The Refashion Handbook: Refit, Redesign, Remake for Every Body

By Beth Huntington

Take secondhand finds from frumpy to fabulous with this guide by the Renegade Seamstress featuring resizing techniques and 19 refashioning projects.

With her award-winning blog, The Renegade Seamstress, Beth Huntington combines two of her favorite activities—thrifting and sewing—into the art of refashioning. In The Refashion Handbook, she shares 19 stylish projects, each showing you how to transform easy-to-find items into a better fit, a new design, or a radical makeover.

Learn the basics of refashioning: how to measure, reshape, fit, and finish a garment, so it fits you perfectly. Plus size? Petite? No problem! Beth's designs flatter a wide variety of sizes and body types. Her easy techniques are perfect for beginners and even experienced sewists will appreciated her clever tips and tricks.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Sep 1, 2014
• ISBN: 9781607059240

Book preview

Redefine Fashion, ONE ReFASHION AT A TIME

In the past few years, there’s been an exciting resurgence in the sewing world. It could be because of Pinterest. It could be because of the countless online sewing communities bringing these creative people together. It could be the popularity of Project Runway. It could be a new awareness of the cost of fast fashion. Or it could be because we’ve all had to tighten our belts (so to speak) in the last few years. Whatever the reason, it’s fun to see young men and women taking on this creative new hobby and fun to see people who haven’t sewn for years dust off their sewing machines and take up a needle and thread again.

Refashioning isn’t a new thing. It’s actually been around for a long time. During World War II, when clothes rationing was introduced in Great Britain, there was a movement called Make Do and Mend. The Ministry of Information published a pamphlet outlining the ways to make your clothes last longer. For many people around the world with limited shopping opportunities, refashioning has always been a way of life. If you’re concerned about your impact on the environment, refashioning instead of buying new can reduce your carbon footprint considerably.

Reconstructing clothing can also be a very economical way to build a wardrobe for work and play. Sometimes all it takes is a quick trip to the thrift store to find something inexpensive to refit, redesign, or remake. You could even reconstruct some outdated items from your own closet, which costs nothing! Jackpot! I know I’m fortunate to have my local thrift shop. Most days, all items of clothing are a dollar. On Wednesdays, adult clothing is only 50 cents. There never seems to be a shortage of clothes with possibilities. But even if you don’t live close to a thrift shop as good as mine, there are still crazy good deals to be had on tired-out clothing items that just need someone with some vision to come and rescue them.

I started to refashion so I could have clothes that fit me perfectly. I was tired of standing in a mall dressing room, looking in the mirror and thinking there was something terribly wrong with my body just because the clothes didn’t fit. I was tired of spending my hard-earned money on clothes that would never fit properly. I was tired of promising myself I’d do more sit-ups and eat more salads, just so I would fit into clothes that obviously weren’t made for my body. When I learned to refashion used clothing, not only did it cut down considerably on my clothing budget, but I ended up with clothes that actually fit my body perfectly, and I had fun making them in the process.

Another great reason to refashion is that quite often a pattern isn’t necessary. Commercial patterns can be expensive, and when you combine that outlay with the cost of fabric, zippers, buttons, and thread, making clothes from scratch can become more expensive than buying them. In addition to being pricey, commercial patterns still need to be altered to fit your body. If you’re not well versed in the fitting aspect of patterns, all of your hard work and money might be wasted on an ill-fitting final garment.

Another beauty of refashioning is the idea that half the work is done for you already. I quite often use the existing zippers, buttons and buttonholes, collars, sleeves, and hems. This cuts down on loads of work and can be a money saver, too.

Whatever your reason for refashioning—being kind to the earth, saving money, getting the perfect fit, or not using a pattern—to me, the best reason to refashion is the fun you’ll have doing it. Redefining your fashion is a great way to make your wardrobe your very own. Each piece you reconstruct will be your own design. No need to be concerned about someone else wearing the same outfit when you’ve created it yourself.

YOU MIGHT JUST Surprise Yourself

If you walk into my kindergarten classroom on any given day, you will most likely hear a sweet little five-year-old voice happily proclaiming, Hey, Mrs. Huntington, I just surprised myself!

This one declaration alone makes all my hard work as a teacher worth the effort. I love the look of pure joy on the children’s faces when they accomplish what they set out to do. I love seeing them develop confidence by trying new things. I love watching them develop the skills they need to become successful. When the going gets tough and they think they can’t do it, I reassure them by reminding them that if they just try, they might just surprise themselves.

This is exactly what I want to tell you, too. It is my hope that this book will give you the tools to be confident and successful in your refashioning adventures and will inspire you to try your hand at redefining your fashion. I just know if you jump in and give it a try, you will surprise yourself. If you’ve wanted to do this but didn’t know where to start, then this is the book for you.

Many people tell me they think you need to be an excellent seamstress before you can start to refashion. Actually, nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, you need a few basic tools and skills. But that’s what I’m here for. Sure, you need to be able to solve some problems once in a while and make it up as you go along. But really, that’s half of the fun, don’t you think? Sure, you need to be able to look at an old garment and see the new life within it, but that just takes practice. The feeling of creative license, of taking what you know about something and running with it, is so exhilarating. To jump in with both feet and try something new is so rewarding.

Sometimes people tell me they are afraid to make a mistake. You know what I say to that? Mistakes, smishtakes. Who cares! If it doesn’t turn out, it’s OK; just set it aside and try something else. With every