And then my daughter walked by. "Oh Mommy! Are those all clothes that we can sew with? Will you make me some new clothes out of them? I love it when you make me things out of Daddy's clothes!"
Do you have any idea how much it warms my heart to hear her say that? I know she won't always feel that way, but right now she's so pleased to have clothes made by me out of shirts worn by her Dad. I love it when I overhear her telling her friends about something she's wearing - and when they tell her how cool they think that is.
So we made a whole new wardrobe out of these shirts (with a few saved for future sewing when these get too short). I went back to a few tried and true refashioning patterns, but I also developed several new ones - some on purpose so we'd have some more variety, and some happy accidents that are now keepers. I also tried some new fabric combinations - seeing how things would go when I tried a knit fabric where I had always used a woven - or a woven in place of a knit. I had a few stinkers - and also developed several new favorites.
A lot of you requested lessons on how to sew clothing in the survey I sent out a couple of months ago - and I've been developing the lessons and patterns for that ever since. We've finally gotten into it on this blog - yay! I looked at weaving some lessons about refashioning into that series of posts, but it was going to push other really basic things (like zippers and buttons) much later in the year than I had planned. I started to realize that this would make a great little workshop - concentrating lots of tips and tricks for refashioning into its own series, with patterns that work especially well for it, and adding in some lessons about "fancying things up" with a bit of crochet, embroidery, or ruffle here and there.
And so The Shirt Off Daddy's Back was born. I incorporated your feedback from The Shiny Happy Bunny Workshop (thanks!) and added some features I knew I wanted from my own experience taking online workshops. I priced it as low as I could, because one of the benefits of sewing from hand-me-down or thrifted clothing is that it's really inexpensive. With this workshop and $20 worth of shirts, you really can make a whole wardrobe for your girl. And you can do it fast - because we'll reuse a lot of the finish and detail work from the original garments.
They say you can get something cheap, OR fast, OR good - but not all three. I think I've proven them wrong. These clothes are inexpensive, incredibly fast to make (you won't believe how fast), and good, comfortable clothes that kids will love to wear.
Want to join us in the workshop? There's more info here.
And here are just a few samples of what you'll learn to make. . .
Happy sewing! Hope to see you in the workshop!
Best,
Wendi
I've been going back & forth on signing up. I don't know if I'll have more time to sew in the summer because my older kids can play with my toddler, or less time because all my kids will be home and we'll be outside doing stuff. (I'm leaning towards that second one, which is why I'm going back & forth on a summer workshop!)
ReplyDeleteSome questions though: will we be able to take what we learn and repurpose clothes for other uses--like, for me? I love that button-front skirt for ME! Or will the patterns only work in kid sizes? What range? My daughter is way smaller than yours. ;) I guess I'm asking if we'll learn skills that are easily transferable to our own ideas, too.
Excellent questions! Yes - you will be able to scale these for lots of different sizes. One of the patterns will be for an A-line dress, sized 3-8. And that will be an actual, multi-sized, print and cut pattern. For all the rest you'll be drafting patterns to fit your measurements - so you can make it for yourself or a child. So that button-front skirt can fit YOU! And all the other patterns can go as small or large as you need them to be - you just need to start with an appropriately-sized shirt. I'll be giving you more information on that - but let me just say now that the range of possibilities is HUGE. In the last year I've made my daughter a skirt out of one of my husband's XL T-shirts, and another out of one of her own T-shirts that got paint on it the first time she wore it. Both fit - they're just different silhouettes.
ReplyDeleteI also hope that you'll be able to take the general ideas from the class and make them your own. I'll be teaching you how to adapt regular patterns to get the most out of a refashioned garment - and you can apply those skills to your own favorite patterns.
As for the time - I can't give you more of that. :-( But I can tell you that these projects are FAST. And you'll be getting a downloadable PDF that pairs with every video, so even after the class closes you'll still have a LOT of material that you can continue to work with.
Hope to see you there!
I do the same thing! My husbnad makes a GoodWill pile and half of it ends up in my sewing area! I wish the class had boy oriented clothing as well.. Maybe next time..
ReplyDeleteI will definitely be doing a boy-oriented workshop in the future. Boy clothes usually involve slightly more advanced skills than what I've covered in the videos so far. (Skirts are SO EASY to manipulate and play with!) I decided to wait until I had more foundational stuff covered before I dive into refashioning boys clothes. But we'll definitely do it!
ReplyDeleteWendi, this makes me wish I had little children again! Come o-o-o-n grandkids :-) Your daughter makes a beatiful model. I love her confidense; it radiates. You can tell her I said that.
ReplyDeleteThanks Sue! What a kind thing to say. You made my daughter blush. :-) I've got another clothing workshop coming up next (Costumes! Just in time for Halloween!) and then I think I'm going to do a sewing room makeover - ironing board cover, sewing machine cover, a couple of pincushion options, etc. Maybe you can join us for that one!
ReplyDelete