Eco-statement jacket, Lekala silk blouse, Bucket hat

 

Eco-statement Sienna Maker jacket

I had so much fun with this one!

It all started out with a pair of gray cords that a colleague donated to an upcycle project (namely, I had made a call out for fabrics for the Javelin bag (which, it seems, I have never blogged about. ) In the end I did not need these cords for the bag but the colour and quality of the cord was so rich that I was inspired to make it into a jacket.

Well. Of course there was not enough fabric. Not NEARLY enough. So I scrounged around and identified a variety of gray garments which would be used for this project.  All were beyond their best before dates and would NOT have been put on sale had they been donated to a thrift shop. It took more inputs than I anticipated:

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  one pair of men's gray corduroy pants, 
• one me-made rayon skirt (underlined in colourful silk) in wich the hem would never sit properly (This one)
• one pair of my old light gray denim, slightly stretch, slim fit pants.
• one pair of very worn shorts with gray on gray print
• one half pair of children's darker gray slightly stretch jeans
• a few scraps

This became a statement piece, inspired by this season's Reduce Reuse Recycle episode of the Great British Sewing Bee (episode 3). The made-to-measure challenge was to sew a garment which sent a message. I bought into that (but wouldn ever have been able to finish in a day, as thay have to do!).

messy insides

Challenges of sewing with reclaimed garments.

Reclaimed fabrics do not behave the same way as fresh fabrics. The are distorted from wear. And, of course, there are seams which exist which you can unstitch and restitch as you want, or just work with. I did a combination. Don't understimate how much extra fabric you can get if you unstitch a flat felled seam!

Therefore just cutting out was quite a puzzle: fitting pattern pieces to make the most use of all the fabrics, while recognizing that not all pieces would be truly on grain. For example, I unstitched the outer seam of the gray cords, and laid the pattern piece on the upper leg. But... these pieces are not just straight lines.

sleeve header

So I had to unstitch part of it to get the piece to lay more straight, and resew it. Took a couple of times before I was satisfied.

The rayon was a real pain in the neck. First of all, the Marta skirt is a paneled skirt, so when I was cutting across a seam line I was going to get skewed grain. And the rayon also just bags out quickly. This may be the reason the skirt hem gave me such a headache! 

The lapel and neck facing were made with the shorts, and really needed to be pieced. In fact there was not quite enough, so an offcut from my stripy shorts was pressed into service, making the inside a bit of a visual circus!

I used two back pockets from the cords to create a sleeve pocket on one sleeve, and used the pattern's built-in sleeve pocket on the other side.

 

On my original Sienna Maker jacket (the amzing technicolour dreamcoat) I made a zippered welt pocket with the idea of it being a passport pocket (it has indeed served that purpose on my travels). On this version I made an angled welt pocket on one side (no zip), using a mix of the Waffle Arare anorak's pocket pattern, and the ITS Ateans Jeans jacket instructions.). I used some self dyed fabric  that I had never used for the pocket bag, so there is a bright pink peekaboo at the pocket. I also used some self dyed fabric for the sleeve pocket bag.

The rayon skirt was underlined with a silk sari, and is tearing in spots! These tears were mended with careful handstitching.

I got buttons from my favourite button stash (a neigbour). So other than interfacing and thread, everything was reclaimed.

 

Inspired by the Great British Sewing Bee's challenge, I added some machine lettering (stitches available on my Juki DX7) to write a statement on the collar:

What the world needs now is more slow fashion.

The hem was a headache, though.

That droopy rayon would not lie straight.

So I ended up making a facing out of a more sturdy fabric for the rayon panels.

more messy insides

peekaboo pocket bag

 Lekala Silk Blouse

Well - this blouse has not turned out as perfectly as I would like. But it will do! 

The way I finished the faux placket distorts it a bit; also the stand collar is wonky.

And sadly, it is tight across the back. Why? This is a custom pattern - I put in my measurements, and also some descriptors. And I made a muslin. Okay - I only finished one sleeve. I really must learn to pay more attention to what my muslins tell me if I am going to go through the bother of making them!

There is the very real possibility that I did not input accurate measurements. Or, that I have such a muscular back that I don't fit the algorithm🤣

In any case, here it is!

 

 

5 * 5 grid

Bucket Hat

 

In honour of Pattern Review's 25th anniversary accessory contest I made this bucket hat. It was the push I needed to do something with these offcuts from Tokyo. They are traditional fabrics, salvaged from traditional clothing, and I had made a curtain panel previously, but still had a fair bit left.

Trimmed brim

I cut 6 * 6 inch squares, and sewed them into a 5 * 5 grid, and from that I cut out the bucket hat pieces. I made the wide brimmed  hat this time, and am a bit disappointed. After consultation with a local frock-friend, I subsequently trimmed the brim and finished with bias binding. This suits me much better. 

I may have been trying to reproduce the shape of my camping hat (which is always great in the rain), but this one angled down too much and wouldn't to sit nicely on my head.

But I love the look of the fabrics together!

 

And, finally... using the scraps for the Stof&Stil 'bum bag'

 

The hat did not require use of the entire 5*5 grid I had made, so I used the remainder (plus some more scraps) to make the 'bum bag' by Stof&Stil (also known as a fanny pack, or waist pouch...). I quilted it with some of my water repellent bed-sheet use-for-muslin fabric. I was able to find in my salvaged fastinings etc box a strap and a pair of 'clips'. But that was after I had taken the photos.

And then, hot on the heals of that make, a colleague friend gave me some upholstery samples she had kept for many years - clearly she liked them. I was inspired to make one of these bags to give her as a gift to welcome her back after some leave. It is awfully cute. 

 

 

insides