DIY Magic with Carly B
Slow fashion advocate & one-of-a-kind maker Carly B turns LOVER AGAIN BUNDLES into DIY delights! Follow her step-by-step to make your own ‘Reversible Patchwork Collar’ from printed Obus fabric remnants.
When I received three Obus ‘Love Again Bundles’ my brain was filled with inspiration and excitement to make these beautiful offcuts into something new and happy! Each bundle is filled with an exquisite arrangement of Obus fabrics in lots of different shapes and sizes. I was stoked to find that there was heaps to play with!
To get inspired I started by laying out all my fabric from bundle #1 to get vibes and inspiration. I decided to use bundle #1 to make a ruffled, reversible collar using a patchwork technique!
REVERSIBLE PATCHWORK COLLAR
I followed my own self drafted pattern for this (A Carly B favourite!) but have linked a free pattern here.
STEP 1.
I started by laying my collar pattern piece on the fabric and cutting it out. If you don’t have a big enough piece of fabric I’ll show you how I did some patch-working to make your own fabric from smaller offcuts in STEP 1.5 or, skip to STEP 2 if you have large enough pieces to use.
OPTIONAL STEP 1: Patchworking
To create your own unique Obus textile - simply cut out a square of your size choice out of paper and use that as a pattern piece. Cut out as many squares as you need to make your fabric the right size for your project. Once you’ve done this, sew all the squares right sides together and iron out the seams on the wrong side so it sits nice and flat.
STEP 2.
Cut out ties for the collar now that are about 27 inches long and 3 inches wide (you need 2 ties). I sewed the ties together but folding the sides in, ironing and then folding in half.
STEP 3.
I cut the remainder of my fabric into long rectangles to eventually become ruffles. These pieces were 3 inches wide and as long as I could salvage from the offcuts.
PRO TIP: Try and reserve your lighter weight fabrics in the bundle for this part. I tried ruffling the heavier corduroy and canvas and it didn’t work very well.
STEP 4.
Then it’s ruffling time! Sew together all of your long strands of offcuts to make one really long ribbon.Use your preferred ruffling technique to make your wildest ruffle dreams come true. For collars my favourite technique is folding my strands, raw edges together and using two parallel lines and my longest stitch length to get a very full and even gather.
STEP 5.
Sew the ruffles good sides together with one side of the collar, and attach the ties as well at this point.
STEP 6.
Then you can sandwich the ruffles and ties between the other side of the collar (ugly sides should face out to you) and sew around the collar leaving a little gap to turn the whole piece right side out.
Your collar should be DONE! Make sure you make final edits like removing any lint or basting stitches and of course topstitching over the little opening.
VINTAGE INSPIRED COLLAR
After making my first collar I thought I’d try another style using similar techniques.
I found this stunning vintage collar pattern on Etsy and thought it would be the perfect partner to accompany my second Love Again Bundle.
The collar pattern is linked here for those interested - the instructions are a little tricky to follow because the pattern is old and you might have to print it on A3 paper at your local printing store.
I used the pattern pieces pictured to make my best version of Collar IV on the pattern. The pieces were small so I could easily cut them out of full pieces of fabric, and I had lots of ruffles left from my first collar so I just reused them for this collar.
Got the hang of things now? Let’s turn it up a notch!
I found this stunning vintage collar pattern on Etsy and thought it would be the perfect partner to accompany my second Love Again Bundle.
The collar pattern is linked here for those interested - the instructions are a little tricky to follow because the pattern is old and you might have to print it on A3 paper at your local printing store.
I used the pattern pieces pictured to make my best version of Collar IV on the pattern. The pieces were small so I could easily cut them out of full pieces of fabric, and I had lots of ruffles left from my first collar so I just reused them for this collar.
Got the hang of things now? Let’s turn it up a notch!
PATCHWORK PARTY SHIRT
After finding my feet making some smaller projects, I decided to get a little fancy using up the rest of my Obus Love Again Bundle fabric. By this stage I had one and a half bundles left (roughly) and I decided to make an oversized party shirt!
I followed a thrifted pattern of an oversized button down, collared shirt but you could follow your favourite pattern in this case. Similar patterns can be found here, here and here.
For the patchwork technique for this one I just arranged my fabric on the floor adding a little overlap for seam allowance.
Cut my pattern out on my rough layout (like we did with collar #1) I then sewed all the pieces together to make the panel.
For sleeves and other small patterns like facing, collar and the pocket, I was able to fit the pattern on the fabric without patch-working.
Once I had all my pieces, I zoomed away on my sewing machine, following the pattern until my one-of-a-kind Obus party shirt was finished!
I followed a thrifted pattern of an oversized button down, collared shirt but you could follow your favourite pattern in this case. Similar patterns can be found here, here and here.
For the patchwork technique for this one I just arranged my fabric on the floor adding a little overlap for seam allowance.
Cut my pattern out on my rough layout (like we did with collar #1) I then sewed all the pieces together to make the panel.
For sleeves and other small patterns like facing, collar and the pocket, I was able to fit the pattern on the fabric without patch-working.
Once I had all my pieces, I zoomed away on my sewing machine, following the pattern until my one-of-a-kind Obus party shirt was finished!
“Being able to repurpose fabric that would otherwise end up in waste is such a fulfilling endeavour & it bring a beautiful story & intentionality to your clothing. I loved getting to explore working with a lot of different high quality textiles - from cotton to more crepe/ lightweight fabrics, to cord and even canvas - there was so much variety. I still have a little stack of remnants left after my 3 projects and I’m so excited to keep them in store for patching up jeans and mending clothes in my closet over time!
I salute all of you sustainable fairies! Whatever you make with you bundle - we can’t wait to see. Tag @obusclothing & @fromcarlyb and show us what you’ve made!
Good luck & happy patch-working.
Love Carly 🧵
