Half zip to full zip fleece rework

 I've found I much prefer a fleece if it unzips all the way down and has zipped pockets. So in between other projects I've gradually started converting them.

Here's a link to the navy blue one I did first

The second one was a different brand and had a contrast collar lining and partial facing (not binding as the navy one). This meant a lot more unpicking and some fiddling about to correctly get the zip inside the facing. I did have to unpick some of the topstitching.

I'll note down what I did as an aid memoire to myself for the next one!

For the front zip

1. Unpick the old zip.

2. Iron a strip of interfacing to the back area where the front zip will go using a cool iron.

3. Cut the centre front open and overlock each of the cut edges.

4. Place the right side of the zipper tape to the edge of the front and stitch near the edge, being careful both sides of the zip line up.

5. Re-stitch the collar and facing seam (which was unpicked earlier) enclosing the top of the zip (fold excess zipper tape to one side and secure with a couple of hand stitches).

6. Topstitch the entire zipper tape and centre front collar edge

For the pockets

For the zipped pockets I followed a method from Barbara Emodi's book "Sew...The Garment-Making Book of Knowledge" its on page 56 "Easy Zippered pockets".

1. On the wrong side of the jacket lightly iron some rectangles of interfacing (cool iron).

2. On the right side lay a piece of fabric which becomes the pocket (rights sides together). Over this pin a piece of tissue paper marked with a long thin rectangle. In this case the box was 6 1/2" long by 1/4" wide. This matches with the interfacing on the other side.

3. Stitch round the box with short stitches. Cut the box open as normal (long slit down the middle and into the 4 corners).

4. Pull the pocket fabric through the box, they say to press with an iron but on fleece I prefer to hand tack the box opening.

5. Place the zipper behind the rectangular opening, pin or tack in place, stitch round box to attach the zip (being careful not to catch any of the pocket fabric).

6. Fold the fabric round to form the pocket, trim as required, then stitch round the edge of the pocket. I like to hand stitch it to the front zipper tape to stop the pocket drooping.

Another Piece for my Emerald Accents Collection

Teal linen skirt to top re-fashion

 Old skirt

I made this teal linen skirt using OOP Butterick 3972 in 2018. I didn't wear it much and now its too small, so I decided to re-fashion it into a top using the Remy Raglan Pattern.

To new top

I unpicked the side seams of the skirt, and then cut the from and back of the Remy Raglan out of the lower portion of the skirt, reusing the original hem.

I then took the 3/4 length sleeve, shortened it a little and split it along the grainline to make a front sleeve ad back sleeve. I cut the width straight from the underarm to create a loose sleeve. I then cut these pieces out of the remaining section of sleeve.

I sewed the sleeve pieces together and constructed the top. I pieced the bias neck facing from the scraps, sewed it on, unstitched, pressed and stitched and hemmed the sleeves.

I also topstitched as many seams as I could to echo the original topstitching.

I'll wear it to see if I need to slim the sleeves. But I can imagine wearing this top a lot more than I did the skirt.

Green batik shirt

 

This is my latest make, another batik shirt this time with full length sleeves and narrow cuffs. I put the top button on, although I never button up that far.

I bought the fabric in May from Boyes in Arnold, Nottingham. It was the end of the bolt so I was only able to get 1.5 metres of fabric. Lots of single layer cutting, with the odd piece on the cross grain.

I stitched with green thread and added small pink/purple buttons.

As before I used this Prima shirt dress pattern from 2020 as the basis of my shirt, shortening to shirt length, adding a sleeve placket and pockets with flaps.

This one is a lot of fun!

My Emerald accents have come along nicely

Emerald Green - ideas for bringing in a specific colour to your wardrobe - Part 7 : repurpose RTW

Emerald Green - ideas for bringing in a specific colour to your wardrobe - Part 7 : repurpose RTW

I discovered I had this plain RTW t shirt in the perfect colour, only I'd managed to get a purplish stain on it in 4 places (splashes from something). So I decided some sort of simple embellishment to cover up the stains would be just the ticket.

I drew the leaves on freehand with black Sharpie pen and the veins with green Sharpie pen. I only needed 4 leaves (2 on sleeve and 2 on body) to cover the stains, but I added a few more to make a more coherent design.

Then I added a simple running stitch with toning green embroidery thread on top of the black.

I might add some more hand stitching for the veins at a later date, and we'll see how sharpie stands up to laundering!

Emerald Green - ideas for bringing in a specific colour to your wardrobe - Part 6 : co-ordinating bag

Emerald Green - ideas for bringing in a specific colour to your wardrobe - Part 6 : co-ordinating bag

I used part of a woven polyester shower curtain to make this rucksack style drawstring bag.

It co-ordinates with the trainers (sneakers) rather than matching exactly, but I think it works quite well.

The main thing to remember with this style of bag is that you need the side seams on both sides and a lot more cord for the drawstrings than you expect!

Here's how all my emerald pieces are looking so far!

Emerald Green - ideas for bringing in a specific colour to your wardrobe - Part 5 : Contrast neckband

Emerald Green - ideas for bringing in a specific colour to your wardrobe - Part 5 : Contrast neckband

I had a remnant left over from a previous top which was just enough to make a second top.

I added an emerald green neckband to try to bring out the emerald parts of the print.

The pattern is one I made by tracing a favourite RTW top.

Here's how the different ideas work with the shoes

Emerald Green - ideas for bringing in a specific colour to your wardrobe - Part 4 : Add embroidery

Emerald Green - ideas for bringing in a specific colour to your wardrobe - Part 4 : Add embroidery

Butterfly Sweatshirt

Apparently the nineties are back. I still have some of my patterns from then, so thought I'd give this one a go. The pattern is dated 1992 and I probably bought it in the mid 90s when I first got an overlocker as it specifically says "Focus on Overlock (Serger) Sewing"

The fabric is a cream coloured french terry which has been in my stash for several years.

Pattern Description:
Sew News Pattern
Misses' unlined cardigan, vest, tunic and pants - for stretch knits only: very loose-fitting unlined cardigan or vest has dropped shoulder, shoulder pads and top-stitching details; very loose-fitting tunic, with collar of self or ribbed knit neckband, has , has dropped shoulders and optional shoulder pads; pull on pants have partially stitched front pleats, side seam pockets, foldback waistline casing with elastic and optional button-on self fabric stirrups.

Pattern Sizing:
Single sizes in X-Small to X-Large, my pattern is a Medium (14-16) which is the size I was in the 90s. These days I'm larger but the garment is so loose fitting it was fine!

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I made View C, shortened by 7" so it was high hip rather than tunic length.
As the fabric was rather plain I measured carefully and used my embroidery machine to add some embroidery to the front before construction. Afterwards I tore the interfacing away around the design to avoid it being too stiff on the front.

The embroidery design is intended to use different colours to this, but I replaced them with various shades of emerald, aqua and blue.

I plan to wear this with self sewn jeans and of course my emerald green trainers (sneakers).

Emerald Green - ideas for bringing in a specific colour to your wardrobe - Part 4 : Adapting RTW

 Emerald Green - ideas for bringing in a specific colour to your wardrobe - Part 4 : Adapting RTW

Another approach for introducing a specific colour into your wardrobe is through RTW. I had this T-shirt which had short cap sleeves with a band. They were uncomfortably tight and unflattering.

I looked through my knit scraps for something to make new sleeves and found this knit with a similar slubbed texture. I thought the navy and white worked well with the emerald, and could imagine wearing this top with blue jeans and the emerald sneakers.

Emerald Green - ideas for bringing in a specific colour to your wardrobe - Part 3 : Fabric Markers

Emerald Green - ideas for bringing in a specific colour to your wardrobe - Part 3 : Fabric Markers

I had some viscose (rayon) jersey fabric which had been languishing in the stash for many years. It was a bright white background with a fairly sparse outline print of palm trees in black. I don't much like achromatic looks (no colour) so hadn't reached for it.

To add colour I coloured in each of the palm leaves by hand with a green Dylon fabric marker. It took several hours and completed used up the marker.

If I try this again I'll cut the pieces out first, then colour the motifs in.

The pattern I used is Simplicity 1945 which has been in my stash for more than 10 years (it was issued in 2011). I made View B, the mock wrap top with a full round back alteration, full bicep alteration and extra width through the body.

I made a high round back alteration, full bicep alteration and graded out a little at the sides. I also cut the band across the fabric and a bit wider and used it as a neckband rather than a facing. I used my coverhem machine on the hems.

The pattern goes together nicely but I think I'd need to make more alterations for it to be flattering on my body.

I had hoped that the ruching would give me a waist. Unfortunately it hits lower on me than expected and is not very flattering. Perhaps I added too much ease or maybe its just the wrong shape for my body.

I'm going to see if my full busted friend would like this top.

Emerald Green - ideas for bringing in a specific colour to your wardrobe - Part 2 : Use a Print

 Emerald Green - ideas for bringing in a specific colour to your wardrobe - Part 2 : Use a Print

the green in the smaller leaves works very well with the emerald colour

New Look 6735 (modified for fit) in a cotton lyra jersey from Fabrique Creations in Skegness.

There are lots of other colour in this print too so it should be a versatile piece in my wardrobe

Emerald Green - ideas for bringing in a specific colour to your wardrobe - Part 1

Emerald Green - ideas for bringing in a specific colour to your wardrobe - Part 1 : Planning

(This turned into such a long post as I was writing it that I think it'll be a series!)

I like to co-ordinate to some extent, which I'm sure isn't a surprise to you if you've seen all the capsule wardrobes I've sewn!

A while back I attended a dance based exercise class and bought some trainers (sneakers) on sale which I only wore in the studio. I don't go to that class anymore, so the shoes are now available for general wear and now its spring I'd like to wear them a bit more without investing lots of money in new items.

The colour is infuriating, greener than turquoise/teal but lighter and bluer than most of the greens.

I've been collecting ideas and will see how many of them I can put into action. I thought this might be useful for others, so let me know if you found it helpful!

Step 1 - Clothes and accessories you already own

Go through your wardrobe and accessories and see what you already own in this colour. I didn't think I had anything much but found I did have a few things. Don't forget scarves and jewellery. 

Earrings

two necklaces

A t shirt (sadly with 4 tiny stains which I can't get out, prob splashes of sauce)

Multicoloured tube scarf

I can happily make outfits with these pieces to wear my green trainers now.

Step 2 - Fabric and craft materials you already own

Now go through your fabric and scraps and pull out anything matching or containing the colour (including scraps of quilting cotton too small to be a garment). I also picked out thread, buttons, trim, beads, fabric paint and silk paints.

NOTE: If there is a similar (but not matching) colour in a print it may still work as its less critical that the colour be an exact match.

Step 3 - Ideas for using what you have

1. Use a print. Sew a garment from a print fabric which includes your colour (or something similar).

2. Embroidery. By hand or machine. Add a motif in the colour to a plain garment (or to fabric and make up into a garment)

3. Fabric paint. Mix several colours together to match the colour you are introducing. Keep it simply by painting a stripe. The base can be plain or striped already - overpaint a few of the white stripes.

4. Sew beads in your colour onto the neckline of a top.

5. Add a contrasting patch pocket to a top, you can use quilting cotton for this.

6. Add applique (quilting cotton again) to a garment (use with caution!)

7. Make a garment using the colour for the cuffs and neckband

8. Make a colour blocked garment which incorporates plains and print with at least one mention of the chosen colour.

I am going to try as many of these as possible and will share the results as I go!