03 September 2008

The Pledge
I, Laurie, pledge that I shall abstain from the purchase of "new" manufactured items of clothing, for the period of 2 months. I pledge that I shall refashion, renovate, recycle preloved items for myself with my own hands in fabric, yarn or other medium for the term of my contract. I pledge that I will share the love and post a photo of my refashioned, renovated, recycled, crafted or created item of clothing on the Wardrobe Refashion blog, so that others may share the joy that thy thriftiness brings! Signed Laurie

Hmmm.....what have I done? While I've been dabbling for awhile, I'm giving myself a kick in the butt to stay focused. I have so many half/quarter/not-finished sewing projects it's crazy. I still haven't lost my desire for creating some kind of sewing circle, but haven't quite figured that one out yet either. So be forewarned.....if you get a phone call/e-mail from me you may want to clear a Sunday afternoon......

So here's my first project. Now it just so happens that I completed it just as I joined up so I'm counting it.

And in fact, it's the 2nd refashion of this sweatshirt. My first issue was that this plain, black sweatshirt was waaaaay too big for me. But because it supports my daughter's halau, I really wanted to wear it. So first I actually took some old pajama pants in a pretty, silky fabric and replaced the arms. I loved the fact that I reused pj's that were too big AND cut down the sweatshirt to fit a bit better at the same time. But unfortunately it didn't go over too well....the asian-inspired, black & white fabric pattern wasn't loved by the hula kumu. And while I could have kept it and been rebellious, that's not in keeping with halau culture. So I decided to find a nice island print that we can all be happy about. And because I had already put on the pinkish ruffle on the bottom (from an old skirt....again - too big), I really love how the new fabric colors tie together with sleeves, ruffles, etc.

I basically just detached the sleeves and cuffs, cut fabric to the same size, layered new fabric on top of sleeves to keep warmth, and sewed it all back together. Because I cut down the sizing of the sweatshirt, I had to gather the sleeves at the top to create a little "cap" or whatever. Clearly I'm a beginner and don't have appropriate terminology or technique....but I'm giving it a go. And I don't have to wear a boring black sweatshirt.

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