I have recently begun volunteering for St Pat’s Op Shop in Fremantle. I’m in the Upcycle Sewing Group, where we sew and mend for their shop “Repatched”. They are a lovely group of people, and St Pat’s works to provide for people who are experiencing homelessness, whilst helping the environment by selling vintage and upcycled clothes and accessories, many of which are made by the volunteers. I am so excited to be doing this!

There is a large workroom full of everything needed for most crafting endeavours. We currently have a theme of “Blankets and Denim” so I began looking through the boxes in the workroom and found two small blanket pieces, which would work for a tote. I found the lining in another box, and a set of handles in a third. I figured I was all set.

I decided that I needed to pattern match the blanket so added a small piece at the bottom so that the sides would match perfectly.

Given the constraints of the fabric, I was quite pleased with this!

I lined it with this polka dot fabric that I thought would be fun, but my youngest son was absolutely appalled and suggested that I had ruined the bag! I shall offer to replace it should that be the common view of prospective purchasers. I did add a pocket.

The handles had obviously been riveted on to a different bag. I removed the rivets and found four small brown buttons to replace them, together with some plain buttons for the inside. These came from my stash.

I added magnets as a closure. These also came from home.

I then made a necklace from denim scraps, with beads and orphaned buttons added. I added wadding between two layers of denim to give a bit of heft to the necklace These were from my stash too, so I’m feeling lighter! The part that goes round the neck is made from belt loops. These are the perfect way to secure the necklace – I sewed on a large button which the belt loop sits round. Note the one red belt loop – I couldn’t resist! It does sit flat, I didn’t notice it was sitting up.

The necklace can be made shorter by using a different belt loop.

There was quite a lot of stretch denim, skinny legged jeans, which aren’t a favourite for upcycling. They are often a bit stretched out of shape, so I grabbed a few and took them home. There was a red pair and a pink pair, which I found quite appealing.

I deconstructed the jeans, saving as much of the topstitching thread as I could. The little pile on my floor is what I had left over after I made a top.

I thought long and hard about the top, settling for the Paper Theory LB Pullover, which I’ve made quite a few times. I chose this pattern because it doesn’t have darts, has a boxy shape and is quite loose fitting. I wanted my top to fit as many potential buyers as possible.

Finding the grain is always tricky, but I worked hard on that. Here is one side of the back made from an unpicked red jeans leg, plus a bit of pink jeans leg.

I decided to replicate this for the other half of the back.

The pink jeans had darts in the back hip, and they were obviously dyed pink after being made, which is quite common with coloured jeans. I put a hole in the fabric when I unpicked the dart, so sewed a tiny heart over it.

I was very excited to find a skirt with an elasticated waistband. It also had a drawstring, which was white. I used the holes for the drawstring in the centre of the neck and found a nicer one in my stash.

I used the leftover waistband on the cuffs, but decided that they needed to be lined, so found a small scrap of soft knit that I got at ReMIDA years ago.

It means that the cuffs can be neatly turned back if necessary.

I found a good pocket on a pair of jeans – it doesn’t open at the top, but a couple of centimetres down, meaning that it can be stitched on all the way around. It’s a bit high, but is probably more for decoration.

Here is the back view, with a photo showing the sleeves piecing, one of which required major effort.

I mentioned in a previous post that I had created a pre-punched Pigleta for Miss G, and thought it might be fun to show it. By the time I took this photo my pins holding my perfectly lined up holes had been removed and reinserted. But we managed!

Here is the Pigleta as made by Miss G with help from Granny, and a little dog, Duchy the Dacshund, that Miss E and I sewed together – both. Pepper decided that the dog was her toy and had to be chased round the garden so it could be retrieved! Both patterns are by Trixi Symonds at SewASoftie.com