Made By Meg: Fashion Challenge Diary: Placemats to Jacket!

My first entry into the Fabric Mart Fashion Challenge went live today, and I thought I'd share some of the creation process over here on the blog :) When you're done, hop on over to the Fabric Mart blog and vote for your favorite entry!

I was a bit nervous when the very first challenge of the Fabric Mart Fashion Challenge was something akin to the Project Runway 'unconventional materials' challenge - make something out of recycled materials, scraps, or anything that would otherwise be thrown away. A million thoughts started streaming through my head, but none of them quite right: Should I make something with paper? Wouldn't be wearable. Should I use my scraps? I can make a dozen things with that yard leftover from my pants, but that's too easy. Should I refashion a bridesmaid dress? None to be found.

Not having much to recycle of my own (I live in 600 sq feet, so refuse doesn't stick around for long), I headed over to the East Bay Depot for Creative Re-Use hoping to find a discarded item I could put my own creative spin on. And there they were - nine Christmas-themes place mats, their seams coming apart. Had this been any other day I wouldn't have given them a second glance. But in this instance, they were perfect...

Once at home, I gave them a good wash and dry, and carefully laid them out on the floor, cutting my pattern pieces out one by one. Everything barely fit, and the sleeves would have to be a bit short, as would the length. I made one small cutting error, but it was salvageable, with enough left over to fix my other error, which was measuring-related. Somehow some of the place mats were off grain (how does that even happen?), but that too was overcome.

I wanted to make a loose-fitting fall jacket, so I used Kwik Sew's Girls' Coats #K3818 (previously made for my little friend). Each piece was cut from a different placemat using the polka dotted side, and the jacket was finished with a hong kong bound seam, a back ruffle with leather detail (also from a scrap), and includes two front pockets and a rounded collar. The binding, buttons, and thread all came from my stash as well. I was a bit skeptical that I could make anything wearable from scrap, but I have already worn this out once and love it!