In the beginning there was.....

I graduated high school in 1975. Yep, that ages me a bit. But I was very aware of the fabulous 60's and the cool fashions that came out of that era. I can remember sewing crochet flowers to my very cool denim navy surplus jeans. Big bells and all. The military surplus store the next town over was the only place to purchase the utmost cool fashions. Pea-coats, sailor pants, army jackets... you name it. Unfortunately it went the wayside to the hipsters and their stock-brokerage firms and high end shopping centers.


So I have this very wonderful and interesting friend in Australia. (They call it OZ. I think that is so cool.) My friend Karen Ellis has a brilliant  blog called RudeRecord. Her and her husband are all about being frugal, recycling and reusing as much as possible to reduce waste. That is the utmost cool thing!

Karen told me about a book she wanted a look see at but it was out of print and not available in OZ. Also shipping from the US was more than she could deal with. Sooo, I checked it out.

With a measly purchase price of $5.98 including shipping, I was up to the task to help her out.

And then I procrastinated..... for a long time. Cuz that's how I roll some days. But she gave me a gentle reminder the other day and I knew I needed to get this done!

So to start... here is the cover.

It was written in 1976 by Diana Funaro.


Multitudes of great information is covered. So much that there is no way I can cover it all. But knowing my friend, I figured anything that dealt with up-cycling or re-purposing something might help.

So back to the 60's. First came the jean skirt. Then of course the inserts into those wonderful big bell bottom pants. The book covers how to do both. I scanned a picture of the jean skirt for you.

Most of the book looks like this as far as illistrations. Not many actual photos. I didn't think they did a good job of representing the garments. So I passed on those. (Sorry Karen.)

The classic jean skirt with the insert. A staple for the 60's gal.

 Of course there was another style of jean skirt too.
The cut off skirt with a different fabric at the bottom.

Shameless plug for two of my jean skirt creations. This is my modern take on the last picture.

Yep, I'm kind of a messy scrappy kind of girl. By the way, I used all kinds of jean scraps to make these.

Any whoooo, back to the book.
(I just realized I got stuck on skirts here.)

So here a couple more pages from the book.

They are about making wrap skirts from tablecloths and such. I love wrap skirts. They are great for dealing with size issues. One size can fit quite a few different sizes.

Here is one more popular skirt. The handkerchief skirt.

This is a very simple one! Just sew four square hankies together, fold and cut a circle for the waistband. Attach a waistband and you are set!

Here is one that would have helped me the other day with a sweater upcycle. (I really need to read more of this book!)

This is taking out a turtleneck collar and changing it to a crew neck collar. Needless to say, I botched mine terribly and it is very "free form" right now. Sigh... now I know what to do for next time.

So these were some of the easy projects I found. There is so much more! It goes into all kinds of alterations and instructions on different embellishments as well. Beading, applique, embroidery and more.
Again, every thing is pretty much line drawings but if you are good at following written instructions (I am not! Surprised?) you should do great.

So hopefully I was able to give Karen in OZ (soooo coool!!!) a good idea about this book.
Now, I need to go and fix that damn sweater collar!

If you just have to have this wonderful vintage book. You can get it on Amazon here...
It is offered at many different prices. Don't let the $0.04 fool you. I think it will cost a bit more. ...


Until next time!
Oh, and my skirts are on my Etsy website along with some pretty cool patched jeans. Curiousorangecat.etsy.com


Thanks for visiting!

I'm Celebrating!

I’m about to be featured on a wonderful upcycling  blog from down under! The post goes up in the next day or so. The blog is called Rude Record and they are masters at the upcycling and reusing game. So be sure to check them out and my blog post. There are even pictures of my messy sewing “studio”. So in celebration, I thought I would post a tutorial of one of my favorite dresses to make. 

So without further adieu, here is my tutorial for the shirt-sleeve dress.

Materials:

• A knit or button down the top shirt that fits you well.
• Two to four men’s cotton long sleeve shirts.
• Rotary cutter, mat and ruler.
• A manikin is helpful but not mandatory.
• Sewing supplies (pins and such).
• Sharp large scissors.
• Matching thread.

Start out with a top. It can be a favorite t-shirt, knit top or button down the front top.

Measure down from the armpit seam about 6 to 7 inches. If you are big busted, you will want to go with 7 inches.

I use a ruler and rotary cutter, but you can just as easily use scissors. Just try to cut a straight line.

Put it on the manikin if you have one. You can still manage without one. It is just a bit easier with one.

Cut the sleeves off of the men’s shirts as close to the shoulder seam as possible. You will need four sleeves.

Cut off the cuff. (you can use this to make a sweet little pouch like this later.)

Cut along the sleeve seam to open up the sleeve flat. I usually iron it at this point.

Button up the little slit where the cuff use to be. Sometimes I sew a little line to hold it shut.  If it doesn’t have a button, you want to sew it closed.

Pin the first sleeve on underneath the top at the narrow end of the sleeve. I pin about an inch under the raw edge of the top.

Continue pinning and overlap each sleeve a bit. Pin the long edge of the sleeves together for sewing later. Usually four sleeves are enough to go around up to an Xlarge top. Over lap as much as needed to make the four sleeves fit.

Unpin the sleeve skirting from the top and sew up the side seams sewing all the sleeves together.

 Lay the skirt on the cutting mat and fold it up until only one sleeve is showing. 

Measure down fourteen (14”) Inches from the top and using your ruler and rotary cutter, cut across the sleeve skirting through all the layers.

Pin the top part of the skirting back onto the top and sew with a zig zag stitch. 

Arrange the part you cut off back onto the skirting, only offset the fabrics so seams and fabrics don’t match. You might need a few tucks here and there. That’s OK. Just do what you need to make it fit. Sew it to the top skirting with a zig zag stitch.

The bottom should look something like this.  

I have decided to add side ties to this one. But just haven’t sewn them on yet.

You can cut the top skirting even shorter if you want and instead of adding the bottom back on, you can add bits of lace, linen strips… anything else you might find that fits.
 Here is an example.

 I actually cut a strip from the bottom part of the removed skirting and added the ruffle of other scraps for color. This is a wonderful dress to experiment with and use up all kinds of bits and bobs.

Oh dear! I just realized how messy my sewing room must look. It does get a bit out of hand at times. (How embarrassing!) I was just too excited about the post for the RudeRecord!

But there you have it. My favorite shirt sleeve dress. If you pop over to the RudeRecord blog you can see a few others I have created.

Have fun!

Cheers.

Make it Custom One of a Kind Just for You!

I have added a new listing to my Etsy store. So many of my clothes are Favorited but I know they are not purchased because the size is not right. So I decided to add custom listings with just labor charges. My customer purchases the clothes they want their outfit made from and I make it awesome!
Here is what my customer sent. I LOVE everything!

She added a pink and white stripped blouse in her size for the top. These 5 shirts are for the bottom skirting.
So this is what I came up with....

I had so much fun making this dress. Hopefully I will get more as time goes by.

I do 3 custom styles right now.

 Click link to check out my listing. Dresses. These are longer tunic dresses.

 Tunic Dresses These are great with leggings or even over jeans.

Tunic Tops These are best over pants or a skirt.
Enjoy!

An Upcycled Repurposed Life

For those who don't know my story, late in 2010 I had to close my quilt shop and lost my beautiful log house. Another victim of the economy downturn and not enough future planning on my part. Yes, I do take part of the blame.

The emotional pain was stifling.. I still think... "I want to go home". I lived 25 miles from Yosemite National Park. I miss the trees, the forest, the little fox that would come by each night to raid whatever cat food I had forgotten to pick up.

Fast forward three years......

I'm in Oregon living with my mom. That in itself isn't progress but it allowed a time of healing and reinvention.

It took a while. I worked at a local quilt shop. Note to oneself. Do not go to work for another quilt shop owner.
I taught some kids sewing classes. It helped pay a few bills and introduced me to a new experience.

I went back to school... at 50 something. I discovered I'm a pretty decent student. Of course I drove my accounting teacher nuts.

I started looking for something I could do with my creative spirit and earn money at the same time. Enter Altered Couture Magazine and the local thrift stores in town.

It's like every day is an "Aha Moment". I'm amazed I am still at it 7 months later. Not only that, but the February issue of Altered Couture has two of my creations. One, the managing editor liked so much she bought it and modeled it in the article.

My sales are still slow. I'm learning to be patient. Steady and hand to the sewing machine. Don't stop now, I feel like I'm almost there.

I'm still in school. I got my Accounting AA. I'm working toward an AA in Administrative Assistant. Just a back up. But in my heart I know because of my age, it most likely won't turn into a job.

But it will make me a better businesswoman.

And so the story goes on in a positive note. Finally, thankfully, and gratefully I think I'm going to make it.

To God and the Universe. Keep on... and Thank you!


You can visit my Etsy shop here...... Curious Orange Cat

This Is Not A Cat Free Zone!

I thought I would do a bit of a post about pet safety in the sewing room.
I have to make sure my pins are secure and my scissors are put away. All very nice toys. I actually found his sister with a needle dangling  out of her mouth. She had swallowed the thread and the needle was dangling from her mouth. Thankfully I found her just in time! I now put everything under cover. So think about cat safety in your sewing room. They are slick little devils! Pincushions are pretty handy.. to us and them.
No matter what time of day I head to the basement sewing room. Today I have a Helper. He is very snoopy and always gets in the way.
He has his own special way of letting me know something is OK. Here he is inspecting an outfit I'm working on. I think I got his approval to proceed.

Thankfully despite all his help, I was able to finish up.

Here is the approved project.

Later All! Enjoy your weekend!

Bunny and Alex

Steampunk Sexy Librarian Dress

Ok, so that is quite a title. But I was thinking it would fit that category on my Etsy site. Anyway, my newest creation or re-creation.

I had the BEST time making this dress. I thought about it for quite a few days. I was originally going to do the cutout a little differently but it just wouldn't do what I wanted. So I sewed strips of old sheer curtains and my most favorite table cloth. My dogs when they were puppies had torn a hole in it and I have kept it trying to decide how to fix it. I used strips of it in the center. It looks so much better in real time. My camera phone does not do it justice. It is a size 8. I just have to sew down the lace on the shoulders and then off to my Etsy site it goes. I just wish I could make a living doing this. I could do it all day. Way too much fun!

Enjoy!

Tattered Table Cloth Skirt

My last day before I start school again. Sigh... I was having so much fun in my sewing room. I have been working on a new skirt for my Etsy site. It is made from an old tablecloth I had in my hope chest. It had a hole in the middle and I decided to just tear it open all the way. I decided to fold the torn part over to make a little apron and do a little painting and applique. I think it looks pretty nice. I have been making most skirts wrap around but I decided to do this one with an elastic waist.

So here it is. I had the most fun! I used a fabric dye to do some painting and an old cotton table cloth for the skirt.  I figure it will need to be washed in cold water and no dryer from now on.

Here is the finished skirt.

Here is a close up.

I should have it on Etsy soon.