Trousers

I know it has been ages since I posted last. We went on vacation and after that, I lost my desire to sew. I have been knitting and completed a short sleeved cardi that I'll post pictures about later. I'd like to talk about my pants. I hired a friend of mine to draft a trouser pattern for me. Here are the muslins from the trousers.

I am very pleased with the way the back fits. They are way better than any commercial pattern I have ever found. Good job, Sue!


Not so happy with the front here. I think it is very possible it was a different time of day or month when Sue measured me at first, so I am shaped a little differently. I'd prefer a lower waist, and I would like the pants to fit closer on the upper leg and then start flaring at the knee. I learned when I was measured that much of my leg length is in my lower leg. This is good to know when I am altering the big 4 patterns. I don't think I have enough space to accommodate my full front thigh. (I like to think of it as muscle! hee hee)



From the trouser foundation, I drafted a 'slack foundation.' It has a higher crotch and fits tighter in general. These pictures are without any alterations.



I added to both the front and back crotch extensions (this gave me more front thigh room) and raised the front crotch slightly, since I have a high front crotch and a low seat. I changed the leg so that it flares from the knee. I chose a fluid black fabric for my trial garment.

I feel like my alterations went really well! These are the best fitting pants that I have ever generated. The fabric is scratchy, so I'll need to line them. Next, I need to draft a waistband and figure out what style of pocket.



There are a few wrinkles because this fabric has a little more give to it than the muslin, so I'll fix that by taking the darts and seams in. I'll probably only make one pair of pants with this pattern so I can check to be sure that the fit is wearable and comfortable!



This is the first time I have been careful enough to draft and trace an entirely new pattern with each iteration of the pants. With the muslins, I marked the center front, back, hip, crotch, and knee lines. I also marked the seam lines. I had never done this before and found that it helped tremendously. I am on my way!!!! Thanks, Sue!

Edited to add more pics of the crotch curve.

This is the slack draft that I cut the black pants out of. The fold was my way of preserving the original waistline. I wanted to cut them lower, so I folded the top part down.


Here is the original draft for the trouser foundation.

Simplicity 2647

I went to visit A Fabric Place in Baltimore a few weeks ago with my mom. They have some gorgeous fabrics. I bought a silk and linen blend, some tropical weight wool, a few knits, and this lovely silky poly that I made into a maxi sundress.


Sorry the picture is so bad, I was taking them with my tripod. I don't have the kinks ironed out of it yet! This dress is great. It is very comfortable, as you would expect with a knit dress. I chose it because I don't have anything in my closet that looks like it. I also thought the draping on the bodice would be flattering...ya know, since I have no chest?!?

I had to take in the sides of the bodice 1" each side. I also had to take up the straps 2" to get a more secure fit. If I had known, I would have added bra cups. Now I need to shop for a strapless bra to go with the dress. That's ok since I have a few other dresses that need one too.



The instructions don't allow for a nice, neat finish on the inside. Here is what the seam between the bodice and the skirt looked like before I bound them.


There was rough elastic touching my skin, so I bound it with a spare scrap of the knit that I had left over.

I would love to make this again! I'd probably do it in a little shorter length, but I do like this one the way it is!

Now, I know I told you that I'd post about the Pants of Doom....that will have to wait until next time. Just building suspense...hee hee.

Simplicty 2977

I really have been sewing lately. I am very very behind with what I have been upto in my little room here. A few weeks ago, I spent a few very pleasurable hours making up this dress from Simplicity 2977.
I wasn't sure that the cut of the dress would suit my very pear-shaped figure. I was right! Since I am tall, I made a belt to cut my figure in half. This seemed to help the overall impression of the dress' silhouette. You can see from the back view that it would be a lot of fabric without a break...hence the belt. I am pleased with the fabric...it came from fabric.com, where I buy entirely too much fabric as it is. I think it is a rayon poly blend. It is very drapey and swirly, great for this dress. I am considering making another version of this dress in a reddish or black and white colorway.



Up next...the pants that tried to kill me!

Spring Organizing Fever

I haven't been sewing much, but I have been organizing! I finally went through ALL of my patterns and made it easier to see what I have at a glance. I followed the standard scheme: keep pattern envelope in a plastic sheet protector in binders divided by clothing type, then store patterns in paper or zip bags in numerical order. I have about 130-150 patterns...not too excessive!

I organized the fabric next...this hanging cubby works well. I put wovens in it and put the knits of the shelves to the right...


Here are the knits! No more fabric lurking in bins...well, except for my scrap bin...that is packed full of little bits of fabric. I didn't have the energy to redo that bin. I tried rolling the fabric to see if that would work (instead of folding) and I decided that I didn't like it. Rolling seems to stretch the knits and put stress on them. It seems to create lots of wrinkles on the wovens. I think I'd like to get another hanging cubby to fold some more fabric and it will be great. I could use some order in my notions bins, but I need to start working on summer clothes. I have a few dresses planned in addition to summer tee shirts. I know that many of my short sleeve tees are super duper short in the torso.
I feel good when I go into my neat(er) sewing room...now, I should stop blogging and get working on the summer wardrobe!

Easter Garb

I wore my Simplicity 3775 dress for Easter. It took me 2 hours to sew the whole thing. I did not make any alterations at all...very unusual for a vee-type neckline! It is a thin cotton knit. I plan on making several more...this is so comfortable and flattering.

Here is my son wearing his Easter outfit. On Saturday, I realized that he only had grubby clothes, nothing suitable to wear to church. I dug through my stash and came up with this thick brown rib knit and a scrap of linen (I made DH a shirt out of it) with stripes. He loves cars, so I figured that the chances of him wearing it would be higher if I appliqued a little car on it. I found some brown buttons for wheels. Mama was happy; tot was happy. Win/win! I felt proud that I managed to come up with a cute outfit for him in a few hours. I think I'll try to make some more clothes for him for the summer. Of course, it pains me a little more when he gets his homemade clothes filthy than if he gets the store bought ones dirty.


I am not crazy about the tee-shirt pattern for him...does anyone have any child (2T-3T) patterns that they would recommend?

I forgot to mention one of my pet peeves when shopping for boy's clothing. All the colors are barfy! I hate shopping for my son because there isn't much cute stuff out there. Hopefully I can come up with some ideas that will make his wardrobe more exciting.

A TNT!

Finally, I managed to find a TNT (tried and true) pattern! I have been struggling with tee shirts. The fit in the back is never satisfactory, not to mention the over the bust wrinkles. NO MORE WRINKLIES!

Here is the pattern photo from Jalie 2805:




This was a Best Pattern of 2009 from PR.com. I am late to the party, as always. It was a little tricky to figure out which pattern pieces to use for the front. There are a variety of different necklines to sew. I chose the henley style. I thought that the pattern piece with the picture of the henely shirt was the right one. NOPE! You have to be careful and read the tiny print. Other than that frustration, I am fantastically happy with this shirt!



This shirt just makes me happy.

Well, I lied. There are wrinkles, but I can cope with these ones.


I have been cranking out dresses like a sweatshop worker. All those dresses need some help....in the form of slips! I was talking about making a slip, when my DH asked me what a slip WAS! Eeek! These men don't know anything. Geez.

I found this pattern ... Stretch N Sew F829.
It isn't a perfect pattern, but it is better than nothing. Waaaay better than nothing. I ordered 40 denier tricot from Fabric.com. I get the feeling that it will be hot. That's ok...I am usually cold in my dresses, so that should help. We'll see how I feel about it in the humid days of summer.


I put it on underneath my very lightweight Simplicity dress, and it gave it some body in the skirt. If I like wearing the slip, then I'll probably fiddle around with those bust gathers a little more. I wasn't interested in making this perfect...it's UNDER the dress...who is going to see it other than DH!?!?!? He doesn't even know what a slip is, so he won't care!

Next, I am working on a Burda vesty jackety thing. It is experimental...we'll see how it goes!

A tale of two dresses

I bought this cute little Simplicity 2615 pattern a little while ago with the hopes of making it out of a seersucker stripe. It has slightly curved seams down the front and the back, so it would be tricky to match the stripes.


Then, I chose this McCall's 4769 pattern instead, since the front seams were straight. Let's see how I did...



Here is the shirtwaist dress! This is the first one I ever made. There were lots of pieces...I do think it needs a belt to complete the look. There weren't any surprises with the pattern. I noticed that the front band pieces are shown to be cut on the straight of grain, but the piece is marked to be cut on the bias. I cut them straight...that turned out pretty well, so I think it was a mistake.

I used a Kenneth King technique to get the break on the collar to stay in the right place. You understitch the front band on the back until you get to the break, then you switch to the front for your understitching after the break. It works like a charm! I'll see if I can post a picture of it later.

I did do a tissue fitting at first and learned that the bust point was too high. It involved lots of fiddling and messing about since it is a more fitted dress.



I went to JoAnn's Fabrics for a zipper and came out with this silky poly fabric. It turned out to be perfect for the Simplicity pattern....it was a breeze to make. The bodice and skirt are one piece of fabric, so the pattern pieces are minimal. The slippery poly fabric gave me a few moments of frustration. I had to resort to french seams, which made it take twice as long as it should have. I love that the belt is attached to the dress. I didn't make any alterations, and I found that it fit me very well.



This is one of my new favorite dresses...it is like wearing a bathrobe all day long! I'm so excited for spring and summer....

Sewing for Spring

I have been collecting fabric. Don't we all? It is starting to flow out of my closet, so I thought that making up a plan would be a help. I tried to follow the sewing with a plan, or SWAP program. You pick out a few colors, add some neutrals, then find your fabrics and patterns. I am the kind of person who really likes organization, but hates actually doing it. I decide what we are going to eat for dinner around 3:00...I am not good at planning ahead.


But, since I was having a terrible time with pants, I decided to try planning some matching garments. I have been leaning towards bluey purpley colors lately, so that was my start. Doing the planning helped pull me out of the pants fitting funk. I made one of the dresses! It is the Simplicity dress that was voted Best Pattern of 2009. I used the flowery knit and it turned out really well. I'll post photos of that later...

Starting from the top left, a purple stripe dress with kimono sleeves. Next, a Burda short sleeve belted jacket out of bright blue cotton. Next, the dress I just made, and then an orange top of some kind...probably not out of this pattern. I don't think it is the right weight. Bottom row, grey knit...maybe a skirt and a pair of leggings. Next, a loose skirt out of lightweight stretch twill. I just cut out the skirt since I already have light colored thread in all of the machines.

When I feel positive enough, I'm going to try these Jalie trousers out of denim. I'm going to do a grey shirt and a white shirt, hopefully out of this Jalie pattern. I am thinking of doing that wrappy Simplicity cardi to go with the skirts and dresses, but I'm not sure yet. If I find a better pattern for a cardi, I'll go with that.


And that's the plan...but you can't hold me to it!

Losing my mind.

No, really...I think I might be losing it! I have been struggling to fit a pair of pants on myself with VERY little success. I know that pants are tough, but, really?!!? Take a look at this picture. Note the wrinkles under the seat. I have sewn, ripped and resewn these damn things too many times. Those wrinkles are still there! I've been fighting with Picasa, so there is text in exactly the wrong place. Grrr....The first picture is the unaltered pattern. Sigh. Oh, this is Burda 7746.


At this time, I think I am going to take a break and make a dress.

Banana Republic Envy

I got an ad from BR the other day in my email box. I fell in love with this sweater and decided to try copying it. With some help and suggestions from the PR group, I used McCalls pattern 5978.


This pattern has a V-neck instead of a rounded neckline, so that changes the look of my copy, but I didn't mind that. I also chose to use only one ruffle.
The cardi body and cami are made out of cotton rib knit. The ruffle is made from cheapo JetSet from Joanns. I chose it because it draped nicely and was the right color. I may regret that since I feel like the material might fall apart when I wash it. We shall see how it hold up.


I drafted a circular ruffle from scratch. I made the circumference of the inner donut shape the same as the neckline. It was super easy. Take a look at this Burda Style tutorial: here. I made a few changes to the pattern, but probably wouldn't make it again. It has the same old above the bust wrinkles that a non-darted, not well fitting t-shirt has. Pooh. It's wearable, so I'll try not to complain too much. I got 5 new patterns from Simplicity at Joanns...their $1 sales really get me going...hopefully I'll have another post soon!

Simplicity 2758

I made this skirt before I made the leggings from the last post. I have no skirts in my closet...this is my attempt to fem-ify my wardrobe a bit.




Here is a full view of the skirt. It's quite full, well, a half circle in fact. It is easy, but there are several factors that made it more time consuming for me. There was much ripping, picking and resewing.

1. My fabric was heavier than the pattern suggested. It is a fairly solid denim. I applied the pockets along the pattern lines, but the skirt did not hang properly. I had to place them higher and more to the side of the skirt. I prefer the pattern placement of the pockets instead of my placement, but what can you do?

2. Plus, the blankety blank fabric had a white line on the fold that I didn't notice until I cut out the skirt. I tried appliqueing a strip of denim over the white line. No good. I simply sliced out the white line and made seams in CF and CB where there were none.

3. I haven't made anything for my bottom half in a long time! First, the muslin skirt was too small. Then, the fashion fabric skirt was too big. I took it in, but at the final fitting, it was still too big. I tend to lose and gain inches every month, probably water due to my normal cycle. My solution was to add tabs and buttons to the back. These took enough fabric in for a comfortable fit. I can add another set of buttons if I need to take it out.




Here are the tabs:

Up next, a cardi set...the cami that I'm wearing with this skirt is part of that set.

Kwik Sew 3636 -- Leggings

Let me start out by qualifying this post...these are not the most flattering pictures of my body. I'm mostly sticking them out in cyberspace because I love the pattern! It's simple and easy. I made the leggings in an HOUR. They're made out of fleece and are super warm. That makes them great underneath ski pants for snow shoveling.







I'm planning on making more of these out of 4 way stretch fabrics (the fleece is only 2 way) for spring. These would be great under dresses...of course, I imagine that by then leggings will be out of style. I'm slow to take to trends.

After seeing the pics, it makes me more motivated to get out and do some exercising! When we're done with all of this snow, I know I'll get out more often. Until then, now I know that skinny jeans are not suited to my pear-shape!

Annoying T-shirts...Fitting Fiascos

I've been sewing lots and lots of shirts. I started out with Kwik Sew 3338.


It's a perfectly fine pattern, but I had a tough time with the back. I've got a 10 inch difference between my waist and my hips. Without a CB seam, I don't think I'm going to get rid of the back wrinkles. I'm ok with that. I have a Vogue pattern to try that has princess seams...perhaps it will work for my back wrinkle problem. I was so focused on the back that I ignored the front above bust wrinkles.



I did get out my embroidery machine for this final Kwik Sew effort. I digitized an applique sketch and managed to make it work for this knit shirt!

Close up of the embroidery:

If anyone has a burning desire to stitch this out themselves, I'd be happy to share the file. It's an ART, so if you can use it, I'll give it to you! Email me.

Next I tried Vogue t-shirt pattern 8536.


After my first muslin, that was way stretchier than my fashion fabric, I figured everything was hunky dory. Before I launch into the fitting issues, I'd like to say that the cute little notched hem was a breeze to make and flatters a "hippy" figure like mine. I love that feature and will use it in the future.


The fashion fabric produced above the bust wrinkles, due to it's more robust stretch. The pattern is so busy that I can live with the wrinkles, but I'm reaching for a (maybe) unattainable perfect fit. I'd also like to say that this knit from Fabric.com is AWESOME! I'd wear it every day for the rest of my life and be perfectly happy.


The back:


I can live with a few little wrinkles, but just for the heck of it, I cut out a different shirt. I moved the bust point 1/2" lower, and came up with a slightly better fit. The weird sleeves are due to a shortage of fabric, not my desire to start a pink-sleeve-trend.



Hmmm...I shall check my bust points in the future. I would like to announce that t-shirts are incredibly goofy to fit. The variety and stretch of knits (and lack of pattern definition) makes for a challenging fit. For now, the shirts are slightly better than RTW. I also learned that V-necks are tricky...I made at least 4 practice necklines before I felt OK about it. I have SOOOOO much to learn.

Next up...a half circle skirt....Simplicity 2758.



I am attempting to start dressing in a more feminine way. I tend towards the jeans and tees every single day and am challenging myself to try some new things. This thinking also makes me wonder about fashion in general...and how people come up with their own personal fashion philosophies. If you have a strong opinion about how you dress, or a person who has been instrumental in your fashion sense, let me know! I'd love to hear.