The Refashioners 2015

Before… (not sure what I was looking at)

In July Portia from makery.uk announced she would be running the Refashioners project again for 2015! This year however was different to previous years (2011 and 2013) – instead of refashioning any garment they wanted, every single participant had to refashion a man’s shirt. The first month saw Portia’s line-up of guest bloggers demonstrating their amazing skills, but the second half of the competition was opened out to everybody else, so I figured I would have a go (plus the prize package is insane!)

After! (deliberately not looking at the camera this time)

This is actually the second shirt I bought! The first was a striped shirt from Cotton Traders but I wasn’t really sure if I could turn it into something I would ever wear. As I’m trying to think more realistically about the kind of clothes I’m buying and
making instead of just making wild and wonderful things that never get worn, I decided to keep looking for another shirt. On my travels out and about I found this great XXL pink gingham cotton shirt for just £2.99 in a charity shop and I knew I would be able to turn this into something more wearable.
The pink gingham is so sweet but it would probably look a bit naff on me in any other format than something simple and feminine. Using the free Diana Cami pattern from Spit up and Stilettos as my base, I worked out that the shirt would give me enough material to make a sweet and simple camisole. I ended up hacking the back piece to turn it into a classic 2 strap cami instead of the central halter style on the pattern. I really wanted to keep some of the elements of the shirt in my refashion so instead of cutting the front on the fold, I cut it as 2 pieces to incorporate the existing button stand, and created
a fake button stand to go underneath. I also unpicked the back yoke as the pieces had been cut on a diagonal, meeting in the middle. Using just one layer of the yoke I stitched this back on to the large back piece and then cut the back piece on the fold to incorporate the new yoke piece. Not sure how effective the end result is but I know it’s there so it still counts!

I finished the top edge with baby pink bias tape and then did a narrow hem on the bottom – seams neatened with a tight zig-zag for neatness, but mostly speed as Sunday was the deadline for the Refashioners competition! Eeek! I submitted my entry via instagram on the day before, so fingers crossed!

Take a look at some of the great refashions already submitted below or on instagram under the #therefashioner2015 tag!

From makery.uk