I am extra excited to share this project with you because THIS is my completed garment for the 2017 Restyling Exchange!!! Which means that this is actually not a project for me, its for my Restyle-ee Allie from IndieSew. She should have received it by now but I haven’t heard from her (probably just keeping it quiet till the reveal this weekend).. but I REALLY hope she loves it because I feel like I have all the heart eyes for this top and it was hard for me to give it back to her! Keep reading for the full evolution story and lots of pictures without my face in them.
THE ORIGINAL GARMENT:
If you missed all the original Restyling Exchange excitement let me break it down for you real quick. Essentially you send an old garment you no longer wear to your assigned restyler, they send it back to you completely refashioned and new! I REALLY lucked out when I opened up my package from Allie to see a beautiful linen shirt dress to work with. Allie found the dress at a second hand shop and fell in love with the fabric, but not so much the shape. I don’t really blame her. The dress was super oversized and as elegant as the stripes are it looked kind of like a hospital gown.. very frumpy. Can you guys believe that as a host of the Restyling Exchange I FORGOT TO TAKE A DANG BEFORE PICTURE!!!! Ugh, seriously pulling my hair out over that (still). In that case one of my mediocre flat sketches will have to suffice.
THE TRANSFORMATION:
One of the cool things Pilar and I decided to do for the Exchange was to include a little worksheet so Restylers could get a good idea of what kind of the fashion sense of the person they are restyling for, what shapes & brands they like, and any trends/styles they hate. I learned that Allie really likes classic, minimalist styles and brands like Madewell, Everlane, Lauren Winter, and Esby Apparel (all amazing brands!) She also let me know that she doesn’t love ruffles or flounces (thank goodness she told me that cuz y’all know how I like to stick peplums on things.) Upon seeing the fabric and that she liked Madewell.. I immediately thought the Collins Top would be perfect. This pattern is the newest release by In the Folds, which is probably why it was top of mind. What also made me think the Collins top would be great for this fabric was that the sample Collins Tops that Emily made for the pattern release show some amazing directional stripe play that I couldn’t wait to experiment with. Plus I knew with limited fabric, changing the stripes around would eliminate the need to match up too many seams.
I have to say that sewing for someone else (especially someone like Allie… whom I’d call a sew-lebrity) is a little nerve-racking. I tried extra hard to make sure everything looked nice and neat on the inside and out. The pattern calls for a all-in-one facing to finish the neckline and armholes. I didn’t have enough of the stripe to do the facing so I used some white linen from my stash. I also decided to clean finish the facing and hem with the same navy hem tape so the insides look all pretty. I kind of invented this finishing technique at the hem on the fly because I didn’t have any navy bias tape on hand which is what I would have rather used. But this challenge is all about using what is available to you to make something new… so I got a little crafty with some hem tape I had.
The button at the back neck is also from my stash. I just love the way this little key hole looks all clean finished with the matching stripes and everything.
Over all I am pretty happy with my work and the way this top turned out. I have my fingers triple crossed that Allie is as pleased with it as I am. Now I just need to go find myself some striped linen so I can make one for me! This challenge has been so much fun and I love seeing everyone’s excitement working on their restyles and receiving their new garments. If you missed the sign up, Pilar and I can’t wait to continue the fun next year.
Keep an eye out on instagram all weekend to see how everyones Restyles turned out. Follow our hashtags #RestylingExchange2017 and #RestylingatHome2017 for those who tackled a restyling project on their own.
Happy Restyling!
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