The Refashioners 2016: Megan

Hey there Refashioners!! Refashioning is how I got my start in sewing, at the age of 10, ripping up my own clothing (and sometimes my mum’s… sorry mum!) and making it into something new, and to this day I still have a massive soft spot for ripping up something old and reimagining it.

Needless to say, I was a tad over excited when Portia asked me to get involved in the Refashioners challenge this year, and told me this year was all about denim. I thought YES I’ve got this! All those early teen years I spent ripping up my jeans and turning them into tragic pleated mini skirts and gigantic bell bottoms were worth it, for this very moment. I am SO prepared!

You know that whenever you feel that way, all your creativity is going to up and leave the building right? Of course. Enter giant blank brain period in which I couldn’t figure out what to do.  Cue a lot of panic and stress eating.

But thankfully after a lot of procrastinating, Pinterest and peanut M&M’s, I decided to go with something I’ve never done with jeans before (and something I will actually wear) – a dress!

I wanted to keep the silhouette very simple so I could play around with style lines. My pattern modifications were really simple. I started with my Eucalypt woven tank pattern, and drew lines all over it (like a madman!) where I wanted new style lines.

I then cut these out, and added seam allowance. I decided to go with ¼” seams for this as I knew I wouldn’t have a lot of fabric to work with.

 

I also straightened out the hemline, as you couldn’t pay me to try and sew a neat curved hem on hefty denim. No thanks.

Then I found my husbands most hideous and ill fitting jeans (insert evil laugh) and cut them up! HA HA HA!

I used two pairs of his jeans, a grey pair (that had somehow both shrunk in length and stretched in the waist, how?) and a light blue faded pair (of which the pockets had ripped and been repaired more times than I could count, until they finally ceased to exist). I quickly realized that the widest pattern panels weren’t going to fit, so I also used some dark denim offcuts from a skirt I had made.

The dress actually was pretty quick to sew – the hardest bit was matching up the centre front, as it was just so thick. A lot of pressing, and a lot of grading back the seams and I must admit I am still not 100% thrilled on how that section sits, but I give in! You win denim.

I bound the neckline and arms with grey chambray bias tape (left over from another sample I had made, I love using up all the leftovers).  For the hem, I decided to embrace the current fray trend – and sewed a row of topstitching about ½” from the hemline to prevent the fraying going too high in the future, then I roughed up the raw edges with sandpaper, then washed and tumble dried the dress a few times.

So that’s it my dears! A denim dress created completely from my husbands tears! Seriously though, I really love how this dress turned out, and even more shockingly, it’s now my husbands favourite dress. Winning. Which just goes to show, crime and refashioning do indeed pay ;)

Happy refashioning to all of you, and I can’t wait to see what everyone else has created!

Meg xoxo

Back in 2009 I started sewing, and had never read a blog. Meg’s was one of the very first blogs I ever read. In fact, one of the very reasons I started a blog in the first place. Not even kidding! So if you think Meg was excited to be asked, imagine how excited I was when she said yes??!!  Perfect example and explanation of slashing pattern pieces to allow you to piece from smaller scraps of fabric. Just gives you so much more flexibility with pattern placement, not just in refashioning but when flat fabric is scant too. Great for stash/scrap busting. Such a striking starburst effect too. Killer job Meg! You can find  Meg here or here. And if you’re inspired to get your refashion on and enter the Community Challenge and be in with a chance of winning some epic prizes…DO IT! Deadline for entries is 30th Sept. Midnight GMT.

….I think you’ve got the idea now right? Essentially we want you to refashion some jeans! (You can find the full details/small print of the brief here). BUT, if you want to be in with a chance of winning one of these amazing prize packages you need to SHARE that refashion with us in one of the following ways:

• On Instagram: Share a pic using the hashtags #therefashioners2016  and #jeanius
• On Pinterest: There is a community board here where you can pin your makes. (You will need to request an invite to join)
• On Facebook: There is a community board here where you can post your makes (You will need to request an invite to join)

Only entries shared via the above 3 methods will be entered into the competition. Closing date for entries is 30th September 2016 Midnight GMT. Good luck!!