Sew Chaotically! ~ #alteritaugust or #refashion - you choose!!!

I've been making and remaking garments for awhile. Some outcomes were more successful than others.  Here are a few highlights:

Roo's old running tees worked into a "quilt":  T-shirt quilt with Roo

Work tees also transformed into a quilt as well as exercise tops:  Refashion! (It covers a lot!)

Reworking a sweater, a project that provided lots of laughs with SAD results:  It's Sooooo bad!!!

Dresses to skirts are easy refashions!  One is a bit buried in this post:  Toaster sweater, refashion and plans!  There's this one:  Me mades - refashioned  And here, Roo's frumpy dress became a skirt AND a top, while my old knit skirt was transformed into a cute and comfy Niko top:  REFASHION!!! Skirt to Nikko and dress to useful separates

The Polly top, a fab FREE pattern from By Hand London, is a great way to use scraps or pieces from existing clothes that need an upgrade!  This post covers two!  Fabric from an old sweater comprised the center front piece on the pink one and an unused scarf found a beautiful new life as the back and contrast front piece in the version I made for Roo:  Another By Hand London, Polly Top

Sewing allows all of us to create new garments just as we wish them to be, transform old bits and bobs into something fresh, or adjust the fit of existing garments.  Sew!  Newly inspired by Mia, of Sew North's #alteritaugust sewing challenge, I FINALLY got around to adjusting a pair of rtw white jeans to fit my bootie.  Despite my slender build, I have chronically had problems with the waist band on many rtw pants standing up in the back rather than cinching in and laying flat as it should - often placing a couple darts in the band until I started making my own!!!  Not a very eloquent solution, but it was fast and did the job.  One reason I'd put off adjusting these particular pants was the fact that darts were not enough to solve the problem!!!

As you can see from this older pic, the front is terribly baggy too!!!

Forgive the plethora of bootie pics coming your way - butt... (Ha ha ha!!  I crack myself up!!!)

Pretty good, no?  To create this fix, I took off the center back belt loop and the waist band from the back of the pant for about 4-6 inches to either side of the center back seam.  Took the center back seam apart all the way down to the crotch. Fitted and stitched the seam back together.  Serged and trimmed away the excess and top stitched the seam back down.  Took a chunk out of the waist band, restitched it together, such that that seam would be hidden beneath the belt loop when it was reattached, then re-fixed the loop and waist band to the pant!  Literally a pain in the pa-toot to do, but well worth it now that I have a more wearable pair of pants!!

Look!!  The waist band actually FITS my waist!!!

And the front is now the "flat front" it should have been all along!

Thanks, Mia!  Your challenge was just the kick in the pants I needed!!!  #alteritaugust and sew chaotically! ~ les