Fabric Mart Fabricista Fashion Challenge

 

Fabric Mart is having their yearly Fabricista Fashion challenge and I am so excited to be a contestant!! Our first challenge was to take a handmade garment that was a failed project and remake it into a newer better garment.  I decided to remake the peasant blouse above that I dubbed the Jerry Seinfeld "I don't wanna be a pirate!" blouse.

Below are the details of my submission but most importantly I need you to vote for my make-please!!- (that is if its your favorite!) over at the Fabric Mart Blog.  I would really appreciate it since there is some tough competition and I'd love to go further in the challenge!! 

 

This pirate shirt was a definite fail for me and has remained balled up in my closet for about one year.  The combination of terrible proportions, blah color, lack of embellishments really repulsed me and I never wore it.  When considering this project I thought this top would be a perfect blank canvas for an embellished peasant top.  Three things really elevated this garment from drab to fab- a dye bath, changes in proportions and embellishments.  

Dye Bath:

The first thing that had to change was the color.  I used a navy liquid RIT dye bath with one cup of salt added to it and dyed the top, lace and length of cotton swiss dot that would become the sleeve tabs.  I find the liquid RIT dyes cloth much more evenly than the powder.  The laces, swiss dot, and shirt all came out of the bath in varying shades of navy and I love the bit of contrast between all of them.  This color is so much easier to wear than the original off-white that just ended up washing my face out- not to mention making me look like someone from The Little House on the Prairie. 

 

Proportions:      

I picked apart the garment's unflattering proportions, shortening the front and back hem and creating a split hi-low hem.  I also thought that the length of the original sleeves hit an awkward place on my arms so I picked out all the elastic threads and rolled them up holding them with a functional sleeve tabs.  The sleeve tabs were interfaced with tricot and the buttons are shell buttons from my stash.  The new sleeve length now hits the narrowest part of my torso.  These two changes really helped bring the garment up- instantly evening out the proportions.

 

Embellishments:

I altered the neckline to add interest, I found the original neckline completely boring, so I notched out the center front finishing it with bias tape.  I added the lace and tassels after the dye bath, stitching the lace down with two rows of stitching to make sure everything stayed securely in place.  The tassels were made from embroidery floss found in my stash.  I glanced over a tutorial on tassels found on Pinterest but mostly winged it since I've made tassels in the past.  I also applied lace to the hemline to add interest in that area as well.    

Before remaking the top the design completely overwhelmed my frame.  I love the new proportions, color and embellishments on this top, I have already worn it out and received compliments.  Hooray!  I don't have to be a pirate any more!!