164. Refashions 26 + 27a + 27b: All from men's shirts

1) THANK YOU

It has been a lot of fun to kick off Vocabulary and read your many supportive, encouraging comments... to see how many of you became Facebook fans, how many of you re-tweeted the shop opening announcement, how many of you wrote a whole new blog post to share the news! I've always enjoyed finding a place in the blogging community and making new friends in a new way. Launch weekend could have been way stressful but it ended up being very exciting and fun. Thank you for your friendship.

2) A disclaimer

This is my third time writing this post -- I actually deleted the first two drafts and started fresh each time. Because I am blogging about 3 tops, two of which I really don't care much for, and it made me tired to re-live the experience draping/ drafting/ sewing them up. And I thought if it was deflating for me to show you the pics and describe the challenges, maybe it would be deflating for you to see and read about them. But I've decided to document some of my lessons learned anyway in case they are interesting or helpful to you (and you can just close the window now and wait for the next post if you like, I would understand!).

3) Refashion 26: Pintucked (Shoulder) Shirt from Men's Dress Shirt

This was my first design idea for Vocabulary's summer camp shirt variations. The original was a 100% cotton, short-sleeved men's shirt. The resulting women's shirt was challenged:

• Shoulders too wide
• Neckline too big, odd shape shape (the shirt started out collarless but I didn't like it, unpicked the binding, adjusted the original collar and sewed it on)
• Silhouette boxy, unflattering
• You can't see the pintucks on most patterned fabrics unless you're up close

So I ditched the whole concept. I'd tortured the fabric on this sample enough and still couldn't get the shirt where I wanted it. I've worn the shirt a few times and you know what? It isn't really comfortable! So I moved on to the next style without tinkering with the pattern/ first sample more.

4) Refashion 27a: Gathered Raglan Top from Men's Dress Shirt

This eventually became the Dulcet Top that's in the shop. But getting there was pretty much torture for me. In summary, the process for this top was:

1. Sketch the design
2. Drape a sample
3. Transfer to pattern
4. Sew the first sample
5. Refine the sample
6. Alter the pattern
7. Sew the second sample
8. Refine second sample
9. Alter the pattern
10. Sew the third sample, refine it, alter the pattern
11. Lather, rinse, repeat
12. Sew the top in its final form
13. Then grade the pattern into multiple sizes, but I'll get to that later

Honestly, I wasn't unhappy with this first sample. I like wearing it and have gotten compliments. But when I thought about how much better it needed to be in order to be sustainable, a closet staple someone else would love and pretty much wear to death, it needed some changes:

• Silhouette is straight from the front but a-line when looking from the side. Decided to make the whole thing a-line and hit at high hip.
• Neckline was higher than I wanted it to be.

I thought I'd make those changes, make a perfect second sample, and we'd be ready to production sew! Not the case.

5) Refashion 27b: Gathered Raglan Top from Men's Dress Shirt

Well, just look at it. Not ideal. When you mess with patterns, there's a very real chance that when you change one thing, it will affect something else that you might not have considered. I'm pretty comfortable modifying patterns for tops with set-in sleeves, but obvz. was thrown by the raglan style:

• Neckline binding too short
• Too much fabric in the sleeves
• Never again use seersucker for this top b/c the fabric is too stiff, won't drape well

I didn't photograph the third sample because it is pretty close to the final Dulcet top. Anyway, the point is it took 4 samples to get it just as I wanted it. Which is why people work far, far in advance of the season they are designing for. Which is why I learned my lesson and am working on Fall/ Winter ideas now, as I boil. (BTW, 52 days over 100 degrees so far this summer.)

6. Pattern grading

For the average home sewist, pattern grading is about using a commercial sewing pattern and drawing a new line from a smaller size for bust to a larger line for hips, or something to that effect. Maybe it means buying a sweet vintage pattern that's too big and drawing a new set of seamlines to get one size smaller.

Until this experience I had never done the manual pattern grading, garment industry-style, for multiple sizes. This involves taking your sample pattern, which is usually in the middle of your size range, cutting it along various vertical and horizontal lines, and separating by fractions of an inch to grade up, or overlapping by fractions of an inch to grade down.

Now that I've done it, I could grade another pattern much more quickly and less painfully. But that first time, it was tough. I felt overwhelmed by the many pattern pieces now scattered about the floor like a puzzle. Louis was walking around the house with my camera, practicing his composition, and he snuck up on me and took this picture, which in retrospect says it all:

There are many more lessons to share, but another time. :)

131. Style 1003

Brown and green...... I love these colors in nature, but in t-shirts with identical screenprint designs, that will come together to make one top......

Hmmmmmmm... Brown and green...

These two shirts have the same screenprint in similar colors, a series of eagles and the message, "When I grow up I want to be free." My friend Ashley felt strongly that the brown be the foundation and the green be the accent. The screenprinted message put in my mind this image of the vibrant green breaking free of the oppressive brown, and after consulting with sewing guru Shauna on the structural integrity of diagonal seams, she suggested exposed seams instead of internal seams where my green would break free from the brown. I like what happened:

Full disclosure: I knew I wanted to insert the green through the words and the big eagle, but I was terrified to cut into the fabric for fear of mis-cutting and thus mis-aligning the screenprint between the two colors of fabric. I sat on the concept for 3 days before getting up the gumption to measure and cut, and for all that worrying it took me what felt like 10 minutes to measure, cut, and insert that green strip of fabric! And it turned out A-O-K.

I've got to figure out the neckline. The "collar" in the photo above is just pinned in. I would love to scoop the neckline more but don't want to cut into the screenprint. A plain neckline looks too plain to me, but an embellished one might really take away from that green insert. I've been fussing and fidgeting with fabric but The Right Answer hasn't hit me yet. As always, I am open to suggestions if you have any and appreciate your time and considered responses. :)

128. Style 1002

Moving right along in the 302Designs project... I had started a muslin on Clementine a few weeks back, using one of my husband's shirts. The simple sleeveless shell had ruched shoulders, was fitted around the bust and flared into a slight a-line, and truthfully it looked fine. Uneventful.

After my exercise last week, laying out shirts in a variety of combinations to see what jumped out at me, I decided to tackle the lavender and navy shirts next. I semi-draped all over Carmen for a while and didn't feel anything coming together. The thought of "the illusion of layers" kept surfacing, and when I looked at Clementine, she still had that white shell on her. I can't explain how, or why, but the thought came to me to cut another white shirt from the underarm seam down, and attach that tube to the back of the shell. I was taken aback by how much I liked the result:

It's just this versatile garment. It can be worn like a capelet, like a hoodie, like a front or back neck cowl, doubled over into a bunchy turtleneck... It felt like divine inspiration for a few minutes, and then this fear came over me, "Where have I seen this before? Whose design is so ingrained in my subconscious that I am re-creating what has probably been done before?" I sent it to Shauna to see if she knew. She agreed that it does look inspired by someone else, but couldn't put a finger on who.

Part two of Style 1002 is, then, taking the concept from muslin stage to the "fashion fabric" -- namely, the lavender and navy shirts. The two white muslin shirts were a size Large on Clementine, which left some room to cut and play. The two 302 shirts were also a size Large, but on Carmen there was very little room to cut and play. In fact, by the time I got to the navy shirt, I had to do some very creative piecing so that it was long and wide enough to do the same things on Carmen that the muslin did on Clementine. Plus, the design on the navy shirt was sooooo big....

Anyway, the goal was to let the design on the navy shirt show when the design on the lavender was covered up, as below, shown front and back, when worn as a capelet:

When worn as a reverse cowl, the front looks well-draped and the back looks like a hoodie:

And below shows, from L-R, hooded, doubled over turtleneck, grecian or roman, you decide (or you tell me, Lopi, if you are reading this LOL), and high-necked front cowl.

And on to the next look...

127. Style 1001

After feeling overwhelmed by too many possibilities, I decided to let the 16 shirts guide me. I laid them all out on the floor and spent a few moments pondering the graphics and messages on each shirt, and saw some groupings emerge:

This set was first. The black shirt had a little motif on the front:

And on the back, it reads, "There's a fire in me/ A passion so hot/ That if you tapped it/ You'd get burned":

Then some decisions became clear about putting these shirts together, into a new garment:

• The graphic on the back of the black shirt is very, very literal. I preferred the subtlety and size of the coordinating print on the front chest pocket area of the shirt.
• The yellow was too, too much. I wanted to ground the color. Seemed to make sense combined with the fire/ hot theme of the black shirt.
• With the intensity of the yellow, I wanted to keep the shirt sleeveless or short-sleeved to minimize the punch of color.
• In order to keep this "local", I thought about the challenge many Austinites have in wanting to dress in layers when it gets above 90 degrees for at least 6 months of the year. I went back through my sketchpad to find a sketch of a garment idea that could give the illusion of layering without someone actually putting on two shirts.

A contrast yoke, using the black shirt's smaller motif was the solution. I cut out a muslin from one of the scrap shirts from my husband, measured and cut carefully, and used that as the pattern piece for cutting the motif from the black shirt:

Except that, when I laid the pattern piece on top of the black t-shirt, I found that the black shirt didn't have enough fabric to cut out the yoke as it was. I turned the motif upside down and had more fabric to work with, but it didn't look right. So I cut the top of the yoke piece straight.

Now onto the yellow shirt. I used the back of the largest one, a size 2XL, so that I would have the most available fabric for gathering around the yoke. And it still wasn't quite as much as I wanted! But I like how it turned out:

In this photo you are just looking at the front of the shirt -- no back is attached yet. There's a bit more shimmying and negotiating of the fabric to be done. But I think this is the last you'll see of the top before it is complete. :)

Back I go into the workroom......

126. 302Designs T-Shirt Refashion Project - Getting Started

Diana asked me, via a comment on my post about my self-dubbed "micro-line" with 302Designs, if I planned to blog about the process of creating the garments/ line.  Since this is much of the sewing I'll do the next few weeks, I thought I would.  The timing of Diana's comment was uncanny -- Martha McQuade from Uniform Studio had just posted on her blog about the benefits and challenges in blogging her clothing design process, and then wrote a great follow-up.  So blogging process/ progress for an unfinished product was already on my mind.

I rarely show, in my self-sewing for fun, pictures of works in progress;  nothing trumps the contrast between a "before" photo and an "after" photo.  But since the final garments from this project will get more attention than my clothes are used to, I'll probably only blog works in progress for this line.

About 302Designs if you haven't been over to their site yet... I don't want to oversimplify and inaccurately describe what they do by saying they are a t-shirt screenprinting company.  Their design and production process is very unique:

image from 302designs.com

Their key executives drive the vision for each collection by setting the initial theme, but the entire process is collaborative and productive, all the way to the end.  I've always appreciated 302's process, guiding beliefs, and involvement and leadership in the Austin community.  You can read more about 302Designs here. 

So, you see, these 16 shirts are really not just any ol' t-shirts.  The printed designs are much more than pretty pictures.  If I had picked up old corporate t-shirts at a clothing swap, I wouldn't think twice about hacking out the graphics and tossing those into the trash.  For 302, the graphics and concept really make the shirts and, as long as the printing is clear and in good condition, they should be worked into the new line.  Here they are:

(BTW, the shirt on Carmen in the bottom right corner is not a 302 shirt.  I just needed one more photo to complete the mosaic.  Haha.)

I had a really hard time getting started!  At first, for a couple of weeks, I was sketching out ideas, assembling an inspiration book from old tear sheets and various images, and still kind of in shock over how I got into this agreement.  There was a significant part of me thinking, "You've only been seriously sewing for 2 1/2 years -- why do you get this opportunity instead of someone who's made far more sacrifices for much longer?"  And then it occurred to me that I'm getting to do this because, basically, I asked for it.  I try to remind myself of that when I need to.

It was important to me to get clear about my own philosophy leading this whole project, and my mantras are: sustainability -- which is multi-faceted -- and local.  I knew I would stick with sportswear separates because I only had these 16 specific shirts, in a wide variety of colors, sizes, and printed designs.  Even with this in mind, I couldn't figure out where to start with my pile of sketches and pile of 302 shirts.

I felt that there were suddenly too many limitations:

1. Color.  Three shirts were that golden mango color, which is such a strong, intense color.  Three were that green I can't define.  I just know I would not wear that color or pick it for myself.  (Which is one habit I need to break if I am going to keep designing clothes for other people.)  
   
2. Fabric weight.  The shirts range from semi-sheer to lightweight, so unless I doubled up on fabric I couldn't see successful skirts coming of these recons.  So now only tops in the line?
3. Size.  My form has a 32.5" bust, and the size 6/8 that I borrowed has a 35.5" bust with matching proportions.  Even though a Size 2XL shirt would make a great dress for short me, it's not long enough for a (decent, modest) dress for a size 6/8 woman.  Another reality check for designing for others!
4. Damage and inconsistency of printing.  The whole reason why these shirts were not sellable is because a couple had stains, a couple had holes, at least one had a print that was asymmetrically printed on the front that was obviously not supposed to be asymmetrical, etc.  Just more details to mind that equalled more limitations.
5. Time.  As in, sew.  Right now.

I could feel my energy stalling out, so I just started with a huge pile of old white t-shirts and company shirts from my husband.  I cut out and sewed up three muslins based on sketches.  I wasn't in love with any of them and couldn't come up with any ideas about how to make them love-worthy.  I went back to the sketchpad, created some variations, and was suddenly lost in the myriad of options.  In a week, I had gone from too many limitations to too many options.  What is wrong with me????  LOL

So it occurred to me to lay out all the shirts on the floor, like a puzzle, and see if things started to make more sense.  Fortunately, they did.  This post is looooong enough so I will fill you in next time.  Hope your weekend is off to a great start!

123. Surprise!

Before the surprise, an update on the sew-along: There has been a brief slowdown/ burnout/ general pause this past week for many of us working on our pants. I believe Mary Nanna has crossed the finish line, and Cindy finished but wore the final pants and wants to make more modifications. Johanna Lu and Diana suggested feeling a bit of a pause. DD, Berry, and I have been silent on the topic for a couple of weeks, though I can confirm that I will make some pattern alterations based on your thorough feedback from my last post and should have another muslin for you to see. Hopefully that muslin will reflect the right amount and quality of effort, but if not, I will push to the finish line!

*******

The surprise: I'm working on a micro line of refashioned t-shirts with 302Designs!

Remember when I told you in February about the month I recently spent with an "anything goes" mentality? (To save you from clicking around to re-read the post, the quick summary is that I had a month off between Jan & Feb from my day job and just recorded every idea I had, and I tried to explore them all.) One of the first ideas I had during that month was to identify a company that could offer lots of raw materials for refashioning. 302Designs is an Austin company that produces screenprinted t-shirts, and I figured that they would have some overstock/ misprint/ deadstock/ mildly damaged/ otherwise unsellable shirts sitting around that they could offer a better life as a new garment. I'd met the owner, David Walker, about 18 months ago, and last month I just picked up the phone to explain that I had some ideas, and could he meet up? We scheduled some time to brainstorm, and I left the meeting a clothing designer. Say what?

Yes, it happened that fast. Even though my head is still processing this, I have forced my hands to start working on the clothes. I didn't have a specific intention in mind when I went into the meeting but the end result is that I'll be taking these 16 t-shirts, which had been sitting in a box on a shelf for a long time, from 302Designs, and I will refashion them into new garments in a micro sample line. Micro as in 6 pieces, sample as in "the only one available". David has local press contacts and will invite them to check out the goods when the line is complete.

After, "Whatchu talkin' 'bout, Willis?", and, "Me? Design clothes?", the big question for me was, "What could happen from there?" I've decided to start a company/ clothing label to see where this little project can go. I don't have any intention of leaving my day job as a corporate trainer and business consultant, and I am thrilled to have a chance to extend something I love creatively into a business, even if it is a one-woman operation (with lots of support and cheering from my friends and family). It's kind of like bringing the two things I love -- being a businessperson and sewing/ creating clothes -- into one venture. Really the most amazing opportunity!

It's important to me to set up a separate site for the company/ label, so that CleverGirl.org will continue to serve up the familiar dorkiness and angst, nearly unconditional love, lessons from sewing and life in general, the results of interesting sewing experiments, and the occasional tutorial and sew-along. :) I'll add links to the sidebar in case you're interested, but the basic blog and what I blog about won't change in an icky, uncomfortable way.

It's a good time to introduce you to Carmen:

Carmen is staying with us for a few weeks, thanks to my awesome friend and sewing guru, Shauna, to help out with the micro collection. It seemed like a better idea to sew this sample line for a body with a more average (read" BIGGER") bust size than Clementine's. I think Carmen has a 35" or 36" bust -- spicy name for a curvier gal. You can see Clementine sulking in the edge of the shot, but she'll get used to sharing the space. Plus I'll be keeping her busy, too.