Project Runway Season 8 Episode 1 - Refashioning Challenge

So the first challenge of this season's PR was to take something that another contestant had packed and refashion it into something new. Ideal! I'm obsessed with refashioning. At first I wasn't sure how to get something from someone else, but then I remembered that Tasha had brought over loads of old things for me to use, so I put the 3 remaining pieces in a bag, shook it up, and randomly drew one of them. I picked this red dress from Warehouse:

I almost never wear or work with red, so I was at a loss for a little while. Luckily, though, I've been obsessing about peplums lately and so I decided to use the fabric to make a peplum for a cardigan I already have.

I love this purple cardigan; I bought it in H&M in Paris and it's been a go-to of mine since then. I was very excited about the dark purple + red combination as well. I also decided to add a little red bow near the collar to try to bring the red in more.

I cut the bottom of the dress off in one long strip, then eye-balled (I hate measuring) how much I'd want to have gathered for the peplum. I didn't want too much volume, just enough for a slight flounce, so I cut off some of the excess to use as the collar bow:

Then I did what I'm best at: gathering. I gathered the long strip til it matched up with the bottom of the cardigan and then stitched it on as though it were a ruffle. Then I made a small, boxy bow and stitched it on near the collar and voila! New cardigan made from someone's clothing.

I'm very very happy with it. Here are some pictures of me in it:

It's unfortunately way too hot for me to wear it, but I'm superexcited about the future. Also, I think I might make a pencil skirt to go with it out of a similar red fabric. Sassy!

May Day Long Weekend - Day 1

So here in Russia (and elsewhere in Europe and possibly the world, I guess) it's time to celebrate May Day, which means I do not have to work on Monday, which is awesome. So I'm dedicating this three-day weekend to sewing some stuff and spring cleaning. I did the kitchen today, which meant cleaning out the fridge (which had vacuum-sealed corn-on-the-cob from JULY OF LAST YEAR and a bunch of other things I'd rather not mention) and cleaning the windows (I'm amazed at this aspect; it's like I removed a whole layer of curtains). Speaking of curtains, I finally hemmed mine up, which has been a potential project since I got Ethel.

Here's the before (what you can see is that they almost touch the floor, what you can't see is how shoddily I had trimmed them when I hung them up)...

And here's the after (I trimmed them to just past the windowsill, which I think looks nice... however, they are uneven. Oops)...

I also made little ties to cinch them up but, combined with the new cleanliness of the windows, it makes me feel like I'm completely on display, which is unnerving when you're prancing around your flat in only a pair of knickers on May Day.

My second project of the day was to finish a cardigan refashion I had started two days ago. Here's my inspiration:

Yeah, the First Lady's Junya Watanabe cardigan (of which she owns two, by the by). I love that people were so polarized by this cardigan, and I think it's a cute idea, like a little cardi mash-up. So I took the other two sweaters I had bought in Vilnius:

...and I cut them down the middles, and then harvested the sleeves. What this means is I could, theoretically, make another cardigan out of this, which I think I will for my mom since she's so in love with the First Lady (and the president moreso, actually, but really, who isn't?).

I lined up the bodice bits and stitched them together along the back and stitched the sleeves on the opposite bodice bit. I was upset because the front part was kind of gape-y and I still haven't received my bias-tape maker (thank you, Russian Postal Service) but then I found this amazingness and I was able to make bias-tape from the remaining bits of one of the skirts I used from the apron project (they're kind of hard to see but they're perfect, I'm so happy).

I stitched them up the fronts of the cardigan, leaving quite a bit hanging off the top (which was lucky)...

...and then I added three of the buttons also from that skirt, so they match like a dream.

I decided at this point that I would leave the ends of the bias-esque-tape on and use them to tie the tops of the cardigan together because, it turns out, having used sweaters with different fabric contents and different lengths spawned some interesting fitting issues. Here's the final product:

And here I am wearing it buttoned-up. You can see that I've tied the ties off-centred, because I feel when they're tied too centrally they give a bit of a Pilgrim vibe (it's blurry, I know, but I've had a long day cleaning and was a bit self-conscious of my face so I tried a different approach). I do like how asymmetrical it is; it looks better when my arm's not raised taking a picture without my face.

Here's the cardigan not buttoned, which I also enjoy.

My goals for the rest of the weekend are to make this adorable Greco-Romanesque dress from an old sheet and to use bias-tape (yay!) to finish the infinity dress I made awhile ago. And anything else I have time for.

The Refashioned Sweater

Project: refashion one of the sweaters I bought in Lithuania

Goal: to practice (pretty basic goal, I think)

So this is one of the three sweaters I bought in Lithuania that are okay are on their own. The keyhole detail on this one was what really sold me on it, but, being a busty lass, it didn't fall in the right place. Instead of trying to move it down or something, I decided to refashion this sweater into something with a sweetheart neckline (much more flattering, and it appeals to the side of me that adores low-cut numbers).

I also felt like the pink was a bit much on its own, so I decided to line the new neckline with the fabric from these panties. Don't worry, they've never been worn. I bought the biggest size they had, which turned out to still not go over my thighs, but I love the print, so I figured I'd use them on this project.

I cut the panties up into strips (I plan to save the lacy bits for an as-yet undetermined project)...

...and cut the new neckline out of the sweater.

This was all done yesterday. I wasn't feeling 100% so I was very slow about it and by the time I'd finished it was too late for me to sew (Ethel can get a bit noisy). When I got up this morning I decided before I set to work on the sweater I should organize my two boxes of scraps and notions and also my ever-growing bookshelf. So here's the before and afters:

The fabric scrap box before...

I know it doesn't look much better, but I've put all the scrappy bits in ziploc bags and wrapped the larger pieces around cardboard, so it's much better organized.

Here's my notions box before...

...and after. Turns out I have a seam-ripper! Who knew.

And the bookshelf, which first only had The Sewing Book and a copy of Burda magainze I bought in Lithuania...

... and now has Sewing Green: 25 Projects Made with Repurposed & Organic Materials, Vogue Sewing and The Dressmaker's Technique Bible as well, all of which are amazing. Sewing Green has the most adorable idea for a lunch bag and sandwich wraps which I really wanted to make this weekend but I'm still not feeling great so no trip to the fabric shop for me. Oh well. It's also got some cute skirts and dresses and one dress for little girls which I've accepted a dare to make in my size.

Okay, intermission over. I pressed the panty bits in half and then pinned them around the sides of the neckline (except the sweetheart bit).

Then I sewed them on.

I trimmed back the seam allowance (which I should put in quotation marks because I eye-balled it to the max) and pressed the panels for the sweetheart part.

Then I stitched them on, trying really hard to keep the integrity of the shape of the neckline. I don't think I did too bad of a job. Here's where I just want to say that when I look at this picture I think "Oh, it looks so much better on!" which is ideal, in my opinion. Few things are worse than seeing something and being like "cute!" and then seeing it on and feeling horrible.

I decided to jazz it up a little by making a bow out of some of the elastic from the panties...

...and attaching it at one of the corners of the neckline. Supercute and girlie, but not little-girlie, I don't think.

So here's what it looks like on; one issue I'm worried about is that I kept making adjustments and trying it on without wearing a bra (I still have yet to try it on with full support) so I worry it won't look as good. That said, I think it turned out really pretty and I'm mildly annoyed that it's finally warming up because it's gradually getting out of sweater/cardi season and I've just started having fun with them! Oh well.

There's a bit of pinching on the sweetheart part, but I don't mind. I knew it wouldn't be perfect. I think my next project's going to be a wallet, or maybe another sweater conversion. This time into a cardigan since it is getting so warm. Who knows.

The Refashioned Cardi

Project:Refashioned Cardi

Goals: practice some stitching, put in some buttons

So as mentioned last time I'm still a little nervous about the dress refashioning, so I decided to deal with a sweater I have which I never ever wear. It's a bit weird on me, which you can see from the before and after pictures at the end of the post.

It's nice enough, but I'd like to make it better. I googled "turning sweaters into cardigans" and found this amazingness onThreadbanger, and followed two of their links (one which I adore the asymmetry of and one with a tutorial) so I decided to give it a try. I still haven't been to any craft shoppies so I'm going solely on what I've got in stock. Ethel's got a buttonholing feature, so one of the goals of this was to practice with that.

So I still had quite a bit of this sweater around after the tiger lily incident, and I decided to use it to add contrast to the stripey number which would serve as my base.

The stripey number is a v-neck, which would prove to make the refashioning a bit difficult (and would lead to one of the biggest issues I have with the final product) but I cut out a section slightly to the left side to create the asymmetrical opening.

Then I cut the bottom hem off of the pink sweater to make recollaring the stripey number easier. The collar is my favourite part of the finished product.

Then I used the sleeves from the pink sweater to make the new panels for the buttonholes and buttons. My big mistake here was I decided not to measure them, so they came out uneven. Oops!

I sewed on my uneven panels (which I guess I could argue add even more asymmetry to the final product but I think that's pushing it) and then used the collar from the pink sweater to try to match the collar work I did earlier (not pictured because at this time I misplaced my camera).

Then the Great Buttonhole Disaster happened. I was making some buttonholes and things were going quite smoothly, until I got to the last buttonhole I wanted to make. Ethel decided at this moment to eat a good chunk of my new cardigan.

It took me ages to work out how to get the bit out of her depths, and by that time I had cut a chunk out of the cardigan. I then tried again, and the same thing happened. I was getting really angry at this point, so I took a long break. Then I decided "whatever" and left the gaping hole alone. I think the problem had something to do with the thickness of what I was working with and the bottom thread, but I'm not sure.

After the incident I attached the buttons and am relatively pleased with how it looks. From this picture you can see one of my concerns with this "piece": the huge disparity in the collar. That said, I much prefer it to the weird v-neck thing it had going on earlier, so I don't mind too much.

Now it's time for before and afters! There are three afters, because there are three ways to wear the cardigan: all buttoned up, only the top button buttoned, and unbuttoned. I think I prefer unbuttoned; I like the uneveness of it. It's the closest to grunge I'll probably (read: hopefully) ever get. Although looking at it again I also like just the top button buttoned... it distracts from the fact that the panels are so uneven. Also, I can't believe how much older I look in the "after" shots... Yipes. It could be the lighting (in fact, I hope it is). Anyway, I'm overall pleased with this.