Recycling clothing

Since I went to the trouble of digging out my sewing machine recently, I was thinking... Hey! I can do some of those sewing projects that have been brewing at the back of my head, but I was too laz...erm... busy (yes, busy--that's what I meant) to set up the sewing machine for.

This past summer, I was surfing the web and came across a link to this forum. I thought it was such a cute idea that I wanted to try it out. I just couldn't seem to find the time. It just so happens, however, that Derek has a few shirts that were starting to fray at the cuffs/edges (and some that just don't fit well anymore) and this past Sunday morning he handed me a stack of shirts that he wanted to retire. Ooooo... maybe this was the ideal time to try this project out! The sewing machine was still out from working on the baby's Halloween costume, and the baby was sleeping 3 to 4 hours between two naps during the day. (at least until the next growth spurt kicks in). Perfect!

Right after Derek left for work yesterday, I looked over the shirt options from the stack and started to mull over what to do and how to start. First off, I notice that the shirt on the website didn't have a breast pocket and 99% of Derek's shirts do (it drives him crazy not to have a pocket). Hmm... well this throws a little wrench in the plan. Ok. I can adapt. Since this is strictly an experiment, I told myself "oh, what the heck." Since I can't really use the upper front panels of any of the shirts, I decided to wing this.

Are you scared yet?

I picked out this corduroy shirt from the stack and decided it would make a cute jumper.

And just so that you can get an idea of how much fabric I have to work with, here is Juliana on top of the shirt:

A good color for her, no?

I measured (as best I could) Juliana's chest (adding in seam allowances), sketched out a makeshift pattern for the bodice (it just would not do if it was lopsided) and jumped right in. I decided that I better cut out the pieces requiring the most fabric first, especially considering that the nap is directional on corduroy.

Here's where I hoped that Derek would not change his mind about retiring this shirt.


Now, at first, I was thinking I should make a simple A-line jumper and maybe re-use the pocket on the shirt as a large center pocket on the dress. But, noooooo... something in me (middle child?) had to make this a bit more complicated. It said (with quite a bit of enthusiasm, I might add) "I'll make a jumper with a bodice and a pleated skirt!" Sometimes this inner voice gets me into trouble. I only hoped it wouldn't make this exercise a lesson in wasted fabric and make my daughter look like a hillbilly reject.

Did I mention that I tend to be a bit of a perfectionist sometimes? (only just sometimes) This can get me into trouble, too. Rather than doing the loose basting and gathering normally performed to create skirt pleats, I folded each pleat in and pinned it down so that the corduroy could not bunch up willy-nilly and potentially create bulky spots along the seam. (corduroy can be rather bulky as it is).


I will say, at this point, that I probably should have trimmed the bottom edge of the skirt before pleating, but I was over halfway done folding the pleats, and really did not want to undo/redo it. See? I'm not always a perfectionist... It just kicks in every so often. Yes, I realized this might put my baby one step closer to looking like that hillbilly reject, if that bottom hem is too uneven. But I was not going to re-pleat the skirt (dadgummit!). The baby had been asleep for 45 minutes at this point in her morning nap and I had no time to spare!

The back skirt panels were cut from the lower front panels of the shirt. Since I wanted the bodice to have the nap going in a different direction from the skirt, I found that the sleeves of the shirt gave me the most fabric to work with. The cuffs were trimmed out and I had enough for the bodice, lining the bodice and the shoulder straps with plenty left over.


If you look carefully, you will notice that I removed the lower buttons from from the front to use down the back of Juliana's dress. I showed Jessica these remains of the shirt and she thought it would be funny if we could get Derek to model it in its current state. I told her, that we probably could get him to wear the shirt, but whether he would oblige us by staying still for a photo would be a different matter. Then she thought it would be hilarious to get him some cut off denim shorts to wear with the cut-off shirt. We laughed so hard I was almost in tears.

Anyhow, back to the dress/shirt. Since this is the first time I've tried to document an off-the-cuff project, I forgot to photograph every step. (Not that there aren't some of you who might already be bored silly by this post). At this point, Juliana had woken from her nap. I was able to finish a little sewing, before she decided that playing with the sewing machine would be more fun than just watching it work.

Once she was down for her afternoon nap, I was able to get more sewing done. The bodice was completed and I was able to attach it to the skirt. By the end of the day, this is where I was at:

The buttons go down the back of the dress. I suppose they could go down the front, but at this stage, Juliana would just pick at them all day if they were.

Yes, I know the overlock on the bottom edge doesn't match the fabric. I was using black thread (i didn't have any red) and used up what was left on the bobbin just before this step. Not really wanting to be bothered with rethreading a new bobbin, I grabbed the only one that didn't completely clash with the red (a tan colored thread) and ran with it. It's going to be folded under, so it won't really be visible anyways. (No perfectionist tendencies here!)

If I had any red thread at the time, I could have finished this in one day, but (alas) it was not to be. So this morning, I went to the craft store, picked up a spool of red thread, trimmed the bodice, hemmed the skirt and stitched the buttonholes.



Buttonholes are the devil, by the way. It's been so long since I used the buttonhole feature on my machine, that I forgot how it works and it was much more difficult that it probably had to be. Blech.

And if you're curious how the dress compares to the original shirt (or what is left of it):

And the finished product (as modelled for the cat):

I suppose I could stitch some flower appliques or something on the front or along the hem, but I kind of like the simpleness of it (at least for now). I get a slight sense of the whole Sound-of-Music-dresses-made-from-curtains when I look at this picture. Maybe it is the German blood in her combined with the apron bib top. Maybe I'm just imagining things. At least she doesn't look like a hillbilly reject.

Oh yeah, remember when I mentioned the laugh Jessica and I had over the remnants of the shirt?


Sorry, the picture's not as clear as it could be. I couldn't stop laughing while I was trying to get this shot.

And no Daisy Duke shorts. I thought I would spare your eyes, although it is probably too late to spare you from the mental imagery - sorry about that.

Ok, not really.

Well, maybe only a little.