For Love Your Clothes

I've always been a keen customiser: sewing fringing on to the hems of trousers, feather trim around the neck and cuffs of a velvet dress, sewing braiding around the neck of a moth-chewed jumper. Why am I so keen? I'm a creative person - I love to make things. I'm also a bit of a hoarder, so I don't like to get rid of things, AND I hold on to ribbons, haberdashery and all kinds of bits and bobs. And, of course, I like the idea that what I make is unique... And now Love Your Clothes wants ideas on how to avoid waste by keeping your clothes for longer. As a journalist writing about crafting, among other things, I have lots of ideas but they're spread over various places online, including this blog. So I've brought everything I want to share together in this post, so that I can submit it to Love Your Clothes. Click on the links for words and pix. (And there's plenty more where these have come from...)

How to take in trousers You don't need to get rid of clothing when you lose weight; just refit it!

Colourful contrast: moth-repellent lavender bag with colourful language. (Incidentally, when I used these offcuts, they were from a skirt I made. The skirt was a terrible fit, but I loved the fabric, so a couple of months ago I turned the skirt into a top.)

Roll out the ribbon
Add matching collar and cuffs to a T-shirt
















Upcycling out of necessity
How I had to rework my first handknitted (by me) jumper, turning it into a bag. If only I'd read the advice on Love Your Clothes about hand washing...

Creating a top to dye for
How I transformed a wishy-washy pastel peach top into a wearable denim-esque shade

Keep sewing simple: sew-easy dress

I like to sew, but I have no patience.
When I make something to wear, I want to be able to put it on the same afternoon. Given that principle, most of what I make is very simple.
Take the maxi dress on the right. I bought the (cheap) black and white pinstriped jersey fabric by holding the roll against me in the shop to check it was long enough, then wrapping it around me crossways to gauge how much I'd need widthways.
Once I got it home, I folded it in half lengthways, held it against me, put pins in to mark the bottom of the armholes (cutting one in the folded side), then hemmed the armholes, sewed up the one side seam, and hemmed the bottom of the dress.
Next was a tricky bit: making the paper pattern for the front neckline from another top, by slipping a piece of newspaper inside the top, then tracing around the neckline, cutting it out and drawing around that on the dress fabric. Then I hemmed the neckline. The final touch was a narrow band of the jersey fabric to tie around as a belt. I didn't even hem this as I judged it wouldn't fray (and so far it hasn't).
I'm well aware that my workmanship isn't of a high standard, and that jersey is a forgiving fabric, and my friend Carol, who took the pic, would agree that the dress looks better in real life (just as well, I hear you cry).
If you're a fan of simple sewing, you should try this gorgeous bias-cut drawstring skirt pattern. I bought some pretty paisley fabric to make mine as soon as the book landed on my desk.

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