Green Hoodie and more

In all my years of sewing, I have never made myself a regular, zip-up hoodie.  Once I decided that was what I wanted, I trawled through my pattern collection to find a pattern.  I landed on Ottobre Family 7/2018 pattern 11.  I bought this magazine for the great selection of men's patterns, but so far the only pattern I have used are the elastic waist pajama bottoms.

Anyway, back to the hoodie.  I knew that I wanted to add stripes.  Deciding what colour stripes was the tricky bit.  In the end, I went with the other fabrics that were already out on my cutting table.  

I made a couple of alterations to the pattern.  The pattern looks like it has princess seams, but when I lay the pieces beside each other, it became clear that the seam lines were for colour blocking, rather than to add shaping.  My usual alterations are square shoulder, narrow chest, broad back and small bust.  I decided as I was doing these alterations that I would add a small bust dart into the front panel, similar to a Kathmandu fleece jacket I wear all the time.  This hoodie is not as fitted as the Kathmandu one, so probably the dart wasn't necessary.  Next time I make this up, I should raise this dart by ~2cm, as well as broaden the back.

I changed the design of the pockets.  With the placement of the stripes, the pocket area was getting all a bit bulky, So I made a pocket opening facing, and then just used one layer of fabric for the pocket back.  You can see the facing stitching in the above photo.  I then changed the shape of the pocket to a rectangle so that it would be caught in the front and hem and not flap about.  I used the top-stitching of the strips to secure the top edge of the pocket.  

I bought the wrong size zip (because I was in the shop for something else when I saw the zip and knew it would be a good colour match and just guessed the length).  Rather than shorten the zipper, I decided to lengthen the hoodie by 5 cm.

I used some green tape, that I dyed for a project years and years ago and never ended up using, to finish the inside neck edge.  It was a great colour match.

I used the leftover green French terry fabric to make my daughter a jumper using Jalie 3355.  I added some stripes to the sleeves to get it to fit on my remnants, but I like the stripes better than a plain top anyway.

 

I used some of the left-over ribbing to finish the neck and sleeves of a t-shirt for my son.  Sadly, I think the sizing is off (it's a bit short...again, using up remnants...thought it would be okay) so he may not get a lot wear from it.

I used Ottobre design pack 301 for the t-shirt.

Now, just to cram a few more garments into this post.  The pink fabric in the stripes was a bamboo jersey that I used to make a pair of True Bias Hudsons.  

I then used the last of this bamboo to make a pair of sleep shorts.  I used a pattern that I made as a rub-off from some running shorts years ago.  

Now I've had a good clean-up of my sewing room, cleared off the cutting table, and am ready to start on a new match of fabrics.  

Happy sewing xx

All the layers

I normally only talk about one garment per post, but earlier this week I found myself wearing layers and layers of unblogged garments, so I am going to throw them all together into this post.

The neck cowl was made by arm-knitting.  Fadanista showed me how to do this.  She assured me that I would have a completed garment before I left, and to my surprise, I actually did.  Not like all my other started-not-completed knitting projects.  The other fun part about this project is that you don't actually have to use yarn.  I used a remnant that I got as part of a bundle that I didn't think I would use for another garment.  I stitched the slevedges of the fabric together and then cut strips in a continuous loop.   The coloured bits of the scarf are bamboo and merino scraps that were lying on my table from making t-shirts.  I didn't take photos of the process, but you can see a little on Sue's instagram account.  .  

The jumper I was wearing was made by modifying the Jalie Mimosa t-shirt pattern.  I changed the sleeves to have rib cuffs.  I then cut 5 cm from the hem of the shirt pattern, so that I could put "cuffs" on the hems.  This is actually a good way to avoid sewing regular hems in a rib knit, which often end up wavy.  I then straightened the hem curve just by ruling a traight line from the top of the split to the intersection of my new hem line and the curved split.

The striped tee is made in a linen knit from Knitwit.  I used Jalie 3352, with a couple of changes.  I added hembands to the sleeves.  I also reduced the waist shaping, as my previous versions (any many versions that I see online) seem to have pull lines from the underarm area to the bust.  Making the side seams less curved seems to have solved this problem.

And finally, my singlet, which would probably never have made it to my blog on its own.  It is a merino sinlet, made using Jalie 3245.  I have made this pattern a lot, and always lower the underarms by at least an inch, for comfort.  My merino binding wasn't working out, so I cut my losses and bound the edges with a bamboo knit.  I have made 8 merino singlets this winter and am almost always wearing one....as a base layer, as pajamas, for exercise.  Probably the only time I don't wear one is when I go for a swim.  Come on, summer.

My pants are the previously blogged stylearc ethel pants.  The bra peeking out is greenstyle creations power bra.  

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.

Tessuti Sydney Jacket

Whilst I was getting photos of my dress the other day, I also got some photos of my Tessuti Sydney Jacket.

The pattern is designed for fabrics whose edges don't fray.  This allows for techniques that minimise bulk in the pocket openings, and in the darts, as shown in the photos below.

I bought the fabric from Morgan Marks, in a sale last year.  I had planned on making something for my husband, but it seemed perfect for this pattern, so he misses out.  The fabric has a little bit of stretch in it.  I have the same issues as other wearers of this pattern, in that I can't lift my arms very high whilst wearing it...so far that has only been a problem whilst driving.  

This jacket is great for wearing over tops with fuller sleeves.

Stylearc Asha Dress

 

I have been wanting a dress with sleeves for ages.  I've been looking through pattern offerings for possibly a year now, but hadn't found quite the dress I wanted.  Originally I wanted a button through dress, and actually I think I still do want a button through dress with sleeves, but in the meantime, I like  the details of the Stylearc Asha dress.

I bought this viscose crepe from Fabulous Fabrics.  

The dress has a shirred waist and shirred hem sleeves.

I don't love shirring elastic.  Mostly because it seems to perish quite quickly, so the garment doesn't last very long.  A couple of years ago I came across this fabulous elastic that gives you the effect of shirring, without having to either sew over shirring elastic or put elastic in your bobbin.  It is also easier to control the amount of stretch that you want.

You simply stretch the elastic the amount that you want, pin it to the garment, and sew between the rows whilst the elastic is stretched.  For the waistband, I found it easier to baste the elastic in place at quarter intervals, rather than pinning.

The other change that I made to the pattern was to continue the neck binding to create a tie.  I mustn't do a good job of button-and-loops because they are always coming undone, and I thought that the longer tie would work with this style of dress.

I met up with some sewing buddies in King's Park today, so I have photos of the dress on me in a different setting!  I'll admit that the elastic waist is a bit on the frumpy side on my pear shape, but I still love the dress.