Tutorial: DIY Simple spats! A refashion
As someone who wears dresses or skirts as often as possible, I often get cold around my lower legs and shins during the "it's-fricking-cold" season. Knitted knee-highs help, but sometimes you want a bit more stylish look... I've always liked both the look and thought of spats. Warm and comfy, and they allow you to make a boot out of shoes and bootlets. Spats are often quite expensive online, and hard (read impossible) to find in stores. At least here in Sweden!
Being in love with refashioning and remaking, I for months had this nagging urge hiding in the back of my mind everytime I used a jacket in my remakes. My eyes would go to the sleeves and their buttons... And this gave me the idea!
But I never proceeded with that nagging thought, exploring it. Until one night earlier this spring, when I simply had too much other work I just HAD to procrastinate.
Here's my description on how I fairly easily made these spats, using a jacket and some faux leather. Some parts are a bit tricky, but there is no advanced sewing in this.
I had this jacket that I bought at a thrift store for close to nothing. I planned on using it for a handbag, as I liked the soft colors.
Please forgive the crappy image quality and the lack of light. I didn't plan on making these spats or the tutorial, I just started taking pictures on a whim, and the sewing was a bit sloppy. I just made them as a test for fun, but they turned out quite well, if you ask me.
I started by chopping off the sleeves just below the armpits.
I tried the sleeves on my legs, to see how they fit. I was in luck, they were just a little too tight around my calves, otherwise they fit surprisingly well! Mark with pins where the sleeves are too tight -or too loose. (This tutorial will only show how I made them WIDER, not more fitted) You'll need some ease around your ankles, so don't make them slim fit around there..
Measure your legs and compare with the width of the sleeves in the same places, within your previous pin marks. This is to figure out about how much width you'll need to add. (or reduce, but as I said, I wont show that today) We're ging to add a wedge to the inside seam, so yu need to find out how long and wide it needs to be. Spats come in all lengths, I wanted below knee.
Open up the inside seam from where you'll need to start widening your sleeve. Continiue all the way up to the cut edge or to where ever you've decided you'll need to add material.
Open up the same seam of the lining, too.
After some measuring and guessing, I cut a trianglular template matching my measurements, that I thought would do the trick and give my spats-to-be a nice shape. Remember that they need to be a bit tight around your calves, or they'll slip down. Not very spatish if they look like bunched up tweed leg warmers...
I used a brandy colored faux leather as the colors coordinated well togehter. The "leather" has a tiny bit of stretch in it which I thought could come in handy, too. Add seam allowance and cut around your template. Only cut one. When you've finished your first spat, and have a god fit, you simply trace the finished wedge with plastic or pattern paper to make a copy of that piece. That way, if you make changes to this first one during your work, you wont have to make them again.
Put the point of your leather at the point where your seam starts to open ('cause you unpicked it) and fasten it centered with a pin. The seam allowance of the leather point should be below the opening of the seam, where the seam is intact.
Now comes a slightly tricky part, if you want enclosed seams within. If you don't care about hiding the raw edges it's easier.
No raw edges inside: You'll have to sandwich the edge of the leather wedge between the outer fabric and the lining. Both fabrics should have their seam allowances still pressed (from the ripped seam), so you should be able to pinch them together. Pin in the seam allowances only if you're using leather of fake leather, as pin holes will show.
Don't care about raw edges: Bring the two fabric edges, outer and lining, together and pin them to the edge of the wedge.
Do this on both sides until you have something that looks like this: (Please disregard that I made my wedge too short...! Remember that it was just a test for fun... O.o)
Carefully try on this sleeve full of pins and adjust any fit issues now.
There! With new, fresh bandaids on your bleeding fingers, it's time to sew! Ok.. this is pretty tricky. But it's only two straight seams.
I tried sewing both from the upper edge and from the point. Both ways were bunchy indeed, but I think starting at the edge was slightly better. So, begin at the upper edge and edge stitch your way down. Go slowly and be patient. Remove pins as you go to avoid broken needles or crooked seams. Make sure you stitch the very point a little extra, to refasten the seam you've unpicked.
Hooray! Wedge in place! Once you've stopped dancing around with joy, it's time to make a nice top edge for your spat. It's also time to decide what length you want it to be. Make sure the edges and any pattern match and are nice and even.
Either you just turn the fabric over twice and stitch it down, like a hem, or you make a cuff from same or other material. I used the same "leather" as before. I began by measuring the width at the top, and compared this to the width around my leg at the same point.
I cut a strip that was twice as long as the measurement across the sleeve top + seam allowance, and made it as wide as I wanted it + seam allowances around.
To avoid that the cuff gets too wide at the bottom, you'll need to taper it slightly, just about 1 cm/half an inch. Fold your strip right sides together and sew as the line indicates. (This might not apply if you're making spats that end mid-calf, for example. My spats end right where my leg starts to narrow, above my calf, so the cuff needs some shape to sit snugly and not gap)
Great! Now you'll have a leather circle that is slightly smaller on one side.
Put your cuff inside your sleeve, right sides together, with the wide edge along the top edge of the sleeve. Pin in the seam allowance or use clips. You should have this:
I matched the seam of the cuff to one of the wedge's seams. Sew around the top.
Now you should have this:
Try it on to make sure it fits your leg as you desire!
Time has come to hem the cuff. When hemming is due, I always use my beloved measure-thingy. It is such a help whe making exact hems! (Edit* Seam gauge. Thanks!)
Any how. Fold over the seam allowance of the cuff. If you're using fabric, and not leather, press it slightly before sewing.
I wanted to sew from the right side, so I turned the sleeve inside out. (yes, it looks dreadful on the wrong side! Remember, experiment!)
Turn everything right sides again. Press gently if you're using fabric. Fold the cuff down and prepare to fasten it. Make sure it's evenly folded all around.
Sew a button or two as fastening and nice detail. You could also use ribbon, lace or other as you please.
Whoop whoop! One done! Now just copy the wedge you've sewn into the first one, and repeat all above!
They certainly aren't pefect for close inspection, but they are good enough for me! And I'm quite picky ;) I'm sure the next pair will be a breeze to make!
I hope you like this refashion idea and that some of you give it a try! Please show me if you do! Feel free to ask any questions.
/Karin
