Miss Fisher Chinoiserie Jacket Refashion

The Miss Fisher Fashion quest continues! So far I’ve made some trousers, a skirt, a blouse, a couple hats, and I’ve purchased a few things as well.

I’ve also caught the “refashion” bug, retro-cycling clothes to give them a more vintage look. It’s fun to see what you can make from something discarded, and flexes some little-used sewing muscles. I find making something from scratch quite easy, but re-making an existing garment, having to work around seams and style lines, can be quite tricky!

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Re-cutting old clothing is a wonderfully historical thing to do. There are many examples of 18th century gowns re-made over and over again, as well as Victorian gowns made from literally 100 year old Spitalfields silk. The practice continued well into the 20th century. We think of “Make Do and Mend” as a ’40s thing, but it was big in the 1920s and 30s too.

So in the spirit of our crafty ancestors, I set to work refashioning this:

before – uurrgghhh

It was  a very boxy, thigh-length, large jacket with shoulder pads. The fabric is a faux shantung with an Asian-inspired print. I wanted to do a short jacket to wear with my at-waist pants.

I used a ’50s pattern, but with the cut ’30s boleros in mind. I kept the Mandarin collar and buttons on the existing jacket, but removed the shoulder pads and took the whole thing in, in addition to shortening it. Here’s my refashion:

After – fun!

Miss Fisher loves her jackets and is all about Asian influences, so I think she’d totally go for this bolero. And the hat, which I just couldn’t resist snagging from VenusRetro on Etsy.

Now if only the weather would cool off so I can wear this!