Refashion Handbook , Little Fixes reviews

I love the Seattle Public Library. They buy books for me and keep them until I need them.

I have been meaning to read this book, as it sounds like my sort of book: take stuff apart and make new stuff out of it.

Beth Huntington blogs at https://chicenvelopements.wordpress.com/tutorials/. She was not the first Renegade Seamstress (love the stuff here). It's hard to give yourself a nickname and make it stick in the blogoverse. 

She is very successful at it, and her book has a lot going for it. She's like a cheerleader who wants you to see the good in the cast offs. Unlike a lot of refashioners, she's a thrift shopper first, looking for good material and potential. 

She is the first to admit that her methods are probably not seamstress level. She doesn't finish many interior seams except with Fray Check, there's no concerns about mixing your DCO and your machine wash items in one outfit, and she plays fast and loose with marking and measuring. Her knits frighten me (the Wild Life Skirt elastic waistline measurements confused me; did she just cut this too narrow to go over your hips? Maybe she has skinny hips. Ah, shaddup picky brain!).

The inside back cover of the book has a list of other publications, and one should be the companion volume:

Little-Fixes- by Disney Powless

Do not be fooled by the adorable children. There are some amazing projects in this one for dealing with knits, and some great finishing techniques.

I can't believe I haven't written about this book; I stumbled on it this summer. I would like to pretend I invented a lot of tech for t's, but I'm just doing what any good mom would do: saving stuff. And Little Fixes is just a really good compendium of how-to's and why not's. If you're going to start cutting up tshirts, this is the how to book to end up with something that looks good and will stand up to some washings.

I made this big so you could kinda read it. "Be sure the design is facing outward".

I do have to give Ms Huntington some major props for finding the good in the less than interesting. Her taste isn't mine, but she is brave and did some righteous saves.  And her suggestion to put a padlock on the good scissors is going into action tomorrow morning.

http://www.amazon.com/Refashion-Handbook-Refit-Redesign-Remake/

More book reviews in following weeks! If you've read a good one lately (sewing that is), pile on here. 

New Vintage Make and Mend 2014 Loungewear Edition: Fail Department

If ya didn't know already, I loves New Vintage Lady, and I am a make and mender from way back.

And yes, it is December 23rd. Actually, the 24th. And I have been sewing pajama bottoms  and fleecy hats for holidays all weekend long.

Sadly, I never did get these to work out for me.

Decades of Style Kitchenette pajamas, with the thrift shop Ikea duvet I used. 

I prefer to make jams and pajamas from thrifted and home used sheets: already very soft from washings and washings.

The inset on the front sewed up in this order, from that corner. I could have gone from the center to the sides as well.

Ohmygerd, sewing over pins!

What little pucker there was ironed right out. I topstitched to hold.

Top left: front looks fine. Top right: Back looks horrible - the belt won't pull it closed without pulling it all out of line.

Bottom left: Back tie is too far to side, Bottom right: moved to edge of flap

This way, the belt should close the back and secure the edges so they will stop falling off me. Then they can wrap around and give me the waist I have earned.

But no. This doesn't work to keep that long, curved back edge from flapping open and pulling this off my shoulders.

So, I opened up the ends of the seam, and pulled clear elastic into the seam to snug it up/gather it up gently. 

It fits well enough now, but it's just been more fiddling than I want to photograph anymore. This is one of those projects where 98% of it gets done right away and the last 2% just drags on and on.

And frankly, I am not a loungewear girl. Step-in playsuits do not suit me, as lovely as this pattern seems and as soft as this fabric is.  

Sadly, I will hack this for the potential pajama pants. And we have no photos of that, thank you.