Advice for a reader

Laurel emailed me today to ask for some advice and i though i'd post her questions here to see what suggestions you have:

Hi. My name is Laurel and I live in the Philippines. I saw the clothes you refashioned from other clothes and I'm really amazed. I'd rather refashion than buy every now and then just because the clothes become out of fashion or whatever. Anyway, I have this corduroy jacket I bought for $3 (its missing a pocket in front but its not really noticeable), but the jacket has a straight shape(shapeless??) and makes me look frumpy. I was wondering if I could still alter my jacket to have a sexier shape? I'm not one for sewing beyond the basic running stitch so I'm having it altered at my friends dress shop. Is corduroy ok to alter? And is it ok to dye it (I don't like Tan and want it to be a dark brown color)? ANother are my jeans. I have like 3 pairs that I don't use because they're too big for me now (I lost a lot of weight =D), what can I do with them so that I can wear them again? Thank you so much for any suggestions.

Comments

[Antoinette]

That's a lot of questions in one email! As for the jacket, taking it in on the sides so that it contours to the waist more would be a simple fix, requiring a basic machine stitch and good marking. As long as it's 100% cotton it should take a dye very easily. Just make sure your dye is for cotton and follow the directions. The jeans are trickier. I'd vote to bring them to a swap and try to acquire jeans that fit you better instead of trying to alter the ones you have. Good luck!

[Lotta]

Just wanted to add one more thing on dyeing. I also dye fabrics that aren't 100% cotton, e.g. some which has some polyester in it as well. Often I get great results, but what happens, is that the cotton part of the fabric takes dye, while the poly doesn't. It might give it a slight "mottled" effect (like e.g. on a gray sweatshirt), which sometimes just makes it even better. I have done fine with fabrics with e.g. 20% synthetic fibres in combination with cotton. I would even give it a try with 30-40% synthetic, but would prepare for some surprising effects. If it is mainly synthetic fibers, you most likely wouldn't get any results beside the fabric looking somewhat dirty (e.g. a white turning to a slight gray, just as we don't want our whites to turn out!), so that would be a total waste of your precious dye!

For the pants, you could recycle them to something else, but as long as you don't sew yourself, it is better to see if you could swap with somebody who either can use them or do sew and will be prepared for some major reconstruction work. Just taking jeans apart for the fabric is quite a lot of work... They might be easy to redesign into children's clothing though, then by just cutting apart along the seams and utilizing the resulting fabric pieces...

It shouldn't be all that difficult to take your jacket in on the sides and maybe even give it some princess seam-like long darts to give it a more fitted look. You can even make lots of darts in a pattern, pinched on the outside, so that they show, for a neat expression. I actually have a corduroy blazer that is made like that, really like it! If you need to take it in quite a bit, it might be quite a job fixing the lining if it is lined though. The question is how much the sewing place would charge for fixing it up for you, if you think it is worth while to get your new and unique reconstructed jacket... Where I live, paying for sewing is so expensive, it would never be worth while (more expensive than just buying a new one), unless you do it for other reasons and are willing to pay whatever it will cost...

[Qweenkaren]

I recommend turning your jeans into skirts, all you do is unpick the leg inner seams, add a triangle of material into the front & back - you may also want to unstitch the back of them to take them in.
The material you put in the middle doesnt have to be denim - I have used cotton on 2 of mine, made one with purple/red fabric & another with a print.