Analogue Chic

Posts Tagged ‘clothing reconstruction’

{Once upon a time, there was no need to describe a skirt as “high-waisted” because everyone always wore skirts with the waistline at their natural waist, i.e. usually the narrowest part of most ladies, and therefore the most flattering to emphasize.}

{Le sigh…}

Your DIY tutorial this month is this unabashedly feminine skirt, courtesy of Out of Order.

Image via Out of Order.

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Here's the latest installment of my monthly series, "Tute Review".  I review DIY fashion tutorials and how-tos from all over the web, let you know how user-friendly they are, and show you what I make. Hooray for arts & crafts!

This month, for your craftin pleasure, I'm reviewing this drapey, no-sew top that I've had bookmarked forever…

No-sew wrap top

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Here's the first of what I hope will be a monthly series, "Tute Review".  I will review DIY fashion tutorials and how-tos from all over the web, let you know how user-friendly they are, and show you what I make. Hooray for arts & crafts!

This month, I'm reviewing a couple of tutorials for headgear.  A few months ago, I let my hairstylist have her way with my head.  She chopped my locks into a cute, flippy style… but it was just too short for the frigid winter here in Connecticut!  It did look damn good (and I could protect my ears) with headbands, turbans, and scarves– very 1920's bohemian– so I decided to try out a couple of headband tutorials.

First up was this retro bow headband, an original by Casey at Elegant Musings (girl crush!).

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Congratulations to Grace on her recent trunk show at Sequel in Bethel!

Image copyright Grace Napoleon.

To learn more about Grace and her creative process, you can read my interview of her here.

You can meet Grace Napoleon and her wares at the Brooklyn Flea most weekends – get her upcoming appearances and start shopping at her Etsy shop!

{UPDATE: This post is now an entry in the Blog Off at What Designers. Vote for me!}

The standing joke among we handmade artists is that any  money we make from selling our crafts goes into feeding our addiction for pretty supplies and cute things made by friends.  In that spirit, a few months ago I treated myself to a Grace Napoleon original, a pink, ruffly wrap sweater.  But seriously, these purchases and the bonds we make in our raucous real-life meetings and in online forums are an important conduit for exchanging ideas and business advice.  In an effort to record this movement of self-employed women artists, and to preserve the lessons and inspiration I glean from them, I am beginning a project of interviewing women who have inspired me as an independent fashion designer. 

I met Grace at a meeting of our local new-wave craft club, and watched with admiration and curiosity as she handstitched her woolly holiday projects.  I finally sat with her on a recent evening for tea and dessert to talk about her evolution as a textile artist.

Grace is a Danbury, CT-area artist who designs and creates women’s clothing made from clothing– that is, she deconstructs secondhand clothes and re-assembles them in unexpected and charming ways.  Every new seam is stitched by hand.  She offers her clothes and other fabric crafts, along with vintage housewares, in her online store at Etsy.com and at regional craft shows and flea markets.

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click on the pic to enlarge

For once, I went shopping at the Salvation Army Store for myself, thanks to my tax refund.  It was a good trip!  I wasn’t planning to buy anything– I was there to work on my new window display.  But there were some gems I just couldn’t pass up.  I found some costume-y stuff that wanted to come home with me, some lovely shabby things, and some cute things for myself.

Clockwise:

1. Silly skirt with adorable print
2. Child’s kimono – it’s made from a rayon-y material with a toile-like print of a redcoat soldier and a lady in a hoop skirt.  I can tell it’s homemade because the selvege shows on some of the seams: "Guaranteed sunfast and washable".  There are no shoulder seams, it’s just one piece from bottom-back to bottom-front, so the print is actually upside down on the front– interesting that they wanted it to be "right-side" up on the back.  There is a rip in one underarm, but I will stitch that up, slide a birch pole through the arms, and hang it behind the TV.  I could talk about this robe for a long time, it is very charming and clearly there is a story behind it….
3. Nautical t-shirt – destined to become my next pair of briefs
4. Kenneth Cole/Unlisted heels – these just caught my eye as I was in the checkout line.  They were just my size, so yoink! Normally I wouldn’t buy secondhand shoes, but these just beg to be worn with stockings or socks, so I think they’re safe.
5. Purple polyester kimono robe – it seems to be a novelty/souvenir robe, it came with a bathrobe-like tie, not a true obi.  But the crane print is really pretty, the sleeves are dramatic, and really, you never know when you need a stunning costume like this…

Self-Promotion

While I was running around trying to put together outfits for the window mannequins, I kept crossing paths with this very cute woman about my age who had a cart full of her and her friends’ finds, and I was really admiring the stuff they were picking out.  I started chatting with her, commenting on her cool stuff and commiserating about our thrift store addictions.  She mentioned that she came up from NYC just to go thrift shopping here.  So immediately the idea gets into my head that I should offer myself as a personal shopper/stylist: I could go shopping for her on 50%-off Wednesdays, and she could pay me a fee… But I chickened out.  And I realized later that she probably wouldn’t have gone for it anyway, because the most of the fun of thrift-shopping is actually digging around and finding cool things amidst the weird or sad. 

But secondhand personal shopper/stylist is definitely still bopping around in my head…

The ultimate in self-sufficiency, folks.  For the price of a couple yards of fold-over elastic (aka FOE) (in a bazillion colors, here)– and trust me, it’s not a lot– I can make myself a pair of comfy, soft, sassy briefs.  Cheap, soft and sassy because they’re made from an old t-shirt!!!!!  And with some practice, you can do it too!

I think many people have their own recycling system for t-shirts and other basics: we might layer them with a nicer jacket or cardigan for work, and then they get relegated to weekend/playwear, and then pajamas/workout wear, before they become a cleaning rag… But the cycle need not stop there!!  You can extend the life of your beloved graphic tees.

This reality was first brought to my attention by several posts on Craftster, including this one.  And then Angry Chicken got in on the act.  I made two pair in one night.  The sense of satisfaction alone is worth it for me, in spite of the fact that I really don’t know anything about sewing with knits, and I try to avoid knit fabrics at all costs.

Process: (don’t attempt this unless you’ve got some decent sewing chops, because it will frustrate the hell out of you.  But if you’re not much of a sewer, don’t be afraid to foist this project off on one of your stitcher friends, in exchange for some baked goods…)  This was my "slash-and-burn" method, but there are many tutorials around, and I recommend searching for them before you rely on this. 

You will need: a beloved t-shirt, a pair of undies that fit you well, and stretch lace or fold-over elastic (FOE)– at least 2x your waist measurement.

Take a pair of comfy briefs that you would like to sacrifice and recreate.  Cut them apart carefully along the seams– you can either retrace the pieces on paper, or use the originals as patterns.  *Make sure that you account for seam allowances!!!!*  Take your t-shirt and cut off the collar and cut along all the seams so you have several flat pieces of fabric.  Using your pattern pieces, cut them out of the t-shirt material, being careful to place any graphics or sayings strategically– this was definitely tricky with my size small, fitted tees, but it can be done.  Then using your knit-stitching method of choice (Serger, zig zag, straight stitch with a stretch).  Stitch the back, front and lining together at the crotch (you may need to refer to an intact pair to figure out how to pin these 3 pieces together– front and back with right sides facing, lining piece with right side facing wrong side of back piece) then stitch front to back at side seams.  Then attach your elastic along the waist and leg openings.  TaDA!  You’re done.

Eighty percent of my fabric stash, scraps, trims, and unfinished projects are were still at my parents’ house (I haven’t lived there for more than 2 years).  I went over for a short visit yesterday, with the idea of specifically looking for some clear vinyl I used to have which I could use for a project I’m making for my craft club’s gift swap.  Well, the vinyl was no where to be found, but I did find a lot of crazy fabric I’ve collected over the years, as well as a lot of projects I’m excited to finish or remake anew, and some very DIY-Goth materials that I will be donating… to some one…  So while I’ve been itching to buy more fabric, notions, ribbon, tools, which I absolutely CANNOT afford right now, I made out like a bandit because I found things I’d forgotten about.  Now I feel like I just went shopping for free!! Yippee!!

Some highlights:

• a hybrid zebra-cheetah print knit fabric – many yards
• a vintage Waverly upholstery fabric with pink and purple roses the size of dinner plates
• my Great Gramma’s aprons from her restaurant – white polyester with white embroidery or scalloped hem, cute!
• a scratchy faux-lambskin scrap – big enough for a footstool? table runner?

And with my newly documented and organized catalog of UFOs (unfinished objects), I plan to be very productive and responsible with my sewing and other stitching. I promise.

Being cooped in the house for the last 3 days (blizzard) has forced me to finally put this together: Directions for converting your sweatshirt into a cute little cape. It’s very long and wordy, as my writing usually is, but please post comments if things are utterly unclear, or if you have suggestions– although I will not be doing one-on-one sewing lessons through this blog. (If you’re a new sewer, please try to be resourceful about things like, what is a seam allowance? or how do I get sharp corners when I turn the seam right side out? There are lots of good sites for sewing basics on the web.)  Just forgive the wonky layout and first-tutorial flubs. If you do end up making your own, please register on Craftster and post yours as a reply to my original post. Well, have fun and be creative with it!  Get thee to a stitchery!

  And I LOVE my local Salvation Army Store– they have HUGE discounts on all clothes on Wednesdays, thereby enabling my fabric-stash-addiction and closet overcrowding problem, without hurting my wallet!  Mwah! The button-downs above are for conversion into tote bags/gift wrap for my homegirls, a la this project– whoops! just gave away 50% of my holiday gifts! Here are some more new members of my textile collection: Now, on the left there, that is a Man Shirt: it is big, wooly and warm, literally a working man’s shirt– that shirt does not mess around.  And there’s a cute, vintage, lamb’s wool and angora Lady Sweater with semi-batwing sleeves.  And a very cute, kid’s belt from LL Bean.  Lots of possibilities with these: not sure if I want to reconstruct the Man Shirt, it would make an awesome cape, or a felted bag, perhaps; I may wear the Lady Sweater as is, also possibly a felted something- beret?; belt is obviously too small, and it would be a pain to reclaim the hardware, it may become a handbag handle. And for dessert– too sweet!–   Again, a real toss-up between wearing it or felting it– what do you think?  Comments, suggestions? I’ve never actually felted anything (intentionally) before, I need to do more research on how to do it, and I’m not sure what I would make from the felt with any of these, but I would like to try it.  I’m just scared of committing a great garment to felting, and then wishing I hadn’t so I could do something else!  Oh, well, I’m sure it will come to me in the middle of one of the sleepless nights I seem to be having lots of …