Making the clothes you love last
Have you ever accidentally put a loved wool or cashmere sweater through the washer and dryer? Other than gifting it to your child because it’s so small, this shrunken garment might be destined for the compost bin unless you can find a way to upcycle it. For this very reason, I have designed a beautiful way to upcycle a sweater into a scarf. Here’s the tutorial
As summer has come to an end I wanted to share with you a few mending and alterations projects I did for clients over the past few months. People come to me with various issues and I thought it would be fun to share how it’s possible to transform a piece that is loved but whatever reason, is not wearable. Here are four before and after projects done over the course of the summer.
Continue reading “Latest Mending And Alterations Projects In The Studio”
I have this pair of jeans that I found in a thrift store which were perfect for my needs at the time: dark blue, skinny, and high waisted. It felt like the ultimate find in the often hit or miss world of thrifting. Fast forward a few years, these fabulous jeans have either shrunk dramatically, or my body has started growing.
Because they still have lots of life in them, I figured I had two options: pass them on, or make my jeans bigger by adding a strip of denim on each side. Since I’m still quite attached to them and always up for a mending challenge, here’s how I enlarged my jeans using the strip method.
A few years ago I found this very cute Ralph Lauren sweatshirt in a thrift shop. Although it was a bit small for me, I fell in love with the print and decided to buy it with the intention of upcycling it into an oversized piece. The business of life forced me to shelve the idea until this week when I took a bit of time in my studio to work on the design and transform it into a beautiful upcycled hoodie. I thought it would be fun to share with you the design process that went into this transformation.
I’ve been dreaming of owning an oversized sweater to throw over my bikini after a swim in the ocean. I love the easy going look and also how flattering it looks, regardless of your body type. Unfortunately, most of theses beautiful sweaters are always quite expensive as they require, among other things, much more material than the classic fitted top. As I love to up-cycle and re-purpose, I decided this dream could become a reality by refashioning 2 sweaters into one fabulous piece.
Since I’m into mending lace these days, I’ve been thinking about one of my very first mending projects where I used lace appliqués to fix a sweater that had holes at the collar. Here’s a little show and tell of the piece, which 10 years later is still has a special place in my wardrobe.
A few months ago, a client asked me to repair an old quilt that had been made by her paternal grandmother. As you can imagine, over the years it has lost a bit of its shine and became quite tattered. She asked if there was any way that I could repair the torn pieces and cover up the stains that had proven impossible to take out. Her intention, to gift it to her daughter for her birthday as a keepsake.
Continue reading “Repairing An Old Quilt With 3 Generations Of Clothes”