Join the movement against throw-away fashion, and refashion once-loved clothing to create a sublime capsule wardrobe that is contemporary, classy and environmentally conscious.
Sew a sustainable capsule wardrobe that is tailored to you and with it, help break the cycle of throw-away fashion.
Awarded 'Best Upcycling Book' and 'Best New Author' at the Creative Book Awards, 2024.
The fashion industry is the second biggest environmental polluter on the planet. Every year, over 350,000 tonnes of clothing is sent to landfill in the UK just under 14 million tonnes in the US much of it owing to fast fashion. Furthermore, it’s estimated that many of us wear only 20% of our wardrobe regularly, with the other 80% languishing in our wardrobes unworn, or worse contributing to those ever-growing landfill figures.
We urgently need to find alternative, more sustainable approaches that allow us to have the stylish wardrobes we crave without hurting our planet. The techniques you learn in The Re:Fashion Wardrobe is one of those alternatives.
Learn how to alter or create entirely new garments from pre-loved clothes or forgotten fabrics that are not only chic but don't cost the earth. Beginning with advice on equipment, fabrics and how to source your clothes for refashioning, Portia Lawrie will then take you stepbystep through a collection of 11 garments that she has reworked, showing you just how easy it is to refresh or drastically change any piece of clothing you come across.
Every garment in the collection can be used to create a modern capsule wardrobe that you can wear throughout the year, and Portia has included advice on how to adjust the garments in the book to make versions suitable for different times of the year.
Useful sewing techniques with clear illustrations are included at the back of the book for you to dip into whenever you need them from measuring and fitting through to garment deconstruction and construction.
This is not the “Becky home eccy” refashioning of old, or simply make-do-and-mend either. This is showing that with some time, basic sewing techniques and a dash of creative vision, a wardrobe you’ve made entirely from recycled garments and textiles can be as stylish, edgy and aspirational as anything the high street has to offer.
Table of Contents
About me 6
Why re:fashion? 8
Why a capsule wardrobe? 12
Building a capsule wardrobe 14
Sourcing: the secrets of second-hand shopping 18
Haberdashery & hardware 28
Equipment & notions 30
The projects 34
- T-shirt Dress 36
- Sweatshirt Tee 42
- Boxy Tunic Shirt 46
- Cropped Striped Shirt 56
- Robe Jacket 60
- Pieced Linen Tee 66
- Button-front Skirt 78
- Side-striped Trousers 86
- Paperbag Shorts 92
- Refitted Jeans 100
- Duvet Duster Coat 110
Capsule combinations 118
Re:fashion techniques 122
- Making pattern templates 124
- Fitting 126
- Size doesn’t matter: sizing up or down 132
- Deconstruction 134
- Essential machine stitches 138
- Essential hand stitches 140
- Machine darning 141
- Seams 142
- Hemming 147
- Darts 150
- Bias tape 152
- Pockets 153
- Fly zips 156
- Buttonholes & buttons 159
- Neckline finishes 160
- Band finishes 164
- Fabric ties & belts 172
Glossary 174
Acknowledgements 175
Index 176
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About Portia Lawrie
Portia Lawrie is a predominantly self-taught dressmaker and designer who has been passionate about recycling for most of her life. She has been writing about sewing since 2010, on her social media and her website: www.portialawrie.co.uk
Portia is the founder/creator of The Refashioners, an annual sewing event that launched in 2011. It aims to challenge the global sewing community to look at old clothes in a new light, and provides inspiration and tutorials (and often a huge competition prize) to encourage participation and get this message across.
Portia has been a contributor to Simply Sewing magazine since its launch in 2015, designing and writing reader tutorials for a mix of refashioning, pattern hacks and patternless projects. She was awarded Dressmaker magazine’s Dressmaker of the Year 2017. Her winning entry was a quilted denim coat made from old jeans.
In 2020, Portia and fellow designer Samantha Claridge launched The ChangeMaker Initiative, which offers a range of products tailored towards Makers. Its profits are donated to charities that promote positive social and environmental changes.
Portia lives in rural Essex, UK, with her partner and teenage son.
@portialawrie
Customer Review
This book is absolutely fantastic. Great ways to redesign old clothes without spending more money. Step-by-step instructions throughout with clear pictures to guide you through the process. I love how there is also a section for combining your makes and a great sewing technique section included. Will certainly be able to update my wardrobe without spending with this book.
Customer Review
I have lots of clothes in my wardrobe that I no longer wear so this book seemed the ideal choice to enable me to re fashion them. The book is definitely not for beginners. I think that you would definitely at least some sewing skills to get the best out of it. That being said, it does mean that the clothes you can make are wearable and stylish. Its not just cutting the sleeves off a T-shirt. It also gives tips on how to identify fabric by doing a burn test. Ive not seen this anywhere else. It also has chapters on pattern making and fitting. This gives you skills to let your imagination run free. Im looking at the clothes in my wardrobe with fresh eyes and as well as being an environmentally friendly way of having new clothes it also is a way to save money.
Booklist
Lawrie's breezy, can-do attitude is infectious. After all, how hard can it be to repurpose garments (owned or thrifted) to save the planet and pockets? For readers without sewing expertise, Lawrie advises at least getting familiar with the workings of a machine and its terminology. Her idea works: create 11 items of clothingfrom boxy tunic shirt to duvet duster coatthat adhere to a color palette for mix-and-matchable potential. Upfront instructions couldnt be more thorough and are well illustrated too: building the wardrobe, sourcing garments, and working with fabrics, haberdashery, and hardware. Directions for constructing each piece are thorough, filled with step-by-step photographs, tips and tricks (e.g., how to remove jean rivets), opportunities for creativity (like reverse the skirt design and put buttons on the back), and more. Theres even a bit of a photo runway, showing different combinations of garments. Best yet is Lawrie's information on techniques that go beyond pattern templates and her reminders that fitting (yes, self measuring) is critical to buttons and holes, necklines and belts. No excuses!
Craft Focus, December/ January issue
The fashion industry is the second biggest environmental polluter on the planet. Every year, over 350,000 tonnes of clothing is sent to landfill in the UK just under 14 million tonnes in the US much of it owing to fast fashion. Furthermore, its estimated that many of us wear only 20 per cent of our wardrobe regularly, with the other 80 per cent languishing in our wardrobes unworn, or worse contributing to those ever-growing landfill figures.
We urgently need to find alternative, more sustainable approaches that allow us to have the stylish wardrobes we crave without hurting our planet. The techniques you learn in The Re:Fashion Wardrobe by Portia Lawrie is one of those alternatives.
Learn how to alter or create entirely new garments from pre-loved clothes or forgotten fabrics that are not only chic but dont cost the earth. Beginning with advice on equipment, fabrics and how to source your clothes for refashioning, Portia Lawrie will then take you step-by-step through a collection of 11 garments that shes reworked, showing you just how easy it is to refresh or drastically change any piece of clothing you come across.
