Upcycle/recycle month

 After a slow return to sewing following the Norway trip, I embarked on the upcycle train for the Pattern Review Upcycle conest this month.

First up - convert black jeans to a pleated skirt.

The first jeans I was going to use ended up being unusable. So I had to use pair number two which had belonged to local daughter. And did not fit me at all.

So step one: make them fit.

new side panel

I cut off the legs just below the fly. Then I separated the side seams, and cut through the waistband at the sides.

I made a panel from the jeans that I was unable to otherwise use, and I used pieces from a waistband from previously deconstructed jeans. For fear of making them too tight I made them a bit too loose; I undid my work and tightened it, Sill a bit big, but comfortable.

Next step was to create a  "peplum'. I unstitched, the seams, cut them in half lengthwise, then sewed them into a large loop. 

I started with a box pleat at the centre back . I decided one pleat at the back was enough, in order to have more fabric available for good pleats at the front. I managed to get six (three on the right and three on the left) fairly even pleats. This was tough because a couple of pleats competed with an original seam line, which made it too stiff to fold where I wanted it to fold.

 

I wasn't sure how the pleats would look after hemming, but recently local daughter had me secure a frayed edge on some cut-off shorts (purchased that way 🙄), and this gave me the idea to simply use a frayed bottom hem.

And although her shorts seemed to fray voluntarily, it is hard to get denim to fray. Denim is a twill weave, meaning there is a diagonal 'weave', so it is quite stable. Had to coax it, but got a decent frayed edge, in the end.

 

Second upcycle project

 old dress!

See this dress (see photo). I made it back in the 80s! Why have I kept it... I have not worn it since the 80s. I liked the fabric, but not the colour, and that style of dress was never 'me' - not even in the 80s.

close up of dyed fabric

So I decided it needed to moved along. First of all, what to do with this pastel, washed out colour? Overdye it, of course! I chose to dye with grey, and was too cheap to buy my preferred grey, choosing instead the lighter grey which was half price. But I did have 1/4 bottle of charcoal grey left, so I mixed it in with the pearl grey. I stirred the mix with the partially deconstructed dress for twenty minutes, rinsed it out... and the colour is grey-! The pattern shows through in an almost radiating way. 

Deconstructing the dress was an interesting look into past me! I could always follow a pattern, but never strayed. I did not know better ways to do things. I zig-zagged all my raw edges. Today, if I don't serge them, I do a French seam, or a bound seam.

The facings on this dress were pathetically small, and didn't stay put, and also just finished with a zig zag. I would lean towards an all-in-one facing now (especially since my instructor in the Norway course encouraged that!)

 

The bodice of the dress inspired me to turn it into a blouse. I had to add a panel for size to the sides, then I cut out some of the armohle. I secured the neck-facing: I turned in the raw edge and sewed it down, understiched the facing, and top stithced.

Then I decided that I was not going to get a nice fit, so abandoned that and went back to plan one: 

With the fabric from the skirt I made a short-sleeved version of the Remy raglan. I had barely enough fabric - I had to piece the sleeves, but otherwise I was able to fit the pieces on the skirt pieces.

Other projects

During the heat wave I realized I had a shortage of breezy dresses to wear. 

I had received some African Wax Print (yes more) from a friend who had travelled to Ivory Coast. It was a long length... and the design did not immediately call for me to make something specific.  

These two events (shortage of dresses, long length of tricky fabric) led me to make another Kalle shirtdress. I toyed with other dress patterns, (including the Closet Core Charlie Kaftan which would have been nice too), but decided to just use a pattern I have.

As a fan of the Great British Sewing Bee I decided to time this project. I timed each part separately (see below), but the entire project took 12 hours of sewing time. On the one hand, I did some things more deliberately than I would in a timed contest such as the GBSB, but still... I have a renewed appreciation of the participants' work!

I changed up the pattern a bit:

• I made sew-on plackets on both sides, instead of just one side (this way I did not have to trim one of the centre fronts)

• 

  welt pocket

  I lowered the side edges (reducing the shirt tail curve to make it a bit more modest!)
• I added a welt pocket to fit my phone
• French seams where the raw edge was not otherwise enclosed
• I once again followed the Grainline Archer tutorial for sewing on the collar and band.

Special attention: (pattern placement)

• I cut the yoke cross grain to get that little fishy on its side. I had to cut it twice, since he was upside down on my first one!
• I centered the back so that the fish were in the centre
• I placed the front likewise, and when I cut the outer placket, I cut it so that the pattern matched. It worked - kind of. The middle fish is a bit different - I think that the pattern was not as regular as it appeared!

I wasn't sure how wearable the dress would be in Canada (as opposed to West Africa). But it is; it is certainly flashy, but the style (shirt-dress) tones it down a bit, to make it suit me... even if the resident entomologist thinks it is too flashy!

placket placement

Yoke close-up

TIMING BREAKDOWN

Cutting out: 52 minutes
Cutting out and applying interfacing: 25 minutes
Plackets : 32 minutes
back/yoke: 25 minutes
welt pocket: 30 minutes
Construction (back + front, including French seams): 46 minutes
making bias tape for hem: 20 minutes
attaching bias tape for hem: 30 minutes
collar: 1 hour 45 minutes!!!
Sleeve cuffs: 45 minutes
buttons: 15 minutes
buttonholes: 16 minutes 

Packing cube

empty

As I have mentioned, I do try to sew up my off-cuts. I had purchased this red neo-shell from Our Social Fabric in Vancouver, and made up rain pants and a rain jacket, but still had a lot left. So I used it, and some mesh from a bag which had started to fall apart, to make a travel packing cube. Not sure I would use it, but many people love these!

To get a zipper long enough I bought a duvet zipper (and trimmed it.)

I had some trouble with the final corner - the slippery fabric, and I may not have measured as precisely as needed. Acceptable imperfection!

wonky corner

filled

inside

JALIE 2212, ANOTHER REMNANT BUSTER 

 

In my ongoing quest to use up my off-cuts (remnants and scraps), I gathered up all my knit off-cuts, and, by sheer force of will, put them together in this rather odd rendition of the Jalie 2212 pullover which I have made several times before.

In addition to using different colours for the various blocks provided in the pattern, I had to piece fabrics together in other ways...

• 

   

  the back yoke has an extra diagonal seam in the middle;
• side fronts - you can see two different black fabrics
• lower sleeve is a combo of two fabrics
• ventre back - the black is pieced, and the black and turquoise are pieced together.

I used ten different fabrics in all: (can you find them all?!)

*mauve merino wool jersety

*purple rayon t-shirt knit

*olive t-shirt knit (fabric type unknown)

*black hemp/cotton blend jersey

*black linen/other blend knit

*black rayon sweater knit

*grey/green polyester jersey from recycled materials

*turquoise wool jersey

*turquoise cotton (?) t-shirt knit (might contain elastene)

*grey cotton jersey 

 

 

CRAFT FAIR SEWING

And finally I finished another pouffe - for the craft fair project. I really wanted to empty the wastebaskt which contains my fabric 'cabbage' (a term I learned this week with a long traditional use as tailor's bits and pieces.) These scraps are mostly smaller than what is needed 'to wrap three beans' (also learned this week in a video about a Japanese upcycling tradition). Still a lot of space for more carbage... yay!