So this is it. This is the end of the inspiration phase of the challenge! Before the main event kicks off (that’s you and your refashions!) as always, I’m closing off this phase with my take on the brief.

My starting point were these colour blocked coat designs by Regina Pyo…you can see my full inspiration board here as I explored variations of this theme. But this remained my primary starting point. (Although there are other images on that board I may revisit!)

These were my starting garments. All sourced from a local charity’s clearance warehouse which is open to the public! Essentially, it’s the last stop for donated garments that haven’t sold in their main shops (or are not in good enough condition to be sold there); before they go on to recycling. So these have been properly rescued. The grey coat fit me and was actually in good nick. The two coats behind, not so much. Pretty poor condition. The fabric was worn and bobbled on both these. But there was good fabric in amongst the worn areas and it was that that I planned to harvest fro the back section of my coat.

What I liked about this is it was a way of taking a fairly cheap coat  and giving it a designer edge. Without having to alter the fit or overall construction of the original garment. Refashions needn’t be about finding an oversized garment and making it smaller. Not all of us can do this. As a size 16 (UK) finding garments that are massively bigger than my size is not easy. So I don’t always have alot to play with in terms of fabric for my refashions. I often overcome this by combining more than one garment to increase my fabric quota; and colour blocking is a great way of doing this, whilst making it look intentional! In this instance though, the colour blocking is purely aesthetic. If you can find a coat that fits you already….then it’s simply a case of switching out the back section with something a bit more va va voomy!

My first step was to figure out the size and placement of my belt. I wanted to do this first because it would impact on where the seams of my colour blocked section would fall. I wanted the belt to cover the horizontal seam of the first section of my colour blocking. Which I more or less achieved. Once I’d done this, I marked the approximate position of the belt on the back of my coat and set my belt pattern piece aside for later…

In order to gain full access to the back section of my coat I unpicked the lining all along the hem (Not the facing!) and wherever it was anchored (along some seams and at the underarms). This enabled me to peel bacl the ining so I could access the back section of the coat from the inside…

I then seam ripped all the way up the side seams (to about an inch below the underarms, and simply lopped off the back section of the coat…

The original coat had a back vent which I didn’t want to keep in my finished design. So I simply pinned together following the line of the centre back seam…

Sewed my new CB seam and cut away the excess…

Pressed the new CB seam open and flat. I now had a template. Essentially I created a colour blocked duplicate of this section by sewing together pieces from the two “donor” coats…

I then attached my colour blocked duplicate section to my original coat, and sewed up the side seams. Here’s how it looked from the outside and the inside…

You might notice that  I have interfaced some pieces, but not others. The grey and red fabrics were of a similar weight. But the blue was a tad lighter so I interfaced the blue sections to give them a similar weight and handle to the rest. The top blue section is cut from the sleeve of the blue jacket. On the right you can see the original interfacing from the sleeve hem. I left that in place and interfaced the rest of the piece so it was all a similar weight. The lower colour blocked section (both the red and the blue) are harvested from the back sections of the donor jackets….

I used some of the original back section to create the belt. 2 lengths of fabric, both interfaced, sewn RS together then turned through and topstitched. I wanted my belt to have good weight and structure so it would “stand” rather than hang if that makes sense? 

The belt is attached by opening up the side seams, inserting the belt, and then closing up the side seams again. Simples!

As the original back section had a back vent, so did the lining!. So I had to close this up first, before going on to hem and reattach the lining…

That was the coat done. But then I took a little segway into shoe refashioning, lol! The original image shows shoes that tie in with the colours of the coat. Ok…I can do that!! I found these in the charity shop, brand new. Fiver! WEIRDLY, despite looking like lace up oxfords, in every other way, they had velcro fastenings. Curious!

I removed the velcro. Masked off the areas I did not want to paint, and cleaned the shoes using acetone nail polish remover. It takes the shiny finish off and gives the paint a better chance of adhering…

And I sprayed these babies blue to match the back section of my coat!!

I used my trusty Rolson punch to punch in some holes for laces…

Rummaged in my stash and found these eyelets left over from a previous project…

I opted for mismatched colours on my eyelets which I really love the look of…

Et voila! Refashioned shoes to go with my refashioned coat!!

Full disclosure….I’m not convinced I used the right paint on these so I’m not sure how well these will hold up. Also, er….blisters! Even just wearing these for these photos (sans socks) gave me blisters on both heels. So it remains to be seen whether the shoes will make it into regular rotation. But take the concept (rather than the details) and have a play!

The coat however, I LOVE. It is so cosy. And I love that it looks super plain from the front, then there’s this whole colour block party going on in the back! I honestly think this elevates a really basic coat into something with a bit more edge; and am seriously considering repeating this refashion on a black coat I already own, (thrifted obvs, lol!)

So that’s it. The end of this blogger element.  And now it’s over to you!!!! The stars of this show. We want to see YOUR #inspiredby refashions! (They’re starting to trickle through already. SO exciting!!) It’s very likely, that this will be the last series of The Refashioners. It’s alot to organise, and part of me feels like we’ve achieved what we set out to do; and also that some things are best finished on a high….rather than milking the life out it until it becomes something….well…not so awesome as it is now. So this may very well be your last chance to enter. If you are one of those people that has watched from afar and thought, “oooh, I’ll enter that one day”….my friends, that day is here. Go for it!!

Mark these dates in your diary and GET REFASHIONING AND GET SHARING :

• Community Challenge: This will run right from 1st Sept to 31st October. There will be the usual phenomenal prize package for our winner(s) at the end. You can share your creations any time between those dates to be entered into the competition. To enter you’ll need to SHARE your refashions (We want to see the inspiration image, the before image(s) of your source garment(s), and the after images of course! Extra kudos given for how closely your “after” images resemble your inspiration images!) Share with us in one of the following ways:
  • On Instagram: Share a pic using the hashtags #therefashioners2018 #inspiredby (if you do not use these hashtags I will not be able to find your entry and it will not count)
  • On Facebook: There is a community board here where you can post your makes (You will need to request an invite to join)

  Only entries shared via the above 2 methods will be entered into the competition. Closing date for entries is 31st October 2018 Midnight GMT.

Check out the AMAZING prizes on offer this year!

With thanks to our fabulous official sponsors below!