Fabric Reconstruction

Clothing reconstruction. Clothing remodeling. Alterations. I don't know what you call it, but I'm getting quite excited about it. In the fall and winter I love to wear cotton knit skirts made out of higher quality fabric then I can't get at the two fabric stories in my town. My solution is shopping at the second hand stores. I get so excited about this because I love to keep something from going to waste that I can reuse. I disagree strongly with the prices in the department stores for clothing. And I find myself disagreeing with modern styles pretty strongly too. I'm not ready to sign a pledge to not buy anything new like the ladies Wardrobe Refashion are doing here. I will buy something new if it's a reasonable price and I really do need it and can't get it another way within the needed amount of time. For example tee shirts, turtle necks, sweaters. They put them out early in the season, and once they are gone in your size and color, they are gone. If I see something like that in a color that is good for me, I do buy it, and then wear it for years. By doing this, I am gradually making a collection of clothing that fits my style and fall coloring.

But back to the idea of clothing reconstruction. I go to the second hand store looking for something that would work for me in my size or larger. I found the above outfit on the 75% off clearance rack at a consignment store. Yipee! The skirt and matching jacket cost me a little more then $3! The tee shirt was already in my drawer. The problem was that the skirt and jacket were too big for me. I'm sure the lady at the counter was wondering why I was buying it. But how could pass up a cotton knit skirt that was going to be so comfortable. I wasn't sure how the jacket was going to turn out, but I was ready to give it a try at that price. If it didn't work, I knew it wouldn't be a waste, because I would also gain experience and knowledge about what I could do. On the skirt I took in the waist, side seams, and hem. I just pinned up the sides with it on me, wrong side out. Then sewed it up, and zig-zagged the raw edges. Then my husband helped me pin up the hem and it wasn't long until that was done.

The jacket turned out to be easy. I just took in the seams 1 inch on each side from hem all the way to the hem of the sleeves, zig-zagged, trimmed the excess and was done.

Monday afternoon I met a girlfriend at a second hand store, and we had a good time looking for things that fit, or things that we could work over. I came home with a flannel tiered skirt in reds, greens and black that just needed a hem. I fixed that this morning, and it is already to go. I found a lovely navy blue cotton knit skirt that needs to be shortened. I don't wear a lot of navy, but do have some sweaters that would go nicely with it. I also found a deep red corduroy jacket with flowers and navy colored leaves, but the sleeves are way too long and I will have to take in the sides. It is going to be really fun to wear brand names that I can't, or don't want to afford at a fraction of the price.

Do any of the rest of you do any fabric construction or reconstruction? Would you like to but just haven't got brave enough? Let me know what you think.