Article

Sewing with a (Re)Purpose    (09/30/09)

In this Article What's more in these days than being green - finding ways to re-use or recycle, rather than buying something new? Discuss this Article on the Boards Click Here About the Author Karen Heenan has been sewing since she was 8 years old. Even as a child she loved the idea that she could take fabric and a pattern and turn it into something 3-dimensional that she could wear. Sewing is at its best for her is when it feels like she's solving a puzzle. Connect with Karen on PR as karen6790 or on her blog. Sewing with a (Re)Purpose by Karen Heenan As sewists, we're already ahead of the curve because our clothes don't need to be manufactured on another continent and then shipped back to us for purchase. Still, there's all that fabric we buy... Wait! Before you run me through the serger, I'm not suggesting that you stop buying. I enjoy stash accumulation far too much to ever do that. What I've started to do is find some of my fabric from other sources. In the last year, I've challenged myself to take old garments (my own cast-offs or pieces from flea markets or the local thrift store) and turn them into something new and different. Refashioning seems to use a different part of my brain than regular sewing; I've enjoyed the process a lot, and it's really given me a mental workout. From the number of entries in the Recycle Contest earlier this year, it's clear that there's a lot of interest in recycling and refashioning, so I wanted to share some of my methods and projects with you. Where to Begin? More than any other type of sewing, recycling/refashioning lets you break rules. Begin wherever you want -- hunt down that old dress you'll never wear again, or give new life to a skirt you've outgrown. Recycling is also a way to salvage a sentimental favorite that would otherwise remain hidden in the closet. One rule of "standard" sewing applies: Don't step away from the iron. Press your garment before you do anything else; it'll make it much easier to disassemble. Unless you have an idea in mind that calls for the preservation of some element of the original garment, get your scissors and carefully cut your garment apart at the seams. Iron any creases and lay out the fabric to get an idea of how much you have to work with. It's almost guaranteed that the pieces won't be the right size for your planned project, but this is one of those times where you can claim "design element" if you have to add an extra seam or piece in a contrasting or coordinating fabric. Who's going to know that wasn't your original idea? Cut it Down Sometimes a project can be fairly simple. This thrift store linen top is an example of what can be done with a piece of clothing that doesn't fit but whose fabric just calls out to be part of your wardrobe. The top was about 5 sizes too big, but I was in fabric love. The neckline and button placket were very well done, and changing the size wouldn't affect them, so I decided to preserve those aspects of the original. After pressing the top, I cut the side seams open and removed the sleeves. The back of the top was princess-seamed up to a shoulder yoke, so I was able to remove the lower portion, narrow the pieces, sew them back together and re-attach them to the yoke. At that point, the shoulder seam was the only connection between back and front. Once draped on my dress form, I had a better idea of the remaining size difference. I narrowed the shoulder seam to match the new back width and then pinned in the front sides until the blouse felt comfortable. The cut-off sleeves were pretty substantial, but I decided I didn't want a set-in sleeve. I experimented with mockups of several sleeves and chose a flutter sleeve as best suited to the fabric. The underarms were bound with bias strips. Add a new hem and -- voila! -- a whole new top. Bottoms to Tops Sometimes the fabric is the jumping off point for a project; sometimes it's the pattern. Occasionally it's the limitations of the fabric that drives the pattern choice and the eventual finished garment. For my entry in the Recycle/Refashion Contest, I wanted to make something as different as possible from the original garment. I chose a pair of men's tweed pants (34" waist, with pleats, and 36" inseam, so a good amount of fabric) and disassembled them. I wanted to re-use the back welt pockets, but the placement didn't give me a lot of room to maneuver and also the edges were very worn, so they were discarded. I searched my stash for an appropriate pattern. I knew I could get a vest from the pants, but I had already made a vest and it seemed like the easy choice. I wanted to make a jacket. Because of the amount (and shape) of my fabric, I had to find a pattern with small, narrow pieces, or else do a lot of fairly discreet piecing. I chose the former. In the end I selected BWOF #5/07 #102, which had some smaller pattern pieces and a shoulder yoke that ran all the way down the sleeve.   It turned out, of course, that there still wasn't enough fabric. First I looked at ways to alter the pattern. The jacket front had an interesting diagonal dart, but it made for a very large pattern piece. I moved the dart from the bottom up to the bust, which gave me a more manageably-shaped piece. I was able to cut the backs, fronts and sleeves before the fabric ran low. Accent IT I pieced the facings, but for the yoke/sleeve band, I turned to my stash and came up with a leather remnant that coordinated with the tweed. To add interest, and make the leather seem less like an afterthought, I added welt pockets made from the leftover leather. In another bottom-to-top project, shown at the top, I took an old ankle-length tie-dye skirt that dated from the mid-1980s (at least), and turned it into a blouse. There was plenty of fabric to work with -- almost no challenge at all! Make it (Way) Smaller My inability to throw anything away comes in handy. I bought a sundress in the early 90s. I wore it a lot. I almost wore it out. I finally tore it at the waist and the fabric frayed so badly it wasn't repairable. So why did I keep it for 6 years? Apparently so it could be made into a dress for a co-worker's baby girl. The fabric had been washed to handkerchief softness and was perfect for a baby garment. Always Useful Projects -- Tanks & Tees T-shirts are another thing we always seem to have too many of, but not always very many that fit. Why is it that all the cool give-away t-shirts are in men's XL? I've used my TNT KwikSew 3338 pattern to alter some shirts to my size (cutting up the sides, removing the sleeves, but keeping the neckband and shoulder seam -- unless I want to change the neckline). The new sleeve pattern piece can be cut directly from the old, larger sleeves and then the shirt can be reassembled. Tip: Since the knit used for commercial t-shirts generally doesn't have the stretch recommended by pattern companies, check first before you cut. I generally go up a size when refashioning an existing t-shirt. A recent pattern discovery is Ottobre 2/09 #1 -- a cute little camisole tank. It takes almost no fabric at all (about a half yard), so it's a great way to use up all those knit scraps that we can't bear to throw away. I've also remade old t-shirts using this pattern, salvaging something too worn to even sleep in and giving it new purpose as a tank. Photo credit: Ottobre Magazine 02-2009 Take Two/Make One Another recent project was all about combining fabrics. For the Burdastyle Franzi Vest, I used two wool skirts that had been retired from active service for several years. They were too good to get rid of, even though there was a little moth damage on one skirt and both were too small in the waist. Neither one offered enough fabric -- or enough interest -- to stand on its own. I cut the fronts of both skirts into strips, sewed them together, and then cut them again crosswise so that I could sew them in a checkerboard pattern. I did some decorative stitching to anchor the piecing. This became the front of the vest. The back panels were done in the solid fabric, while the piping and back ties were done in the check. Stretching your Fabric So what do you do when you have a project in mind, a ready-to-be-recycled garment in hand, and . . . not enough fabric to make it work? First, look closely at your pattern pieces. Is the back piece cut on the fold, and would the garment work with a center back seam? What about a two-piece sleeve? Are the facings part of the pattern piece or are they separate? Facings are rarely visible and can be pieced, if necessary. What about the collar? Could the under-collar be cut on the bias, or from a different fabric altogether? Consider using contrast -- or coordinating -- fabrics to spice up your garment. Adding leather to my jacket made it much more interesting than just a plain tweed jacket would have been. Not everyone is lucky enough to have a great thrift store nearby, but almost everyone has a few things in the closet that just don't work with your current wardrobe, shape or lifestyle. Or maybe you can help a friend clean out their closet and acquire some goodies that way. The stuff is out there, and it's too good to end up in a landfill. The trick with recycling/re-fashioning is to look beyond the existing garment to see the possibilities lurking inside. What did it really want to be, and what life could it still have, with a little help from you? Suggest Reading Website/Blogs Craftster.org - Inspiring projects, lots of tutorials. Community.livejournal.com - A community of refashioners, lots of photos Wardrobefashion.net - Online community Videos ehow.com - How to Recycle Old Clothes into New Fashions -- a series of video tutorials on eHow.com (just put the title into the search) Articles & Books Refashioning Sweaters - An article by Sarah Jacobs Ugly Fabric - An article by Sarah Jacobs An article on making a new wardrobe by recycling Reconstructing Clothes For Dummies Subversive Seamster: Transform Thrift Store Threads into Street Couture Generation T: Beyond Fashion: 120 New Ways to Transform a T-shirt Copyright © 2009 PatternReview.com® All rights reserved.