Refashion Friday Inspiration: Bow Detail Jeans Cutoffs / Denim Shorts

I must admit it feels a little odd writing a post about little denim shorts just as everyone in the UK reaches for their Winter cardigans, however these posts are not Northern-Hemisphere-centric. Plus there are, of course, heaps of people who live in places that get lots of sun all year round. So anyway, today's Refashion Friday inspiration is a slightly cuter and smarter version of the standard 'hack the legs of your jeans' style shorts. 

The first step, however, it to do just that: hack the legs off your old pair of jeans! I then overlocked/serged the raw edge and hemmed it to create a neater look than the usual frayed edge of cut offs. (I promise the legs are actually even in length, despite how they may look in the above two photos!)

I wanted to play with some contrasting fabrics to form the side bows. I used two types of spare quilting cotton, a red one with little white polka dots for the main part of the bow, and strips of a contrast floral print to make the centre 'knot' section. 

All that was left to do was to hand tack the bows close to the bottom edge of the shorts at the side seams. For real versatility, you could attached the bows using poppers/press studs and make a range of different coloured/patterned bows. Then the outfit combos would be limitless!

Leopard Print Clover Capri Pants

I know, I know, with my wedding dress not yet complete and the actual wedding only two weeks away, I probably shouldn't have been making capri pants. And yet... I now have LEOPARD CAPRI PANTS (or clam diggers/pedal pushers/cropped trousers/whatever you prefer). I did say in my post-wedding sewing plans post that I may not be able to wait to get these babies made. 

Source: theniftyfifties.tumblr.com via Zoe on Pinterest

After the success of my navy cropped trousers and the incredibly fortuitous acquisition of some second hand leopard print sateen, my desire to create a version of the above style was just too strong. I love this kitschy retro-y Rockabilly look. When my version are teamed with my plain black batwing jersey top (as shown in these photos), I think it's a wearable day or evening look that references the original inspiration whilst being a little more modest and comfortable. I must also mention that Suzy also created a kick-ass pair of Rock Chick trousers using the same Colette Patterns Clover style. Check them out, hers are truly awesome.

As for the pattern, I did a fair bit of tweaking to get a good fit. I'd already made quite a few changes to the pattern for my original navy pair, but that pair had come out quite big and had required a chunk taking out of the side seams. I love those navy ones, they are very comfortable and I wear them all the time, but I knew I wanted a tighter silhouette for this pair. So I went back to the original pattern, traced a size smaller this time, and then made the same adjustments. Those adjustments, if memory serves, included increasing the back rise by about 2cms, increasing the front rise by about 1.5cms and widening the waist measurement and reshaping the top side seams and waistbands to accommodate that new measurement.   

The fit of these is great. The one issue that a perfectionist (or my former employer when I used to pattern cut for him) would have a problem with, is that the top of the waistband sits lower on my waist at the back than at the front. It's not a massive discrepancy but I did clock it. But personally, I feel life is too short to worry about that.  

The tighter fit and slightly less stretchy fabric means that I doubt they'll get as much wear as the navy ones. However, I'm excited about donning them with some heels and red lipstick and hunting down a cocktail or two, maybe even on our honeymoon in a couple of weeks!

Style Inspiration: Pulp Fiction Divas

In a bid to understand my own personal style a bit better, I've recently been thinking quite a bit about the looks, eras and themes that inspire me. One particular inspiration source that I keep coming back to is the illustrated covers of pulp fiction novels. I love the trashy drama and dark sexiness of them. The women are all decolletage and hourglass curves, shiny hair and pristine lipstick with a wicked, passion-filled glint in their eye.

Now I'm obviously not lusting after, or even vaguely condoning, an image of womanhood in which women only have their sexuality to help them to attain what they want or need. Plus a world in which people, in particular women, are usually categorised as 'bad' or 'good' (of morals) is clearly a ridiculous one. However, these intellectual considerations do not dispel my enjoyment of their kitsch, lusty imagery, nor do they rid me of my desire to create some pulp fiction inspired looks. When I want to access my inner vamp, it is often these type of images that my imagination accesses. So how to go about creating these looks...

It seems quite clear from the top two illustrated covers that the staple garment in a pulp fiction vixen's wardrobe is the slinky pencil skirt. Demure in length but so tight it looks sprayed on, the wiggle/pencil skirt is key. For comfort and ease during a particularly rushed getaway/chase, I'd recommend using fabric with a decent elastane/lycra content. A metre of shiny black sateen and a skirt pattern like the vintage Advance 8761 pictured below, and you could have an amazing evening wear pencil skirt like the bewitching brunette's picture above in about half a day's sewing! 

Basic pencil skirt patterns are easy to find, a quick scan on ebay and I found a squillion vintage ones in a variety of sizes. There are heaps of great modern basic pencil skirt patterns too. If you wanted to really nail the look, you may need to tweak the proportions a little. The waist band really needs to sit the smallest point of your torso and the hem needs to hit below the knee. 

My goodness, these good-time gals do dress to be noticed, don't they?! This blonde bombshell confirmed my suspicion that I could use a yellow pencil skirt in my arsenal. The cheeky side split showing a touch of thigh is an interesting deter from the standard pencil skirt style. This pencil skirt pattern (pictured below) available on Burdastyle has princess seam lines which make it very easy to convert into the side split style of the yellow skirt in the illustration above. 

These are Queens of the separates: when pulp fiction divas aren't rocking a pencil skirt they are often portrayed in capri pants/clam diggers/pedal-pushers. Sitting equally high on the natural waist-line, we are not allowed to forget those hips for a minute!

I'm a massive fan of capri pants at the minute, and will continue to wear mine until the weather breaks and Autumn comes crashing in. The image above is doing nothing to calm my desire for a red pair, but with equal nautical potential are pale blue ones like the picture below.

Vintage capri pant sewing patterns in the appropriate sizes are not quite a easy to come by as vintage pencil skirt patterns, but they are out there for the hunting. The pattern below shows some cute options for the side hem area other than the standard split. A couple of contrast or covered buttons or little self-fabric bows might also be nice. Not that we are focussing on 'nice-girl' looks today!

An option that is far simpler to obtain might be the Clover pattern by Colette Patterns. This pattern dictates that you use fabric with a decent stretch content, which would be great for creating the tight mid-century look. 

Ok, so we've got the bottom half sorted. What are we going to pair all these fabulous wiggle-inducing pencil skirts and hip-hugging capri's with? The white top in the very first image and the black top on the cover of 'On The Road' pictured above both seem to have grown-on/kimono/dolman sleeves like the pattern below. This is a feature I LOVE, as you may have noticed in the post I wrote for the Colette Patterns blog many moons ago. The vintage Butterick 7490 pattern pictured below is wonderful because it gives a slash-neck/bateau AND a V-neck options plus variations of sleeve-length. 

Another fabulous separates option is a cute little button-up blouse. Awesome in a rainbow of solid colours or in stripes, polka dots or prints, the prim preppiness of these blouses is a great counter-point to the hour-glass silhouette they are helping create. 

When darkness falls, often the mix and match separates will apparently just no longer get you where you need to go. It may be time to pull out the stops and head straight to bombshell-ville.   

Burdastyle's Bombshell dress pattern (pictured below) could form the ideal mid-century pin-up look. Now, where to source second-hand red and gold striped fabric......   

An equally divine option is this stunning vintage evening sheath pattern pictured below. 

There does seem to be a hangover of the full-skirted 1950's silhouette in some of the pulp fiction cover illustrations. The rule seems to be that as long as the shoulders and collar bone and are exposed and the bodice is fitted, all is well! The Advance 9077 pattern pictured below in a solid colour might work if trying to recreate the green dress in 'The Lion House' pictured above.

One final strappy sheath dress for you:

Enjoy, vixens!

Me-Made-Outfit of the Week

Me-Mades:

Breton T-shirt

Navy Cropped Trousers

Swallow Jacket (never formerly blogged)

Pants

Vest (which I took with me and put on after dark)

So my new life as a self-employed something-or-other seems to involve having quite a few coffees here and there with people vaguely connected to stuff I'm involved in. Most of these 'meetings' are basically with creative friends or creative people that would become friends if I had time to go for a coffee with them (which evidently I now do). But some have genuinely been meetings that will directly or indirectly help my work situation, and Thursday's meeting in London was one such occurrence. 

But being me, I sandwiched that meeting in-between two of the other kind of meeting! To facilitate the easy transition between meetings and venues I wore the above outfit. In the direct sunshine it was hell-of-warm, but outside of it it was nippy so I needed a layer-able outfit. I rocked my me-mades with a cheeky anchor neckerchief to give off a French seaman look! Ever the professional... 

Refashion Friday Inspiration: Monochrome Cartoon Bib T-shirt

It's Friday, so you know what that means: another injection of Refashion Friday!!!!! As hopefully you've come to notice, each Friday I post about refashioning/upcycling/remaking unwanted clothing into new, wearable and fun garments. Usually it's a dose of inspiration (like today) that may inspire your own projects; occasionally the Refashion Friday posts are a more involved tutorial or 'how-to' (all of which can be found on this page).

Source: soteitei.blogspot.com via Zoe on Pinterest

Like another recent T-shirt creation, today's idea is not one I can't entirely lay claim to! I found this fantastic child's dress by 'So Tei-Tei' via Pinterest and fell in love with its unusual bib detail. By the way, Cecilia creates children's sewing patterns and has this and many others for sale on her blog. The original dress is made from woven fabric but I decided to reinterpret the style from unwanted men's T-shirts to make a super-wearable adult version.

I re-cut the front and back body pieces from an unwanted black men's T-shirt and harvested the original neck ribbing to reuse. I used another unwanted black T-shirt to cut the sleeves (which have gathered sleeve heads to give the garment a touch of femininity) and the bib section. The edges of the bib section were pressed under 1cm to aid application. I cut a narrow bias strip from an unwanted white T-shirt and pressed it in half to form the contrast piping. If I'd had some, I would have used pre-made bias binding because the jersey bias was pretty fiddly and difficult to get perfect.

After pinning the living day-lights out of it to keep the bib and bias in position, I topstitched the whole bib section down in one go. You could use a contrast colour for the bib, even using a woven fabric (which would be easier!). I added six bold buttons like the original inspiration once the T-shirt was constructed. I think the monochrome colour palette and strong styling gives this T-shirt a cartoon appearance. My only regret about this creation is that I didn't make one for myself!

Lace Vest/Camisole/Singlet and Adjustable Strap Tutorial

Here's another variation of the free vest/camisole/singlet pattern that I wanted to share with you. It's a very different look to the basic solid jerseys or the T-shirt refashions I've put on here recently. Today's offering is a far more sexy affair!

The front and back pieces have been cut from delicate champagne-coloured stretchy lace. The flat elastic that finishes the top edges and forms the straps has a really lovely soft feel and a little gold stripe running along it giving the garment an extra hint of luxe. Before it got too chilly I wore this vest to sleep in and it felt really special. If you wanted to make a slightly more modest version, you could put a solid jersey layer under the front lace piece, but still keep the back lace only. 

To see some other peoples' versions of the free vest pattern, check out my pinterest board! 

Another way to take this basic pattern in a different direction is to add adjustable straps. Leah from 'Journey to Couture' was sweet enough to leave me the link to her fabulous tutorial for making your own adjustable straps (pictured below). What could be fancier than adding such a useful and professional detail to your own vest creations?! 

(image source: 'Journey to Couture' tutorial)

Thanks Leah!!!

Me-Made-Outfit of the Week

Me-Mades:

Navy Spotty Ceylon Dress

Red Lace Applique Bolero Shrug

Pants (knickers)

Umm, so Autumn happened yesterday. Long sleeves! Boots! Tights! Anyways, Summer was a massive disappointment and you know what you are going to get with Autumn, so bring it on. I decided to wear my navy Ceylon dress because the curtains it's made from offer a fair amount of warmth. It's also a good option when I want to look more dressed up than usual but with little effort. I'm not entirely sure about the shrug with it though. The front curve of the bolero kind of mimics but also hides the curved yoke of the dress. But it's nice to find an outfit to wear the shrug with that looks good with the applique side rather than the plain side. 

Happy Autumn/Spring everyone!