Sewing With Purpose and Repurpose

Last weekend a few friends and I got together to sew pencil skirts! My friends are interesting in getting into sewing, so I promised I'd help them out and we'd pick an easy pattern to go through together. Two of these friends have a pretty extreme waist to hip ratio (we try to balance things on one friend's butt, Kim Kardashian style), and a common complaint I get is that its really hard to find pencil skirts and dresses to fit their bodies. So when I saw the free (!!!) Lekala pattern #5088 three seamed pencil skirt, I knew it was the perfect pattern. With Lekala patterns, you input your measurements and a pattern is custom drafted for you and a pdf pattern is emailed to you 10 minutes later. The sewing party was very successful, one friend was having machine troubles so fell behind, but the rest of us all had some fit issues to work out so we finished at the same time! As wonderful as the personalized measurements seemed, something as form fitting as a pencil skirt is ...

Before I get started into my post I wanted to share a neat photo collection I stumbled upon, Christopher Payne's "Textiles" collection . The photos are so fascinating! I love seeing the technology that goes into the materials for my favourite past-time, and the colours in the photos are absolutely delicious. Doesn't this look like it should be cotton candy, not fabric?? Back to business! This was my last sewing with non-purpose dress of 2015, first and last! (Hopefully) I had just walked into fabricland, saw this gorgeous stuff on sale for $3 a meter (!!!) and had to have it, even though I didn't really have a plan for it. My original idea for it was to make a long collared shirt-dress with the white border at the bottom. However, I had a friend who was feeling a bit down in the dumps so I asked his opinion to get his mind off things. He's very into minimalist and edgy fashion and I thought he'd really like the fabric. He was very adamant that it...

I absolutely fell in love with this pattern while I was living in London, its a 1920's inspired cocoon coat from  Ralph Pink . I absolutely love 1920s and 30s fashion, and was looking for a project that would challenge me and I could learn from, this seemed to fit the bill. I decided to make the cropped version of the coat, as I'd only seen one other make from this pattern pop up google, and that was a long one from The Wallinna . I got a good start on it while I was over there, I bought some wool suiting and beautiful printed lining in Walthamstow market, this was the most amount of money I'd spent on a garment as the fabrics are quite good quality. Unfortunately life happened and I started packing up to come home and didn't get around to finishing it off until very recently...when I found out this pattern fits very very small. Like I could hulk rip out the back of it. The material was hard to iron so the coat is pretty wonky in the pictures below: I g...

Polka Dots and Stripes I often buy baggy style clothing in the name of ease and comfort, then feel like I am out in public in my night gown. That was the situation with the dress below, I bought it because it was fun and whimsical but it turned out I looked like I was only my way to a pajama party. I still like the whimsical part of the garment, so I am going to re-purpose it into something a bit more bat wing-ish and fitted in the hips. You can re-purpose any dress into a bat wing top, great for garments that no longer fit in the waist but still hold some mystique. All you will need is some additional fabric to make the sleeves and waist/hip and arm bands. NEED TO PURCHASE: You will need 1 meter of 4 way stretch fabric for the sleeves and a half meter for the waist/hip and sleeve band. STEP 1: You will need to cut 2 bat wing pattern pieces. I used some large sketching newsprint, but you can use what you have on hand. These pieces you can adjust based on your heigh...

TIE PUZZLE This is a variation on the last post of a silk scarf made with re-purposed men's ties. This one has some interesting lines and can be worn in a variety of ways, but the one displayed I think is the most interesting. STEPS 1: Materials, you will need: 1. Half meter of silk, approx. 18 inches (or 45 cm) and 54 inches wide. Use a silk that has some body as it is easier to sew with. 2.  You will need 2 men's neck ties that match or contrast the half meter of silk. 3. Seam ripper, scissors, thread, etc. STEP 2:  Seam rip both ties so they are open flat and remove the cloth facing inside the tie. Do not seam rip the end of the tie, keep the end points intact. Iron both ties flat. STEP 3: Iron the silk and cut in half so you have 2 equal pieces approximately 27 in. x 18 in. STEP 4: Fold the 2 ties in half, wrong sides together then pin each tie to the longest side of one piece of the silk, raw edges touching. The pointed end of the tie should b...

SOMETHING BLUE I am always looking for a way to make a fun new scarf out of beautiful silks I come across at vintage or second hand shops. I love the pattern and texts of men's ties and am looking for ideas to re-purpose them. I mostly get the thumbs down from my daughters on my tie creations and they have in the past begged me not to wear my tie outfits out of the house. These tie projects are pretty safe and might not even be recognized as being ties in a previous life, well not the first one any way. STEPS 1: Materials, you will need: 1. Half meter of silk, approx. 18 inches (or 45 cm) and 45 inches wide 2. Although the image below shows only one, you will need 2 men's neck ties 3. Seam ripper, scissors, etc. STEP 2:  Seam rip both ties so they are open flat and remove the cloth facing inside the tie. STEP 3: Iron both ties and cut 2 each ties in 18 inch lengths trying to get the maximum width for each piece. STEP 4: Iron the silk and cut in...