Sunday, December 05, 2010

(December) Refashion Challenge #4: Lydia


Well. A month and a week later, here's my final sweater refashion for Fall. As I'd mentioned earlier, my inspiration for this came from the yarn ... that, and a memory of this great pattern I'd spotted on Ravelry, Joplin. Add in some mismatched buttons and an oversized ivory cabled pullover sweater, and you have the recipe for one bona fide granny chic refashion.


I started with an oversized turtleneck that had once been my mom's. My mom likes to wear her sweaters loosely fitted, but after wearing this a couple times she decided it was too much white for her, so into the Goodwill pile it went (I've mentioned this before, but a good number of my "thrift" finds are actually from my family's pile of goods they're intending to donate. I'll say it again, we clearly need better communication on this front).


Generously sized, as you can see. I used Sigrid's excellent tutorial as a guide, winging it slightly when I got to the sleeves. I wasn't quite sure how long to cut them and erred on the side of too long, which does make them and the sweater body a tad longer than I'd like, but certainly nowhere in the realm of ridiculous. This was my first time using a narrow zigzag to reconstruct an entire sweater on my sewing machine, and it was so trouble free that I can't believe I'd been scared to try for months now. What was I thinking?


This collar pattern (Joplin, link above) is fantastic. It's such a great vintage look that also works up well in a heavier yarn (I used a light worsted weight brown with slight variegation), though if you stuck with the fingering weight yarn called for (which would make a thinner, less oversized collar), it would really hit that sweet spot between vintage, retro and modern. In fact, I'm hoping to do that with some ivory yarn leftover from these and a brown tee somewhere down the line.


I think that my sewing goal for 2011 is to work on my fitting issues. I get close, but not close enough that I'm really happy with the end results. This sweater, I'll definitely wear. But I've had some duds in the dress/blouse department which tells me - if the only garment you can reliably sew is an A-line skirt, it's time to get serious about learning to fit clothes! I'm wondering - could I learn what I need to know through books, or would it be better to take a class? Sometimes there's nothing like getting immediate feedback from a skilled professional who really knows their stuff and can spot your problem areas [and offer helpful solutions!] in a flash. Then again, there's so much great stuff floating out there on the Internet. I wish there was some central site where you could post muslims or photos of garments that have fitting issues, and then others could offer feedback and suggestions. Or IS THERE, and I am just missing out???

Obligatory overjoyed photo. I have to say, I think I do really well with these challenges-on-a-timeline. They push me to try new techniques and expand my comfort zone, and it really stimulates my creativity, too. I still remember the night (October 1st, probably!) that I dreamt up this mini personal challenge. I could hardly fall asleep, as all these random ideas kept clinking around my head, disparate components clicking into place. September 30th, I had some vague notion of a stack of sweaters that had been sitting around for 2 or 3 years, waiting for my skills to catch up to my Refashion Pile, and a color vague notions of color combinations that might work. October 2nd, I was getting to work. And it's been so much fun. I'm definitely doing more of these in the future!

6 comments:

willywagtail said...

You do such beautifully feminine reconstructions. I am almost wishing that the cold weather was starting instead of the hot over here in Australia when I see something so pretty. Lets hope these looks stay around for another year or so too. Cherrie

Zonnah said...

You look cute in it :) Good job.

Minnado said...

I like the refashioned jumper a lot.Granny The buttons are a cute touch. I did a double take when I realised you had knitted the collar! Very lovely. I like the texture of the sweater too. I am going to try the re-sewing of a too big cardigan and will check Sigrid's tutorial. BTW, thanks for your comments. How is the scarf knitting going? Are you sick of them yet> How funny that we have similar ideas!

Anonymous said...

I just saw your post this week, and love the Joplin revamp of the jumper. I tried to get the pattern from Ravelry, but it isn't available. PLease can you tell us where else we could find it?
Many thanks.

jessica said...

Hm ... I had bookmarked it ages ago, so I private messaged the designer on Ravelry and asked if she would be willing to email it to me while she revamped her website. Perhaps she would agree to a similar arrangement with you? (I think I agreed not to sell the pattern or share it with others).

I really apologize for the dead Ravelry pattern link -- I had hoped that she would have her new site up and running by now.

Ashley said...

Saw this on burda style and really loved it! Great job!