Tag Archives: Wardrobe Refashion

New life for an old polo Tshirt

23/12/2010 4:42 am \ 25 Comments \

Dipping into the ol’ bag of toss-outs I took out an old polo Tshirt of my husband’s.  He never wears it anymore, but the fabric is quite OK if not super duper beautiful or anything…  It is made of a type of sport’s fabric which is really cool to wear in summer so I thought of turning it into a little summer dress.

First thing, it had an embroidered logo.  Obviously that was not going to do…
So I unpicked the pocket and moved it up and over the logo to hide it.  I also unpicked the neck facing and seam holding the collar in place and removed the collar, and cut off the sleeves.

Using an old favourite pattern Burda 8071, I cut out a dress body, keeping as much length as possible and keeping the original hemline intact to become the new hemline of the dress (hey, every bit helps).  In lieu of the body darts stipulated in this pattern which would not have worked with this kind of stretchy jersey fabric, I simply removed a slice from each of the side edges that would have been the dart allowance…
I re-used the sleeves to cut out pocket pieces, constructed these and inserted them in the side seams.
Now as polo shirts button up at the centre front I was aiming to keep this feature and use it for the dress’s closure, rather than putting in a zip.  With the very last leftovers from Craig’s striped shirt, I managed to get out the pieces for the bodice, cutting the back in one piece and the front with a button and buttonhole band for a centre front opening.  I used a little scrap of piping cut on the bias to add some interest to the front opening.  The lining was the last leftovers from my most recent white shirt…

The shoulder straps are just some cotton banding I had in my stash, and on the bodice I used little white shirt buttons matched in size to the navy blue buttons already on the polo shirt…
The inside seams of the dress are finished with overlocking, and the bodice lining is invisibly slipstitched in place.
Et voila!  Not glamourous, but I think quite cute enough, and will be a very useful little knockabout dress for a hot working day around the house.
Which is what is on the agenda for today…

Details:
Dress; partly Burda 8071, partly my own design, refashioned from an old polo shirt and some scraps
Sandals; Micam by Joanne Mercer, Hobbs shoes

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Khaki scarf; a refashion

06/12/2010 5:18 am \ 14 Comments \

I took the Tshirt below and followed my own tutorial to make this new knotted scarf.  Though for this one I cut the front in two pieces and the back in three…  
Nothing earth-shattering, but will be a useful little thing to go with the other khakis in my collection…
I love khaki/olive, obviously; one of my best neutrals.  This was my daughter’s old Tshirt, and when she gave it the heave-ho I baggsed it; immediatement.  That last word is Franglaise, a form of butchered French/English, a language often employed in this household… er, by me mostly.  I do have this bad habit of making up words and sometimes even talk in weird, vaguely European accents, particularly after a few drinks.  I haven’t on this occasion.  Had a few drinks, that is.  So got no excuse, really.
Back to the scarf…
The Tshirt in its original form was one of those really badly constructed ones that would not lie straight, and developed strange twisted folds if you tried to fold it flat along the side seams when hanging it up on the clothesline.  This is because the sides were cut and sewn just a little bit off.  Grrr… my pet hate.  Look how it used to be, below… soooo skewiff.  So I was pretty elated to be given the opportunity to take the scissors to it. 
Now it has a new lease on life, and will not cheese off this laundress ever ever again.  Hehehe….

Details:

Top and cardigan; Country Road
Pants; drafted by me, white linen
Scarf; refashioned from an old Tshirt
Thongs (flipflops); Mountain Designs

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Bored…

25/11/2010 12:37 am \ 13 Comments \

Yah, so I must be bored with the same old same old blogger poses… though I’m probably not going to be attempting this one too frequently…  could be the collective subconscious of all those teenage souls inhabiting the general environs hereabouts affecting me…   I swear I have not been imbibing!!  
I really needed a helping hand to re-arrange those shorts once I’m up there; but my sole housemate Sienna just sat helpfully on the sidelines looking on in quietly loyal doggie support.  Probably wondering, what on earth is she up to now??  and can’t we just go for a walk along the beach??
Yes, my sweet.  We will go for a looooong walkies now, and brekkie when we get back…
Speaking of which; Mum brought me some new apples to try out, a new variety called Golden Lady, a cross between Golden Delicious and Pink Lady, I presume; and they are YUM!  I’ve been having them with plain yoghurt for breakfast, and am hoping they turn up in the markets at home … soon!  Thankyou so much Mum!

Details:
Shorts; Burda 7723 with minor modifications, refashioned from an old skirt here
Camisole; Country Road
Cardigan; bought secondhand and dyed yellow by me here, Country Road
Thongs (flipflops); Mountain Design

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A post-modern bustle

05/11/2010 1:09 am \ 7 Comments \

So today I’m trialling a new way of wearing this skirt, and I have to say I think this one is my favourite… I did like it how I wore it previously with the flappy bit over the hip and wore it that way first since that is how it was modelled in the book Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, by Natsuno Hirawai and I also thought this way was interesting.  But when the zip closure is swivelled around to the back, the front of the skirt takes on an appearance of monastic simplicity, a smooth sheath uninterrupted by darts, gathers or any other fabric manipulations to mar the smooth fall of cloth…  and from the back is this sort of droopy bustle which I think makes quite an interesting rear view, no?
Today am leaving the beach house 🙁 and heading into the bush to spend a few days with my parents 🙂  Depending on whether Mum and Dad’s internet service is behaving itself I may or may not be doing any internetting at all…
Oh, and I’m happy to report this morning I got my confirmation email, accepting me as a Lifetime pledger for Wardrobe refashion!!  You may have spotted my upgraded button already in the side-bar…  I have already been living my sartorial life in this way for most of my adult years now anyway, with just the odd new purchases slipping in here and there, and just thought it was a good time to make a definite commitment to reducing consumerism and doing my bit to promote the rewards of creating one’s own wardrobe.
For good measure:

I pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of “new” manufactured items of clothing. I pledge that I shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovoted, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings! 

Details:
Skirt; skirt “m” from Unique Clothes Any Way You Like, by Natsuno Hirawai, grey/apricot cotton linen mix
Camisole and cardigan; Country Road
Sandals; Marco Santini

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New use for a hole-y old top

24/08/2010 6:17 am \ 4 Comments \

Another re-fashioning project has been completed… yay…
This pure wool top is a pretty shade of pink but had developed some nasty big holes over summer storage.  I continued to wear it as a thermal for a while, with its pink edges peeping out and adding a layer of colour to other ensembles but then as the holes got awfully big I sadly accepted it was too raggedy and resigned it to the re-fashioning bag … (you can see one BIG hole centre front lower edge, but trust me, there’s about four other littler ones lurking about there too…)

Firstly chopped its arms off.

I cut some thumb holes in the ends at the correct “thumb” height and overstitched the edges of these holes to finish.  Then finished off the cut top edges of the sleeves with an elastic zig-zag stitch.

(Oh, please excuse the weird Adam-reaching-out-to-the-hand-of-God-from-the-ceiling-of-the-Sistine-Chapel pose, tried to achieve a naturalistic hand position and failed, sorry!  At least you can see the buttonhole-bound thumb holes…)
With the hole-y body of the top I removed the neck edge, and cut off the side seams.

Opened out the top and bottom of the top (still hinged at the shoulder seams) and cut right up the middle, being careful to leave enough width at the ends of the loop.  I also rounded off the square edges of the loop and cut out the hole that was really big.

Dunked the new scarf in HOT soapy water and did plenty of whooshing about (it’s a technical term) to felt up those raw edges as much as possible (have you ever tried to take a photo of your other hand swooshing fabric about in a bucket?  It’s a little like the rubbing-the-tummy-while-patting-the-head thing; the same kinda tricky feeling…)

Voila; new hand warmers and a sort of artsy scarf…!  This is a good way to re-use an old top that is a colour you love.

Details:
Handwarmers and scarf; refashioned from wool top
Skirt; Vogue 7856 view B with some added skirt bits, grey and black printed cotton
Top and cardigan; Country Road
Boots; Andrea and Joen; from Uggies

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Jacket inspired by ?

17/08/2010 9:54 am \ 11 Comments \

Well, I’ve reduced my refashioning bag by one half of an item; being that the pockets of this new jacket used up one leg of Sam’s old khaki corduroy pants that had holes in the knees…  so I’m gettin’ somewhere, if not very fast!!  I also managed to use up some stash fabric, which I’ve decided I don’t like very much…  Bit of a story behind this fabric; well, I’ve had a failure.  I don’t like to dwell on failures, but I’ll just mention it briefly then move quickly and smoothly right along and it will be in the past, never to be referred to again.  Right?  Right.
Well, I had downloaded a free Alexander McQueen jacket pattern at some point, the link is here; if anyone wishes to torture themselves with nightmare-ishly difficult patterns then feel free to go for it…  I think I missed out on some key page of the instructions, because after two attempts with lots of unpicking I still had something looking like this…

Hideous, no?  Well, we live and learn… I might still have another go at this pattern, using fabric that is not patterned, not so loosely woven and not a wee bit stretchy, all three qualities contributing to a very bad jacket-making experience.
So instead I stitched up the below very simple jacket pattern of my own design.  I don’t love this jacket.  I think it will be OK for casual warmth when I’m walking the dog, maybe I will come to love it more with use.  Its problematic genesis has prejudiced me against it, poor thing.

I basically copied the pocket design off a designer jacket I saw in Vogue magazine (although my pockets are not as ginormous, and the purpose of mine is to cover up seams of patched together fabric), but I don’t know who the original designer is, if anyone recognises it and can tell me I will gladly acknowledge the source…

Details:
Jacket; pattern drafted by me, pockets from Sam’s old childhood pants
Jeans; Country Road (these are going in the refashioning bag too, soon)
Top; Country Road
Shoes; Lute, from Betts and Betts

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Domestic diva

12/08/2010 2:25 am \ 12 Comments \

Should one make the effort to look stylish when one’s daily schedule involves simply popping into the supermarket, the post office and the bank?  Or if one’s place of work is in the home?  After all, if the peeps around you are in their tracky dacks and ugg boots the pressure is on to follow suit, and if you’ve gone to the effort to dress up kinda nice then you run the risk of feeling overdressed and flashy when all about are very casz…
Well, I reckon all power to the thoughtful dresser.  I feel better within myself if I look like I cared… so I do make an effort.
Having said that I’m not super dressed up here, but just a bit.  This is a very simple dress (sometimes the simplest will be the most worn item in one’s wardrobe!) that is not gorgeous, but handy.  I’ve found it to be a very versatile garment; to see how I styled it in six different way, see here.  Oh, and I know I wore this cardigan only the other day, but I’m loving its drab blue sooooo much, could be grabbing it everyday if I wasn’t trying to mix it up more… and it went so well with the socks I had on I just had to put it back on again for today.  I’m really making an effort to rotate through my wardrobe, but some things are proving handy and comfortable and fit in so well with my style thoughts for that day… so here it is again.  And the new shoes.  Wearing them in.  Love them so much…

Details:
Dress; Burda 8071, ivory eyelet cheesecloth
Petticoat; Metalicus
Cardigan (under); Country Road
Cardigan (over); refashioned by me from old jumper
Socks; knitted by me, Patonyles sock wool
Shoes; Francesco Morrichetti from Zomp shoes
Bag; Gucci

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Just blown in…

10/08/2010 5:55 am \ 3 Comments \

Scene 1:
A dilapidated hall.   The monthly scheduled meeting of Shoe-aholics Anonymous.  A circle of seated ladies, subdued and looking sheepish, but very well shod.  All eyeing each others footwear covetously.
Convenor; Ladies, we have a new member, here to confess her sins.  Please make her welcome.
Me; Hi, I’m Carolyn and I’m …. (gulps and takes a deep breathe, lower lip wobbling) addicted to shoes.
All in unison; Hi, Carolyn

Yes, it’s true.  I stay away from shoe shops as much as possible, in order to avoid wear and tear on the credit card…  but look at my New Shoes!!  Cool, no?  I bought them on a recent day out with my friend J, my enabler and partner in shopping crime…  These are going to be worn and worn and worn…  I think they are tres stylish and they are as comfy as.  Perfect for my lifestyle.  Welcome to my shoe shelf(ves) new friends, I hope the other shoes make you welcome and don’t get jealous of your fabulousness.
Oh, and if I look a bit wwwwwindswept here, it’s because I AM.  Very.  This morning was like being in a windtunnel.

Details:
Skirt; Vogue 7303, green cotton velveteen
Top; Cue
Cardigan; refashioned from old jumper
Tights; Metalicus
Boots; Francesco Morichetti, from Zomp shoes
Bag; Gucci

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