Friday 29 January 2010

A New Lease of Life

It is a favourite cardigan. Nothing fancy... light, jersey, cheap but comfortable and perfect for brightening up an outfit. When the hole first started to appear I would push my sleeves up and hope no-one would notice. But it got bigger and trying to stitch the cuff back on seemed an impossible task. Time for the rag bag?

Then I remembered some rather beautiful Japanese binding, bought years ago and put at the back of a drawer for the day I would find a use for it.

It seemed like a good use use for it....

And my favourite cardigan has a new lease of life. Do you think I should cover the buttons too?


p.s. Sorry about the dreadful quality of photos - I'm having camera problems that are putting paid to several potential blog posts and I'm not sure what to do about it! I've tried with flash, without flash, various settings and even photoshop editing but nothing is working. Arrrgh!

25 comments:

  1. Fantastic, brilliant, wonderful. Very creative of you. Does it fit into your course?

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  2. I love the colour of the cardigan and the new cuffs look lovely, clever you - see it is worth buying things and storing for years whatever anyone says!!!

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  3. What a brilliant idea - and a lovely way to smarten up a favourite piece!

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  4. You clever clever thing. That binding is beautiful and I love the combinations of colours with your turquoise cardi x

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  5. Lovely, and yes I think you should cover the buttons too. Will look very co-ordinated. In fact, even better idea, how about covering them in different (but similar colour) fabrics. Well, you DID ask. x

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  6. It's lovely to see make do and mend is still here (and not just in our house)!
    And yes, cover those buttons!
    xxx

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  7. brilliant idea and i think coverng the the buttons would look lovely!

    xxx

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  8. Plerase dont stop the entrys because of the pics I can see them well enough ,( thats if its the quality you mean ),Have you tried Picasa ? yes cover the buttons to complete a super idea well done you ...love Jan xx

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  9. What a great idea. Instead of covering the buttons, why not put some of the binding on the buttonhole edge of the cardigan? Quicker than covering buttons.

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  10. Yes to buttons......... what great use of the binding. Know what you mean about cameras and flashes....... mine was horrendous before it died! I even resorted to trying to photo with the curtains shut and the lights off..... It's all so frustrating, isn't it?

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  11. I love saving favourite garments with a bit of creativity. What a great job you've made of it Gina, I'd cover the buttons.
    twiggy x

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  12. Oooh, yes, cover the buttons and then you can pretend it's Boden ;-)

    Lovely, lovely.

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  13. wow, not only was that a repair, but a real upscale improvement! How lovely! I am so impressed!

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  14. Binding the cuffs with such lovely fabric was a brilliant idea and covering the buttons would lift your cardigan into the designer bracket.

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  15. Now that is ingenious (gorgeous, too).

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  16. Oh very pretty! Really complements the colour of the cardigan.

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  17. It is such fun to find a way to take a favorite garment that's facing a bit of distress, and take that favorite not only into the future, but into a future with addtional flair.

    Well done on blending some cultures and creating a winner!

    If more folks let their imaginations go free range, we'd have far fewer disposables, and a lot more clever styles.

    xo

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  18. What a brilliant idea, now your cardi looks brand new. if you can cover the bottons too it would look very co-ordinated but if not it looks just as lovely. Jane x

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  19. I think the buttons would look fab if you covered them....I love to recycle and bring garments back to life...

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  20. Wow what a lovely idea - I think covering buttons would look great too!

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  21. Great idea, I'm sure you'll love it even more now! I do sypathaise about the camera, I'm having the same thing and getting very frustrated about blogging. Hope you can resolve it soon, P x

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  22. Now Gina...obviously I am enchanted by the binding and buttonery and thriftyness BUT what I really, really want is to see the pink tights.

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  23. Oh fab! I love it when you see a garmet with interesting detailing. I say get rid of the button band altogether and bind the edges of the cardigan too (if you have enough gorgeous binding left, that is)

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  24. what a lovely save,great fabric, it suits the cardigan colour so well

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