I hinted in earlier posts that I’d been doing more dressmaking and upcycling than quilting and dyeing recently, so I thought I’d tell you what I have been up to.
I bought a secondhand Harris Tweed men’s jacket on Ebay very cheaply and altered it.
I can’t find any ‘before’ photos but this is it when I had just started and was auditioning that orange silk fabric with it. First of all I unpicked the lining from the main jacket from about halfway up the front and along most of the bottom edge apart from the back vents where it was too firmly stitched on! Then I took out the shoulder pads and restitched the top of the shoulders to make them a bit narrower, more rounded and less military-looking. I then stitched more darts to shape the waistline.
Here it is just pinned. I had to be a bit careful not to pull the pocket flap out of shape. I also made the bottom of the armhole a bit smaller and stitched more tucks in the upper back to take out some nasty puckers that had developed. Once I was happy with the fit, I restitched the lining and then added a few embellishments.
This is some of my printed fabric which I stitched on to the top pocket. I also stitched some narrow burgundy ribbon along the piped top of the bottom pockets and replaced all the buttons with dusky pink ones to make it clear that this was now a woman’s jacket! I thought I took a photo at this stage but the only one I can find is the one below. The buttons on the sleeve are pink too.
The Great British Sewing Bee started last week and inspired me to do a bit of my own! This pinky mauve top started life as a Landsend polo neck top and after a while I decided I didn’t like to wear polo necks anymore but I still liked the top and didn’t just want to chuck it. So I took the neckline off and stitched that burgundy satin bias binding around the raw edges. I also wanted it longer so I thought I’d put a flounce on the bottom. I wasn’t sure about mixing stretchy knitted fabric and woven cotton, but I thought my hand printed fabric which I made with the wisteria screen shown at the bottom of this page of my blog matched the colour well so decided to give it a go. I found a webpage on How to make a pixie skirt and it was incredibly easy – this piece is just a square piece of fabric with a circular hole cut in the middle. A couple of lines of topstitching with a triple straight stitch finished it off and I’m wearing it as I type!
Here it is with the finished jacket.
Not sure whether to sew this flower on or not…