Tag Archives: reworked

Yesterday was market day!

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Barton's Sunday MarketYesterday we did our first stall at NOT the Camden Market in Beeston near Nottingham. They run on the first Sunday of every month and last month we went to have a look around, liked it, so decided to do our first ever stall there.

I knew that it would be different to our eBay and Etsy shops, so I wasn’t sure what stock to take, so had to take quite a mixture of goodies. This meant quite a lot of trips to and from the car, but it was worth it to see what things people liked at this market, rather than on the online shops. I also took along some new things that I hadn’t even tried online yet.

Well, we sold a few things and took a few orders, spoke to some lovely people, and made some new stallholder friends. It was also encouraging to have a few people say that their daughters would love the clothes we have and would bring them next time or point them in the direction of our online stores.

Also, we were asked a number of times if we would be at the next event as folks were already starting to think about Christmas pressies – we’d better get cracking on more Christmas stock!

Quirky Purple stall at Barton's Not the Camden Market Quirky Purple stall at Barton's Not the Camden Market Quirky Purple stall at Barton's Not the Camden Market
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Reworking, customising, fading and studding

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I do like to mooch around the garden centre looking for plants that are a bit sad and neglected, and usually in the bargain bucket. I like to buy them, build them up and pop them in the garden or allotment. Most of my garden is stocked with bargain rack plants – and my garden is blooming nicely thank you!

I tend to also like mooch around charity shops and look through the rails to look for odd little items that look a bit sad and neglected. I like to try and think what I can do with them to revive them and make someone want them again.

Well I’ve been working my was through my pile and seeing what I can do with them. I posted an article a little while ago about reworking an old shirt and I’ve been doing some similar things to some other shirts.

Below is what I’ve done with a few shirts – mainly cutting and studding:Reworked and customised shirts at Quirky Purple

Here’s some of the cut of jeans/shorts that I’ve been working on – these have been cut, bleached, and studded:Reworked and customised denim shorts at Quirky Purple

Here’s a few skirts that I’ve recently customised – these have been studded mainly:Reworked and customised skirts at Quirky Purple

It’s quite nice seeing what they actually become as I don’t always know exactly what I’m going to do, and it kind of evolves as I work with the garment.

I’m always on the look out to try new things to try so I’d be interested to hear of any new projects I could try!

These reworked, customised items are available in our Quirky Purple Online Shop – happy shopping!

Rework that ‘ole shirt

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One of the things I love to do it give something new lease of life. Very often I’ll look at something in the shops, in my wardrobe or online and see something I like about it, but not everything. Then I know that I can make it better with a little bit of TLC – and usually some hard work and a bit of swearing!

A lot of shirts on the High Street at the moment are sleeveless. A lot of shirts in charity shops are long-sleeved. There’s a solution! Below is a step by step guide for a shirt that I recently re-worked.

 Reworked shirt part one Take a man’s shirt. Oversize is better. The one here is an extra-large.
You will need a stitch-picker and a pair of scissors.
I also used collar-tips to give the shirt a new look
 Reworked shirt part three Find the seam for the sleeve and unpick with the stitch-picker.
Take care with the stitch-picker as they are very sharp and you can cut the material by mistake (if not your fingers).
 Reworked shirt part 4 Once you have unpicked the seam, then use scissors to cut the sleeve off.
I prefer to use little cuticle scissors for this as they are a little bit more accurate for this delicate work.
 Reworked shirt part four Here’s the first sleeve removed.Check it over and remove any of those irritating little pieces of removed cotton.
Also check that you haven’t snipped any other bits of seams.If you have snipped a bit of say the seam that goes under the arm, get a needle and thread and finish these off.
You don’t want it unravelling when you wear it!
 Reworked short part six Here’s both sleeves removed.You’re nearly there now.
It’s time to add any extras like collar tips.

This is the finished article – looks fab doesn’t it – great with leggings or skinny jeans:

Reworked short - finished article

This shirt in the demo is currently for sale in our online shop at: http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Quirky-Purple

I’ve also done a similar rework with other shirts and playsuits. Below are a few more examples of what you can create with just a little bit of time and patience (and swearing when you slice yourself with the stitch-picker). Sorry, but a couple of these have sold already.

Other reworked items

Quirky Purple logoAbove is just an example of some of the things we have  for sale on our eBay shop – stock changes daily. Check us out!
http://stores.ebay.co.uk/Quirky-Purple