The theme this month is Snoop Sewing
And snoop sewing means.....too snoop around in stores and find some inspiration to copy.
As luck would have it, early this spring I broke my RTW fast and bought a crazy patchy sweater that I just loved. I rationalized the purchase because I told myself it would be almost the same price as buying a pattern and making it myself. The sweater was 35$ and the last Vogue pattern that I bought- not on sale was, 35$.
This is the sweater. It may not look like much on the hanger but I think it's very cool and interesting with all the different fabrics and textures mixed together. All the seaming is serged on the outside.
The first day I wore it to work, one of my co-workers asked me if I paid 200$ for it. Apparently she had just seen it in a little boutique for that price!
This summer I visited a girlfriend in Calgary. I haven't seen in over 10 years as she has been living out of the country. As the evening chilled off she slipped on this little number and I thought to myself- why was she in my suitcase? Then I realized I hadn't brought my sweater with me - She owned the very same one! We had a good laugh.
It's nice to know I'm not the only one with different taste.
My process began with collecting odd bits and remnants of fabrics. No holes barred, I'll collect from any where. The black crushed velvet is from Value Village- 2 meters for 2.99. There is a lace and sequined top that never quite fit me right...
And a mixi skirt from the Sally Ann. The rest were scraps from previous projects.
Next, I merged together a few sweater patterns to come up with one I liked, similar to the inspiration piece but different enough that it's not a direct copy.
The original had some curves and organic lines in it but I opted for a straighter linear look.
I marked them with numbers,hash lines and very loose grain lines to help with cutting out and construction order.
This is what that all looked like.
Then I cut my pattern up into little pieces. It's a good thing I took pictures before I cut it up. I had to refer to them more then once!
I added 1/4 inch seam allowences as I went.
All the horizontal pieces were seamed first, then the vertical ones- just like in quilting. Things got a little hairy a few times but fortunately there was no seam ripping involved.
This is it before sleeves. It doesn't look like much I know!!!
Testing it out on the dolly lama.
Finally finished .... doing a little happy dance in the back alley!
From start to finish this probably only took me 4 hrs total to make. I used 8 different fabrics, putting a nice dent in the scrap box, and I upcycled 2 previously used garments!
I wore it to work the next day and and got many compliments, starting with the lady at the coffee shop and the gas station woman and Kathleen who works up stairs. My boss does not want me to shorten the sleeves because she likes to get my cast offs when I'm tired of them and she has long arms. My hubby has christened this my "witchy sweater"
Thanks for stopping by!
Maureen
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