Not Just a Shirt This Time

But I am going to start with a shirt. This is (I think) going to be the penultimate t-shirt refashion with my current stash. I still have one doozy of a refashion planned that I have not yet worked out in sufficient detail to execute.

I started with two men's polo shirts of the same kind of fabric knit: a black one from my stint at the Colorado State program and a greyish-olive one of Robert's that had developed a hole next to the buttons. Since neither one had enough usable fabric to make a shirt on its own, I combined the two using a block style since I can't get enough of that mod era-ish look:

The greenish part is only on the front; the back is entirely black. I like how it works when wearing black shorts (or pants or skirt). Because the shirts were not very wide, I added vents to the bottom yet again. I also added darts for better fit.


Now for something a bit different. Some time ago, I had purchased a set of acrylic coasters to put cocktail napkins in. Robert's grandmother always had these in her house and I liked the way that she used different napkin designs seasonally, etc. I purchased a few sets of napkins at the same time as the coasters. However, I went through those napkins relatively quickly and hadn't seen more to buy, nor did I really want to, since it seemed rather wasteful to be going through paper napkins this way.

Then I realized: duh, I could sew cocktail napkin inserts for these coasters instead. Not only is this much more environmentally friendly (since I will be recycling fabric and then washing the inserts instead of trashing them), it's much cheaper, allows me to make good use of fabric scraps, and (theoretically) could give me the chance to do something more creative than make a "which set of napkins am I going to buy" decision.

So this afternoon, I whipped up a set of inserts as proof of concept. I made these extremely plain - matching top and bottom fabric, sewn right sides together, turned right-side out (like an empty pillow), then top stitched around the edge (in part to close the opening) in white. Iron flat and insert in coaster. Voila! A set of 6 super-blurry fabric coasters! (Which had already been scattered throughout the house by the time I saw how bad this photo turned out.) I didn't make the effort required to ensure that each insert was very square, but inside the coasters, it doesn't matter.



The provenance of the fabric, from top left:

* Swirly blue and purple - from Wal-Mart $1 rack; still have a yard of it

* Grey and black plaid - shirt of Robert's, damaged; used for the trim on the black linen pants-to-skirt refashion

* Pink and purple batik - the first pants I sewed myself in about 1990 (my sister the future engineer had to help me figure out how the pockets were attached)

* Green with pink splotches - leftover Wal-Mart fabric from making pants

* Hot pink with dots - also leftover Wal-Mart fabric from making pants

* Grey and green plaid - men's shirt purchased from the Harold's annual sale circa 1989; later given to Robert until he wore it out in places

I have now also tested the coasters for absorbency and they work very well. Much better than the set of black plastic coasters I bought at Target many years ago and continue to use despite the fact that the condensation just pools on the plastic and drips off the end of the glass when you pick it up, splattering you and everything around you. (I don't know about you, but my two-bedroom apartment requires approximately 3,105 coasters to ensure that there will always be one available when and where I need it.)

I plan to buy more of these holders, sew more inserts, and get rid of the stupid non-absorbing coasters that I own. I look forward to playing with the design of the inserts. Likely choices: patchwork designs, Christmas fabric.