my body shape (contrary to popular belief, wrap dresses are not universily flattering. they gained that reputation by being flattering for ladies with larger breasts, something which most other dress styles fail at miserably)

Vintage finds

Pictures! I'm finally home by daylight, on my own, without being crazily busy, so I decided to put my somewhat camera-shy self in front of the camera to show you something I found at one of my thrifty market stalls last week.

First up something less intimidating.

These two handbag were mine for 8 euros. There's a good bit of age to them, which shows in their nice clasp closures, leather linings and old-fashioned pulls on their inside zipper-pockets. They've also both seen better days. Especially the handles are in a sorry state. I'm thinking about replacing them. I've got some black metal chain in my stash, but it should really be yellow metal, don't you think?

The one on the left might be eel-skin or reptile and the one on the right snake. However, on close inspection it is clear that there made from leather or even plastic stamped to look like exotic skins (which is good). The 'snake-skin' looks like paper with plastic scales on it when you study the torn bit at the handle. I'll have to ask my bag-o-philiac friend if she can date them or tell me anything more.

The thing for which I had to pose is this:

It's a half circle skirt in soft red leather. Oh, and it has pockets.

I'm always on the lookout for cheap second hand leather items which I can cut up and use to make bags. This one, I found at a stall where I don't usually shop. It was 5 euros. I was intrigued by it but had my doubts about the elastic waistband. But at that price, what could go wrong? It would either be a special garment for me, or several bags.

I threaded in new elastic, making the waistband a bit tighter and I have to say, I kind of like it. The length, fullness and weight of the thing give it, at least in my mind, a bit of 'New Look'-appeal. It may not be practical in real life, but I'll give it a try. Here's one skirt which won't have a date with my scissors any time soon...

Skipped a day to: Thrifty Thursday

I kind of planned to post something every day this week, just to get the blog going but yesterday really didn't leave with the time or the opportunity to take a picture and sit down to some writing. And I had a really hard time getting the pictures where I wanted them when making the kimono-tutorial on Tuesday.

Today, I made the little bag you see in the picture (sorry if it's a bit blurry). It's for my mother and I need to find a belt or something like that to act as a shoulder strap. Next to it is the other half of the thrifted pair of leather trousers I made it from. The trousers may look too good to cut up, and indeed the leather their made from is in great condition and hardly shows any wear. The shape and size however, are a different story. It's a very small size, but the fly and the waist-to-hip ratio seem to suggest it's a men's garment. The legs get very narrow towards the ankle and are short, even for me. Oh, and it's crazily high waisted. So, I think it will be better off being two bags and being enjoyed as such.

Why did I refer to this post as 'Thrifty Thursday', you may wonder? After all, one repurposed pair of trousers doesn't make it a post about thrifting. The point is, this is about what I do when it comes to going to thrift shops. I like to make all my clothes from scratch and have rarely found anything I wanted to own and wear in thrift shops (and stalls. When I'm at home in The Hague, all the thrift stores in my neighbourhood are of high-end expensive kind but the Monday market has several stalls selling loads of junk with some hidden gems). I tend to buy hats (when I'm in England, the Dutch hardly do hats) and gloves, look at bags and look through the clothes quickly.

Clothing in thrift stores can tempt me for two reasons: either it has to be something unusual, a fifties dress for example, or it has to be good raw material for something else. So far, I've never bought any of the unusual dresses. I'm afraid I'd just be collecting more stuff to clutter up my house. Of the 'raw material' stuff, I am buying.

My favorite Monday market stall puts all the small sized items, including lots of leather skirts and trousers on a '5 euro a piece' rail and occasionally discounts some of it to 2 euro. That's where I bought the trousers for my mother's bag. I've got two skirts waiting for me as well. They're what I think of as eighties things: straight skirts high waistbands, belt pleats and a 'midi-length' hemline.

I'm also going to make a postman-style bag for my father using fabric and leather from an old motorcycle jacket a friend gave me (I gave her a bag made from half a leather skirt to say thanks) and several friends have expressed their interest in my bags. So I really hope the thrift stalls will keep coming for a while.