Two days ago I decided that there were too many clothes in the closet that were not getting worn as often as I thought they would be. I bought them from stores, op shops and even made some of them. Most of them were linen. That was where I started anyway. Next came softer linens with some worn cottons.
I took them all down to the studio, took out the circular cutting tool and a cutting mat. Without any second thoughts or sentiment I hacked away. Just cutting large squares or rectangles. No ripping of seams to get larger pieces. I just cut on the grain and stacked them up. Then I looked over what colors coordinated the best in tone and weights. Taking one of my favorite shirts that I have worn completely out but saved in case I wanted to make one, I sized out what I would need to make it. Patches were sewn to patches until I had enough for the top area plus sleeve length front and back. Then what was left was pieced together to add the rest of the front and back. Once a piece was stitched to another, it was top stitched in place. Here is a detail of the shirt above that took two pairs of slacks, two shirts and bit more from another pile. Beige, cream, olive and khaki. the slacks were Flax company as well as one of the shirts. Another shirt was Match Point. All very nice linens, worn and with a good drape. Here is a detail.
It has a boro feel to it because it is pieced from older used fabrics. Below is the boro coat a friend gave me and then a picture she took of me wearing it to her house in St. Louis after I made the changes into something more useful.
I like how this feels on. It is very comfortable and just enough of a jacket/big shirt to be fun to wear. It also carries the history of the previous owner and mender as well as some of my own old clothes and stitching.
There are two sorted piles of coordinated patches for two more shirts like the one above. There is also so much more room in the closet. Below are four shirts, one pair of pants and some cutoffs from a long vest from the cooperative clothing store, Marketplace India.
I will show them here on my blog when I get them sewn up.