Need some ideas - Refashioning the Pregnancy coat

I made almost no pregnancy clothing for my 2 pregnancies - yes I made my whole line of pregnancy wear - but they were just regular sized clothes that accommodated my bulging belly. The only thing I made for the pure purpose of containing the big belly was this checkered wool pregnancy coat.

The coat started out as a cape that went horribly wrong (you can read all about it here). I refashioned the big cape into this coat. Basically it's a big tent with a hood and 2 big pockets. It's made with a good weight wool coating and the lining is a nice purple quilted, batted polyester. The coat was well used and loved during the winter months for my 2 pregnancies, and cocooned me all through my deliveries and hospital stays. There is no way I'm sending this coat away! I need to figure what to do with this coat - whether to refashion it into another coat that fits me now, or harvest the wool and the lining for some other garments.

I already have lots of winter coats so I'm hesitant in making this into another coat for myself. I could refashioned this into a coat for my toddler, or I could reuse the checkered wool to make a thinner, short jacket. The wool is too thick for a dress unfortunately - I think I'll look too bulky in it. What do you think? What would you do with this coat?

Re-Refashion: Sweater Knit skirt to Sweater dress 2.0

Remember this refashioned sweater dress I made last month? After wearing it out I decided to reduce the bulkiness of the Star Trek sleeves. I used some remnant grey cotton knit in my stash as facings and cut back the sleeves to a more manageable size. Here is the before:

And here is the after:

I think the dress looks less Romulan but more Uhura!! :-) What do you think?

Refashion: Toddler Boy Vest to Toddler Girl Vest

Another simple but practical and much needed refashion project! The weather is getting really cold. This past weekend the harsh Canadian winter has set in. I needed to make another warm layer for my fussy toddler girl quickly.

This was a vest that I made for my boy when he was a toddler. It's a nice thick brown fleece vest that is now too small for him. So it gets passed onto my toddler girl. However, I know she will not want to wear this boring plain brown vest so I had to jazz it up a bit to entice her to wear it. So with some remnant pink ribbing in my stash and some poorly embroidered cat character, here is how it turned out:

I'm still experimenting 'embroidery' (if you can call it that) with my old low-tech sewing machine. I need to buy some appropriate tear away stabilizer for these projects. Anyway, I think it turned out okay enough to get my daughter to wear this(fingers crossed)............. :-)

Refashion: Sweater knit skirt to Sweater Dress

I thrifted this sweater knit long skirt with a torn waistband and a high back slit a couple of years ago at my local thrift store. I initially thought I could make a cardigan vest out of it. But since I just LOVE sweater dresses for Fall/Winter, I thought I should try to turn it into a sleeveless sweater dress.

First I sewed up the high back slit closed. Then, using a sweater dress that I had refashioned before as a guide, I put chalk lines down on the skirt where I wanted to cut. I managed to avoid that torn area.

I sewed up the side seams and the shoulder seams. Then I rummaged through my scrap box and found this purple cotton velour scraps that I had used for another refashion project before. I bound the new neckline and the sleeves with this material. And this is how it turned out:

My hubby saw me in the dress and asked if I was going to be in the next Star Trek movie! I guess he thought that it looked too sci-fi/futuristic with those sleeves that stuck out. I am inclined to think he is right!

What do you think? Should I redo the sleeves to make them stick out less?

Refashion: 80's Power Dress to Batwing short dress

I thrifted this 100% pure virgin wool jersey dress from my local thrift store for a few dollars. I liked the forest green colour and I liked wool jersey. I also liked the gold button details on the shoulder. The only problem was that I didn't examine the dress too closely and only discovered later that there were many moth holes on the dress! Still I like wearing wool dresses in the winter with leggings so I decided to do a simple refashion.

First thing first, I took off the huge shoulder pads. Now the dress just looks like a drop should dress.

Next I turn the dress inside out and put it on. I marked the hem length I wanted to cut off and pinned out the excess fabric on the body. I like the idea of a slightly bat wing dress so I didn't reposition the sleeves nor the shoulder seams.

I hemmed the dress and then painstakingly repair all of the moth holes. I hope no one notices my repairs. And here is the result:

I'm pretty happy that I have 1 more Fall/Winter wool dress to wear. Another simple refashion project!

Pattern Review: Butterick 3267 Toddler Jumper

This past week, the temperature has dipped below 0 Celsius and snow has started to fall. My willful toddler has just gotten used to wearing her winter jackets, hats, mittens and snow boots. But she still would not wear the wool sweater vests I made her. She has become very very very picky about what she wears. She would actually physically fight with me when I try to help her dress in the morning. She loves red clothing but hates almost everything else. So I decided to quickly make some red warmer layers for her with whatever red winter fabric I have in my stash.

I found a small scrap of red fleece in my stash and it was just enough to make her a little A-line jumper. I dug out this thrifted pattern I got from my local thrift store - Butterick 3267. The pattern comes with a pretty coat, an A-line jumper/dress, sweat pants and a hat too.

I made some adjustments to the A-line jumper. I ignored the jumper neckline facings and used some pink ribbed knit scraps to bind the neck and armholes. I thought the straps on the pattern were a bit narrow so I just ignored the 1.5 cm seam allowance for the neckline and the armholes and bound the edges as they were. I added a self-made applique pear (related to my husband's last name) to the left bottom part of the jumper as decoration. I like the contrasts of the red against the pink binding and the green pear against the red background.

I'm pretty happy with this quick to make dress. The fleece was obviously easy to cut/sew and the pattern was so simple (2 pattern pieces only because I ignored the facings). I just hope that my toddler will keep wearing this all winter long!

Jumping on the checkered clothing bandwagon - McCall 5273 pants

I have had this grey/black checkered cotton knit since 2009. I bought it at a liquidation sale at a local fabric store and hadn't really used it. It's slightly stretchy with a firm hand. It's a bit heavy to use for spring and summer. So this Fall I decided to use it for a pair of slim pants.

I have noticed how popular checkered fabrics seem to be this Fall/Winter. Many high end designers and high street labels have produced checkered pants, dresses, tops and jackets this season. I guess I'm jumping on the checkered bandwagon too, while busting my fabric stash from 2009! Yoohoo!!

I used my altered McCall's 5273 close fitting pull-on pants pattern. I knew that they would not be leggings-like. I just wanted them to be slim knit pants that I can wear under tunics. And here is the result:

The pants don't look that great as is but under a tunic they seem okay (excuse the wrinkles on the tunic - I had been wearing it all day):

I'm happy with them. They are slim fitting which means they will fit into winter boots easily and I can also wear them with flats. I guess I'm on the checkered trend now!

A quick look at the New Vogue Sewing Patterns

I haven't bought brand new sewing patterns for almost 2 years now. But I still enjoy looking at the new patterns online when they become available. I would try to see if there were any new styles that I liked and how I would adapt my existing patterns to recreate something similar.

The new Vogue Winter/Holiday patterns just came out and I am a bit disappointed in general. There wasn't anything in particular that attracted me.

This one looks a bit baggy and odd. Even the model doesn't seem comfortable in this herself...

This one seems to be an 80's rehash with some unfortunate fabric.......

This one can be cute.....

I know this is supposed to be artsy but the shape of the jacket may not be the most flattering for most....

This one I can probably copy easily with existing patterns. I heard that checker/plaid fabrics are big this season and I have this big red/black plaid wool in my stash.....

This one could be cute but the fabric is a bit unfortunate again.....

I noticed that the Vogue sewing patterns are not as interesting these days as they were say 10 years ago when I first started sewing. Too bad. I really missed the quality designer patterns.....

(Source for all photos: http://voguepatterns.mccall.com/)

I met another sewist in my neighbourhood!! Hurah!

I had been complaining about not being able to meet anyone who sews in my neighbourhood for a while. And now I have met one! I met her at my local thrift store where I was buying some vintage patterns for my toddler. She was lining up behind me at the cash register. She saw my patterns and asked if I wanted her used ones. She is a vibrant grandma who sews for her kids and her granddaughter. Of course I said yes please! We met up later and she gave me a bunch of toddler patterns and we chatted. She seems just as happy to meet up with someone who sews too! I hope I can keep this sewing friendship going and she doesn't find me too annoying! LOL!

Now if I can find more sewing buddies in my generation in my neighbourhood.....

Refashion: Toddler Boy's pants to Toddler Girl's pants

I made these forest green sweat pants for my son a few years ago. He grew out of it and the pants were passed onto my daughter. Now they have become too short for my daughter. So I rummaged through my fabric scraps box and created a pair of longer, more girlish looking sweat pants for her.

First, I used my trusty seam ripper to ripped out the stitches at the bottom of the pant leg. I found some hot pink ribbed knit scraps in my stash.

I cut 2 rectangular pieces of ribbed knit and sewed them together into 2 tubes. Then I folded the tubes into halves and attached it to the bottom of the pant legs:

I sewed them on and then realized that the former stitch line of the hem was still very visible. I would have liked to attach some cute pink ribbon or rickrack to cover that stitch line. However, I didn't have any in my stash. So I just used a hot pink thread and sewed a tight satin stitch to cover that line as decoration.

I noticed that the ribbed knit tubes were a bit long on the pants so I just folded them up. Voila! Another pair of pants for my toddler daughter for this Fall/Winter!

Pattern Review: Butterick 4930 (altered) jacket

I'm still using existing fabric stash and pattern stash for new sewing projects. This pattern is from 2006 and actually for a coat. I don't remember why I bought it because it's really shapeless but for a coat I guess it's okay. I made the short version in size M with modifications.

I have had this hot pink thick cotton sweatershirt fabric in my stash for a long time. I thought I could make a jacket for layering in the Fall/Winter. I am not really a pink clothing person but I thought the bright colour could brighten up my black and grey Fall/Winter wardrobe.

The pattern is super simple with no darts anywhere. It was supposed to have this puffy peter pan collar which I thought would be to fussy and childish looking on my short frame so I omitted it. I knew the pattern would be boxy and shapeless so I added back darts to give it some shape.   I intended the jacket for layering thus I didn't want anything too fitted (it's difficult to see the back darts in the picture). I added black shiny buttons from my stash to jazz it up a little. I think it looks okay but hubby thinks it makes me look stumpy. Perhaps the big wide sleeves are to blame? What do you think?

Refashion: a quick and simple velvet jacket transformation

I love the look of velvet jackets for Fall/Winter. They just look so elegant and versatile (can be dressed up and down). I bought this boxy brown cotton velvet jacket in my local thrift store last year. Its oh-so-soft fabric and the low price of $7.99 drew me to it. Little did I know that it would cost me almost twice that price to dry clean it! Oh man!

The jacket is a bit boxy for my body and the sleeves are a bit too long. So I just shortened the cuffs by 3cm, changed the boring brown plastic buttons to brass-look military style buttons, moved the buttons further in by 1.5cm and voila, a much better fit for me. Although the refashion/alteration was minimal, I think it looks better on me now:

Yay! Another quick and easy refashion and a new wearable item in my wardrobe for this Fall/Winter!