Still feeling inspired by the Great British Sewing Bee, this time the alteration challenge to create something from a pair of curtains. I’ve done a fair amount of fabric recycling in the past, from curtains, duvet covers, and end-of-roll fabrics. The tunic dress above was made from a gorgeous brand new vintage bed sheet, and I was able to use the border print along the hem.
I was suddenly inspired to make a little cropped layering top, that I could fit onto just a pillowcase-sized piece of fabric, so I opened up my pattern drafting software and came up with this. Sadly it doesn’t fit onto a pillowcase, because I hadn’t taken into account the actual size of a pillowcase when I was working on the design. Oops. It does however fit onto a single metre of fabric, so it’s a very economical little top.
This prototype version is cut on the bias and has a seam down the centre front and back. The only reason for that is because the pieces were cut from the skirt of a dress that I made years ago, and never wore, so it’s still fabric recycling in that sense. It would definitely look better without the seam, and in this type of fabric I don’t think having it on the bias really makes all that much difference.
I’d originally envisaged wearing this with trousers and a long-sleeved t-shirt, or maybe over a camisole top in the summer. When I had a rummage in my wardrobe though, I spotted this empire-line dress and thought they’d go really well together!
The top is designed to be reversible, with the v-neck at the front if you have a pretty necklace to show off, or at the back if you have, say, a lovely tattoo, or perhaps you just prefer the higher neckline. This one is finished with some vintage nylon lingerie trim, but I can also imagine it with very fine organic cotton lace. In fact it would look lovely with some deeper lace around the hem as well.
In fact, way back in May, I bought a little pile of organic cotton fabrics, most of which are about a metre in size. The bicycle print and the matching spots have been turned into a tunic for a friend, but all the others are still sitting in my stash. I think I might have just discovered what to do with them!