De-Fashioning: Updating a Moto Jacket DIY

I haven't done a post in a while. This doesn't mean I have been sewing. It just means that I don't think to take pictures as I'm sewing!

So...I made sure to document this one.

Anyways....

You know how moto jackets used to look like this a few years ago? The double collar was huge. Not so much any more. Especially on this red jacket. I have small shoulders and the points and angles were just way too overwhelming.

So decided that I would tone it down a bit by taking out the neck part of the collar. I just went into the seam and ripped the whole seam out along the neck.

I took the neck collar out.

Then, I just pinned the neck seam back together and sewed it down.

Because the front flaps were top-stitched, I went ahead and top-stitched around the whole neck seam to make it uniform.

And, there you go! Really easy. I have to say the collar lays a lot better now, besides the fact that this is a more modern silhouette. 

Try this on that jacket that you have in your "give away" pile and see if it works for you! (Depending on how your jacket is constructed, you may be able to just cut the neck part out without taking the whole thing apart and resewing it!)

The End!

Refashioning: Turning an Old Lady Shirt Backwards. . .Literally!

I frequent my Goodwill on the weekends because all tags of a predetermined color are only a dollar! Honestly, most of the clothes you see in this blog. . .and on my person. . .come from this rack. Anyways, I'm always on the lookout for my "Type 4" colors, and my green in particular because it's my favorite. When I find it, I usually just buy it--even if the item is gross--because I love this color, and I know I can turn it into something else. I hope. . .as always, that this post gives you some ideas!

Here is an old lady shirt I found the other day. 

It's that really weird crinkly, yet stretchy, polyester fabric. It's usually really horrid, but on this particular shirt, the color really shines--almost sparkles. I can't stop looking at it. These pictures don't do it justice. (My camera has a hard time with greens, unfortunately.) Just picture the boldest green you have ever seen, and. . .that's it!

The first step was to cut the shoulder pads out!

Then, I cut the collar off.

Then, the sleeves.

Next, I pinned and sewed up the button placket. 

This used to be the front, but I wanted the buttons in the back, so I pinned it to the back of my dress form and used the form as my pattern. (This is actually a technic of pattern making called "draping" because you drape and pin the fabric onto a form and then cut away everything that doesn't lie flat. I don't do it very often, but I probably should. It worked really well.)

I also draped the front (which used to be the back).

Next, I worked on the sleeves. For this, I did my usual cheating method of cutting around sleeves of a shirt I already knew fit me well.

I sewed up the sides of the sleeves.

Then, I pinned the two bodice pieces together and sewed them.

I added elastic to the tops of the shoulders as reinforcement. This fabric is super stretchy and I didn't want the shoulders to stretch out. I've noticed this method on factory-made shirts I own. Turn your garments inside out sometimes! You can learn a lot!

I pinned , then sewed, the sleeves to the bodice.

Then, I sewed some black stretchy fabric to the neckline, but. . .I guess I forgot to take a picture. (I get ahead of myself sometimes and forget that blog posts need pictures. . .Tons of my projects never even make it on here because I forget to take pictures. . .Oops.)

Okay, so. . .It kinda looks like Star Trek, but. . .I love Star Trek (especially Mr. Spock, may he rest in peace), so I'm okay with that!

I added a leather Peter Pan collar necklace that I made (example of a project I never photographed), and wore it with a jumper so I wouldn't look like a Starship Trooper.

The End!

Refashioning: Updating an 80s Bedazzled Shirt

I found this crazy 80s bedazzled sweatshirt on the Goodwill dollar rack. It is a for REAL 80s shirt. Notice the shoulder pads. It's got so much potential. . .and it really is better to reuse what we already have than to make something from scratch.

As is my wont, I used another shirt I owned as a sort of guide, although. . .I didn't really want the same style. It was just to get an idea of dimension, really.

So here is my cut out shirt. Time to sew up the sides and hem the sleeves!

At this point, I tried it on, and it looked like an awkward tunic dress, so I decided to do the hi-lo thing with the bottom hem. Below is the picture of how I pinned it.

And here it is sewn.

And here it is on. (I'm wearing it with those harem pants I made a few months ago.)

Here you can see the hi-lo hem. (Sorry, the picture is washed out.)

The End!