True Bias Zoey tank x 2

I have known for awhile that I need to get some well fitting tank top patterns into my collection.  I got suckered into this one by Guthrie & Ghani, who had the perfect fabrics in stock, Lauren modelling the final result, and I even bought the double sized iron on sticky tape that she recommended for the bindings.  I did two of these, one of them for a pregnant friend of mine.  Size according to the size chart: size 2, though it's narrower than my hips I thought that wouldn't matter. 

The fabric is the Meet Milk derby ribbed Tencel. 

The tape stuff I am referring to is called Stretch Fix T30. It comes in strips or sheets.  I bought two strip units of it and I have lots more for other projects.  It is basically a dream for fixing curvy hems prior to topstitching them, as it stabilises while holding in place. 

I bought all this stuff from G&G, my friend paid half the shipping as well as paying for her fabric, so it offset some of the costs.  (I will say it's a bit offensive to hear a friend say $100 for a tank top is steep!  Sewist friends should know better!)

For my friend I lengthened the pattern the same as Lauren mentioned doing for her own pregnancy- I think it was 30 cm but might have been more.

Good thing I bought the sticky tape!  The fabric is relatively well behaved and it's so amazing when worn.  But getting those bindings on, and getting them on neatly, was a process that took some learning and was pretty frustrating the first time around.  Without the double sided iron on sticky tape I would have thrown things out the window.  The first version, for my friend, is less neat where the front and the arm bands meet up, but I was smarter the second time around. 

My friend, by the way, said this top was one of the only things that fit her near the end of her pregnancy.  The fabric is excellently stretchy. 

I like the fit of this and wear it reasonably often, but I won't be in a huge rush to make another one until I've tried a few other recommended tank tops.  Still planning on trying the Sommar cami and the Lola racer back tank.  Around these parts summer is only a hazy memory so not sure when that will be.

The Modern Sewing Co Potter jacket - an odyssey

I spent a LOT of time planning a Potter jacket.  I looked and pictures and reviews. I dreamed of multiple variations.  I had never made anything by the Modern Sewing Co before, but I liked the look of a few of her patterns and was deeply considering the Worker Trousers. I got excited by her own modifications of this jacket - there are posts where she lengthened it and added an A line shape to it.  Such that I finally bought it and had 2 copies printed so I could make multiple shapes. 

Somewhere in there though I read some blogs and some reddit posts speaking about the Worker Trousers, how the designer had been very defensive about some shortfalls...and I stopped trusting that this was going to be my favourite experience of all time.  I approached the pattern with some scepticism all of a sudden even though it wasn't based on any first hand evidence.  The A0 has all pattern pieces cut flat rather than on the fold so it is a VERY expensive pattern to print, I think it's 4 pages.

In the middle of that I committed to sewing it in oilskin.  I had cut the pattern out in size 10 to make sure it was just a touch roomy, and I knew it would fit on the yardage I had. And to make it even more fun, I chose silk as my lining.  AND decided to sew it while away at work, which meant taking all the supplies (thread, scissors, etc) with me to sew it at a friend's house, on her home sewing machine (50$ singer) which she had, in fact, never plugged in.  Add to this a horrible virus, fevers throughout, and my friend thought...that this was social time and stood there talking to me while I tried to concentrate.  

I had to underline all the pieces so that the oilskin wouldn't bother the silk.

I couldn't use pins, so I had to use clippies on everything. 

The welt instructions were bad.  Who does good welt instructions? I need to just buy a sewing book and reference that instead of indie pattern designers.  I had some issues with the sleeve cap fit but wasn't sure whether I had missed notches, or whether it might have been due to using clips instead of pins.    That hem corner where the hem and the lining are supposed to meet was a total shit show, as usual, but I don't think I have ever encountered a pattern that explained that process to me very well.  I also need to do a coat course and learn how to install fancy linings properly.

 

I survived the process and got over my cold and to my shock the fit of this pattern is really lovely.  I think it's a final realisation, however, that I do not like the feel of oilskin.  Maybe in a bag.  But I will stick to dry oilskin from now on.  The drafting of this seemed to be ok.  Despite my difficult fabrics, everything came together well and I think I will need to give this jacket another chance in the future, maybe with some easier materials.  This one is not likely to stick around though. 

The Stretch Dawn Jeans

I had spent quite a bit of time perfecting the Dawn pattern, and it seemed a shame not to capitalise on that. The pattern as is doesn't fit me well in the upper thighs and butt, but I did only give my first pair of Dawn jeans (here!) away to a friend recently, so they have stayed around.  My second pair in yellow was too tight, my third pair in green is amazing but nonstretch denim is just...not always my first choice.  So how about doing them with stretch?  

I used the longer leg pattern pieces and added the crotch and upper thigh adjustments from the Persephone pants that I had used on my yellow and green versions.  Sewing was uneventful and the result was...hm...actually surprisingly roomy.  

Ends up that I do like these, but the ankle length sort of scoots up, catching on my calves as I walk around and they are rather oversized around the butt and thighs, and a bit sloppy looking.  I guess the lesson here is that you need to size down when using a non-stretch pattern to make stretch jeans.  I had long since forgotten that I added room in the calves in the original pair of these, too.  The loose fit hasn't stopped me from wearing these jeans since at the moment they are my only simple me-made ones, but I don't feel like a fashion maven in them, so clearly I need to keep making more jeans until I find the fit that suits me right now.

I don't know where my flat lay photos went!  

These have already gone on to a friend (it's been a busy time for jeans in the past few months) so you will have to do without.

Named Alpi Chinos - pattern experiments.

Digging through my big dropbox of patterns, I found this. I recalled that back in 2015 I was really keen to make these trousers! So excited! And somehow, time ran out and they didn't get made.  So I became again very curious how the Alpi chinos are doing and wanted to see for myself. 

I have this very pretty light corduroy fabric from The Fabric Store.  A bit wild.  Hm, if I got more, I would make a wee jacket, in fact...but I decided it would be good for these pants.  I made size 38 according to the size chart.  Seems like when you buy a Named pattern, you only get a few sizes?  Or did I print layers?  It doesn't matter - seems that this pattern has gone off their website, so it's no longer available.  I did impeccable pattern matching on both the front pockets and the back.  And I do love the tui and kowhai inside the pockets -it's really my favourite of the New Zealand quilting cottons.  Overall the parts of this project please me so much.

Simple pants, I don't recall my opinions on doing the fly - since everyone seems to reinvent how to do a fly zip, but I got them done and put them on and realised...2015 was a long time ago.  And that low waisted trouser style from 2015 was hard to fit then and it is both hard to fit and kind of unstylish now.  By which I mean the upper hips were way too big.  So I added in some big back darts and took in the back waist before adding the waistband, and I got them to the point where they wouldn't fall off.  It made me lose my interest in these a bit.  I already have the Cali Faye Hampshire pants - I don't believe Cali Faye exists anymore, but the trousers are a great fit on me if I want that kind of style.  Basically, I don't need any Alpi Chinos in my life.  And higher waisted things look way better on me. 

 

 

 

Went to a friend who has gotten a bit hippier than I am. Yay friends!  Thank you so much for loving what I make!

another Greenstyle repeat: the Lumia hoodie, take two.

The Lumia hoodie, version 1 (see it here), was an ok fit but still very long on me. 

It also seemed like it could handle pretty heavyweight sweatshirting. 

I hated my mixed fabrics (a friend loved it, so it went to her!)

So I got this nice heavy sweatshirting from The Fabric Box and matching rib as well. I remembered to shorten my rib!

Still size C. This time I shortened it further in the front by just cutting the bottom upwards a bit, and lengthened the back hem, since it seemed to sit relatively high on me compared to the front. So that was functionally a hi-low hem alteration. I didn't shorten it further through the middle, since I didn't want to shorten the design feature too much.  I think I could shorten it above the pockets if I still wanted it shorter next time.

It was an easy sew. I still didn't use twill tape on the back of the zip, but I'm happy with this hoody. It's heavier than current Lululemon ones since the hood is lined and my fabric is quite heavy (and of course because the current Lululemon quality has become super shit!)

Deer & Doe Acajou pants review

I schemed these quite awhile before I could make the time to actually sew them. The fabric is a lovely green Japanese suiting from The Fabric Store, which fit my vision of slightly scruffy and yet very cool man pants just right.  I read through the (few) blogs available to help me out - is it just me or are old blogs vanishing as Google supplants them by paid search content??

Anyway those blogs were useful, and I ended up removing 2" from the rise. They have a very long rise. I cut size 36, no other modifications. 

I don't think I enjoyed the fly particularly.  As usual, reinventing the wheel is annoying, everyone does it differently, there are 1000 methods and I don't really KNOW one of them so well to use it all the time so I always follow the fly instructions.  The results are fine, the fly looks good.  

 

 

Pants are a satisfying sew!  Wool suiting is a great fabric to sew with, very well behaved.  I love how there is elastic hiding in the back waistband of these - which in my case is very barely doing anything, and yet it cinches my waistband in just right.  

Total success, I love these pants.  They are exactly what I hoped for - a high waisted pant that will go with everything cropped.  A new shape, because we are kind of sliding out of the old shapes and into the new shapes lately.  I've noticed that in my dissatisfaction with my current jeans.  It's good to have some basic shapes, but as the styles change it's *exciting* to have new and different shapes too, and that's where sewing comes in.  Now that my new sewing room is up and working it feels like I can do anything!  

Also a sad wave goodbye to Deer & Doe patterns - one of the best (for my body shape) and will be sorely missed.  I know companies come and go but it seems like we had a dreamy decade with indie companies backed by drafting education, and supported (or hashed apart) by bloggers with engineering minds.  Now everyone is selling a pattern on etsy and half of them are other people's patterns : (