Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Refashion: Mickey fleece Scarf to Kid's hat

I like making kids' clothes. They require a little material and are super fast to make (I do choose simple clothes to sew). My son has outgrown the winter accessories I made for him 2 years ago so I quickly sewed up a new one tonight.

This red fleece Mickey Mouse adult scarf was bought at my local Thrift Store last year for $1.99. My son likes Mickey Mouse so I knew I wanted to make something for him with this. It just happened to be the perfect width for my son's hat.

1. First I cut out the top part of the hat. Basically it's a rectangle. I cut 2 of these - 1 for the front and 1 for the back.
2. Then I cut out the headband piece with the back lower than the front and a little extra flaps for the ears. I cut 4 of these. There are centre front seams and centre back seams. The band will be double thickness.
3. I sewed the top 2 parts together. Then I sewed the band together and then connect the top and the band and voila!

I still have more material to make him the neck tube. Not too shabby for a $1.99 thrifted item!

Thursday, August 22, 2013

New Burda Fall/Winter 2013 patterns - inspired to copy

I haven't bought any brand new sewing patterns for a long time, except the out-of-print/vintage patterns from my local thrift store (50-99 cents). But I still look forward to the new collection of patterns each season from the bigger pattern companies. If I see something that I like, I would try to find an equivalent from my pattern stash and try to figure out how to tweak mine to look more like theirs. I have seen the new Burda Fall/Winter 2013 patterns on the web and one of those that really caught my eye is this one:

I thought what a clever way to accessorize the same basic strapless dress to make it look completely different! I have always liked versatile clothing. This seems to me an even better idea than those infinity dresses.

Since I already have a good basic strapless knit dress pattern, I will just have to figure out ways to create the accessories like the one in this pattern. I don't love view B so I will just have to do a variation of that.

If only I have a special occasion coming up.................

Monday, August 19, 2013

Refashion: Men's jeans scraps to Toddler hat

This is a super simple refashion project. I have lots of men's jeans scraps from various refashioning projects. They are too small for making adult clothing/accessories but are perfect for kids' stuff. Here is a reversible hat I made for my toddler using the men's jeans scraps and a red floral cotton skirt I made for myself ions ago.


For the rest of the scraps, I think I'll just sew all the small pieces together and make a bath mat. I'll let the edges fray to give it some character. There are lots of examples of this type of denim rug everywhere on the net.

Sunday, August 4, 2013

Pattern Review and a Refashion: McCall's 4842 dress

This is both a pattern review of McCall's 4842 (out of print) dress and a refashion. I picked up the pattern from the cheapy bin years ago and never made anything from it until now. I was attracted to the knit dress on the envelope. The material I used for this dress was an XXL teal blue elastic waist cotton knit skirt with pockets that I found in my local thrift store. I liked the colour and the fabric and thought I could make a top or dress out of it. This is the before:




I used size 14 which was actually a bit big on me. I had to re-sew it down to size 12. I upcycled a black ponte knit nursing shawl (already cut up for other projects) to make the neckline band and the armhole bands. The neckline was too wide so I had to redraft the neckline by folding out about 2cm from each side of the front and back neckline pieces. I didn't recut the dress portion because I thought the armholes were a bit low and this change in the neckline might pull up the armholes a bit. Good thing this is a moderate stretch knit material. If this were a woven fabric, I would definitely have to redraft the dress part as well after the neckline changes. The armholes were bounded with the same black ponte knit as I thought it would help prevent the armholes from stretching out.

The pattern was easy to sew but the neckline was too wide for me to wear a regular bra. I suppose if I had wanted an off-shoulder look it would be perfect but I didn't want that. So the neckline adjustments I made worked better for me. I'm sure if I were to make it again with sleeves I will have to make adjustments to the sleeves pattern pieces as well due to the neckline changes.


I have worn this dress out (as you can see I got a stain on the front already!) and it's very comfortable. But I don't think this particular neckline is flattering for my broad shoulders and back. I think it makes me look even broader. Well, I'm wearing it anyways, probably with a cardigan or a jacket. I do like the colour and the weight of the knit. I hope that this will be another dress I can 'winterize' for later this year.



Saturday, August 3, 2013

Planning the Fall/Winter 2013/14 Wardrobe

I know it's still hot and sunny out there but I'm already planning my Fall/winter 2013/14 wardrobe. I took a quick look at the Pantone colour forecast for Fall 2013 and found that my favourite Fall/Winter colours are there:

(source: Pantone)



I love teal blue (they call it Mykonos Blue), bluish purple (they call it Acai), bluish red (they call it Samba) and the bluish pink (they call it Vivacious). I also like the mossy green (they call it Linden Green) but the fabrics that I have in that colour are mostly spring/summer fabrics. For the other colours, I have them in wool, ponte knit and sweatshirt knit. I’m sure I’ll have fun creating new garments with this  palette for this Fall/Winter season.


But first I must do an inventory check of what I already have in my wardrobe. I have made lots of Fall/Winter clothing for myself over the years. I don’t want to be too frivolous and add more unnecessary items that may not get a lot of use. And because I have grown more and more obsessed with ‘cost per wear’, I would like to ‘winterize’ my summer clothing as much as possible. So I don’t really envisage making more than 3 or 4 additional items. The wardrobe is not growing any bigger either! ;-)

I definitely will be making some clothing for my 2 kids as well. Since I'm still not buying any new fabrics, I must set aside some fabrics for the kids' projects first. I won't actually be starting the kids' projects until the end of Sept. Who knows how much bigger they will grow in 2 months? I want the clothes I made them to be useful for more than a couple of months please!