Mary's Thrifty Chic

Upcycling thrift shop clothing/sewing

Jackets

Sweatshirt+Denim Jacket

By 20 Comments

Hello Thrifty Refashion Friends!

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Happy New Year and welcome to my first post of 2019! I hope you all had a wonderful holiday season with friends and family.

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For some time now I have been wanting to combine a white denim jean jacket and a heather grey sweatshirt, but the correct jean jacket was always out of reach. I had been holding on to a gray hood and sleeves from a jacket that formerly belonged to my son, but that ever elusive white jean jacket was hiding from me. As you will see, I finally found it and happily, I love the finished project.

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This was the first trial run of the finished project. I can wear this jacket with blue, gray and black jeans and I can even imagine it over casual t-shirt dresses as well.

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TUTORIAL

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On the left is the jacket before. It was an extra large but I was sure I could alter it to make it fit. On the right you can see I immediately took off the sleeves and released the side seams to alter. The bottom band was tricky because I had to partially release it and sew it back on in order to avoid raw seams inside the band. (Sorry it is not pictured, as I got carried away and forgot to take a photo. I eventually took off the standing collar as well.)

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The gray sleeves had to be narrowed and the hood had lost the rivets and needed a clever fix. Whatever I did, I had to make it look like it was all meant to be that way.

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The answer was some leftover rib from the original jacket. I also added some plastic toggles to give weight and detail to the drawstring. What you see here is the rib pinned and basted in place before the machine sewing.

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After sewing the hood on the neckline, I finished the inside with some camo ribbon to cover up the raw seam. It was difficult to stitch evenly on both sides but I basted it in place first and stitched carefully. The left shows the inside finish and the right is the outside finish before the machine sewing.

Both sides are finished here and ready to roll.

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Well there you have it. What do you think?

Can’t wait to hear what you think. I love to hear your comments.

‘Til next time…

Happy Refashioning!!!

Mary

Jean Jacket Re-do!

By 35 Comments

Hi Everyone!

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My 21 year old son came to me last week and said, “Mom, I have an idea to refashion my favorite t-shirt on the back of a jean jacket.” He has been on winter break from college and just like that, he caught the refashion bug! He has been watching me do it for years and wanted to save that t-shirt. As you will see, he even asked me if he could try sewing it! I think it turned out really great and we had fun making it together.

Here is my handsome kid wearing the before. We tried to find a jean jacket in the thrift stores but they are quite hard to come by. He purchased this jacket at Target for $50 and the quality was excellent.

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Before-Front

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Before-Back

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T-shirt Before

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This t-shirt had been well worn and loved. It was getting kind of “beat up” but the screen print was still in great shape. It was worn into a vintage feel that was perfect to go with the washed denim jacket.

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Here is his first try at the sewing machine. We had to cut down the edges of the screen print a bit on the top and bottom to fit on the back of the jacket. He is sewing the black knit fabric around the edges to create a frame for the picture. It was quite hard to pin the shirt on the back without distorting the picture or the jacket but we finally wrestled it into submission and I carefully stitched it onto the back of the jacket with the sewing machine.

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Here is a close look at the new version. He loves it, his friends love it and he looks fashionably cool if I must say so…but I am partial:)

He informed me yesterday that he has “A new idea.”…It seems I have may have a new creative director for my men’s refashions! Stay tuned…

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As always, I would love to hear what you think.

Love ya,

Mary AKA Thriftychic

Refashioned Again!

By 21 Comments

Hi Everyone!

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Many many years ago when I started this little blog I was just getting the feel of how I wanted to represent myself and my hobby. Does anyone remember this early number?

Take off the collar from here.
Add it here!

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Here was the end result.  Quite tame, but it worked for a while.  I got quite a bit of use out of it this way, but it still felt like a bit of a snooze fest….  Luckily,  I never threw away the scraps from the original jacket because a few weeks ago inspiration came after I discovered the embroidery feature of my sewing machine.  This jacket could be a work of art!!!  Here is what I did:

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First I added machine embroidery down each side of the placket and along the bottom band edges.  I used the heavy denim thread that I normally sew to the hem my jeans.

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Then I added another panel to the back and topstitched alongside it as well.  The entire piece now looks so much more complete and expensive.  So many people ask me about it when I wear it around town. ( No one ever said anything about the first version.)  Now I have a piece that completely shows my “Design Esthetic.”  As they say on Fashion Runway.

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Here is the new front and back on yours truly.  This piece has new life.  I have already had the jacket for 20 + years. Here’s to 20 more!

As always your comments are appreciated and welcomed.  I hope you are easing into the fall weather.  Until next time…

Happy Refashioning

Love ya!

Mary (aka Thrifty Chic) 🙂

Denim Jacket Refashion

By 37 Comments

Hi Everyone!

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I know it has has been a while, but I have a new offering for you!
Meet the beautiful denim jacket that I can no longer close. 🙁 I bought it when I was very, very, skinny and have been waiting for the chance to make it work again…without a diet!!

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Front-Before

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Back-Before

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Nothing made any sense to me until I met this little beauty…a great jacquard denim jacket in perfect condition!

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After the Remake

The front is exactly the same. I gave myself extra room by adding panels to the back.

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TUTORIAL:

  I really made a mistake right from the beginning. I was so excited to get this going that I got cut happy.  As you can see in the picture, I did not leave any seam allowance on the armhole and across the back.  I totally had to rethink my strategy and piece together a back.  Despite the ooopsie, I think it turned out better than the original one piece back I had planned in the beginning.

First, I made a small yoke on the upper back. I did not seam this area to eliminate bulk and have better control of the piece. I merely turned and edge stitched the yoke to what was left of the old back.

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Here you can see the rest of my strategy from the inside. I pieced and seamed together the new back using both the front and back of the fabric as contrast. I think it gave the look a lot more shape and style.

Finally, I put in some lining after all of the trimming and sewing. I hand stitched the lining in for more control of the fabric. It would have been too tough to machine stitch. Now I will be able to send it to the dry-cleaner and the lining covers all of the inside seaming giving it a much more finished look.

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Well there you have it, another save. I would love to know what you think

Talk to me…

Love Ya!

Mary

No Sew Refashion

By 8 Comments

Hi Everyone,

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I am taking it a little easy on the sewing this week as parent conferences are just around the corner and I am swamped! I promise you though, there are great things in store. I just wanted to give you a quick look at one of my latest thrift shop finds.

2013-10-10 07.55.01

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This jacket was from Goodwill for $5.99. The only alteration required was to cut off the silly toggle buttons and tabs from the cuff. Other than that, it fit perfectly.

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2013-10-28 18.14.18

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My jeans are by “Elle” which is a Kohls brand. They were thrifted at a mere $3.99 and were brand new when I found them. In hindsight, I should have worn my skinny jeans with these shoes, but since I didn’t want to wait another day to post I went with it.

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Speaking of my shoes…take a look at them.

2013-10-28 18.17.21

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They are about 7 years old by now, a long ago purchase from Target for approximately $25 if I recall. I have worn them every fall since their purchase, love them, and the tapestry fabric and gold trim are still in perfect shape! They have already had the soles beefed up at the toe, and the bottom of the heal replaced, but they appear ready to last a few more years. They are a classic style so I am sure I will get a few more years from them.

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Love Ya,

Mary