Sewing projects for 2012

Last year I didn't really make any sewing plans. This year I've decided that it would be useful to make a list of things that I'd like to make. I'm hoping it will give me a bit of focus when I find myself stuck for a project. I've also started trying to line up patterns with fabric I currently have in my stash.

 

The following isn't in any particular order, just how they happened to come out of my head. I keep the list in Evernote, which I've found is vey handy for organising, well everything! It means I can keep adding to the list as ideas come up and also remind me of what projects I want to do when I'm out and about looking at potential materials.

 

Sewing projects - clothing

• Full skirted version of Butterick B6582 in white with black floral print linen, for a wedding in May
• Jacket/cape from Burdastyle 8/2009, possibly from the dark green wool reclaimed from an SCA frock
• Slip from black cherry print satin using Ruby Slip pattern
• French knickers. From this pattern. First try with cheap satin, then if works use black cherry print silk satin
• Pajama shorts - soft cotton or linen, for summer
• Pair of linen pants from Colette Clover pattern
• Colette Parfait dress - possibly in black with white polka dot fabric
• Simplicity 2261 - Pair of casual 3/4 pants

Refashions

• Refashion bamboo pleated tops
• Refashion vintage navy and white dress
• Refashion second hand black and white houndstooth dress to a vintage style pattern 
• Replace buttons on red trench coat with something more interesting

Craft, non-clothing sewing

• Dog coats for the Lost Dogs Home. Pattern from Stitches magazine. Aim to make from recycled materials. Second hand polar fleece from jackets/blankets. Secondhand weatherproof material from umbrellas, rain coats. 
• Lavender sachets. I cut a large bunch of lavender from a neighbours garden end of last year and dried it. I've got it stored in an airtight container with desiccant sachets, so it should still be okay. Would like to make little lavender sachets to give as gifts.
• Banana lounge cover. Light padding. Probably something similar to an ironing board cover that can slip over the whole lounge and then be tightened with drawstrings or elastic. Or like a pillow slip where you have sleeves that slip over both ends and then opening the lounge out pulls the fabric taut. Have seen some terry towelling ones for sale in Spotlight, but would like something nicer.
• Dog treat bag that attaches to belt or harness with drawstring closure. Needs to be easy to open with one hand to fish out treats, but close tight enough to keep out prying noses. Will be "lab" tested as a matter if course :)
• Knitting needle case - like a pencil roll, to keep my growing collection of needles organised.
• Gardening apron based on my red Japanese apron, but with waist belt and more pockets. 
• Refashion domestic goddess apron
• Hand towels with loop at top for the kitchen, made from recycled towels
• Knitting project bags, with pockets for needles, yarn, and pattern. Could have Rigid panel with plastic sleeve to insert the patten (to be viewed from the outside of the bag). That way you could see which project is in the bag and also prop the pattern up to read while knitting. Needle pocket could run along the long side of pattern sleeve. Maybe a small internal pocket for small scissors, tapestry needles etc.. Small drawstring bags to contain working yarn to keep it clean but still allow it to come out easily. Project bag to have zippered closure to prevent things falling out. Should be large enough to fit a book if necessary. 
• Reusable bags using the black and white bag design (rolls up and is fastened with a snap). Use recycled fabrics that are light weight but sturdy. 
• Covers for Aussie farmers direct boxes to make them look a bit nicer for storage.

Knitting

• Andes shrug, in black wool (started)
• Rug from recycled t-shirt fabric
• Owl sweater
• Escargot cloche hat
• Tea cozy, haven't pick a design yet
• Possible yarn bombing

 

Buy Nothing New Month - October 2011

I've submitted my pledge to Buy Nothing New for the month of October 2011. As you probably have gathered from this blog and my sustainable living blog over at Greening Our Life, not buying new things is a regular part of how I live. However, even though I think I'll find it easy to go without buying anything new for a month, I'm keen to encourage other people to give it go.

What exactly do you mean by Buy Nothing New?
Buy Nothing New month means that for one month (October 2011), with the exception of essentials* (food, drink, medications, hygiene products) you can beg, borrow, barter, swap or buy secondhand whatever you need. You just buy nothing new.
*I'm still out on whether I'd count buying supplies to make/repair things as "new". E.g. buying a new zipper to replace a broken one on a skirt, buying matching thread to fix a seam etc.. As much as possible I'm going to try and use things from my stash.

Why have a Buy Nothing New month?

Buy Nothing New is not about going without, nor is it Buy Nothing New Never.

It’s about taking October to reassess what we really need, think about where the stuff we buy comes from (finite resources), where it goes (landfill), and what our alternatives are.

It is about conscientious consumption and by not spending on stuff we don’t need, increasing our savings for the things we do need.

Pledge to Buy Nothing New during October and challenge over consumption.  

http://www.buynothingnew.com.au/why/

One of my biggest complaints about modern society is how much people are obsessed with having "stuff", especially cheap stuff. I cringe every time I go past yet another discount store selling crap mass produced from unsustainable materials using underpaid and undervalued labour.

A large part of my love of vintage clothing is that it came from a time when people valued quality of materials and workmanship. I have several beautiful suit jackets from the late 1940s that are far finer in the quality of the materials (pure worsted wool) and the workmanship. The tailoring is neat and well finished. No sloppy stitching and weak seams. They've lasted far better than anything I've ever bought new from a modern department store, including brands that are supposedly good quality.

Vintage to me also harks back to a time of "make do and mend". Clothes and other items were well cared for so they would last longer and mended when necessary to keep them usable. Modern society is very much a disposable society. Fashion moves so fast that clothes are considered out of date within months and the rapid turnover and desire for ever cheaper fashion has driven manufacturers towards the lowest cost materials and labour. While it may be great for some that they can get jeans for $10 from Kmart, the hidden costs are those born by those who labour in poor conditions, who are made sick from industrial pollution from the materials manufacturing process, and countries that exploit their own people to gain Western investment.

Things to think about

• How many times have you bought a piece of clothing only to have it languish in the back of the wardrobe unworn? 
• How many times have you succumbed to buying clothes because they were "such a bargain" only to have them fall to bits within a year? 
• How many times have you thrown out a piece of clothing because it lost a button, broke a zip, had a stain, or had a seam pop?

I know in my lifetime I've been guilty of all of the above at some point. However, a few years ago I decided to make a conscious effort to put more thought into the clothes I buy. I look for quality rather than the cheapest option. I look for ethically and sustainably produced clothing. I look for locally made clothing. I'm prepared to pay more for better quality materials, good working conditions, and a fair wage for labour. I select clothing with consideration for how much use I will get from it. I am less inclined to buy clothing for a "one off" event. I take care when laundering my clothes to make sure I get longer wear from them. I alter and mend my clothes to keep them in my wardrobe for longer. Any clothes I no longer wear are donated to charity if they are in reasonable condition, or go into my refashion/fabric scraps box to be recycled into other things. Rarely does anything go into the rubbish.

Over the years I've acquired some of my favourite wardrobe pieces from non-new sources such as:

• Vintage clothing from places like the Love Vintage fair, The Way We Wear fair, Circa Vintage and countless others.
• Second-hand stores like Salvos, Brotherhood of St Lawrence, Savers and countless others
• Second-hand online traders like eBay, Etsy, and Gumtree
• Clothes swaps, either just with friends or organised swaps like National Swap Day
• Making my own clothes
• Refashioning/altering clothing that was originally bought new to give it a new life

In a city like Melbourne, we really are spoilt for choice when it comes to second-hand or vintage clothing sources. Not only is buying second-hand more sustainable, it's also often less expensive which is great for the budget conscious.

As we go through October, I'll be posting what things I've sourced from non-new sources, as well as sharing some of my favourite ways to buy nothing new.

I encourage everyone to give Buy Nothing New month a go. It's just one month. When you go to buy something new, take a moment to pause and think:

• Do I really need this?
• Does it need to be new?
• Is there another option to get this second-hand?

Wardrobe refashion - #1 T-shirt to singlet

A while ago I was inspired by my more crafty friends who have taken items from thrift shops or those languishing at the back of their wardrobe and refashioned them into contemporary, wearable items of clothing.

Now my wardrobe is very lean to start with. Several years ago I went through it ruthlessly and many bags of wearable, just not by me, items went to friends or charity. These days, I tend to have the reverse problem in that I have a small selection of clothes that get such high rotation that I rarely have more than a weeks worth of clothes. And then there is the growing pile of clothes that are deemed "gym" or "gardening". These are items that probably started life as work or casual clothes, but due to wear, fading, stains or tears are now only fit to be sweated in or covered in dirt.

Where I've been looking for refashion candidates are the clothes that I don't wear at all, but still have for some reason. I have a few T-shirts that have sentimental value to me, mostly because they are attached to events and have various images and words screen printed on them. Unfortunately, like many "event" t-shirts, they are very boxy, straight cut "mens" style T-shirts. I find them too big and too high necked to be comfortable to exercise or garden in, but I don't want to part with them. My solution - refashion them into singlets, taking care to keep the screen-printing as a central feature. This will allow me to bring some function to a piece of nostalgia.

T-shirt to singlet refashion #1 - The College War t-shirt*I forgot to take a photo of the t-shirt before cutting it up. Fortunately the Cunning Plans Dept has one of the same size in green. Just in case anyone gets confused when it turns purple in the subsequent photos.

This t-shirt is probably the most worn and faded in the pile, mainly because I used to wear it for fighter training many years ago. I picked it to start with as it I was less likely to be upset if I failed miserably and ended up with an unwearable pile of rags.

First step was to unpick the t-shirt pieces and iron them flat. This was when I discovered that other feature of cheap t-shirts, which is that they aren't cut very straight. It's a pet peeve of mine as I hate how the side seams migrate around your body with garments that aren't cut straight. Fortunately, it looked like I probably had enough room to cut the singlet pieces straight.

I used one of my singlets to trace a pattern onto the t-shirt fabric. I ran into a bit of a challenge with placing the print on the front piece. I like a deep scoop-neck on my singlets. However, due to where the print was place on the t-shirt, it meant that to have enough fabric to reach the shoulder seam and still have a deep scoop, I wasn't going to be able to leave enough fabric to do a rolled edge on the neckline. No problem, I figured I could do a slim bound edge like most commercial singlets have.

I cut out the singlet pieces and sewed up the sides. I then cut lengths from t-shirt sleeve pieces to make binding for the neck and arm holes. I haven't worked much with stretch fabric before and I must admit I found it's tendency to curl up very annoying.
The end result of the edging I'm generally pleased with. Above is a good section with neat double row of top-stitching.
This shows both the raw edges on the inside and the bit of a wobble I had with the front neckline (it isn't meant to have that bulgy bit in the middle), which isn't as noticable when I'm wearing the singlet, but still it could have been neater.
I also had some trouble with the inside curve and need to make a note to stretch the binding a bit more so I don't get the little fold shown above.
And here is the end result - a singlet that I actually wear - even if it is mostly at the gym or in the garden. One garment that was languishing in a drawer is now back in wardrobe circulation.