Sewing Trends Colette Sorbetto

What happens when a simple yet stylish free downloadable sewing pattern becomes available on the internet? It becomes a home sewing trend. The free Colette Sorbetto downloadable pattern has caused a ripple in the sewing community.

My last blog post featured a wonderful re-purposed vintage table cloth top, Kestral Finds and makes made this using the Colette Sorbetto pattern. At time of writing, type 'Colette Sorbetto' into the search box of flickr, and you get 103 results. That is, 103 images of home sewing produced tops made from the Colette Sorbetto pattern. Here are four selected from flickr's search results.

*click on image for clearer picture*

1. Black Sorbetto by Lizz at A Good Wardrobel
2. Ikea Fabric White Sorbetto by HandMadeJane
3. Tabatha's Sorbetto
4. Plaid Sorbetto by Hippopotamuslee

In addition to the free Colette Sorbetto downloadable pattern, the Colette Patterns shop sells a whole bunch of patterns available for purchase.

"Founded in 2008, by designer Sarai Mitnick, Colette Patterns was born out of a love of both sewing and the independent spirits of creative women everywhere. Our patterns are designed for the crafty lady who loves design details, is inspired by vintage style, and wants clothing that’s made just for her. Like our grandmothers who spent their evenings constructing their beautiful clothes, these sewing patterns are our canvases for everyday creativity."

Right now, I am using this thrifted tropical bird fabric, to make my own Sorbetto top, which should be complete by the weekend.

Furnishing Fashion

We all love a bit of bed linen fashion don't we? You know the type; thrifted vintage bed sheets, turned into dresses and skirts, or pillowcases fashioned into little girls dresses?

For something a little different, native New Yorker Peter of Male Pattern Boldness re-purposed vintage sheets into shirts, and shirt sleeve cuffs

Lets not forget those lovely floral prints found on upholstery fabric. I've been experimenting with upholstery fabric fashion myself, but this flowery military jacket is outstanding.

As seen on BurdaStyle, made by Ulrika from Stockholm, Sweden, her jacket is made from 100% cotton furnishing fabric from Tygverket.

And lastly, this wonderful interpretation of the Colette Sorbetto top, created by Kestral Finds and makes, made from a vintage table cloth with scenes of Plymouth (England).

Seriously, who needs to buy brand new material these days? Go raid your Grandma's bed linen cupboard, ask your local furnishing shop if they have any off cuts, or search through the tea towel collection of your thrift store for pretty printed fabric to play with!

Is thrift fashion a threat to the high street?

One can't help but think, is DIY and thrift fashion, falling under the term slow fashion, really posing a threat to retail? Could this be the start of the end for high street fashion, or merely a short term trend?

Image c/o Blast In Sky

A quote from a post on Earth Diva's blog "What is Slow Fashion"

"Slow fashion isn’t just a trend that’s resulted from the green movement. Slow fashion is also a mentality. Retailers and designers who embrace slow fashion are doing just that: they’re slowing the pace of fashion, and its negative effects on people and the environment. Slow fashion is also built to last. It uses high quality materials that won’t break down after a season or two. So, customers can keep using it and wearing it for years. It’s fashion built to last."

Wikipedia:

The term “Slow Fashion” was coined by Kate Fletcher in 2007 (Centre for Sustainable Fashion, UK). "Slow fashion is not a seasonal trend that comes and goes like animal print, but a sustainable fashion movement that is gaining momentum."

Take the pledge

c/o SlowFashioned.org

Many individuals are learning to sew, creating their own clothes and accessories, alternatively buying other people's workmanship online, or buying second hand fashion, but how many of us are really shunning away from the high street?

It is apparent there is a movement of worldwide DIY fashionista's. We only need to look at sites such as BurdaStyle, Outapop, DIYFashion, SewRetro, and my second home - Refashion Co-op, not to mention online marketplaces where we can buy handmade fashion garments.

Anything vintage is popular right now, which these days can be categorised into any fashion dating back from the 1990s. A better term would perhaps be second-hand fashion, but who are we to argue when so many individuals are choosing thrift over new?

Are we are seeing a rise against fast fashion? Cheap clothes we now understand utilise essential resources, which are both damaging to the environment, and often made in ethically immoral work (sweatshop) practices.

But are consumers really changing their habits? Will we see our next generation continuing to buy new garments to keep on top of the impossibly fast paced fashion world in which we currently live, or will hand-made and thrift garments be the norm for our children?

What are your thoughts readers?

Layered Sleeves and Recycled Fashion Finds # 3

Grandma's floral prints may be fashionable, but this jumper (sweater) is quite clearly not flattering. Reduced to the 50c rack in a parish op shop last summer, I put this ol' thing away in my refashion pile reader for cooler months.

First, a re-size using an existing jumper as a template.

To create a gathered 'puff' shoulder, I snipping off the sleeves, and pinned 4 small pinches of fabric at the shoulder seam.



Did you spot the last image above? Yes, went a bit crazy, and started cutting up the sleeve. You see, once I stitched my gathered 'puff' sleeves back on, I still found the jumper to be a bit boring. I had an idea to create a layered sleeve but cutting large strips, over-locking raw edges, and stitching each strip back together underneath one another.

And there you have it..


Lets take a look a closer look at those sleeves..




A word on those 'black' trousers too. A refresh from my wardrobe, originally purchased in Salvos for $8, but looking a little tired. They went in with my RIT dye wash a few weeks ago.


The result has left them with a very slight red tinge, which is sort of what I intended, although I would have preferred a more noticeable change. RIT dye has left them less tired, and I have been wearing them more than I did previously, which is a good thing!


And you dear readers? What did you find or create? Would you like to share:

• A second-hand fashion garment you found at a market, thrift store, op shop, charity shop, car boot sale, fete, or garage sale.
• A fabulous recycled fashion find you scored online.
  
• A refashion project
• A hand-me-down
  
• A garment you've made yourself
  
• It could be a link to a clothing item you are selling on your online store
  
• A sewing pattern, or fabric you've found which you intend to make into a fashion garment
• Your clothing item need not be vintage, although we do love a good vintage find of course.

*You can share your finds and creations on the link up below.*

If you are participating in Recycled Fashion's link up, and have a blog, be sure to grab a badge and pop it either on your blog post or on your side bar. Thank you!

<a href="http://www.recycled-fashion.com/search/label/recycled%20fashion%20finds"><img src="http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii133/newmelbournemum/RecycledFashiongadget-1.jpg"/></a>

Link up arranged through InLinkz

Op Shop Tour Recap

The first mid-week (or rather end-of-week) Bayside Brighton Op Shop tour took place on Friday 10th June. Ten of us, including myself as tour guide, hit seven op shops over the course of the day, in Sandringham, Brighton and Hampton.

Our group of op-shoppers, some from as far as Freemantle WA, Ballarat, Gippsland and Mornington, found some fabulous treasures, going home with 16+ vintage sewing patterns, a designer dress (Stella McCartney no less), a Glomesh bag, fabric, a wool duffel coat, a painting, an array of clothes, books, shoes, a vintage jacket, and more.

Snaps from the day:

Outside our first op shop; All Souls Opportunity Shop Sandringham

Lunch stop

Storehouse opportunity shop in Hampton

The next Bayside Brighton Op Shop Tour, of which I will be guiding will be Saturday 20th August. Maybe I'll see you there?

Lemons

Op shop finds. Lemons @ 10c each. Don't go to the supermarket to buy your lemons, head to your nearest opportunity shop!




Yummy recipes for lemons; lemon cookie thins, lemon ricotta muffins, garlic chickpeas with feta and lemon, lemon-garlic kale pasta.

But wait, Recycled Fashion is not a food blog? No, it is a fashion blog, so where is the connection here?

Eco-Chic Home by Emily Anderson, is a book which embraces eco projects and ideas for the house. Here is a snippet, with an excellent tip to utilise lemons in your laundry wash:

Eco-bit: Natural Brightening. "After a few washes, clothes can become a little dingy. This is because soap builds up and gets trapped in the fabric. Bleach is one solution for lighter colors, but bleach is a highly toxic substance that can take centuries to decompose. There are better eco-options available when it comes to buying bleach, but the best thing to do is to avoid using it at all. As an alternative, try letting the sun do the whitening for you. Add one-half cup of lemon juice to your wash and hang it up to dry outside. When mixed with the heat of the sun, the lemon juice acts as a natural bleach"

Image c/o we heart it

I am curious to know, are lemons only found in Australian op shops? Do thrift stores in the USA, charity shops in the UK, or thrift shops in Singapore sell lemons? Tell me if your thrift shops sells lemons!

Recycled Fashion Finds Link Up Number 2

Recycled Fashion Finds Link up #2 is now live (below) Have you thrifted or created a recycled fashion garment this week? Here is a link to last week's Recycled Fashion Finds.

I'll start off with my fashion thrifts and creations. Firstly, as per my previous post; my dyed refashioned skirt. Additionally, some thrifted children's clothing. Whilst I am half way through my Free Fashion Challenge, I am not extended this challenge to my son, and found him some lovely winter clothes.




A Country Road shirt (still with tags) and trousers, $1.50 each, from a local parish op shop. Two two pairs of children's shoes purchased from Salvos in Hampton on my last Bayside Brighton op shop tour last Friday (I will be blogging about the tour next week)

My finds also shared with Her Library adventures Flea Market Finds

And you dear readers? What did you find or create? Would you like to share:

• A second-hand fashion garment you found at a market, thrift store, op shop, charity shop, car boot sale, fete, or garage sale.
• A fabulous recycled fashion find you scored online.
  
• A refashion project
• A hand-me-down
  
• A garment you've made yourself
  
• It could be a link to a clothing item you are selling on your online store
  
• A sewing pattern, or fabric you've found which you intend to make into a fashion garment
• Your clothing item need not be vintage, although we do love a good vintage find of course.

If you are participating in Recycled Fashion's link up, and have a blog, be sure to grab a badge and pop it either on your blog post or on your side bar. Thank you!

<a href="http://www.recycled-fashion.com/search/label/recycled%20fashion%20finds"><img src="http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii133/newmelbournemum/RecycledFashiongadget-1.jpg"/></a>

Link up arranged through InLinkz

Dyed dollar skirt gone pink

Originally a white garment (no label, probably handmade), with an interesting fabric print, but nondescript length, I found this skirt for a dollar in a local church op shop during the Australian summer. It has been sitting in my refashion to-do pile ever since.

As a last minute decision, I thew it into my Ritt Scarlett dye wash last week. Whilst Ritt Scarlett turned my beige shirt coral, my skirt came out pink.


In addition to its dye transformation, I chopped it off at the knee. Now what to do with that leftover remaining fabric strip?


It was used to cut two deep pocket shapes for the front of my skirt.

*click on image for clearer picture*

I stitched a small piece of thin elastic inside the top of each pocket. A gathered pocket is more interesting than a flat one I thought?

*click on image for clearer picture*

It is winter right now, and cold, so I wear my skirt with red tights, and my Ann Taylor Loft thrifted peach heels.

Dying this skirt has really emphasised it's interesting fabric print.

DIY Summer Sandals

Refashioning, and creating clothing garments can be fairly straight forward, but when it comes to making or fixing up a pair of shoes, this can be tricky, and often left to the experts.

Then along came a brilliant idea via Kathrin of Annekata.blogspot, creating her own DIY summer sandal tutorial, made from recycled flip flops and jersey t-shirt fabric:



A full list of materials used:

Materials:
- flip flops (preferably used)
- scissors
- piece of chalk or marker
- craft knife
- heavy duty waterproof glue
- recycled t-shirts
- screw driver
- flat butter knife or thin plastic ruler to stuff fabric into the soles. (Not shown)
- clamps (or heavy books)

Before (left) & After (right)

Kathrin shares her DIY sandal project via an easy to follow tutorial found here.


Kathrin's idea has already encouraged others to try out this crafty recycled shoe, with another 'gladiator' variation found here c/o pounce!:



Pretty nifty eh? How wonderful to see such a practical, comfortable, and relatively straight forward project to reuse two garments that are in abundance; t-shirts and rubber flip-flops. So many used flip-flops (aka thongs or jandals) and t-shirts can be found on the thrift. I can't wait to experiment with some of my own next summer.

By the way, thanks to everyone participating in our first Recycled Fashion Finds link up, I love seeing what you've all thrifted, refashioned and created. The link remains open until the end of the week if you would like to participate, with Recycled Fashion Finds #2 to follow!

Recycled Fashion Finds Link Ups

I think its high time we organised a fortnightly link up on Recycled Fashion, don't you?

What is a 'link up'?

A 'link up' otherwise known as a 'linky party' or 'blog hop' is an online blog sharing/linking facility, whereby readers share a link with a host website/blog. Their link will often show a little thumbnail (small image) of the item the contributor is referring to. When other readers click on individual thumbnails within the link up, they are directed through to the contributor's blog post, enabling the reader to view the contributor's complete post about the item/s. Here are some other great link up's that I participate in myself:

Upcycled Awesome by T-shirt Diaries
Flea Market Finds by Her Library Adventures
Thrifty Thursday Blog Hop by Saved By Loved Creations
20 Minute Tuesday by Sweet Floweret

I will be organising a regular link up every second Friday, inviting you, readers, to participate by linking back to your own recycled fashion finds and creations.

I shall start off this Friday's link up with one of my own fashion finds; my red wool duffle coat by Bauhaus that I scored from Salvos last year for $30. Now in it's second year of my possession, the red duffle coat has been out and about on a fair few occasions already this winter.


What have you found / created recently? Your link could be:

• A second-hand fashion garment you found at a market, thrift store, op shop, charity shop, car boot sale, fete, or garage sale.
• A fabulous recycled fashion find you scored online.
• A refashion project
• A hand-me-down
• A garment you've made yourself
• It could be a link to a clothing item you are selling on your online store
• A sewing pattern, or fabric you've found which you intend to make into a fashion garment
• Your clothing item need not be vintage, although we do love a good vintage find of course.

* By linking up, you give me permission to feature your project on Recycled Fashion *

Link up's usually take a while to get going, so I won't expect many links this Friday, but spread the word, and lets make this regular online (recycled) fashion link party a big one!

If you are participating in Recycled Fashion's link up, and have a blog, please grab a badge and pop it either on your blog post or on your side bar. Thank you, and see you back here on Friday, when the link goes live for 'Recycled Fashion Finds #1"

<center> <a href="http://www.recycled-fashion.com/" target="_blank"><img alt="Recycled Fashion" src="http://i1143.photobucket.com/albums/n637/wushka/RF_fashion_finds.png" /></a></center>

Link up arranged through InLinkz

Unintentional Coral Dye

Coral, described by Pantone, as “the more approachable and softer orange”, has embraced 2011 in a rather big way.

Image c/o wgsn

A colour that matches both dark, and neutral shades, and suits most skin tones, it is no wonder this coral fashion trend has really taken off.

A small selection of many coral coloured fashion items that can be found on the www:

A thrifted pair of coral jeans
A beautiful coral skirt
A high waisted coral shorts
A smart short sleeved coral shirt
Variations of coral shades from the high street

I gave some of my wardrobe garments a face-lift with some Scarlett Rit dye last weekend. Imagine my delight when this beige long sleeve shirt did not take to the scarlett red I envisaged, but instead, a much lighter, preferable, coral.

Dye comes in handy when re-styling fashion garments. I personally find it better to wait until you have a few pieces you would like to dye at the same time, therefore utilising as much dye as possible. I threw in four pieces into this particular dye experiment, which I will blog about at a later stage.

As much as I love my shirt, and the colour coral, I am sure within six months from now, our thrift shops will be flooded with coral clothing and accessories once trends move onto a new hue.

What do you think readers? Is coral a colour that works for you?

Jessi Arrington: Wearing nothing new

Big thanks to Jan for pointing me in the direction of this rather inspirational talk by Jessi Arrington; "Designer Jessi Arrington packed nothing for TED but 7 pairs of undies, buying the rest of her clothes in thrift stores around LA. It's a meditation on conscious consumption - wrapped in a rainbow of color and creativity." Please watch if you have a spare 6 minutes!

The most beautiful second hand shop in the world?

May I introduce you to, possibly, the most beautiful second hand shop in the world, in one of the most beautiful locations in the world. This shop is called "Adorable", which is located on Southern Pacific Coast of Costa Rica.

I have been communicating with Adorable's shop owner; Anja, via email, and she has kindly agreed to answer some questions for the 5th "About My Shop" feature on Recycled Fashion:

What is your shop called, what do you sell?

It is called "Adorable", which works well in Spanish and English. I sell secondhand clothing, gently used, stylish pieces which work for our tropical climate, the lightest fabrics only. Moms, dads, kids, babies... we have the cutest outfits for everyone. I am lucky to share the passion of digging for treasures with a friend. Kim and I often go together on the "hunt" and have so much fun sitting on a pile of clothing, showing off what marvelous piece we just pulled out. We launder everything before it goes on the racks on wooden hangers. We convert the most stubborn new clothing only shoppers, like my lovely husband :) Oh, I also sell some accessories and jewelry that I make.

Where can we find your shop?

At Playa Ballena on the Southern Pacific Coast of Costa Rica, near a town called Uvita. It is lush jungle meets the beach, just incredible. The community is small, one neighbor once told me how confused he felt when he saw a women in a dress he loved so much on his wife...she had given it away. I decided then not to take donations or consignments, but to buy everything outside. I don't sell online, but I write a blog to announce new arrivals and events at www.adorableatkm169.blogspot.com

Tell us about you, and your motivation to start your store

I came from Germany to this area a long time ago, when there were no roads, phones or electricity. Beautiful nature with abundant water attracts people and development started soon. There is very little commerce here though, we needed a clothing store in this area! Secondhand shops don't have the best image in Costa Rica and no wonder, they are very chaotic. I own a small commercial building (all made of farmed wood) on the main road between two little towns and decided to open a boutique-like secondhand store. One that's so pretty and inspiring, you love to just hang out there! It's a playground for my creative mind, I love all the opportunities this place holds in so many ways.

When did you start trading?

Adorable opened in March 2011. My parents helped me to remodel the space on their last "vacation". Kim and I buy the clothing from huge secondhand ware houses that import directly. Secondhand clothing is called Ropa Americana in this country, American clothing. It is shipped in bulks from the United States. This is one of the differences between a first world and a developing country. There is no over saturated market that leads to people just throwing their things out. Used cars are so much more expensive here. People look for low prices and want quality clothing and brand names, Ropa Americana shops are becoming popular.

Are there any particular products in your store that are most popular?

As in general in the fashion business, women's tops are the top seller. I keep a typical relation of tops to bottoms of 3:1. The lighter the better, it is always warm and very humid here, all year round. It is convenient that there is no change in seasons in Costa Rica. From May to October it rains much more, but the temperature doesn't change.

Very popular is the kids corner with books, games and a fitting room just to play dress up. Kim found amazing princess dresses and angel wings. But those are not for sale, just for the fun.

Would you like to show us some of the products you currently have for sale?

Here are some adorable details from our "new collection". Every two months we host a little sneak peek party to present new finds to our customers.




What is the future of your shop?

Some clothing we buy does not end up on the sales floor, anything that's not in perfect shape, we are picky. I am looking for ways of turning that into other products, the fabrics are often so pretty and would make great bags, hats, other accessories or toys, the potential is enormous! I am designing my first greeting cards that have fabric incorporated, for upcoming father's day. Complementing the clothing with recycled craft from local artists is something I would like to do. Maybe host DIY projects with some cake and coffee. I have a storage room full of junk attached to the store that is begging me to do something with it. A workshop?

Now I don't know about you readers, but I'm a little bit in love with Anja's Adorable shop via her virtual tour. I dream of visiting Adorable, and participating in one of Anja's future DIY workshops with cake and coffee; what a fabulous idea, in a stunning venue.

Thank you so much Anja, for sharing your shop with Recycled Fashion's readers.