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.