Wool Pants

I feel not so much stuck in a blogging rut...more like bogged and the wheels are just spinning deeper and deeper.  

I want to blog this project in the appropriate season.  No point blogging winter pants in summer.  I'd like to get them blogged before I move onto to later projects.  Only I haven't managed to get photos that show the pants very well.  And I combined a dubious pattern with dubious fabric, which I often do, because that way I am not throwing good money after bad.  Just throwing all my shopping mistakes in together.  So here they are, Stylearc Teddy Designer Pant  in green wool twill.

The pattern has wide pleats down the front.  Previous reviewers said that the pleats just flapped open.  I tried top-stitching the pleats to see if this would help, but it didn't, so then I went and stitched the pleats down at intervals, as you can see in the top lightened photo.  

I also have trouble styling the dark green twill so that they don't look masculine / fuddy-duddy.  I have been wearing them because they are warm, but not out of the house so much.

Not red velvet

Twenty years ago, I was very taken with a girl I saw wearing red velvet pants.  I went out and bought some red velvet the next day (actually cheap red velveteen, because I didn't have much money then).  Only I didn't have the confidence to make and wear red velvet pants.  The velveteen sat in my stash for years and years and eventually I gave it away in one of my house moves.

Then a few years ago I saw this patterned red denim at EmmaOneSock and thought it would be a better way to fulfill my 20 year old vision.  I used an old Vogue Alice and Olivia pattern that had been stashed and never used, V2812.

I still feel that red is a bit dramatic for my everyday, but I did wear these trousers to the pop-up Globe Theatre to watch Hamlet.  I don't think you could over-do the drama for Hamlet :).

Jalie Vanessa Pant

When I bought some of the new Jalies, I took the opportunity to add some of their previous releases to my cart, including the Vanessa fluid pants.  I do have similar patterns, but I have seen so many great versions of these made up that I thought I would give them a go.

This is my second pair.  My first pair was made in a chambray from Spotlight, just guessing at the fitting changes I would need.  I made a few more tweaks to the pattern before sewing this version.

The fabric is a tencel from EmmaOneSock, and a much lovelier quality than my Spotlight version..  It looks grey, but the frayed threads after washing show that the threads are black in one direction and a mix of white and olive green in the other.  I prewashed the fabric at least 3 times, because I have had issues with tencel in the past, in that it continues to shrink wash after wash after wash (sadly these Stylearc jamie pants have quickly become too short and tight).

I love the look of woven joggers of others, but somehow the reality has never looked the same on my legs. I don't have supermodel legs.  Even though these have an elastic waist, I thought I would work on the fitting, to remove the saggy under-the-bum bit, and make the pants a little more streamlined through the thigh.

I followed a fitting tutorial by Lena of Iconic Patterns for a flat seat adjustment that actually works.  I wouldn't have thought I had a flat seat, but it seemed to do the trick.

I'm pretty happy with the outcome.  I'll have to remember this fitting method and apply it to some of my other pants patterns.

I did borrow the hem detail from the Stylearc Jamie pants, with its cuff front and elasticated back.  The legs might be a little long, but I am short the tencel will shrink some more in spite of all my pre-washing.

This wasn't the outfit I was planning on wearing.  I had a lovely new white linen Stylearc Teddy top picked out, but I was heading out for breakfast and didn't want to end up with egg on my white linen.  So instead I grabbed this self drafted tank top that I have been meaning to blog anyway.  The side seams wrap to the front, which was necessary to get the top to fit out of these beautifully matched remnants.  The front is linen remnant that I bought in a Miss Matatabi sale and the rayon back is leftovers from a jumpsuit I made my daughter.

Stylearc Jamie Pants

I have been wanting a pair of green trousers for a while now.  There are so many shades of green that "green trousers" isn't really enough of a description.  I was thinking of a darker green that could be considered a neutral.  So I was pretty excited when I saw the EmmaOneSock listing for fern green viscose rayon garbardine   (I'm thinking about buying the loden colour next).  Good quality plain fabrics just doesn't seem to come by often enough.

For the pattern, I went with the Stylearc Jamie Pants, which are just choc-a-bloc with details.  There are patch pockets, knee patches, an interesting cuff that is folded at the front and elasticated at the back, drawstring, back welt pockets and on the inside, the fly facing has a really lovely shape.

I was all set to cut these out, wanting to get them made as quickly as possible, when I observed that the crotch shape looked quite different to my usual trouser patterns.  I am still fairly new to Stylearc and haven't worked out the fitting changes I need, so I put my scissors down and went hunting for some calico to make a muslin.  Lucky I did, because I couldn't actually do these trousers up.  The pants are pretty close fitting, and combined with my own fit issues, the zip wouldn't close even though there was sufficient fabric to go around me.

I didn't mean to set out on a pants fitting journey, but it took me 3 muslins to get to a point where I was happy.  Clearly, far from perfect, but I don't know how to make them better and now I can do them up.

I would love to get help fitting a pants block, but I don't tend to live anywhere near a pants fitting workshop.  I'll put it on my bucket list for when the kids leave home.

Now some close-ups of the details.

Lovely cuffs.

I used grommets for the drawstring waist.  The gathers at the top of the pocket are due partly to lousy ironing, but also took a fitting dart in the trouser underneath and just eased the pocket in to fit rather than put a dart in the pocket.

Patch pockets.  I put the pocket facings on the outside of the pockets.

Knee patches.  I shortened the legs of the pattern, but if I make these again with knee patches, I think the patches need to be a bit lower on my legs.  I must have shortened in the wrong place.

Back Pockets 

The fabric care was for dry-cleaning, but I don't get my regular clothes dry-cleaned.  The fabric does shrink  or tighten up in the wash, and then relaxes with ironing and wearing.

Sewing Bee Trousers + Cami

The last round of the PR Sewing Bee was to sew a day to night outfit for fashion week.  I decided to sew trousers and a cami, with an over top for day.  I'll save the over top for another post.

The trousers were made in a cotton damask from EmmaOneSock, using Vogue 1035 (alice + olivia).


I did have one lucky break when cutting these trousers out. I did not muslin these trousers, as I have made other alice + olivia trouser patterns successfully. I had only enough fabric for the outer pieces to be cut in my main fabric. The waistband facing needed to be cut from something else. I cut the waistband facing first to check the size I needed. It was way too short. I went back through past pattern reviews and found an early review where another sewer had the same problem. Later reviews didn't mention it, so I wonder if Vogue corrected this error. Anyway, it meant that I found the problem before cutting into my main fabric, saving me from potential disaster.

I went to a bit of effort with the construction of the trousers.  Some of the trouser details are

- the fronts are partially lined to below the knee, to minimise bagging at the knee. To attach the partial lining, I cut out the lining as for the fronts, only shorter, and sewed the lining to the fronts all around the piece edges. From that point, I could consider the lining and outer as a single unit. The bottom of the lining is finished with a strip of lace, which is a pretty detail (and not really planned.  I repurposed the silk from an old slip that already had the lace attached).

- the pocket lining is made from the same luxurious silk as the camisole

- the waistband facing is made from linen (which makes them comfortable to wear, but was really because I did not have enough of the fashion fabric to cut the facing).  

- the hems are finished with grosgrain ribbon. The ribbon is positioned so that it sits just below the hem, to prevent wear on the bottom hem edge of the trousers. A second benefit of the grosgrain ribbon is that it holds the hem shape nicely. To sew the grosgrain hem band, I placed the grosgrain on the outside of the pants, with the top edge of the grosgrain ribbon positioned at my hem length. I sewed the ribbon on, about 1/8 inch from the top edge of the ribbon. I then flipped the ribbon to the inside of the pants. The 1/8 inch hangs below the trouser hem, providing protection from wear whilst being nearly invisible.
- the waist edge and pockets are stayed with rayon seam tape, to maintain shape and fit throughout the day.

The camisole was self-drafted, and made up in a silk crepe de chine from Tessuti.

I drafted this pattern last year, but had only got around to making it up in a cotton lawn, where it fit perfectly. It was a whole different story in the silk, and I had to make some changes to the dart and side seams.

First time around, I sewed it in a single layer and used self made bias binding to finish the edges. It turned out to be too sheer, so I had to unpick all that binding (3 passes of sewing) I ended up taking it on a camping trip with me to unpick in the bright sunshine). When I got home, I cut a second camisole out and made the top double layer.  One layer was meant to be longer than the other layer, but somehow that didn't quite work out, so one layer is longer in the front and the other longer in the back. Lucky I was tucking it in for the photos.

French seams throughout and I sewed the hems in 3 passes rather than use the narrow hem foot.  I am finding the 3 pass method more reliable in shifty silks.

I love the resulting outfit, but it certainly is a lot brighter than the other entries.  Also, some of the other contestants sewed jackets, which I always think is the hardest thing, so I don't know how I'll go.  No matter, I love the clothes I made, so I guess I am a winner, whatever the outcome of the competition.

Metallic Linen Joggers

Sewing is my relaxation at the moment, so I have been sticking to relatively quick and easy projects.

I bought this interesting fabric from Oddz and Endz in Noosa, before they closed.  I was told that it was linen, though it must be a linen blend because one side of the fabric is shiny.  It certainly creases like linen though!  Initially I had Vogue 1323 earmarked for this fabric, but when I had a recent binge on Burda sale patterns, I picked up Burda 6938.  Burda pants are generally a better draft for me, and this one had a lower waistline, which I prefer, so I went with the Burda.  I did like some of the features of the Vogue pattern, so I cherrypicked the features I wanted and added them to the Burda pattern.

I made the following changes to the Burda pattern;

I changed the pocket opening.  The pattern originally called for in-seam pockets, but I wanted to make a bit more of a feature of them.

I added a single back jetted pocket.  These are only elastic-waisted pants, but the fit at the back looks pretty good.  The only fitting change I made was to reduce both the front and back crotch extensions, which is a pretty typical alteration for me.  I didn't make a muslin first.  I just sort of guessed how much to shorted the extensions.

I added elasticated cuffs.  My cuffs are 4 cm wide, to suit the elastic I used.  Initially I removed 4 cm in length from the pattern, before adding the cuff, but this wasn't enough.  In the end, I removed 9 cm in length before adding the cuff.  I am about the height that Burda patterns are drafted for (168 cm), but I have a long body / short legs, so maybe this is why I had to remove extra.

I put elastic in all 3 rows of the waistband casing, not just the outer two.

Being pear-shaped, it may not be the best idea to put something light and shiny on my bottom half. This seemed  more obvious when I looked back at the photos than it did in the planning phase, but I have already worn these out several times and plan to keep on doing so!

Flared Pants

I didn't know just how much I've been wanting a pair of wide legged drapey pants until I made these!

The pattern is Vogue 1059 - an alice + olivia designer pattern from 2008.  I think I bought all of the alice + olivia pants patterns when they came out.

The fabric is a rayon crepe from The Fabric Store.  Initially I thought that I bought enough for a top / bottom combo (a la lizajane) but I'm not sure if I do have enough left for a top.  Never mind, these pants seem to go with so many tops that I already own.  My favourite combo is with this reversible swing top (featured here).  The top is mauvy pink / indigo and the pants navy / cream / burgundy, but they seem a pretty good colour match in real life (better than the photos!).  The bodgy hem on the top still annoys me though.  I'll have to redo it one day.

The pants have a wide waistband.  I wasn't sure how it would look in the chevron fabric, but the mismatched chevrons don't bother me.  In the past, I have cut size 12 / 14 for the alice + olivia patterns.  I had just started cutting these when I read the hip measurements on the pattern - the bonus of using commercial patterns - and decided to cut a 16 instead.  I didn't want to put any stress on the fabric.  Then I decided that maybe I should go for the 18 instead.  My hip measurement puts me between the 16 and the 18.  In the end, I cut a 16 front and an 18 back.  The pants had a tendency to fall down, more because rayon crepe has a heavy drape than because of a fit issue, so I sewed a narrow elastic to the seam allowance of the top edge of the waistband, which seems to have done the trick.

The pants have an invisible zipper at the back.  I don't think that I have sewn pants with a back zipper for over 20 years.  Makes for a quick sew.  You can see that I haven't under-stitched the waistband facing and  so the facing is peeking out a little - I wanted to see how the elastic worked out first.

I did go to the effort of pattern matching my picket openings, but I didn't pattern match the side seams so it is all a bit of a mess of strips there anyway.

So, it only took me 8 years to sew this pattern up....why did it take so long???  I'm sure the next pair will come around sooner.

Jersey Layers

I got my daughter to take a quick snap when I realised that two of the garments in my outfit today are not-quite-recent unblogged makes.

 

The top is Tessuti's Mandy boat tee, made up in a silk jersey.  I made a slight modification by adding side splits and cutting a hi-low hem.  Possibly I made adjustments to the length also.

The bottoms are a shorter version of this track pants pattern mash-up, made up in a rayon jersey.  I wish I had made the elastic a smidge tighter as they have a tendency to slip down when I am wearing them.

The tank top was previously reviewed here.  It hasn't worked its way into my wardrobe too much, so I was pleased to incorporate it into an outfit today.

My daughter made me the necklace from some shrinky dink plastic.

Bees and Dragonflies

Buying beautiful fabric is one of the most enjoyable aspects of sewing for me and I own quite a number of beautiful pieces.  This particular fabric caught my eye the moment it popped up on my computer screen.  I ordered it straight away, and then had to wait as it sold out and wait for the next lot to come in on back order, and then wait as it finally winged its way to me. 

Now, I am not generally an over-excitable person.  I read other blogs where people goo and gush over a fabric, or a pattern feature...sometimes thinking to myself...really, are you that excited about a princess seam? or a wool gabardine? or converting long sleeves to short sleeves?  I know, I know...mostly I keep my grinch thoughts to myself.  Now it is my turn to gush (and you are welcome to your own grinch thoughts!).  I found this fabric to be so beautiful that I couldn't bear for it to make its way to the stash and lose potency.  Straight from the mail bag, to the washing machine, and onto the cutting table.

All along, I knew I wanted this fabric to become a pair of wide-legged pants.  The fabric is linen, so I thought that elastic waisted would be best.  Initially, I was going to try a new Patrones pattern with flared legs, but I was a bit short of fabric, so I went with a pattern I had made previously.  I changed it a little by adding a separate waistband piece.  This was so I could have a slit in the waistband, off-centre to the front, where I could add a silk drawstring sash.  I haven't made the sash yet, so it doesn't feature in my photos.

My vision is to wear these pants with a silk sleeveless blouse.  I don't own that blouse yet, but my scrappy tank top fits with my vision well enough.

I could also go for a more summery vibe, by partnering them with my Tessuti Fave top (after looking at this link, I think this top has shrunk substantially since that first blog wearing...that must be why I don't wear it so much anymore...I should make a new one).

Today I wore them more casually with a linen tee, dressed up a little with heels. 

The print makes me happy.  I know that I will be wearing these for a long time...when the print fades and the linen distorts, I be able to keep wearing these as pyjama pants.  I will be wearing these for a long time.  And that makes me happy too.

PS I just saw that there will be more of this fabric available in June.  Just in case you want a piece for your very own.

Track Pants

When everyone was making their Hudsons and their Animas earlier this year, I wanted a pair too, but I didn't feel like splashing out on a pattern for elastic waisted pants, so I hunted through my pattern collection for something that would work.

I ended up starting with Jalie 2914, a men's pattern for gymnastics longs.  It had the tapered legs I was looking for and was not too high waisted.  I cut off the legs at the ankles  and added a cuff.



I borrowed the waistband and pocket details from Burda 5/2011 #128.



I'm pretty happy with how they turned out.  I made the pockets out of a white sports mesh, which peeks out a little bit.  I'll have to fix that up before next winter and I need to replace the drawstring with one that doesn't slip out quite so easily. 

Now I can spend my pattern pennies on a more complicated design...I've been inspired by some Marfy projects popping up in the blogs, so a Marfy order may just be part of my near future.