Yesterday, I used the fact that I always feel a sense of reluctance about changing the thread in my sewing machine (which doesn't take much time, but is one of those tiny barriers that can derail a person) to motivate myself to find things to sew that use the ecru thread I still had in the machine from the organic Anthem tank.
Item 1: 20+ year old pants become semi-billowy shorts
It seems almost incredible that I could be wearing a pair of pants that I purchased prior to the fall of the Berlin Wall, but there it is. Actually, I haven't worn them much for a couple of years because they were too short even by my standards, but I really liked them. I don't think this is due to some kind of sentimental attachment but more just the simple fact that they are unusual in style, cool for summer (literally - thin cotton), and have a nice loose fit in the legs that is very comfortable. They always make me feel like I'm on an island vacation (which is, frankly, pretty weird when I articulate it). They are also rather high-waisted, which would look funny if I were to tuck something into them, but there's no risk of that happening.
I didn't seem to be able to take a photo that didn't make one leg or the other look longer than its partner (because I can't manage to stand up straight), but in reality, they are the same length.
I'm pretty pleased that I will be able to get continued wear out of these old favorites.
Item 2: Unwearable free t-shirt becomes custom-fitted shirt
Honestly, a lot of the free t-shirts a person accumulates are not very attractive (I mean, given away free, not "free to me" shirts that someone paid for but you were given). Mine tend to be advertising some company or organization that I may not want to pimp for, commemorate an event that I don't care much about (often with sponsor logos also), ugly, or all three. (A possible exception: the Salon t-shirts that Tam gave me that I remade into two tanks, but I don't know whether Tam paid for them or not.)
So when I got this free event t-shirt, that had no logos but a really nice design, I was quite happy. Unfortunately, it had the problems all true "T"-shirts have - its shape did not at all match mine. Fortunately, while my sewing skills are rudimentary at best, I am able to fix this kind of problem. In this case, after having made so many sleeveless shirts recently, I decided to remake it into a short-sleeved shirt.
My favorite t-shirts to refashion are huge - the bigger, the better. This one was a size medium, which made it a bit tricky since to get the length I wanted, it would be tighter around the hips than I prefer, and I generally had less room getting my desired shape with a reasonable seam allowance.
I used my youth birding (Roughwings) t-shirt refashion as the basis for the new shirt. What? I can't find a photo of this shirt on my blog, so here it is. (This was one of many shirts I purchased super-cheap from my previous employer.) I have forgotten what store-bought shirt of my own I used as the original model for the Roughwings shirt, which has become one of my favorite shirts to wear, esp. birding because (1) it's a birding event shirt and (2) cream and green match my typical birding gear.
The flare of the Roughwings shirt was too wide to work within the confines of a size medium t-shirt, so I did a planned-out version of something I faked after-the-fact with another refashion: I incorporated a cut-away at the side of the shirt.
I surprised myself at how well I did with resizing and attaching the sleeves. It had been so long since I'd done that, I had to figure it all out as if for the first time. (It's actually more challenging than you might think to determine how to orient the body and the sleeve to sew the sleeve on from the inside.) The sleeves are, basically, perfect.
I managed to make this photo look weird by having the shirt a bit off-center at the shoulder but you can see the shape and most importantly, the design.
Male and female belted kingfishers! I am so glad I didn't screw this one up. Kingfishers are my favorite. I love them. I don't even care about the semi-hokey "Soaring to New Heights" motto underneath the event information.
3 comments:
Kingfishers! Fantastic!
So I take it if one were to buy you a t-shirt on the basis of its fantastic design/logo, one ought to buy a larger size rather than a more fitting size, so as to give you more material to work with when you remake it to your desired shape?
If it has a design near the top of the shirt, then preferably the shirt will be big, but not like super big, so that it's easy to keep the original hem at the bottom. Does that make sense? Of course, a huge shirt can always be cut down and one's own hem put in. But yeah, a more "fitted shape" sometimes doesn't give enough room to work with around the bust and hip areas, given that I have to leave extra fabric for stitching it together.
I love the kingfishers! Another shirt for you to wear birding. How great is that?
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