Adapted sweatshirt

This was another of those pre-loved sweatshirts that I was given. The quality is good, but the style was just not me - another long, baggy, hooded top that would not have been out of place at a sailing club. Sad to say the likelihood of me going sailing is extremely slim, so it seemed more useful to adapt it to something more suited to my lifestyle.

Off came the hood, and the neckline was trimmed down to create a boat-neck (apologies for seeming to be a stuck on the nautical theme!).

Off came the elasticated waistband and cuffs.

Off came the pouch pocket.

Off came approximately five inches of the length.

Some of the removed length was used to create a new dropped collar. The pocket was cut into two, and re-positioned to give side patch-pockets. And the bottom and cuffs were given a simple turned hem.

The new shape and style

And so to the decorations! I had an old t-shirt made of fine netting fabric with a rose pattern. It was another garment that had seen better days, and that I no longer wore. Out with the scissors! I spent a very happy afternoon cutting out all the individual flowers and leaves.

Some of the flowers were incomplete, and had an almost straight line down one side. Rather than throw these away, I decided to utilise the flat edges of the re-positioned pockets. With careful placing, the flowers looked as if they were peeping out from behind the seams. I also had one of them positioned at a pocket opening, with similar effect. By happy chance, placing the flowers in this way also covered any slight mis-alignment of the stripes on the pockets and the main body. I had positioned the pieces carefully when I pinned them, but the fabric shifted very slightly during stitching. This is probably one of those moments when a walking foot on my sewing machine would have been helpful!

I kept the decorations on the pockets themselves to a minimum - opting to embroider only leaves rather than whole flowers. These were stitched before the pockets were attached to main body, and I used thread in a slightly lighter tone of green to give some definition. I like the detail it creates.

All of the flowers were stitched using the freehand embroidery foot on my sewing machine. I used the faint detailing on the flowers and leaves as a rough guide, and went over each stitched line twice. This gives some shape to the roses, as well as a slightly shabby-chic feel to the whole piece.
I think freehand machine embroidery is rapidly becoming my new crafting addiction! Apart from liking the finished results, I really enjoy the process. There is something extremely satisfying about putting my foot down on the sewing-machine pedal whilst steering the fabric in every which way. It's like having control and complete chaos at the same time, and the finished result has potential, but little predictability. As the late, great Spike Milligan said, "We don't have a plan, so nothing can possibly go wrong!"

H x

Freehand machine embroidery

A good friend gave me a couple of tops that she no longer wears. They were good tops, but not quite my usual taste, and a little too defined in their commercial style. However, she knows me well (I've made some items for her in the past), and she's very generous. When I asked whether she would mind if I altered or adapted them, she replied that that would be no problem at all.

Hurrah! Out came the scissors and sewing machine. Also, out came the free-motion embroidery foot for the sewing machine. I've had it for a while, but not quite been brave enough to start playing with any conviction. This seemed like the ideal opportunity, as I had neither sentimental attachment to the clothes, nor a fear of wasting good fabric. If things went wrong, I wasn't going to feel too bad about it.

Firstly, off came the hood! I'm not averse to being a "hoodie", but I think I'm getting a bit too old for the look. The top had a fairly low neckline, so I cut off the hood and replaced it with a contrasting border.

 There was also a rather nifty overlap detail where the hood joined. This allowed me to make a feature of the transition between the original neckline and the added border.

Incidentally, all the red fabric pieces used in this project are cut from one of hubby's old work-sweatshirts. I used the reverse side so that the colour was fresh, and actually this added an interesting texture to the pieces too.

Next, I cut a selection of organic shapes suggestive of leaves, flowers and circles. I arranged them in a satisfying pattern on the front of the top, before setting to work with the free motion embroidery foot.


I made a couple of valuable discoveries as I worked.
 Firstly, and probably most important, I discovered that the texture of the reversed sweatshirt fabric didn't swallow  the machine embroidery detail as I had feared it might. Instead, as I mentioned above, it gave an interesting texture.

 Secondly, I discovered that by simply trying to embroider in a spiral radiating from the centre of a circle, and then following that same line in again, I was able to produce an effect not dissimilar to a Charles Rennie Mackintosh rose. This gave me a huge sense of satisfaction. I love the Art Deco style, and I also love it when a simple technique produces beautiful results.

In fact, by using some really basic and naive shapes in the embroidery, I was able to produce some satisfying effects. For example, just defining the petals and centre of this flower shape in black thread created a hint of naive folk art in the style. This can be heightened by stitching twice (or more) over the pattern.
Combined with the unfinished edges of the shapes, this gives the whole piece a feel of deliberate shabby-chic.

I had to be careful not to get carried away with my ideas, so restrained myself when it came to embroidering the leaf shapes. For these I simply followed the outline of the shapes.

I then added the red embroidered swirls onto the black background to tie the whole aesthetic together. I used a tailors chalk to pre-mark the lines, and then embroidered over them with the same double line I had used when embroidering the shapes. 

Finally, I added the circle and swirls to the back of the piece, to give some continuity throughout. 

I wore the top when I next met up with my friend. "Recognise this?" I asked, and after squinting hard at me for a couple of seconds she shrieked, "Oh my God, yes! Wow! That looks great!"

I already quite liked the piece, but it meant a lot to get her seal of approval as well.

H.x