Fixing up my grandmother's robe

I have not done many refashions. I am fighting quite the battle in my sewing studio's closet and I have been focusing more on sewing that fabric lump/hump. But since it is cold out, I could really use everything and anything to stay warm. This week, I will give a bonus post and that is this robe!

This is my grandmother's robe. She recently had to move into a group home with supervised care and my family went through her house. I have gotten some fabulous things from her. Soon to be a sewing machine, yeah!! This robe is sooooo old. Very retro and vintage. I have no recollections of her wearing this robe so I am guessing that it is SOOOOOOO old.  Just wow.

It needs some help. But inside it is quilted, which means warm.

Another issue is the lace is stained. And I used all of my restoration tricks to fix and these stains never came out. Interesting. So off goes the lace!

I sewed it all back together b/c the lace was between the robe and the facing. There were some other issues I had to fix- buttons, etc.

Those got all fixed. Now I can wear the robe! It is still groovy and very flower power but I don't care. I feel as if now my grandmother is here with me even though she is thousands of miles away. And taking off the lace changes the feel of the robe.Here's the recap.

Here's to keeping it in the family!
Cheers,
Lauren

Robe/Dance Coverup

I have always wanted a robe to coverup at dance events but some of these robes are quite pricey. In my fabric stash, I had this pink swirly fabric that was a knit-like material that I had alot of (like 5 pounds!!!). I decided to use this since I need a lot of fabric to make a robe.

I chose Simplicity's unisex hooded robe pattern (with capelet). FYI this robe pattern is NOT graded. It is a one size fits all and the only sizing you have is for a belt. I wished this could have been a bit smaller and not so huge.

Here is me cutting the fabric. This took me quite a while and I was fitting cats who wanted to sit and play on the fabric. Not to mention a bum knee I can't bend deeply or put a lot of weight on. Holy cow. I just spent an entire night cutting the pieces. I waited until another day to actually sew it together!

This is not a hard pattern, no fancy things required. It is just somewhat cumbersome with the amount of fabric I had to deal with. I used my walking foot for the first time to help prevent puckers with the knit.

It took me some time to figure out how to get it attached (had to bust out the manual). It also took some time to get used to the sound it makes! Eek! My heart pounded.

For all of the seams I serged, but for some of the place where there was going to need some assistance. I learned about this stuff at my advanced serging class. It is also good for when you are serging knits as it won't pull (and you won't have to mess with the differential feed! yay!)

I serged in the seams of the yoke attached to the bottom layer. You could also use this for when you have the seam on the shoulder. I serged with a rolled hem on the bottom of the cape, the sleeve edges, and the bottom of the robe. I used a fun and bright pink! :) Here is the end product! It is huge!

I would like to add a purple trim to the front of the robe and the sleeves but haven't found anything I like. I also need to find some frog closures too. Again haven't found anything yet but there is a big labor day sale at joanne and michael's so I'm hopeful I can get something on a discount! :)

XOXOXOXO,
Lauren