Opulent Poppy: Homemade Clothes from bedsheets

[Kaylee]

I've done this before, but most sheets don't really work for adult clothes because they don't hang right and because most modern sheets are just thin and stiff and cheap looking (but not too different from the quilting cotton that several "modest clothing" makers use now). OTOH, I have made a few circle skirts out of old fabric tablecloths and have gotten several complements on one of them.

[Guest Anonymous]

Any fans of Etiquette Hell here? One of the stories of a beleaguered bridesmaid talked about the bride making her BM dress out of bedsheets. There is a photo of the dress on the site and I recognized the Laura Ashley sheets in that dress that once had on my own bed. She fabric really looked sheet-ish.

I guess the type of sheets and the patterns make a huge difference in how sheet-based clothing will look.

Scarlett O'Hara was pretty good with the curtains too. Rhett Butler saw right through her though.

Carol Burnette was pretty good at it too, if you ever saw her parody of "Gone With The Wind", with the curtain rod sticking out from her shoulder blades.

[kittypie]

Pffft. If I could sew, I would make a muumuu out of a bedsheet for around the house. Being fat and of a certain age, I can't imagine anything more comfy. :)

[Conuly]

Meh. Fabric is fabric. It's not like she's making them wear garbage bags. (Does she cut her sheets sides to middle to make them last longer before they enter the scrap bag?)

[ADoyle90815]

I seem to remember having at least one Halloween costume made from bedsheets, and not just as a ghost either. As long as there are no stains, it's just fabric. Old sheets have also been known to be used for college toga parties, as in Animal House.

[fluttershies]

Maybe I'm just trashy, but that foliage-patterned skirt is really nice imo. I also like her shirt dresses. Her homemade clothing looks a whole lot nicer than those of many fundies, and she dresses pretty well I think.

Also I know she didn't make them but I wish I could get those rib-trim shirts in the UK - what a good idea!

Edited to add that yeah, fabric is fabric. I've seen some great skirts made from thrifted sheets and curtains, and bags made from 70s floral print bed linen.

[Kitten]

I'm not a brilliant seamstress by any means, so what's the difference between a cotton sheet and a length of cotton fabric of the same weight/threadcount/whatever? Why would a bolt of identical cotton fabric hang any differently? I mean, the threads run vertically and horizontally in both, right? Wouldn't the "drape" depend on how you cut the pattern?

[ilovetchotchkes]

I'm not a brilliant seamstress by any means, so what's the difference between a cotton sheet and a length of cotton fabric of the same weight/threadcount/whatever? Why would a bolt of identical cotton fabric hang any differently? I mean, the threads run vertically and horizontally in both, right? Wouldn't the "drape" depend on how you cut the pattern?

You can get cotton sheets from thrift stores for dirt cheap.

I actually can't wait to make pillow case dresses for girl fetus. - Something she can run around in in the back yard, get insanely filthy in and my heart isn't broken when it looks like hell. :)

[fluttershies]

I'm not a brilliant seamstress by any means, so what's the difference between a cotton sheet and a length of cotton fabric of the same weight/threadcount/whatever? Why would a bolt of identical cotton fabric hang any differently? I mean, the threads run vertically and horizontally in both, right? Wouldn't the "drape" depend on how you cut the pattern?

Most sheets nowadays are not 100% cotton but usually polycotton, which is not as nice as pure cotton, and dressmaking fabric usually has a higher thread count than sheets anyway. That's why sheets are often more stiff and hang differently.

[0 kids n not countin]

Check out her 3/15/12 post, she made a jean-skirt out of her dad's old jeans. I remember on one episode of 19k&c, the girls made skirts out of pants to wear when the do the volunteer fireman stuff.

[fluttershies]

It makes a lot of sense though? I mean, denim is a good hard-wearing fabric, it makes sense to reuse it. IDK, during clothes rationing in WW2, people made coats out of blankets and unravelled old wool sweaters to knit something else from the yarn - making new clothes from old ones isn't anything new. It's how poor people (and often people who aren't even *that* poor) have made clothes for decades, it's just practical, not to mention more eco-friendly. It makes me think of Marge Simpson and her thrifted Chanel suit :)

[Kaylee]

Check out her 3/15/12 post, she made a jean-skirt out of her dad's old jeans. I remember on one episode of 19k&c, the girls made skirts out of pants to wear when the do the volunteer fireman stuff.

That's really, really common though. I remember even non-fundie people doing it when I was younger.

I'm in the process of remaking some old jeans into a skirt now, put I'm not doing it the normal way because I don't like the whole look of just splitting the legs and sewing fabric in between. I'm saving the top, pockets, etc and cutting the legs into strips to sew back on sideways for sort of a tiered/patchwork type thing.

[oscar]

I'm not a brilliant seamstress by any means, so what's the difference between a cotton sheet and a length of cotton fabric of the same weight/threadcount/whatever? Why would a bolt of identical cotton fabric hang any differently? I mean, the threads run vertically and horizontally in both, right? Wouldn't the "drape" depend on how you cut the pattern?

In my experience, neither one is great for making adult garments - at best, it might work for a "crisp" piece without any gathers, like a shirt or shirtwaist dress, but it takes some skill to be able to fit these garments properly so they don't look like crap. Cutting on the bias does increase drape, but that's not going to make percale or sateen act like lawn or batiste, and again, working with fabric on the bias demands some care and experience if you don't want your garment to look homemade in a bad way.

I think this lady's botanical-print bedsheet skirt is cute, but sheets are a poor choice for the wrap dresses she seems to favor - that crispness is a bit too reminiscent of scrubs.

Personally, I always try to make a wearable muslin, so I've ended up with some shirts and dresses made from secondhand bedsheets. It's never occurred to me to be ashamed of them, because the quality of the things I can make is better than the things I can afford to buy.

[Penny]

My sister and I volunteered at the local theatre as ushers when we were tweens. Little did we know that the uniforms were peasant blouses and skirts made of gingham checked bedsheets. We always got alot of compliments on the outfits, but they were awful! I think it would have been just as cost effective to buy a couple of bolts of gingham fabric and looked a whole lot better!

[Seven Severn]

I've only used bedsheets as togas (Cleopatra for Halloween when I was twelve, fuck yeah!), but I can see how some sheets would make nice clothes for kids. Not for me, though, since most bedsheets don't drape well, and I am pretty curvy. I mostly just used old bedsheets to make forts and tents when I was little (and by little I mean, I made one last year with my friends in a dorm lounge). Then again, both my mom and I lack sewing skills, so I just get all my clothes from Target.

Abed?

[Glass Cowcatcher]

Well I must admit I am a bit surprised by the support for bedsheet clothes :P

I want to be clear that I'm not snarking on the lady's ability to sew because she looks to be good at that. It just seems over-the-top thrifty to me and, I know I sweat into my sheets, so to me there's an ick factor.

[Wolfie]

I think the vintage sheet worked well for the gored skirt. The only major problem with sheeting for clothes is that it doesn't tend to drape well when used in larger pieces, as it wasn't woven with fashion drape and handle in mind.

It's no different than many woven cottons. If you are using a pattern made for woven cotton bedsheets can work well. But it's like anything else, you have to pick the right pattern for the fabric/ or the opposite.

I haven't made any clothes out of bedsheets, but I"ve been tempted. Generally by the time I'm done with sheets, they're so old that they become scrap fabric for mock ups, or rags. And on the issue of odd clothing- it can be made with old sheets as easily as with brand new fabric, and the same with in style clothing.

[Wolfie]

Well I must admit I am a bit surprised by the support for bedsheet clothes :P

I want to be clear that I'm not snarking on the lady's ability to sew because she looks to be good at that. It just seems over-the-top thrifty to me and, I know I sweat into my sheets, so to me there's an ick factor.

I don't see how well washed second hand clothes are any different than well washed bedsheets.

[Glass Cowcatcher]

I don't see how well washed second hand clothes are any different than well washed bedsheets.

It just squicks me.

[Conuly]

It just squicks me.

Well, sure, but you must realize that's your own personal issue. I mean, you presumably sweat into your clothing as well, right?

[Glass Cowcatcher]

Well, sure, but you must realize that's your own personal issue. I mean, you presumably sweat into your clothing as well, right?

Yes, and I said as much in these posts.

[Conuly]

I guess I was just thrown by the fact that you made a point of commenting on how surprised you are that other people don't find anything that gross about reusing sheets in this way.

[Glass Cowcatcher]

I guess I was just thrown by the fact that you made a point of commenting on how surprised you are that other people don't find anything that gross about reusing sheets in this way.

I'm surprised that so many people would consider using them for clothes at all, we are not instead of buying actual fabric, since we have snarked on uber-thrifty fundies before.

There's other reasons why I find used bedsheets strange for sewing clothes. The fabric may be worn thin or poorly suited for clothes, and the pattern (as in her first skirt, to me) may just look bedsheety, no matter what it's made of.

[Deleted06]

Back in the day my Grandma would make herself blouses from new sheets...if it was on sale and had a pretty design.

[fluttershies]

Old/thrifted bedsheets have often been used for clothes though, along with old curtains etc. It's not an example of fundie speshul snowflake thriftiness, just something a lot of less wealthy people have done. Fabric is fabric, and this blogger doesn't seem to be uber-thrifty in general. Decent-quality dressmaking fabric is not cheap to buy new, so it seems sensible to use what you can if you have clothing needs that mainstream shops don't cater for. It's not just fundies who have this issue - an older lady from my old church makes all her clothes including her swimsuit, because she is so short and petite-framed, and while she could fit into clothing made for young teens it would look inappropriate on a woman in her 60s. Saving money on dressmaking fabric isn't exactly equivalent to using family cloths instead of toilet paper.