Sew wear are they now? 2017 edition
I made / refashioned 11 items of clothing in 2017, 3 of which I still have. Here I am reviewing a representative selection.
I used to spend more time on pinterest than I do now, and spotted a cute t-shirt transformation which looked easy to copy.
This t-shirt got comments whenever I wore it, even children who could barely speak would notice it.
For some reason I later decided to shorten the hem and add a band of lace to the hem, but this ruined it – just made it look wrong.
The base t-shirt which I got from a charity shop was more worn than I realised which also limited its life.
positives – always got me noticed
negatives – took it a refashion too far
estimated number of wears – 20
I discarded this re-fashion in March 2020
I made a top from a good quality large size men’s shirt.
It was a simple re-make where the back becomes the front, I cut off the sleeves, added some bust shaping and bias binding.
I remember being quite pleased with the bias binding but the darts look a bit dodgy.
This top has had a good amount of wear but has a limited wearing season of high summer.
Positives – nice colour, simple garment which goes with anything
negatives – creases within 5 minutes of putting on
Estimated number of wears – 31
This top was demoted to gardening wear summer 2021 when it quickly picked up some stubborn stains and has now been discarded.
I made a skirt from a dress and a skirt given to me by the same person (my daughter)
Despite 2 different types of fabric, a thin stretchy jersey and a mid weight woven, they actually went together well. I had a penchant for a frill hem on a skirt at the time.
I didn’t actually make a waistband initially, just relying on the stretch in the fabric to hold the skirt up, but that didn’t really work and in 2020 I modified it with a waistband.
positives – very comfortable to wear due to the stretchy nature of the fabric
negatives – none really, its a summer season skirt
estimated number of wears – 25
I wore this skirt 10 times summer 2021 and have now discarded it.
I was given this dress to refashion and I really liked the colour of the fabric, which had 2 way stretch.
The dress had a wrap top which in my experience always gape, so I cut off the wrap section and sewed a centre seam instead.
I used more of the dress fabric to add length under the wrap.
The trim around the neck V was the finishing touch. – see next photo for an image of the top.
Positives – good original fit around the shoulders and arms
negatives – can’t think of any
estimated number of wears – 20
I still have this top and it’s probably got another 20 wears in it, I have a lot of tops and they only get 10 wears per year.
Suit to skirt refashion – refashioners 2017
This refashioners challenge was indeed something of a challenge as I had never refashioned a suit before.
I think I chose a good ladies skirt suit to work with and gave it my best shot by making a panelled A line skirt from both the jacket and skirt elements of the suit.
The fabric was denim coloured but had a lot of stretch and an embossed finish.
Note that I used fabric from the previous refashion for a waistband.
This skirt grew on me and I ended up being quite a favourite ( it was easy to wear with any top)
positives – comfortable and goes with anything
negatives – the fabric was stiff and had no drape at all
estimated number of wears – 20
I discarded this skirt in Aug 2020, it wasn’t worn out and I was maybe just having a bad day.
Skirt in 2017, worn with above top as a twofer.
This concludes my ‘sew wear are they now?’ series, I’ll leave it until next year to do 2018.
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