Breathing new life into old favourite clothes

I always loved this little black and white wrap dress I bought at a 'hippy' shop years ago. In fact, its the dress I met my husband in. So not only did it fit great, but it brings back lots of wonderful memories of that first date. You can imagine my dismay when the cheap Indian dyes ran after an accidental warm wash! 5 years later, I pulled it out of the cupboard and decided to breathe a little bit of life back into the old girl. 

I find it so difficult to find well-fitting clothes that when I do, I keep them after they've worn out with the ambition of making a pattern out of them. Sound complicated? Here's a 10-step guide to recreating your favourite garments without using a single piece of pattern paper.

1. Thoroughly examine the garment. Look for each piece of fabric, and how its sewn together.

2. Take out a pencil and paper and roughly sketch the garment, showing where the separate pieces are, and taking note how each piece connects to the ones adjacent. 

3. Think about the order in which the pieces would need to be sewn together.

4. When you're pretty clear on how to construct the garment, get out those scissors!!

5. Cut along the seams of each piece, adding notes to your diagram as you go, if you notice anything tricky going on in the seams and the order they were sewn in.

6. Iron all the pieces flat. Make sure you're clear on which piece went where. If you need to, lay them all out and label them so you don't get them confused.

7. Now place the pieces on your NEW fabric (prewashed), in the same direction as the original piece (following the nap of the fabric) and cut around the piece using your preferred seam allowance. You can use any seam allowance you like, as long as its the same on every piece.

8. Now get about constructing the garment, following the plan you wrote down before you started. No doubt you will need to improvise and make changes to the plan as you go; make sure you add these changes into the construction instructions for next time.

9. Once the garment is complete, you have the option of transferring the pattern onto paper to keep for next time. This is really only necessary if you want to make slight changes to the shape of the pieces, or write instructions on the pieces for next time.

10. Finally, re-write the pattern instructions will your new-found wisdom fresh from experience! Put the pattern pieces and instructions all together in a zip-lock bag and save for another day!

ADDITIONAL NOTES:

• Original dress was a very light weight soft cotton, the new dress is a cotton/linen blend.The result looks amazing, but unfortunately the linens were not the best choice for wash & wear! The linen is also a little stiff around the sleeves, restricting arm movement. When choosing a new fabric to make your garment out of, take note of the fabric in the original and if the pattern will work as well in a heavier/lighter/stretcher fabric. 
• Fabrics used in this dress are: Echino Japanese printed linens (the fabric in the skirt and mustard spot trim); Cloth Australia screen printed linen on top (Wattle design)
• Ideal breastfeeding dress, easy access and trans-seasonal style (moves from tunic in winter to sundress in summer with effective layering)