Patrones Shorts

These are the shorts from my Sudoku Wardrobe entry.

I have been wanting a new pair of red shorts for ages.  I have a RTW pair that are a smidge on the small side, so I don't wear very often, but I wish that I could.  This medium weight cotton is from The Fabric Store and is a perfect weight for shorts.  I bought the same fabric in yellow as well.

The pattern is from Patrones magazine #338, style 15 (Freesoul Shorts).

The button is another from from jar of Liberty buttons.

I used Liberty tana lawn for the pocket lining.

I didn't muslin these, so I left off the welt pockets (I don't want to mess around with welt pockets if the whole thing is not going to work out).  I should have made a muslin, but competition deadlines and all, I was in a hurry.  I also left off the belt loops, as a style preference.

I changed the waistband pattern piece to be a single continuous length, rather than separate front and back bands.  This is the way I sew my jeans and I really like it.  Of course, it is hard to make adjustments later, but I just tweak the hip fit before I sew the waistband on.

This will be my go-to shorts pattern from now.  The cut feels more RTW than some of my other shorts patterns.  I think the front crotch curve and shape of the inner leg seam is the difference.

Adding hardware details

This outfit emerged from a need for quick gratification sewing, whilst I am struggling with sleeve fitting in my craftsy class.  Sewing is my number one hobby, but it is not all joy and bubbles.  Fitting slopers (or anything really) drags me down.

First up, burdastyle 6633, a tunic.  I know that I said I was not going to buy any new patterns, but I picked up a few at a sale price of $4.50 last week. Tracing paper costs almost as much.

I made view B.  My sleeves are longer, but that is only because I cut on the the line for View A and then found that I did not have enough of my contrast fabric for cuffs.  The sleeves are actually surprisingly narrow for this style of tunic, and sometimes I can feel the fabric straining through the upper arm as I go about my daily business.  I thought that burda patterns fit me alright in the shoulder, but you can see in the photo below that my forward, square shoulder is busting to get out of there.  The slightly dropped shoulder line probably doesn't help.

The only change I made to the pattern was to add grommets and lacing.  Now that I have bought the extra dies for my snap press, I need to use them whenever I can!  A reviewer over at Patternreview found that the neck opening on this tunic was a bit low (any surprise, burda??), and I would have found it too low as well, if I did not add the lacing.  You can see that the neck opening is lower than the bust darts, which I think would lead to gaping on most people.

The tunic has a curved hem.  Does anyone else struggle with curved hems?  I know that curved hems are flattering, but I do find them tricky to sew neatly.  For this tunic, I used the same method that you would use for a narrow hem if you did not have a narrow hemming foot....one row of stitching, fold up and press, second row of stitching, fold up and press, third row of stitching.

The shorts are mostly my own pattern.  I started with my favourite Patrones elastic waisted pants pattern and made the following changes;

- shortened length

- removed height from the front and back rise and added a separate waistband

- added front slant pockets

- added back jetted pockets

- added a cuff

- added side tabs

- took the side seams in 15 mm after making this up, because of the heavier fabric.

In the past, I have thought of elastic waisted shorts mostly as pyjamams.  Then two years ago I bought a few pairs of elastic waisted shorts online, which I loved.  They had lots of extra details, including cuffs, pockets, ties etc.  Last year, I ordered more from the same shop, and for some reason, none of them fit.  They were too big in all sorts of weird ways.  This year, I thought it was time to just make up my pattern for what I wanted.

I copied the cuff detail from a pair of puma shorts I was given as a hand-me-down.  It gives a much crisper cuff than the method I have previously used (and learnt from pattern sheet instructions).  You can see in the photos below that I turned up a double hem, and then flipped the hem to the outside to form the cuff.  I top-stitched the cuff, but the original pair I copied did not have top-stitching.  If I had known that I was going to add the tab, I would have sewn it into the hem before I top-stitched it, but the tab was a last minute add-on and I didn't want to unpick the top-stitching.  You might expect that this method of making the cuff would lead to wear on the bottom edge, but the shorts I copied are hand-me-down and I have been wearing them myself for several years now and they have not worn out on this line.

This is my first time sewing jetted pockets.  Not so neat in the denim, but okay.

  The insides are neat, but you can see I was not using pattern pieces for the pockets as they have ended up different lengths.

I'm pleased I have this shorts pattern now.  The next shorts pattern I want to try is one I rubbed off some RTW Roxy shorts maybe six years ago, but never sewed up.  I found my rub-off when I was looking for something else just recently.  So many things to sew...

Blue Ponte Skirt

There seems to be some sort of disconnect between the person I think I am (avid sewer, can whip a few new garments to spruce up the wardrobe each season) and the person I actually am (person with a large sewing space and expanding fabric stash who only sews easy projects in shorts bursts of activity during the school holidays).

I guess the solution is to like wearing clothes of simple design and simpler construction.  Which this skirt is.

I used the same patrones pattern as this skirt, added as much length as my remnant would allow, eliminated the back darts and extended upwards from the waistline to accommodate a sewn-in elastic waistband.

Quick sew.  Quick blog post.

Beach cover-up

This is another make in a dubious fabric choice.

It is a cotton voile from Oh Sew Noosa.  I have a few cotton or cotton / silk voiles in my stash that I don't know what to do with.  I suspect that the voile is too lightweight to offer good sun protection.  I'm not really one for sheer, floaty tops and it is too hot to layer something underneath.  I prefer to wear a crisper cotton as it feels cooler than a floaty cotton.

For the neck trim I machine-sewed embroidery stitches (on a borrowed machine) onto several layers of linen and then cut between the rows of stitches to give a raggy sort of effect.  I am wondering whether it is time to upgrade my sewing machine.  I have been giving sewing lessons lately and it seems that all my students have better sewing machines than me.

The pattern is from Patrones No. 340 Style 27 Blusa Birger st Mikkelsen.  It has raglan sleeves and a gathered peplum of sorts.  I added several rows of horizontal pleats to shorten the tunic length (an idea I borrowed from Tropical Threads).  I left off the lower sleeve.

I have decided not to renew my subscription to Patrones.  I bought it because it used to have fun summer patterns, including swimwear.  This last summer, it was hard to tell that the summer magazines were any different from other times of year.  And no swimsuits.  The last year seems to have had a gazillion jumpsuit patterns, plenty of shapeless dresses without even a bust dart, millions of blazer and pant patterns that I have little use for and even their blouse patterns seem less likely to have a bust dart than not.  So I did not renew and now I will see whether I miss it or not.  I did like getting a magazine in the mail and my first flick through of each edition was charged with anticipation...only more often than not, followed by disappointment.

On a positive - my blogging is nearly up to date - just one more post tomorrow and I will have finished off the year's posts in a timely manner.

Safari Tank

This is another of my apartment makes.  I bought the fabric to test the runderwear in the Threshold shorts pattern.  The pattern includes both a brief and a g-string.  The g-string provoked much discussion in our house, as I was sewing it at the dining table in the middle of the apartment and my children are not familiar with g-strings.  I was just hoping that it didn't not come up for conversation in show and share at school that day!  Anyway, I am not showing you either the briefs or the g-string, but a tank top that I made with the rest of the fabric.

The pattern is from Patrones No. 340 Style 26.  I had to take it in a massive amount in the side seams.  I only had a little sewing machine with me, so I finished the edges with lingerie elastic.  In our silly photoshoot, I forgot to take a photo of the back, but it has a CB seam, which is good for shaping, and slightly cut-away armholes.

The fabric is a viscose elastane from a local fabric store.

I haven't worn this yet as I haven't decided if it is good enough to wear in public or if I should just wear it with the knickers as a sleep set.

Patrones skirt with side panels and horizontal darts

I love the shocking pink fabric in this skirt, and the patrones pattern is really interesting...but in my love for them both, I didn't realise that deep down I wanted a longer skirt for this fabric.  The skirt is wearable, but it is not the magnificence I was hoping for.

The patrones skirt (I will find the number and put it in here later) has side panels. There are pockets sewn into the panel seams, which is pretty cool.

  
The front horizontal darts are cool, but they don't really match my shape.  I think maybe I could have left off the bottom dart.  The light pink dots actually look grey in real life.

 I compared the pattern to my sloper, but I didn't make a muslin.  I ended up having to take the side panels in quite a bit, because the fabric is so stretchy, which has made my use of the reverse side of the fabric for the panels just look like a bit of a mistake. 


I chose to use a wide elastic for the skirt waist facing, which I think was the right decision, given the stretchiness of the fabric, but it doesn't look nicely finished on the inside.  There is an invisible zipper at the back. 

The colour makes this skirt fun, and I will wear it, but I am not likely to use this pattern again.

Birds

I made this top using Patrones No. 330 (17 Blusa el corte ingles.) and a Milly chiffon from Gorgeous Fabrics.  I rarely sew with chiffon, but I thought that these birds were pretty groovy.  It turns out that the chiffon is not holding up terribly well for my wash 'n wear lifestyle, so I am posting this before the the pulls and tears become obvious (I made it over Christmas).

The fabric is navy, grey and white.  None of these colours suit me, so I made the bottom band in a coloured fabric to help co-ordinate it with my wardrobe.  This has turned out quite practical, as I have worn it with black trousers, mustard trousers and a turquoise skirt.

A made a few modifications to the pattern
- I left off the buttons on the band
- I left off the back neck opening
- I added the knit cuffs
- I took in the sleeves (I was doing a forward shoulder alteration and then thought I would just narrow the front sleeves by the amount I moved the shoulder forward - turns out this was a little too much narrowing of the sleeves are they are too tight now).
- I wasn't sure what to do with the back band - the technical drawing showed that it was elasticated, so I added a casing and inserted elastic. (Since then, I have seen this made up over at Aventuras de costuras and now I know I should have shirred the back waist band).

The elasticised back band and chiffon combine to make the birds look like they are floating, or flying, around.  Quite groovy in real life.

Cape Arnhem (Wanuwuy)

I held off photographing these pyjama pants last weekend, as I knew that I would be wearing them in a much more spectacular location just a few days later.

These photos were taken at Cape Arnhem, known to the Yolgnu people as Wanuwuy.

There is nothing too special about the sewing.  The pattern was a Patrones pattern for elastic waisted pants, no extras, no pockets, no cuffs or anything.  I do like that the pattern is designed to sit on the low waist, which is where I like to wear my pjs.  I did put in the marked buttonholes for a waist tie, but as I don't have anything suitable at the moment, I have not opened the buttonholes yet.  The fabric is  Michael Miller, which I bought for my daughter.  She didn't like it, so I got to keep it.  My last few pairs of pjs have been made from shirting fabric, so these are a bit heavier and warmer than I am used to.  Now with nothing more to say about these, I'll show you a few more pics of the Cape.

Top Cortefiel

An unusually successful sewing weekend for me...3 quick makes; yesterday's skirt, today's t-shirt and some pyjama pants, yet to be photographed.  All from Patrones.  I am totally out of tracing paper and have had to resort to baking paper.

I sewed this one out of interest, more so than a love of the finished product.  The sleeve seam is unlike any pattern that I have used before.

 

I have styled it with yeterday's skirt, just because that is what I was wearing at the time, but possibly it would look better with something more closely fitted, as it is quite boxy.

 

I think the pattern calls for crepe for the upper section and knit for the lower sections.  I made mine all in the one fabric.  This seemed a bit of a waste of the interesting seaming, so I played around with the back design a little.  I widened the upper edge of the lower back, planning on having a cowl below a slit in the back seam.  My fabric did not drape very well, so I ended up pleating out the extra width and leaving the slit.

I have long suspected Patrones of using RTW clothing in their photos. Sometimes the finishes and stitches do not look particularly home sewn.  Sometimes I think I can see a dart on the clothing that is not in the pattern, or vice versa.  Occasionally, it even looks as though there might be a tag on the clothing.  I can't say for certain, but I can say, that the neckline on the model could not possibly be achieved using the pattern I traced off.  The neck was a tight jewel neck before I significantly lowered it and widened it.  I also shortened the sleeves by about 4 cm and took in the sides a bit, as I am between sizes.

So, not feeling the love for the final product, but it is okay and I have tried something new.

Curved hem detail

I just finished this skirt from Patrones No 330 (20 Falda Mango).  I like the clean lines of the pattern and the cute hem detail.

The one in the magazine was made of wool, and lined, but I made mine in denim and left it unlined.  The denim has more stretch in it than I would like - I hate working with stretch wovens as they distort so easily.  My fabric does crush, but this crushing is much more apparent in the photos than in real life.

This second photo is more true to colour.  You can see that I didn't top-stitch the curved hem around its facing, but stitched a straight line across the the height of the facing.  I thought that this was more in keeping with the clean lines of the pattern (I don't know what Patrones did, because I have given up trying to translate their instructions)

The skirt front has a yoke, whilst the back has darts.  I used a body-taped skirt that I made on myself a few years ago to adjust the pattern to fit.  Perhaps my tummy was a bit more pooched then, because the front of the skirt pooches out a bit too much. 

Summer Sewing

I begged and borrowed sewing machines on my summer holidays to whip up a couple of projects.

The shorts are 17 shorts denim from Patrones No. 328.    I had been planning on making capris, but I took the wrong piece of fabric with me, so had to flick through the couple of magazines with me to find something else.  The Patrones patterns often have interesting little details.  This one does not use a zipper in the fly.  The shorts are relatively low-waisted, so the fly is rather short, and then they use 2 buttons instead of a zip.  Both buttons show on the outside, so it is a bit different to making a button fly. 

I didn't make a muslin and then they turned out to be too low and too gaping in the back.  So I pinned out the gaping, removed the back yoke, cut a new yoke about 5 cm higher at CB taping to nothing at the side seams and reinserted the yoke.  A bit of a hassle, but it turned out okay.  Next time I sew these, it would probably be good to add a little to the height of the sides as well.  I left off the belt loops, as I never wear belts.  These would be perfect in a non-stretch fabric, but stretch out a bit over the day (in spite of using non-stretch interfacing in the waist-band), so I am considering adding some side tabs.

The fabric is a lovely quality, very smooth denim.

The top was designed to use a tiny remnant of fabric with a peacock feather print.  My shirt-dress was the last garment I sewed before the holidays, and the pattern was still out when I was packing, so I took it with me and used it to make this top.  I left off the collar and played around with the front bib bit to create a pleated, wrap sort of bib insert. 

 

 The wrap bit looked lovely but was a bit of a wardrobe malfunction.  I think sewing wraps closed loses some of the effect, so I sewed a stay on the inner layer instead, which you can see if you look closely not quite halfway down the bib.  It works rather well, but the first time I tried to photograph this top was on the beach in gale force winds, and it doesn't actually hold up in gale force winds...so I won't be wearing this in a cyclone.

Patrones dress with tucks

I think this dress pattern was the perfect match for an ombre striped fabric that I purchased from The Fabric Store in Melbourne last year.  The pattern is from Patrones No 329, style 19. It was difficult to see in the  magazine, as it was made in a solid white and worn with a jacket over the top.  The tucks and drapes in the dress cause the stripes to fall at angles, rather than straight across.

From memory, the fabric is a cotton - silk blend.  It is so soft that I am thinking of making the leftovers into a pillow case.

I made a few changes to the pattern;
- I moved the location of the tucks on the front of the dress.  On the model, and following the pattern, the tucks were at crotch level, which I thought looked a bit odd.  I pulled out the original basted tucks and then stood in front of the mirror with a handful of pins to determine the positions for the tucks.  I left the shoulder drapes and tucks as per the pattern.
- the pattern had tucks in the back, but I altered the length and position of these as well.
- I eliminated the back keyhole opening.
- The dress was meant to be made with a wide hem and finish above the knee.  I decided to use the extra hem length and go for a longer dress.  I think the model wears her dress with a much closer fit than mine.
- I left a slit opening at one side to facilitate walking in the longer length.
- On the sleeves, I turned a narrow hem rather than use a facing finish.

It looks sack-like in these photos, but I did receive compliments when wearing it, so I'm thinking elegant sack-like.  The weather was most steamy here yesterday (pouring today) and I felt cooler and more comfortable in this than everybody else looked.  I'm not usually into arty clothes, and I thought I might feel a bit self conscious in this, but I think it was okay...probably the limit of my artiness.  There are a lot of crinkles in one place...perhaps I need to add some more tucks there?