Refashioned

More School/Work Clothes, this time, a Marfy.

Some of you might have picked up by this point that I love a bargain. Shoes, clothes, whatever, but especially fabric! This idea isn't new, many people refashion articles of clothing or even try to use fabric from their stash exclusively for new garments. Check out Nikki's blog on refashioning clothes. I might not go as far as taking her pledge, but I do like the motto, "Reduce, Reuse, Recycle." With that in mind, take a look at the before pic of this skirt (warning: pics are a bit overexposed, the whole thing is a shade or two darker):

This is a Land's End skirt I bought about 12 years ago; I remember paying $80 for it. It's one of the older wearable pieces in my wardrobe, in fact there are very few older than it, but they're just keepsakes. It has a few problems, namely, it is at least 2 sizes too big, it's almost ankle length, and it's very plain in design. These size issues were fine when I weighed a bit more and during post-pregnancy when I needed a larger size.

Regardless of the issues, the fabric is really nice! I think it's a wool or rayon blend of some sort. I do remember that it's dry clean only (having once spilled a chocolate milkshake on it!). With all that fabric, I figured there had to be some way of reusing it, so I started looking through my patterns. About this time, my original Marfy skirt, made of a loose weave boucle like fabric, had one major seam shred in the wash (this was pre-serger or else I'd have serged those seams!). Rarely do I make the same pattern twice, but this was a good opportunity. Add to those facts that grey is popular this fall (check Erica B.'s picks for fall - she's a fab sewing fashionista), and I had a good case for a new skirt:
I salvaged not only the fabric, but the lining and the zipper, too. I only bought one package of seam binding for the hem and 4 buttons. I changed only a few things from the original skirt. I did not do the front fly zipper, but used the original invisible zip in the left side seam. I also cut the pockets and belt loops on the bias probably should have cut them straight, but oh well. I had to do some piecing on the flounce, but was able to match everything up and just ended up with 4 sections instead of two.

So, what do you do with those unwearable items in your wardrobe? I suppose that many of them get donated to charity - which is always a good thing - I know I've donated plenty! Have you ever thought of refashioning those pieces? If not that, could you salvage the fabric to make bindings, piping or even the buttons and zippers if the piece is really unwearable? Don't get too extreme on me now - I know extreme. My mother used to get to this point - she'd use my dad's worn out underwear to scrub floors with! That's some kind of recycling!

Parting Shot: What is this? That's what I wanted to know when I opened up my daughter's backpack taking inventory of school supplies this morning. The socks I can understand, but the twigs?!? Could have been worse, I suppose!