Pastel Patchwork Linen Hat

Wind-chill temperatures in Denver were in the negative double digits (F) the previous few days when I created this summer chapeau. The pastel scraps from upcycled linen garments were first pieced onto muslin scraps, then cut out in the hat pattern pieces. An 80's-era quilting cotton from stash is the lining.

Remove Bothersome Garment Labels

Do you have soft, cuddly garments in your closet that are degraded by uncomfortable, scratchy labels?  Life is too short to tolerate that, so remove the labels. Their stitching may often be unpicked with a seam ripper or snipped with tiny shears. Occasionally an overlocked or flatlocked seam needs to be opened to fully remove the label and in that case it is often best to cut the label off. Need help with this? Contact ReSewn if you have a several garments that need labels removed. If you are concerned about forgetting fiber content for laundering and storage, take a photo of the garment with the label and save it in a digital folder.  

Pocket Repair

These First Lite pants are worn constantly by their owner and are generally well-made, but the pocket lining fabric is not as durable as the rest of the fabrics. This was a quick repair using a fabric scrap from stash. 

Concert Belt Bag From Repurposed Suede Vest

Sewed this prototype bag from a repurposed old suede vest. The main pocket dimensions are 6 inches by 4 inches by 1.5 inches to fit the strict bag requirements of Denver's Ball Arena. The front and back pieces have the original tiny pockets from the vest, with simple straps with hook and loop to hold items in. The inside is not lined, but the seams are bound. This bag was perfect for the Peter Gabriel concert last night. Phone, wallet, and keys fit comfortably inside and earplugs were easily accessible in the outer front pocket. The show was excellent, but extremely loud. 

Quilt Coat With Hand-Felled Seam Allowances

 

A newly completed quilt coat for myself. Several weeks ago, I happened upon a lovely estate sale and found two machine-quilted bedspreads and two matching pillow shams for an unbeatable price. I have been thinking about this type of project for a while, but was waiting for just the right machine-made quilt. Still pondering front closures. Might make another with slight modifications since this coat used less than one of the bedspreads.

Machine-sewed the shoulder, side, and sleeve seams at 3/4 inch, unpicked the quilting stitches within the seam allowances, trimmed the batting and beige inside fabric, then fell-stitched the seam allowances by hand. This hand-stitching time commitment was enormous, but I appreciate the touch it added to the original mass-produced item instead of just using my serger on those seams.

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Added a hanging loop before sewing down the inside collar.

Updated an Old Backpack

Extended the use-life of this old Jansport pack by adding large mesh pockets to each side and covering the inside bottom frayed seam with grossgrain ribbon.

Merino Hoodies Sewn From Thrifted Sweaters

Several weeks ago, a local chain of thrift shops had a 99 cent sweater sale. I found many merino sweaters, though only a few cashmere sweaters to repurpose as mitten linings. What to do with the merinos after they were machine-washed and dried? For starters, these two hiking/workout hoodies. Some had holes, some shrunk more than others during laundering, so I cut apart and pieced them together to fit my patterns. Both were an experiment of combining sweatshirt patterns with a close-fitting balaclava pattern instead of a traditionally looser sweatshirt hood, and the results turned out well. The hoods are cozy neck gaiters when not in use, fit easily over baseball-style brimmed hats, and do not need a cumbersome drawcord. The face edges of both of these hoods were finished with ribbing harvested from the sweaters. 

Outer front with large kangaroo pocket. This grey/black combo has longer cuffs with thumb openings.

Back:

Outer front with exposed serged seams:

Front pocket open edges finished with ribbing harvested from the sweaters: