The Sewing Goatherd: Refashioning

Showing posts with label Refashioning. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 26, 2024

A Refashioned Edwardian Blouse for the Anne Picnic

Well it has been a while now, hasn't it. This month has been something. A roller coaster really of ups and downs - high ups and low downs - and I still feel like I'm trying to catch my breath. The month started off fantastically with our Anne of Green Gables Picnic!

Photo by @samithefae

And that picnic was everything we envisioned it being! But before I get ahead of myself, let me tell you the story of my outfit. . .

Photo by @samithefae

As explained in my introductory post on the subject last month, the idea for this Edwardian picnic outfit of mine really began with this white cotton nightgown. It just begged to be turned into a frilly Edwardian blouse!

Thus, I procured the Black Snail Edwardian Blouse pattern for the project.

Now, would this one summer nightgown yield enough material to make the blouse as the pattern was written, or would I have to supplement with additional fabric and/or make some major alterations to the pattern for my plan to work? There was only one way to find out!

I began by dismantling the night gown. In the interest of preserving every possible scrap of material, scissors never made an appearance in this dismantling process. Out came the seam ripper!

First, I seam ripped the button placket off the pin-ticked yoke, but left it attached to the body of the nightgown - I intended to use the existing button placket down the back of my blouse, rather than making a new one.

Next, I carefully removed all the cotton bias tape and "crocheted" lace trim from the neckline, armscyes, and hem. I made sure not to damage any of this trim so I could re-use it on my blouse.

Finally, I removed the pin-tucked yoke from the body of the nightgown. It would be re-used as the yoke of the blouse.

Disassembly thus completed, I carefully ironed all the pieces of material, then assembled the pattern. Once the pattern was all taped together and the pieces cut out in my size, I took stock of the pattern and decided that my best option was to combine elements of view 1 and view 2 - and maybe, just maybe, I'd be able to get this whole blouse cut out of the one nightgown's worth of material.

I decided to start with the smallest piece - the yoke. It took a bit of finagling to figure out the best way to piece together the nightgown yoke pieces to have a large enough piece of flat material to cut out the blouse yoke - but eventually it happened! Even better, where the piecing had to happen resembled a shoulder seam, rather than a "I didn't have enough fabric seam" - and I call that a win!

Finagling really was the name of the game when it came to figuring out the pattern layout for this project.

It was easy enough to figure out where and how to layout the front and the back of the blouse - the center front of the blouse when on the center back of the nightgown, and the center back of the blouse went on the center front of the nightgown to utilize the existing button placket - but the sleeves. Oh the sleeves.

Those gave me trouble! I really wanted the view 1 ruffly sleeves, but that sleeve pattern piece was huge (along with the separate ruffle pattern piece. . .), and I just couldn't figure out a way to make it work. I contemplated making the sleeves out of a different white fabric, but nothing in my stash suited (and I did not want to cut up the second nightgown, though I did consider it.) I contemplated majorly piecing together the sleeves from alllllllll the tiny scraps of fabric, but that wouldn't really work either. I resigned myself to making the less full view 2 sleeves - but even that pattern piece didn't quite fit, and those were not the sleeves I wanted. I wanted ruffles!!

Two days. For two days the pattern was laid out on the dissected nightgown on my living room floor. Every time I came in the room I swapped out the sleeve pattern piece - view 1, view 2, view 1, view 2 - and I spent a lot of time on Pinterest considering Edwardian sleeve options.

Finally, an idea struck. I would use the view 2 sleeve that mostly fit onto the fabric I had available. Out of the larger leftover scraps, I would cut ruffles to go at the bottom of the sleeves - similar to the view 1 ruffles, only less long and less full. Both the bottom of the sleeve and the top of the ruffle would be gathered into a narrow cuff cut from some of the smaller scraps.

Photo by @samithefae

This solution worked beautifully! No, the sleeves weren't as floofy as the huge view 1 sleeves would have been - but they were still beautiful and gave the right impression.

Photo by @samithefae

And I believe, they had just enough "puff" that even Anne would have been satisfied to wear this blouse!

Once the sleeve conundrum was solved, it was pretty smooth sailing!

I pieced together the pin-tucked yoke, and trimmed it all around the edge with some of the lace harvested from the nightgown.

Then I sewed together the shoulder seams (using French Seams for a clean finish) of the body of the blouse.

The yoke then got pinned on top of the body, and topstitched in place.

Once the yoke was sewn on, the excess material behind it got trimmed away and the seam allowance was finished with a narrow zig-zag stitch.

I made the collar out of a scrap of fabric - adding a few pintucks for fun and finishing the top edge with more of the harvested lace.

The collar was sewn on to the neckline, and that seam allowance was finished by encasing it in some of the bias tape harvested from the nightgown. (Thanks to my seam-ripping at the beginning, the only "new" notion required for this blouse was the thread to sew it together - buttons, lace, and bias tape were all there for the taking!)

Once the collar was on, the button placket could be attached to the yoke and collar - effectively finishing the closure for this blouse!

The pattern actually recommended only having buttons up to the bottom of the yoke, then using hooks and eyes and snaps to close the yoke and the collar, but it was very satisfactory to be able to re-use the button placket from the original nightgown!

Photo by @samithefae

And I like the look of buttons all the way up the back - even though it does appear to gape slightly at the top.

Button placket on, the side seams were sewn up (French Seams again), and the body of the blouse was gathered into the peplum (view 2 option).

The peplum was, admittedly, not cut out of the nightgown material, but rather a lightweight cotton harvested from a bed skirt in my stash. The material didn't exactly match, being a looser weave and a less white white than the nightgown material, but, as the peplum would be tucked into my skirt and never seen when the blouse was worn, it didn't have to be perfect!

Photo by @samithefae

The peplum was sewn on with a French Seam. Then the sleeves were assembled, the ruffles finished at the bottom with more of the harvested lace, and set. That seam allowance was then finished with the harvested bias tape.

Photo by @samithefae

And the blouse was done!!

Photo by @samithefae

Delicate and floofy - everything an Edwardian blouse should be!!

And everything I dreamed that nightgown could be turned into!

Speaking of, since this was a re-fashion project, it fits the HSM #5 theme for this year - New Clothes from Old:

Make something new out of a worn-out garment or accessory. Or make something using recycled materials.

What the item is: An Edwardian Blouse

The Challenge: New Clothes from Old - this blouse is almost entirely made from a thrifted nightgown, the only new materiel in it is thread!

Material: Lightweight embroidered cotton, harvested from the aforementioned nightgown, and a bit of lightweight cotton harvest from a bed skirt for the peplum

Pattern: Black Snail Edwardian Blouse, with slight alterations

Year: 1904-1906ish

Notions: Buttons, cotton lace trim, and cotton bias tape, all harvested from the nightgown - and thread (fresh off a spool, since re-using the night gown's thread would have been tricky)

How historically accurate is it? Pretty good, it certainly resembles blouses of the era. Its all machine sewn, but by the early 1900's that's not unheard of. I'll give it atleast an 85%.

Hours to complete: I didn't keep track, but it wasn't bad. Maybe 6-8 hours total.

First worn: 6/1/24 for an Anne of Green Gables themed Picnic!

Total cost: Less than $1! The nightgown was picked up at a "by the pound" place, and it weighed less than a pound. Being just a blouse, this didn't require a ton of thread, and the bed skirt I used a bit of was also thrifted cheap - plus I've got plenty of that left for future projects.

Photo by @samithefae

Thanks for reading! Now hopefully I can get around to telling you about the rest of the outfit before another month goes by!

Saturday, June 3, 2023

The Harry Potter Circle Wrap Skirt

My sister-in-law called me the day of my sister’s play.

“I have the perfect outfit to wear tonight” she said.

“What is it?” I asked.

But she wouldn’t tell me. A few hours later we met her, my brother, and my niece for dinner before the play, and I may have squealed in delight when I saw what my sister-in-law was wearing!

She was wearing the skirt I’d made her as a birthday gift a few months earlier!! She looked so cute!

This skirt is a full circle skirt made just like my orange linen skirt with ties that wrap around the waist, rather than zippers, buttons, or some other sort of closure, making it incredibly adjustable!

My sister-in-law liked the design and commented on it last summer, so I decided I had to make her a skirt in this style, I just needed to find the perfect fabric!

The “perfect fabric” turned out to be a Harry Potter themed, king size, duvet cover my sister gave me for fabric a couple years ago. My sister-in-law loves Harry Potter, so when I came across this in my stash I knew it was just the thing!

As for the pattern, my orange skirt was made from a dress that I chopped up when I couldn’t get the bodice to play nice, so I didn’t, strictly speaking, have a pattern for this type of skirt. The dress pattern was cut out in the wrong size for my sister-in-law and didn’t have any waistband pieces, so I decided it would be easiest to start with an entirely different pattern, or two. (A combination I actually used to make my Christmas skirt a few years back.)

I used the Winter Wear Designs Bateau Garden dress skirt as my starting point since it was a full circle skirt with pleats just like those on those on my orange skirt. I used the shaped waistband pieces from the Winter Wear Designs Crop Dress pattern and just added ties to the ends. There’s an opening in the waistband at one of the side seams to thread the tie from the opposite side through.

Of course I also put pockets in the side seams.

My sister-in-law seemed quite pleased with the skirt when she unwrapped it, and said she’d have to find the perfect top to go with it!

And, as you can see, she did just that, added a gold headband, and looked fantastic!

It’s such a delight to see people wearing things you’ve made them!

Monday, January 30, 2023

A Blue Seersucker Shirt to Toddler Dress Refashion

I was very excited this weekend to see my niece wearing a dress I made for her last spring, (She has worn the dress since I gave it to her, I just haven't been around to see it until now.)

This dress stared out as a men's button down I thrifted years before my niece was even born.

A beautiful blue cotton seersucker! Sometime last winter I unearthed it in my fabric stash and decided it needed to become a dress for my niece. I used Simplicity 9243 to accomplish this goal.

I loved the peter pan collar and cut on sleeves!

I cut the skirt from the body of the shirt, below the sleeves, and kept the original hem.

I filled in the higher sides with some wide eyelet trim from my stash. Prior to cutting the skirt, I removed the breast pocket from the shirt, with the intention of re-using it as a pocket on the skirt.

Under the pocket I found some pen marks on the fabric. Well we know that pocket was used! These pen marks would have been visible at the very top of the skirt, so I had to figure out a way to cover them. More eyelet to the rescue!

Once the skirt was sorted out, I cut the bodice out of the top of the shirt body, and cut the underside collar from the yoke pieces.

In keeping with the eyelet on the skirt I went back to my trim stash and found a scrap of eyelet fabric to cut the top layer of the collar from and a ruffled eyelet trim to finish the sleeves off with.

I used the original button placket down the back of the dress.

Due to a cutting miscalculation, the button placket is only functional from neck to waist. The button placket on the skirt is purely decorative.

Thankfully the back still opens enough for my niece to easily get the dress on and off!

She particularly likes the pocket on the skirt! It's the perfect place to store the gum Mimi gave her!

She looks absolutely adorable in this dress (though, of course, she looks adorable in anything!), and it was absolutely worth taking the time to make!

Now I just need to make her lots more dresses!

Saturday, June 25, 2022

A Wedding-Worthy Dress for a Baby - Simplicity 8614

At the time of my wedding my niece was a bit too young to have an official role. However, I decided she still needed a special dress, made just for her, for the festivities.

Something lacy in keeping with the theme of my dress and the flower girls dresses.

At first I thought I might just make her a miniature version of the flower girls' dresses, but then I remembered something I had in my stash.

An embroidered ivory net lace skirt I'd picked up at a thrift store once upon a time. I bought it because the lace was pretty, and I wanted to use it for something, but after several years of hoarding this thing in my stash, the right project never came along. Until now!

I decided to use Simplicity 8614, because the ruffle around the neckline was just so cute! I measured the dimensions of the lace skirt and the size of the pattern pieces in my niece's size and was thrilled to discover I would have just enough lace to make this plan work!

Now what would go under the lace? In keeping with the purple and green color scheme of the wedding party and decorations I chose a pale green rayon twill off the clearance rack at Joann's. It was wonderfully soft.