The Refashioners 2017 - Suits You Edition

Well, none of this thinking got used. 

Ah....The Refashioners!

one of the many Joseph Beuys felt suits in the world. My personal Dressed To Match journey starts here.

I should mention the Felt Suit will get done this year, probably December.

But if you're going to refashion some thing, you need to go get that thing.

I know, some prefer Goodwill's politics, but I prefer the Village of Values' selection. It's not broken and I can buy it RIGHT HERE and fondle the goods.

So many contestants! 

The cream one rode the cart for awhile, but it lacked details.

Tape from inside of a jacket on that rack. Indeed. I figured a picture would suffice.

A full suit, in decent shape, with some sloppy alterations: can't carve that up for my amusement.

Our victim

Dissection tools

I started putting the pieces on the dress form to keep them in order.

Also started safety pinning the sections to keep the lining/fabric together

I assume that the seam allowances were slightly bigger than this, but probably not more than 1/2" anywhere that I found. Anywhere.

All parts

Front

Inside out front. This photo was from Inside/Out day on House of Pineiro's SewPhotoHop. 

And check out that pick stitching.

I could not hang it back the other way.

I think we have an idea here.

My problem with the Refashioner challenge has been making something I can wear. Something I WILL wear. And you probably already know what I will wear is fairly gaudy.

But the sleeves fit into coats. The coats fit over shirts.

I can WEAR them.

And I need a new vest. A 'ties an outfit together' vest. The old one lives with the Blond One, as I have ....outgrown it.

So I know where I'm going here.

Safety pin for stability

Reassemble on the dress form

Admire the sleeve head. More here than on that Armani.

I doubt that Armani.....

And I'll need bias trim. Never made wool bias trim before.

There's a sleeve. And there's a sleeve's worth of bias trim.

Cut armscyes to fit my shoulders

Transfer one to the other to cut

 As we know, nothing happens in a vacumn, and Heather Closet Case puts up her vest

and I like it, but I realize I can't wear a long vest with any of the coats I have. And while I am going to finish the raincoat, I've got those choir dresses.....I want to finish this now....

so in a irrevocable act of saucy serging, I cut off the bottom half 

It's a little naughty

And now I have more bias material making. Plus the nifty suede tabs at the bottom back vents are now available.

  

Sewing on the bias trim.

And I have to extol the virtues of wool here. It's a deeply forgiving material. It's very satisfying to handsew, it will moosh and stretch and (it will fray) curve and steam into a shape.

I cannot wear it next to my skin, but that's why we have linings.

And I don't wear a vest by itself.

I put the tag on the back lower hem.

There's where the tabs went. These are useless pockets except for theater ticket holders.

So I wore it to the theater last night.

Proof I wore it in public. See, there's ACT Seattle in the background.

Though I think it looks much better over the 2015 Refashioners Quad Popped Collar shirt.

September 30, 2017: done.

Summer Dress Thoughts from 2015/16

I'm ironing a dress and realizing that it's having the end of its second season and I didn't tell you about how I got here. It's a nice break down of my process.

It all starts with a dress on Pinterest

Love that line.  A high Korean 'Jeogori' bodice with an aline skirt.. With pockets thank you. always pockets.

This and the previous photo are on the linked Pinterest page. I want to give credit, I also don't want to have to keep relinking photos from broken links.

Broke it down with outlines with Paint. Good ol Paint.

Because of my fabric choices I did not make that inset collar. I did add seams for pockets on the front. I would not do what I did, but that's another post for another day. And I'll link that here when I get that done.

Crammed the bodice onto my fat quarter of blue cephalopod 

My boss asked me why I added bluebirds to the sea creatures. Variety of colors and same greigegoods.

Got to use the selvage as decor. The Cult of Cotton and Steel.

Improvising the overlapping collar was a red hot mess. 

Inside finish of collar. I've done far better work, but I wanted to wear it so I bashed it out.

Does it really work? No. Crossgrain vs ongrain is not working out in the long run; they are fighting each other badly and need to be ironed with a lot of steam to get them to behave (this is why I hang my dresses to dry btw). Also the sleeves don't register well; I should have found another fat quarter of the blue to do the upper back with. But I didn't. 

I like to mix prints, I like them to fight, but I don't like them to hurt each other.

 It's just a little too much of a muchness.

I anticipate taking this out at some point. Shrinking at different rates in different directions.

I wear this dress a lot because the fabric is a great weight for a dress. The print is fun, but the material is so soft and has a weight and a drape for a cotton that makes it satisfying to wear.

Other ways this dress could have gone and didn't go:

This came up while I was thinking about the luchadore dress. It's still on my idea board

See that panel/pocket on the side? That could be a great 'surprise' pattern insert. 

 Next summer.

Since apparently it takes me a couple years to make a dress. Two to think, and a week to bash it out.

Tastes Like Chicken Costume Edition 2017

This time of year, there is always much amusement for me in licensing of costume patterns.

I'll make believe this is not Belle. Or Elsa. from the McCalls catalog, in Joanns, this morning.

Do I really want to rehash this issue? I mean, it cracks me up that we pretend that McCalls and Vogue and Butterick are three different companies.

Oops. KwikSew too.

Further down that page

CSS Industries is....

What they are not, is Disney.

If you really want a rabbit hole of girly

Getting back to our real/faux mix of branded/licensed goods, Simplicity once again tops the entertainment pile.

They have a heady mix of official and unofficial costume pattern work.  

Sometimes both in one run (Retro and Regular Wonder Woman is licensed, Plus size Wonder Woman is not. Grateful she's there at all I guess. New Wonder Woman from the film is not a licensed pattern option)

She only got to size 16. I assume there's a lot of corset/gauntlet work going on out there in the workrooms, getting ready for the national holiday. I was a little surprised Yaya Han doesn't have a WWinspired  set.

 Simplicity's site is a wonderland. I do love that they've gone big for Lolita costumes (and I don't mean Nabokov). I personally am saving up for the Star Trek skant.

But this leaves me speechless.

For your consideration,

Ralph Pink's Battlesuit

and over here:

Firefly Path's Fantasy Ranger 2017

Click on the photos to enlarge to inspect the deets.

Ralph Pink Battlesuit

The construction is different, therefore the written instructions are different.  And I have been led to believe by my lawyer friends that unless you file a patent on the process, the instructions are copyright protected, the illustrations are not.  Note: please see comments below for correction to this statement.

I have a great capacity to be pissed off for other people.  And that thing about 'you only really get a week before someone steals your idea' is true. Any expectation of a perpetual exclusive royalty is only available to an international organization with the ability and scope and MONEY to determine copyright law.