05 June 2009

146. Refashion 22: Boy's Hat from Cargo Pant Legs and Refashion 23: Vogue 8585 Dress from Men's Dress Shirt

Greetings from Las Vegas!  We are visiting family and celebrating my niece's high school graduation!  And, of course, I am sewing and blogging.  A rolling stone collects no moss.....

1. The Hat

So, the story is that Louis needed a summer hat.  I made him a driver's cap from a Japanese pattern book, but it was too big (BTW, it fits my dad perfectly and so now has a new owner).  There's a tulip hat pattern in the same book that I've made myself a couple of floral hats from, and the shape of the hat looks great on Louis and covers his neck.

I had six Louis-size cargo pant legs in the refashion remnant pile.  They came from three pairs of cargo pants that would get more love and wear as shorts, so I simply cut off the legs around the knee/ just under the thigh cargo pocket and double-folded new hems on the shorts.  One set of leftover pant legs was a khaki camouflage, another was olive camouflage, and the third was plain khaki.  As the tulip hat pattern calls for 6 panels, I used one of each contrasting pant leg.  I lined the hat with remnants from my dad's new driver's cap.  Et voila!  New hat, ready for fishing with Grandpa and cousin Nick in a week.


2. Dress refashioned from Men's Dress Shirt

Last year, I was lucky enough to find this enormous men's shirt in a size 4XL.  It was, by far, the biggest one in the stash, in great condition, and I kept waiting for the right project to make the most of the size and width of the original shirt.

Of all the Big 4 pattern companies, Vogue is the one I sew the least, and I generally like their pattern envelopes best!  I bought Vogue 8585 at a $3.99 pattern sale a couple weeks ago, and bought the last yard+ of a fantastic deep pink twill to make it from.  After I got home, I realized there was no way to get Vogue 8585 from the pink twill, and in fact, no other fabric from my ridiculously big stash seemed quite right.  I remembered the 4XL shirt in my refashion stash and its fate was sealed.

I made a couple of changes.  The most obvious one is that I didn't sew the "partial placket" as the pattern shows -- I just drew center front on the front bodice pattern piece and aligned it with center front of the men's shirt.  I also chose not to sew in the back seam as I'm at my parents' house and don't have all my tools and workspace at the ready.  To keep it simple, I cut the back bodice on the fold and it is thus missing some shaping around the waist.  


This style, the gathered sleeveless raglan with tailored neckline, is kind of popular in home sewing patterns these past couple of years.  I actually believe that I own a similar style pattern -- Vogue -- from two or almost three years ago that I never sewed!  (I am kind of embarrassed to admit that, but it is the truth.)  

I forgot to add another buttonhole and button on the neckband!  It will look more finished.  I just loved the shape of this dress, and liked that the coverage would not require unusual or uncomfortable undergarments.  Despite its simplicity with only 4 pattern pieces, it's a style that required my full attention with markings.  There was a lot of matching up, aligning, etc. and missing a mark meant an interruption in the flow, and a little extra work.

But worth it to me; I like wearing the final dress.  I think I will try a dressier version, maybe even before I get home.  Just need to get lucky finding the right fabric while I'm here....

For the full scoop, check out my Vogue 8585 review on PatternReview.com.

21 comments:

  1. Great hat!

    And that dress is super cute!

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  2. that hat is too cute. :-) how is the sewing away from all your tools? I would keep trying to turn around to find something- I'm sure I would never get all the essentials packed up.

    And I know what you mean about the old pattern floating around... I have so many almost duplicates in my pattern boxes!

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  3. I love, love, love Louis' hat! It is fabulous...

    I rarely (if ever) sew Vogue, but I love the neckline and shoulder shape of that dress. It looks comfortable and flattering.

    You are, indeed, the re-fashion queen!

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  4. I love the hat even more than the dress. You know, looking at the original shirt draped on your dress form - it doesn't actually look too bad as it is!

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  5. Both of you look so cool! Thanks for the review on this pattern. Now that I see it on you, I've gots to buy it!

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  6. I love the gathering on the yolk, it's very chic. Great projects, both.

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  7. awesome, as always. I always go into massive withdrawal being AWAY from my machine when I go home.

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  8. I am amazed yet again! How do you create something like that out of a men's shirt? I attempted to do that and mine turned out horrible. Can you post a pattern or some instructional guidelines?

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  9. Great dress. Totally cute on you and perfect with your converse.

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  10. Girl, what can't you do with a shirt??????????? You are so creative!

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  11. All your things turn out so great...I'm starting to get that itchy feeling that I need to do a shirt refashion of my own...
    At least I'll find out if my machine survived the shove off the chair while I was mopping courtesy of my 2yo son. Fortunately it was in its case and doesn't appear damaged. I'm just afraid to find out!

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  12. Your dress is cute & comfy - just the way I like it! My boy is need of a summer hat but I know he won't keep it on.

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  13. the hat is darling... and as always, your shirt refashion-ing skills rule. You could start a line of clothing focused on those shirt refashions! I hope one day to attempt it myself.

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  14. Antoinette, you should seriously consider pitching a book on shirt refashions. I think all your projects are brilliant, very desirable and great for a good range of sewers. I'm not super familiar with the US range of refashion books (maybe there are shirt books already?), but from my perspective your stuff definitely has a market potential.

    And the hat is just super cute!

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  15. Cute dress!!! It translates really well from the shirt to the dress, and I love how it drapes on you. And lucky you for finding a 4XL~! Wow.

    And I second pitching a book on shirt refashions. Or at the very least, coming up with a eBook that you can sell on your site :-).

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  16. Oh, I adore the dress. I might have to pick up that pattern.

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  17. Now that is one of the cutest shirt refashions EVER!

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  18. You are truley amazing! What talent! I can't wait to try some refashoning!

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  19. goodness you are so super duper talented! that dress rocks and looks so breezy for the summertime!

    I'm new to sewing and don't any Vogue patterns, I really should look at their catalog on line or in the store. I have a lot of Simplicty and McCall patterns though. No Butterick ones.

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  20. Wow, this is amazing! I'm not much of a sewer when it comes to clothes. Have made a few, but nothing too complicated. I picked up this awesome Tangerine Linen mens shirt the other day for that very purpose. :) I have found the pattern on ebay. You have inspired me to give it a try. Thank you so much for sharing.

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