Reworking Unworn Makes
Last winter I attempted a closet purge ala KonMari method and got stuck on a pile of handmade items that I never really wore. I think a lot of you can relate to this: when you spend time and money making something, it lives in a different category than store-bought clothing, which (at least for me) makes it harder to get rid of. It’s almost like the extra meaning it accumulated as you slowly crafted it into something wearable makes it harder to part with. There’s some guilt, too: I’ve spent hours making something, only to have it sit in the back of my closet, unworn and unloved, never seeing the light of day.
I sew most of my clothing, so a sizable portion of my wardrobe is handmade. That makes it tough to whittle it down, especially since the question of how and where to donate / pass it along / recycle it is also fraught with environmental considerations. Setting that issue aside for the purposes of this post, I did find a few things that I still wanted to wear but didn’t reach for, realizing that with a few small changes, I probably would. Over the past year, I found a little time to make a few small edits to these items in an attempt to make them more wearable.
Here are three of those unworn makes that I reworked, and…it worked! I really do wear them a lot more than before. Here are the edits I made if you’re interested; perhaps you’ll get some ideas to give those unloved items you have another chance at your closet.
Option #1: Shorten it
OK, first up: a Jade/Isla grid dress which I had made back in 2018 which was too long to wear with jeans, but I wasn’t wearing it with leggings or tights, either, which were pretty important since the thicker double brushed knit fabric made it more of a winter dress than a summer option.
I cut off and hemmed the skirt to turn it into a top, and that small change made such a big difference. I wore it all the time last winter with my Mosaic shawl and jeans (hmm thinking I might execute this same transformation with this maxi Jade/Isla too). Just needed to move it from the Dress Dept. to the Top Dept. Who knew?
PS. Check out my How to Sew Beautiful Knit Hems post for my tips and tricks for hemming knits, and you can buy the Jade/Isla patterns as a discounted bundle here.
BEFORE:
You know, looking at the before pics, I will add that I do really like it as a dress — it just works for my wardrobe better as a top.
AFTER:
Option #2: Change the neckline
I really loved this lace dress (sewn in 2016), but it had a high neckline that was finished with Fold-Over Elastic (FOE) which made it itchy and uncomfortable for me. I had also shirred the end of the long sleeves with a single line of elastic thread, and that combined with the lace made those a bit itchy too. The cuffs always seemed to crawl up to my elbows, especially under sweaters. All in all: not super comfortable.
I opened up the neckline to make it larger and more scooped out, and finished it with a strip of soft knit fabric that flipped to the inside and stitched down. I also chopped off the sleeves to elbow length and re-hemmed them without elastic. With the new neckline, it now works for me to wear a black tank top and black leggings underneath, which is more comfortable than the nude slip I had tried wearing under it before (you know, that one time I had worn it before).
BEFORE:
AFTER:
Option #3: Add sleeves
This “Beach Goddess” Maxi - originally posted on this blog as a tutorial in July of 2014 - was conceived as a glamorous maxi-length beach cover-up. Thanks to my aversion to the sun, most of my swimsuits have sleeves to protect my shoulders and arms, so it’s an odd look paired with a sleeveless maxi dress.
It needed sleeves if I was actually going to wear it, and I didn’t love the length anyway (see Option #1, above), so I chopped it off and used the extra fabric to create gathered sleeves. They have elastic casings at the top, and I’ve added straps to the back to keep the sleeves from falling off my shoulders. I wear it now with cropped leggings and ballet flats for dinners out, not as a swim coverup.
BEFORE:
AFTER:
What do you think? Do you have any other tricks or edits you’ve used to give your handmade items a new life? Which of these do you think you might wear - either the “befores” OR the “afters?”
Hope this post at least gave you some ideas or inspiration for your own handmade wardrobe!