Jalie 3352 dolman tee experiments

 My friend Tessa loves this top and finally I couldn't resist any longer. I have this amazing, soft, alpaca knit and wanted to make a tee that wouldn't mess with the fabric too much.  Tessa is long waisted and she doesn't need to lengthen this top - with that intel I went for size R, my size by the measurements table, and I only shortened it about 1" as visually it didn't look that long.  Easy to put together and it didn't require handling the alpaca too much, which was good - it definitely was as curly and annoying as merino, but even lighter weight so harder to feel under my fingers!

Because Tessa only makes the tshirt, I hadn't considered a long sleeve version until I was actually making this, and then I was for some reason immediately inspired to use some leftover fleece to try out it out.  It came out pretty crappy and went straight to the op shop.  Needs more stretch than the fleece had, and the super stretchy bindings just didn't go with it very well.

Thought I didn't love the tee because it feels a bit long (high-low tees can be hit or miss on me since the back is too long but the front shows too much, ugh, being short waisted), but then I wore it to bed...and every evening, and months passed and honestly it was two months before it even got into the washing machine because I just kept wearing it to lounge in.  (It has since been washed!)  So I guess it's a win.  And then I thought it would be an interesting pattern to turn on the bias and use for woven fabrics (like those silk scraps I can't quite allocate to a project).  I got all excited about that and then realised I should leave it for summer!  I do think I'll make this again as a standard knit too, but I'll crop 1.5" off the bottom or even out the high-low hem a bit - anyway definitely a fun easy pattern to come back to and play with a bit.  I can see some sleeve action in my future too, but obv not with weird thick fabrics...

Vikisews Leora dress - my first vikisews encounter

I have actually moved on to making things that are more winter-appropriate.  But I bought two vikisews patterns and I wanted to at least sew one of them this year.  The Oona was planned, but I didn't have enough fabric.  So I moved on to sew the Leora.  

I would never have looked twice at this from the model photos.  It was an instagram picture from @maisewdelic that got me - cropping the dress, the sleeves, and putting the tie only through the channels rather than up and around your neck.  NOW I was sold.  

I dove into the weird world of Vikisews fit.  I got the size 36, height 162-165 cm. Because of that I made no additional pattern modifications, assuming that the petite fit would be allocated just as I need (hmmmm).  Cropped the sleeves randomly halfway down.  Removed 45 cm of the skirt. And cut the tie half as long as required.  

The instructions were really cool once I got over the question of what knit bias tape is.  I used strips of an old tshirt because it seemed more stable than the rayon of my main fabric and I had it handy.  I love the finish that provides, actually.  Creating the channel was very cool.  Overall this was a super fun one day project.  

Finally get to try it on. Hm, interesting. 

Now, this fabric is from Tessuti, it's another stash special fabric, and yet again there's me splashing out on an untried pattern.  The fit of this is good (does anyone like looking down at your own belly?  But I think it's not really something another person can see) except oddly the right shoulder. The left is a little bit better for some reason.  The right seems like the sleeve was put in wrong, though it wasn't.  I need to try to just overlock off the top curve of the shoulder - actually this is where a sloping shoulder adjustment would have saved me, enough that I might consider just doing it on everything in future. There's a huge amount, maybe 1" of dead space at the top of that shoulder, and this is quite a wide chested cut, so that's important to keep the top from falling off. I would have done it right away but I changed my overlocker thread and my overlocker is broken so changing thread is currently a bit dramatic.  Alternately, that fit is due to me also being short across the upper chest.  I've never shortened a pattern at that level, but the straps on tank tops are often too long, and I've often noticed taking a wedge out from the front horizontally above the bust would have helped things fit better - unfortunately this isn't a fix you can do once you have sewn a garment together, so I rarely consider it. 

Sorry about the particularly bad photos.  My usual outdoor location was blocked by a car and I got really frustrated with my camera's autofocus. 

Aside from the right shoulder, the fit is great.  It looks nothing like on the model.  Because I'm so short waisted (I presume that's why), the skirt comes up past my belly button and the ruching lies over it - no hole!  Very demure. I had the exact same fit on the Papercut Axis dress.  Possibly if I did do the tie over my head I could change where the ruching lay but I will never do that because I think it is hideous.  I'm fascinated by how consistent this is - I have a couple more front-hole dresses to try next year and I wonder if I will continue to find that they sit very differently on me due to my short waistedness (or some other reason?) 

This counts as a win. It's cute and wearable and actually very flattering.  (I got around to fixing that shoulder as planned, and it's better.)  I would love some Fasanella style analysis on why my fit is so different from the expected fit though! 

Jalie 2679 jacket with some variations

 I made this jacket in some very lightweight softshell a few years ago.  Size R, up to S at the hips. There wasn't any reason I didn't like it, but it wasn't something I ever found a use for so it was dispatched off to a friend.  Thank god for friends!  I mean, I know I can offload unwanted makes to the secondhand shop but it's really a joy to pass things on to people who actually love to receive them.  

So anyway I had this fabric lying around.  It's been lying around for too long.  I love it so much and didn't want to mess it up, could obviously have made some snug legging style pants - it's something between a ponte and a scuba and I think I got it from Emma One Sock - just one m. 

I had a vision not too terribly long ago that actually this jacket pattern would be a good match for it, a win, because I wear my lightweight hoodies to work all the time so unlike 86% of my wardrobe, it would get used.  Also I adore my yellow non-hoodie which it really seems I never blogged (here's the first post on that pattern), but I stupidly gave away the pattern.  So this managed to move to the top of the winter queue!  I've been a sewing MACHINE on my week-long staycations in between work.  It's been so satisfying, I'm trying to mix up the projects that have sat in my queue for years, with new ideas, so the sewing juices can get creative again instead of feeling mired down in ideas I thought up in 2021.  

I did inspect the post from my previous jacket. Not liking how tight it was around my hips, I thought of some ways I could widen the bottom of the jacket - the way the pieces tetris together makes this less straightforward.  I ended up adding width to the side back and to the front bottom pieces, probably quite a bit, like 4cm total.  I made sure all the pieces lined up - added this to my actual pattern pieces before cutting out (shocking!) and then construction proceeded without dramas.  I didn't like the zipper method when I did this the first time, but this time I did follow the instructions and they were not actually terrible.  

 

I do find it has a lot of bagginess in the armpit and upper arm.  It's not an issue for work, but it's actually really a lot.  Enough that I think I wouldn't make this pattern again - it's not very flattering, exactly?  Maybe I'll even overlock it off? But anyway sewing with scuba is very satisfying, and this is one of those projects which is so pretty on the inside too, which is nice. 

TPC 12 Trend Utility trousers review/debrief

This project was a daunting prospect, and that stress level really never let up.  The pants didn't take that long though - definitely a one-day project. 

I must mightily thank Katie and Susan who wrote very helpful blogs about their experience with these trousers.  I made use of every tidbit of info, and had both blogs open to help me streamline my approach.  I had some confusion at the hems, regarding the final step of exactly where you topstitch.  (I guess it doesn't really matter, as long as the facing bits aren't flapping.)  Up to that point, using the instructions and my two guides, I was doing fine.  I was going to use Katie's pocket modification for side pockets inset into the seams, but at the last minute decided to go with one bellows/cargo pocket using the pieces in the pattern.  If I make these again, I would do Katie's mod and have two side seam pockets because I feel a bit funny when I have nowhere to put my hands and other things.  

Using those instructions and advice, I shortened the rise by a shocking 2".  I made size 8, noticing that the waist is a bit small for my measurements, but trusting the intel that these are very roomy overall and sizing up would be a bad choice.  

 

My heavyweight linen was a good choice and was well behaved.  Most steps came together beautifully, even though I had to focus on what I was doing at the time.  The fly really is a piece of art.  The main drama was at the end, because you don't sew the crotch of the pants together, but have put in the entire fly, and there was a misalignment of 1cm at the centre crotch point.  I had felt some suspicion prior - a few jeans patterns do things in that order, but it seems to be rarer and rarer.  More often now you sew the crotch pretty early in the process - and THIS IS WHY.  So I had to finagle like mad to get the literal most obvious, eye catching bit of these pants to not look ridiculous.  Swearing abounded.  I think you could reasonably sew the crotch seam of the pants first to avoid this.  I suspect the reason for the mismatch lies somewhere in my crotch/rise shortening but I can't account for why it's 1 cm that was offset.  

I like the final pants.  The fit is spot on, and they are not droopy at all since I shortened the rise so much.  I feel oddly like a fashion maven when I wear these.  Just don't stare at my crotch, all the ironing in the world couldn't quite make it perfect. 

I haven't put on the pocket button yet because the rest of the buttonholes gave me a conniption and I needed to recover, though I did wear them around before the weather turned to winter.  I seriously want a new sewing machine so badly but my house has just sprung a leak, so I guess that comes first.