Sunshine and Skirt from Sheet

This skirt was my refashioning project this weekend. It started out as an old bedsheet from the dollar-a-pound that I'd gotten for my fabric stash probably two years ago and then promptly never done anything with. I have a bunch of other vintage sheets that I want to dive into soon! The cotton is really easy to work with, and it's easy to find sheets with fun prints. (I also signed up for So Zo's Me Made May, so am going to want to add a few more spring pieces to my self-made collection before then.)


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I used this 1969 Simplicity pattern. I'd definitely make this one again, as it came together fairly quickly but still has some nice details like the darts on the front and the waistband that makes the top very neat.


Funny story...I was really pleased when I finished this with how I'm improving the construction quality of what I'm sewing and perhaps it doesn't immediately look homemade. So I wore this today to go walk around Harvard Square (needed to get new running shoes), and while I was there I walked through a couple of stores looking for a new white shirt. I was in American Apparel and one of the saleswomen there comes up to me and says, "I know this is going to sound funny, but I could swear I had a pillowcase and sheets in that pattern when I was a kid!" (She was confused that the same pattern would have been sold to a clothing company as well...at least I cleared that up for her!) So I suppose it is obvious that this might have been a sheet, at least to those who recognize it.


I hope everyone's had a nice weekend! I was glad to get some time outside today...the weather's acting more like the end of May than the middle of April. Even though we've had a fairly mild winter, I'm still really happy that spring seems to be here! This is the first time I've actually gone out in short sleeves and bare legs for months...certainly enjoying the moment of time before it moves into the heat of the summer. Which...well, tomorrow and Tuesday are supposed to be in the high 80's. So that could be soon.

Other than that, I've been keeping busy with work and such. We've got our big demo week coming up the week after next, so a lot of coding and creating that has to happen before then. Then my group's next big project launches in a month, so that's been keeping me busy as well. It's been great to watch things come together, though...always exciting when code works!

Creative Fabric Project

Today I was in a mini fashion-show-of-a-kind for everyone who participated in a January workshop on creative uses of fabric and patternmaking, so I thought I'd share my final project here. Most of us spent the three-day workshop learning how to make a particular skirt from Tokomo Nakamichi's book Pattern Magic. Nakamichi's pattern-making process was really inspiring to me, particularly in the way that she encourages prototyping sculptural, 3D patterns with paper and then recutting the paper to form new pattern pieces. The skirt pattern we were working from used the same technique as Nakamichi used in this dress, the otoshiana (or "drop-hole").


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So I set out to make a skirt with a drop-hole. I constructed it out of denim, since I needed something sturdy to hold the shape of the skirt and that was the heaviest material I had in my stash. While I've sewn clothing from patterns before, this was the first time that I ever drafted a pattern (given only the dimensions in a book), altered it to fit me, and turned it into a wearable garment. A really good learning experience, I think!

And then...well, the drop-hole in the skirt looked to me liked it needed to have something coming out of it. So I added a speaker cone in the hole, and a pocket to hold a little amplifier circuit, batteries, and an mp3 player. So now I have a skirt that can also play music. (A very, very heavy skirt, because of the weight of the speaker). A bit silly, perhaps, but it was a fun project!

Quick and Easy Refashioning

After a month and a half of being completely busy (opera rehearsals and performances in Boston, flying out to Chicago the day after we struck the show, opera rehearsals and performances in Chicago, getting back just in time for the start of the lab's sponsor week, immediately followed by a set of concerts and lectures my group was involved in), Sunday was my first completely free day in a long time! And as Monday was Patriot's Day, I had the day off then as well. I think I'm not entirely sure what to do with free time, now. I did some apartment-cleaning, watched the Boston Marathon on television, and ran errands.

I also finally started tackling the pile of clothing in the corner of the apartment that's waiting to be refashioned. Someday I'll post pictures of that pile... (It is, in fact, a large pile.) First, I made two summer skirts from old men's dress shirts that used to be my brother's. They were both quite nice shirts, with light fabric and asymmetrical blue stripes.



I just cut a line straight across each shirt under the arms, then folded down the top of that cut piece, and sewed it in place with a channel big enough to thread some ribbon or bias tape through. Stuck a safety pin through one end of a piece of ribbon/bias tape, fed it through the channel, and tied the ends at the center where the shirt buttons meet.



And presto, two new summer skirts! The ribbon can be tied into a bow and worn out front, or tucked inside the skirt. (both of these could use a good ironing, I think...)




But today, it's cold and rainy and not nearly the summer weather I was imagining with those skirts. So I'm wearing another simple refashion in the form of a gray jersey tunic top that used to be a men's shirt. I just cut off about 6" off the end of each sleeve and rehemmed the edges...belted, I think it can pass for intentionally loose rather than just too big. For me, I've noticed that sleeve length is the major thing that signals whether a garment looks like it fits me or not. If the sleeves are too long, I look like a kid wearing my mom's clothing. So a simple sleeve trim here makes this comfortable top wearable!


Gray shirt: Express Men's from the brother, refashioned. Skirt: INC, thrifted. Boots, vintage via Ebay. Necklace, estate sale. Earrings, handmade. Belt, thrifted. Tights, LOFT.


So this outfit's comfortable and warm, which suits today's weather. Can't wait for the next warm and sunny days later this week! Is it spring yet where you are?