spring cleaning the wardrobe

With the sun shining and a rather chilly minus 2 in the studio, I decided cold or no, I was going to light the fire and spend the day shut away in my studio.

It only took a couple of hours to get the temperature up to 8°c, and then I was good to go, coat off and erm........ well a whole load of spring cleaning first actually.

What is it about an unused room that over winter you just get in the habit of opening the door and throwing stuff in then closing the door and walking away?

After battling past the coffee table dumped in the middle of the rug, nestled up against the stool I have promised to someone else but not got round to dropping off, then sidestepping the two bags of donated clothes, the bag of castoffs from Thea's wardrobe; I ended up tripping over the two hangers of clothes needing some attention to make them fit that I had casually left lying on the table that was then used to elongate our dining table for New Year so someone (who shall remain nameless lest I get caught up in finding new swear words to rhyme with husband) had dumped them on the floor and left them there.

By lunch time with the temperature up to a very moderate 16°c in there, I settled in to finally do some sewing, after my machine had defrosted sufficiently to allow the oil to lubricate it.

Two pairs of trousers turned up, two tops with the elastic removed and new hems added, one shirt collar fixed, one jumper seam fixed, two pairs of jeans turned up and one pair of jeans with the waist band adjusted - and for once adjusted in the right way.

Here is my super easy, super fast way of taking in the waistband on a pair of jeans (as long as you are not too fusy and do not require your jeans to be perfect and are therefore happy with a few loose threads - although if you do require your jeans to be perfect you probably iron a crease up the centre of the legs in which case stop reading now and go away you scary person).

Ahem - ok, take a sharp pair of scissors and cut off the waistband. Remove the belt loops from the waistband and the jeans. Discard the belt loops - the object of the excerise is to take in the waist itself and therefore not need a belt to hold up your pants.

Rough cut edges to rough cut edges mean that you have to turn the waistband upside down.

Pin the end of the waistband that has the button on it to the flap of material that covers the zip, then with the zip closed, pin the waistband all the way around, gather if required at the pocket side edges.

If you are doing this to stretch jeans then you won't need to gather because you can stretch the waistband to meet the material.

Fasten the waistband button over the zip to make sure that you have a straight even front. (Because this is where lumps and gathers will show if you are not careful.)

Make sure any slack is pulled taut and pinned in place at the side seams, this is also where the material is at its thinnest and so the easiest place to pin and add any darts if needed.

Then sew in place with a thick cotton thread - either in that gold/cream colour of denim stitching or something more discreet.

This method is also great for taking down high waisted jeans for shorties like me.

Alterations - How to spend a couple of hours on a hot Sunday morning

Following yesterday's denim cut off start, I am continuing the theme of alterations.

My lovely generous mummy sent me some charity shop bargains again, and for a change they actually fit, in fact they fit so well that I have one cropped pair of trousers that don't need anything doing to them!

But there are some minor alterations to be made to the two shirts she sent, one simply because the buttons gape a bit and it just needs a stitch to hold everything in and decent, and the other shirt has a small hole and way too much tight elastic around the arms so I am going to remove the elastic and get rid of the puff sleeves.

In the meantime Thea is sorting out her wardrobe and has a pile of requests of her own, one dress to be altered to a t-shirt, another pair of trousers to make into shorts, this time with turn ups rather than a frayed edge.

So coffee and a biscuit then off to the studio.


Edited:-

OK it is now Sunday night, and the alterations plan went well as long as it lasted, then things took an embellishment twist.

I started off by cutting and hemming a pair of jogging bottoms for me to wear for work, then moved on to the stitch for my gaping buttons, but by the time I had shortened Thea's dress to a t-shirt I was bored.

Which meant that by the time I got to the brown shirt that just needed a small hole fixing and some elastic removing I couldn't just stop there, out came the ribbon and lace basket and I found this bit of pom-pom trim, which was just long enough to attach to the sleeves, then I added a couple of wooden beads to the neckline ties.  Another original for the summer.


This morning we started the day with a quick visit to a local small car boot; there was not much there to be honest but at least we left the house and had a change of scenery for a couple of hours.  Whilst there about the only bargain that I found was this piece of vintage 70s floral fabric, only a small remnant but enough there to make up another bag.  And while the weather was way too hot for gardening (36°C in the shade today) I stayed in my studio and got another bag sewn up.

My plan for this week while Thea has a free day is to get another little photoshoot sorted for the collection of bags I now have ready for listing on Etsy.