[restylistas} watch restyle

Inspired by the many bold coloured wrap bracelet style wraps which seem to be around right now I decided to restyle my own.

Before:

After:

I opted for a neutral shade of aged cognac leather because I knew this would ensure it had a heavier rotation in my wardrobe.

Here's how you can replicate the same:

Cut 4 strips of leather approx 25-30cm in length, I used a rotary cutter, however a sharp craft knife would also suffice, or if you have a steady hand, a sharp pair of fabric shears.

The width of the strips is determined by the width of your existing strap as measured at the watch face end of the strap, not the buckle end, in my case this was 1cm.

Set your sewing machine up with a leather needle, lengthen your stitch length to 3-3.5mm and adjust your needle position to the right so your stitches are formed approx 1-2mm in from the edge.

On a single strap of leather fold under the top of  the strap, wrong sides facing, by about 1 cm, as shown in the upper most piece above. This fold is going to form a casing for your watch pin, which secures the strap to the watch, will slot through, this folded strap will become the outer face of your strap.

Taking a second strap, which will be the underside or 'lining' strap, match up the crease of the fold from the outer face , with the top edge of the lining strap.

Sew along the length of the strap, starting approximately 2.5mm from the top to allow a casing for the pin to slip into, you can see this gap in the picture above. If you find it difficult to hold the fold down and position the strap under the foot without everything moving, use a bulldog clip, or paper clip to keep your layers in place.

 * Stop stitching one stitch short of the end of the strap, leaving your needle down pivot the strap 90 degrees counter-clockwise then sew across the width of your strap ( in my case this was 2 stitches) before pivoting once more at the next corner to sew up the second side of the strap. Remember to again leave 2.5mm at the top of the strap for the pin casing.

This is your first strap sewn, set it aside and we will move onto sewing the second strap.The second strap is the strap which houses the buckle, we will secure the buckle in place when we sew the strap.

Start sewing your second strap as you have the first until you reach the point above marked with an asterisks (*). Instead of sewing all the way to the end of the strap, you are going to only sew half way, leave/adjust your needle down so it is piercing your fabric, and release your foot pressure so you can move the strap slightly for the next step. (This is solely to avoid any confusion about the outer face strap, and lining strap)

On the same strap of the two that you have folded under at the top to create the pin casing, your outer strap, you are going to measure up from bottom edge the distance required  for where your  buckle arm hole needs. Do so by folding the outer strap, wrong sides together, allow enough for the buckle to be housed, plus a little extra for your sewing foot to get close enough to catch this fold.

Make mark at the centre of the fold across the width, then using a leather punch create a hole large enough to fit your buckle arm through. If you do not have a leather punch then a sewing awl will also suffice, or hammer a nail through to make a hole, neither are as neat, but achieve a similar result.

Position your buckle, right side facing down, arm pushed through the hole you have just created.

Fold back the outer strap to cover/house the buckle, then resume sewing as per previous strap, pivoting at the end, across the buckle, ensuring you sew close enough to the buckle that the fold is securely caught in your sewing, but not so close as to hit the buckle.

At his point pass your watch pins through the casings of each strap, and join each strap to the watch face, the buckle strap should go to the top.

Returning to your first (buckle-less) strap we are now going to mark out the holes for the buckle arm to go in which will keep your strap fastened.I used a wax based tailors pencil as standard chalk was not effective, but a fine tipped permanent marker, pencil or ball point would also work. I spaced my holes at approximately 1.5 centimetres apart.

Punch the holes, once again using the leather punch (or an awl or hammer/nails if you do not have a leather punch.)

Viola, you are done.  I just tucked the strap tail into the wrap of the bracelet. Alternatively you could also make a loop to secure it into.

Time taken: 30 minutes including stopping to take pictures
Cost: Nil - I had the leather in my stash

If you have any questions, or my instructions are unclear, let me know.

Army blanket hoody

This hooded jacket was a birthday gift for my brother.

The pattern was a 1978 mens hooded zip front jacket which I picked up at an op shop. I made a few changes to the sizing and sleeve length, plus I omitted the outer pockets, replacing them instead with inseam pockets at the waist.

The 'fabric' is an army issue grey woolen blanket with red stripe. I got the blanket as a bit of a contra deal - so there was no financial outlay. It is 100% NZ wool, super warm, ultra thick, excellent quality,

I kept the red stripe which ran down the length of the blanket to just one side of the garment, it runs up the front and back vertically on his right side, as well as around the right wrist. It required some careful pattern positioning, but in my mind, was absolutely worth the extra time for the resulting outcome.

I also decided to run the blanket stitch on the right hand side only of the hood.

I aligned the blanket hems with the jacket hems so the blanket stitching  from the actual blanket was retained. The jacket is fully reversible (except the pockets), I have hand sewn all of the hems, including the hood, and cuffs. I did this mainly because I did not want a stitching line to detract from the blanket stitch hem, it took me much longer, but I am super pleased with the results.

Jumpsuit to romper

This project was a restyle of a polka dot jumpsuit I bought years ago, way before jumpsuits were in vogue again.It has been so long I could no longer tell you where I bought it, or how much I paid, but is safe to say it was no more than $5.00.

It was a nice straightforward restyle, I cut off the legs, and hemmed it to short length.

And then tucked the neckline under to create a v neck.

I would not usually consider myself a polka dot kind of a girl, but styled up it is comfortably 'me'.

A couple more pictures, and more info over at my site, UtBwB.

Long skirt to short skirt

This is a skirt I was handed down by my Mum, I loved the pretty detail on it but not the length, plus the waist was about 2 inches too small.

I shortened it from the top to retain the detail, gathered the waist back up to fit, and recut a new waistband.

The button was one of those plain old white ones, so I added a vintage crystal one, and swapped the standard zip for an invisible zip.


Overall I am pretty happy with it, but it does require a nude petticoat because the fabric is quite transparent!

A couple more pictures, and more info over at my site, UtBwB.

Mens shirt restyled to ladies vintage blouse pattern

This shirt was given to me by my brother, it was one he no longer liked, but was still in really good condition; thanks to his generosity the whole garment cost me less than $3.00 including buttons and pattern.

Since I was using a pattern for this restyle I cut each piece of shirt apart so that I could treat it as similar to a standard piece of (oddly shaped) fabric as possible. So really it was more starting from scratch as opposed to modifying a seam here or there on the existing garment. It meant I had to overlock all the seams etc, but in the long run I think it made it quicker and simpler to do it this way.

The pattern is a vintage dress which I cropped to finish just above the hip to make a blouse instead; Butterick 3104 - I picked it up from a charity shop for less than a dollar.

I did not learn any new techniques on this project, but did have to pivot the french dart to the waist so I could fit the pattern on the existing shirt pieces, Gertie did a great tutorial on pivoting darts if you are not familiar with the technique.

I think overall the pattern is quite different from my usual style, and so suspect if I were to do it again it would involve a whole new pattern choice, something with more shaping.

More pictures, and a step by step on the changes and thought process on my site, UtBwB.