tutorial - maverick zipper repair

This little jacket was a thrift find. It became clear why someone had passed it on, when little f wore it a few times, as the zipper kept separating. I measured the front from top to bottom and bought a separating zipper in the same size. So many people have asked me about replacing zippers, and I had never tried until now. This maverick technique makes it really easy.

Here's the tutorial:

Carefully cut off the old zipper as close to the jacket as possible.

Find a separating zipper that is the same size as the old one or a bit longer if that's all you can find.

Repair any areas where your scissor cut the jacket by stitching over it with a zig zag stitch.

Your zipper will cover this (hopefully!) so it doesn't have to be perfect.

Lay the zipper over the place where you cut off the original zipper and zig zag to the top. Repeat on other side. If your zipper is long, fold it over at the top and stitch it down.

The finished zipper! Maybe not so pretty, but certainly more functional than the old one!

Want to see more maverick repairs?
Let me know what you think!

the little boys wedding suit

When I bought this pattern from Chicken Hill, I had a few ideas about how it was going to be more boyish, most of them involving buttons. Turns out it was the perfect choice for a wedding suit. Not only was it fairly simple in construction, the clean lines work on corduroy really well. For those of you who are learning to sew, please know that corduroy has a nap, which means you can brush the fibers up and feel roughness, or down and feel smooth. All your pattern pieces must be going up and down in the same direction. This often requires a bit more fabric than suggested in most patterns. I tell you all this because only after cutting out this pattern, I remembered it. Oh my! At least you may learn from this.

Here you see the suit in action with his little cousin, who was the ringbearer at Emily and Rob's wedding in Grand Rapids a few weeks ago.

Love the way this jacket wears. I lined it with a nice cotton batik that has dragons in it, so when he's feeling crazy, he can reverse both the jacket and pants. Could make for some fun holiday photos, huh?

One of the last things I made to wear was this cashmere shrug. It was a turtleneck sweater. I cut off the neck and down the front. Then I cut off the bottom half, folded it in half lengthwise and attached it as a shawl collar. After stitching in the sleeves a bit and down the sides, the bottom ribbing was added to the bottom and a sweet flower stiched on with some large vintage hooks and eyes. I'll show you my inspiration soon...

recycled+revamped boy clothes - car jacket

The fabric on this jacket used to be a romper. Since my little guy is totally into cars, I used the fabric to cover over the giant logo on the back yoke of the jacket. There's a patch on the arm that says "road crew" so it works well as a car jacket! It's also fun to look at his 9 month old picture with the romper and compare it to this three year old photos!

cool kid's clothes made from upcycled t-shirts and such

It was this jacket that first drew me to lilygiggle. I was searching for recycled boy clothes. Time passed and I found the site again, with a similar search. Destiny? Must be. Beth makes all kinds of great clothing patterns, and has the cutest little models! Want to stay in the loop? Check out lilygiggle's facebook page and a FREE pattern when you "like" her page.

And right now for you, my faithful blog readers, she is offering a 25% discount in her etsy shop, just use the code REVAMPED until August 13th.

Turns out that Beth is friends with Jay from chickenhill! Wouldn't be great to sew with these girls?

Thanks to Beth for taking time to answer a few of my questions.

How did you learn/who taught you to sew?
Originally I was a self-taught fashion design wanna-be teenager. I had grown up around very talented seamstresses, both grandmas were amazing at it as well as my own mama so there were always sewing machines around. My grandma would take my goofy 8 year old "fashion illustrations" and create the garment just by looking at a child's sketch. One day I just decided I was going to figure out how to sew and made myself pants that I wore all the time even though they were technically sewn completely incorrectly. Maybe that's why I don't mind sewing a bit "out of the box". It's great fun to experiment. Later I was taught to be a proper seamstress at Savannah College of Art & Design while I was completing my major in Fashion Design.

What was your first sewing machine?
An old Kenmore...good machine...wouldn't mind if I still had it.

How did you start upcycling/recycling?
I would love to say it was because I am so sensitive to the environment (which I do try to be) but, honestly, it was out of being desperately in need of a creative outlet after leaving my job and being home with my children. With one income there were just not enough funds to keep myself in lovely fabrics. The local "by the pound" thrift store became my fabric store of choice. I find that much of my creativity has been sparked first by necessity. I think that people who don't think they are creative probably just never really had to be.

Thank you so much, Beth, for sharing your thoughts with us!

Such sweet flowers and a gorgeous photos too.

This serendipity dress is so cool! It is named with one of my favorite words, so how could I resist? I really want it in my size, but maybe I'll have to settle for making one for my niece... The detail on the waistband is so nice and I love the bows, especially since they are purely decorative, so they can be sewn down once tied.

And this is the perfect gardening skirt! You might already know that I adore pockets. All shapes, sizes and in many places. The buttons on top are like the icing on the cake.

Hope you are inspired to do more sewing!

revamped wrap skirt with pockets

Here it is, in action. I love having pockets for my camera, phone and handkerchief. And I LOVE my new boots! They were a christmas present, and I've been waiting for the snow to melt so I can wear them.
The river was gorgeous, not as high as it was yesterday. The road was graded yesterday, and that was quite exciting for little f. A dump truck and a grader working on the road. We spent a long time just watching them work. Today, it's a tray of flour in the kitchen with some matchbox trucks. It's been good for hours of play!

This is one of my favorite jackets, and it had a rip on the hood, so I made a little wool bunny patch for it. Our snacks are tucked away in a mesh drawstring bag with a fabric top and cordlock.

custom recycled wool jacket for Evan

It started out as a fleece hoodie and a few felted wool sweaters...

children's recycled wool sweater jackets!

What's new? Some warm wooly goodness on my etsy site. I made five of these last week, somehow. Fyn played in my studio so patiently while I snipped and stitched to get ready for a show this weekend. One two are left, so I posted them in my etsy shop.

river side cedar



yellow finch

snow day!

Fyn has grown an inch since his birthday, so we pulled out the next size jacket. It was torn, so I camouflaged it with an arctic hare. Seems appropriate, and hopefully it will inspire you to make some animal sweater patches. Boy clothes need some creative revamping almost all the time!

The fabulous scarf was knitted by a friend, Elara, as a birthday gift. You can her work on www.plinkplink.etsy.com. She made me a sweet enamel/silver necklace with leaves on it!

Hopefully, there will be another snow day this week and we can go sledding!