Viva La Liberty, my oversew entry, is made from a collection of shirts. The outfit is a memory palace of fabrics and stories of treasured items.

My family is big on narrative and epic stories.  Objects are given a history, to be recalled should anyone ask.  Locations on a road trip trigger stories of "The time when.."  Everything becoming a part of an intricate memory palace.  So it is natural that the pieces in Viva La Liberty have their own stories too.

This is the story of the pieces in Viva La Liberty.

A collection of Liberty shirts - 9 in total.  While most of the shirts were found in thrift shops, two were made by family members.  These shirts are a tangible evidence of women expressing themselves over the years through their craft and selection of fabrics.

Each shirt is carefully disassembled allowing the fabric to be reused and re-celebrated.  The seams, collars and cuffs are removed before being washed and pressed flat.  The tradition  of disassembling to wash, or reuse, is common with revered garments, such as kimono.
 The oldest shirt belonged to my Great Aunt. The handsewn name tag is testament that it was one of her favourites as it was packed with her when she moved to a nursing home.  During the disassembly of this shirt, the fabric proved too frail for this project. Only the label has been used in the oversewn garments.  The remainder of the fabric has been put aside for use in a creation more suited to it’s delicate state.

A Liberty skirt - This was originally a kit-set for the enthusiastic, but less confident home-sewer.  It came with shirred edging, buttonholes and buttons allowing the discerning woman to make their very own skirt, with minimal effort.
This skirt was given to me by my godmother after years of use.  My love of sewing has always been encouraged by family, though acts of generosity, such as this.  Given a tradition of frugality and love of fabric, this skirt could only be treasured and passed on.  Part of this garment’s story is told through patches concealing buttons that were sewn and resewn, as well as darker areas that were hidden in the deep hems of the original skirt.
A Liberty toddler’s dress - This small dress was passed to me by an Aunt because she thought I would treasure the fabric and “could do something with it”.  It had obviously been sewn at home, with loving hands, and was meant for a child who would only fit it for a brief moment.  Dresses like this illustrates how women have shown love by wrapping their children in the most precious fabrics.

A white linen shirt made by myself in 1993, in my earlier years of home-sewing. This shirt featured everything conformist about the 90’s from paua shell buttons, to copious amounts of billowing white linen. This shirt had been worn by myself, passed to my mother for wearing and then catalogued with those items “too good to throw out” at the back of every wardrobe.  Fortunately, the hand sewn name tag, saw the shirt to returned to me and reinvented in this outfit.  I took great delight in being able to rework my own sewing, as each piece of the shirt was unpicked, pockets removed and buttons put aside.  The newly created garments are both different from and reflective of, the original piece.

Viva La Liberty was entered into the 2016 Oversew Fashion Awards. Following and amazing night at the awards show for this extravaganza of remade, re-imagined and upcycled fashion, I can share the details of this outfit born out of years of collecting fabrics and hours of sewing.   The finished work  features a white linen camisole and a fully reversible circle skirt.


I’ve included the following excerpt from my accompanying entry, to tell the some of the story.

The Outfit

The camisole is based on a vintage 1950’s lingerie pattern, with darted shaping and bias cut body. I’ve updated the style has been updated to incorporate recycled details from a Liberty shirt.

The first side of the skirt features Liberty floral shirts pieced in a radiating spiral, starting with lightest at the top and gradually darkening towards the hem. The use of ombre in placement of fabrics, gives a contemporary edge to the more traditional Liberty prints.

The second side, again celebrates the wonder of Liberty prints with an allover pattern and white linen accent to the hem. This linen strip being the only new fabric visible in the garment.

Viva La Liberty was made possible by a  family tradition of saving, storing and exchanging garments.  The original garment include pieces found, donated and handsewn.  Pieces were gradually added for their texture, pattern and potential.

The finished pieces tell pay homage to Liberty patterns. The Liberty pattern has continued through times where pattern and decoration were dismissed by modernism as irrelevant. The fabrics are made from natural materials including natural linen, cotton and cotton lawn. This outfit tells a story of women choosing quality materials and detailed patterns to express their creativity.



And ….This outfit was judged Runner-Up in the Fire Worx section of the 2016 Oversew Fashion Awards. 

Details of the many, many garments that went into making Viva La Liberty to follow.

Leggings are the true work horse of the wardrobes around here.  This year I reluctantly traced out the largest size in my tried and true pattern.  I find it hard to believe that I really have made this pattern in all sizes from 3 to 8. While I've never written about these before you can see them in the background of many of our adventures over the years.


My favorite has to be yellow leggings.  They make every outfit awesome and have been made again and again in different sizes.  I sometimes wish I could just pull on a pair myself to brighten up dull moments.

I have used NewLook 6639.  As this have been a 6 year journey of legging making, this pattern is sadly out of print. The cover art has dated a little too. You need to look past it to see the magic. This pattern turns the smallest length of stretch fabric into beloved leggings.   The pattern uses 2 pieces (front and back) and sews up very quickly.  If you are looking for something similar, I'd recommend trying Simplicity 8105 or Kwiksew 3958.

In the mean time, I'm on the hunt for a new leggings pattern for my oldest daughter.  Sizes 8+ can be just a little harder to find.  There is the twist that you are no longer dressing toddlers or little kids.  Perhaps she might even be nudging the XS end of the women's patterns that I sew for myself.  Somehow I'm just not ready for that.  I'm delighting that E still spies sparkly fabric in the sewing room and lets me make her clothes.