Made a pair of Lift leggings...and then another one.

 This is the second time I've made these, the first one got onto Insta but only as a flat lay for Reasons. I made it from swim fabric. 

I sized down to a D the first time (I think) and they were too xrated for photos.  It ends up...the gusset matters.  Tiny but mighty.  But also they were really snug overall, though I liked the rise.  Maybe because Swim Fabric is really different to stretchy normal fabrics, I guess.  This time I did size E.  

Easy to make.  The V where it all comes together is just barely off from perfect, oh well.  The rise is VERY high, these go way above my belly button.  Fine, I can actually wear some cropped top things for hot pilates for once.  But I will shorten them next time.   

They were successful in hot pilates. A win! The ruching still disappears when I wear them.  My bum must just be mighty I guess.  

 

So then I had some leftovers from my beautiful ribbed tree Kila top and thought I might just barely eke these out.  The first pair had done well in hot pilates class, though it's a bit lumpy at that V seam when I'm lying flat.  I can overlook this, but I might eventually just make some super plain leggings too.  Eventually.  I shortened the waist 1" by just cutting off the top.  

 

Anyway I managed but the trees are upside down on one leg, which I rather like, it adds something to the psychedelic look.  I'm so pleased!  And then I compared these pattern pieces to my first attempt at these shorts and the difference is like 2" so I must have really done something wrong when I printed that out, it seems like more than a single size difference.  

This second pair is much stretchier, because it's a rib fabric.  I have to say that Blended Threads seem to be improving their fabrics and their print jobs, because there's less show through and this rib as well as the bamboo options are so great.  I'm actually waiting for Tessa to tell me it's time to make another order!  My partner wants some underwear in this fabric!  And I am so happy with my new options for hot pilates, as a good environmentalist I've been wearing the same pair of cotton op shop leggings (they were $1!!) for the past 3 years...it's honestly just nice to see some different colours in the mirror.  

My Keeper Teddy dress in my favourite scraps

Things have been going so well recently, time for some new patterns and drama!  (Not entirely, but my scrap stash is all over the floor to plan this dress and got annoying so it became a priority.)  I am using some really precious stash for this dress with the hope that the side ties make it a relatively forgiving fit.  It's not a look I would want a bunch of.

I started in with the strong opinions pretty early with this one. 

The pattern is put shortwise on the A0s so each pattern piece has to be taped together in the middle.  The third page of the A0 was nearly blank.  Huge waste of paper.  And as I cut I realised...this is a pattern finished with bias tape, and there is no bias tape pattern piece.  A pet peeve of mine.  We are not really off to a good start.  I decided that I'm tired of my gross non folded bias pieces and dug into my stash for some good old vintage polyester bias tape.  Once I did that I realised I still had to make side ties, and I ended up pulling out my bias tape maker, and using that to fold up the ties, which was very fun.  Maybe I do like making bias tape after all...

size straight 8, shortened 1" at the waist shorten line and planned a deeper hem for the remaining 2 cm that need to come off.  

The neck has two cut options but weirdly the seam allowance line that goes all along the pattern vanishes at the lower neck line, leaving me to wonder if I need to add a seam allowance there or what.  I ended up cutting 1cm above that line as it really looks like that's the continuation of the SA.  

The side tie marks don't line up.  I thought maybe that was strategic, placing them where they will pull the dress just right.  I don't know.  

Sewing this was easy.  However, this is one of those very homemade, beginner type patterns that will not look very good unless you are an experienced sewist who can trouble shoot ahead of time.  Back zip, with bias taping.  No advice at all in the instructions for creating a decent finish.  I taped over the top of my zip and then did a little tuck and fold with the inside of my bias tape to keep it relatively neat.

 

 

Finally it does fit but it's skin tight. The designer mentions that it's a snug fit, but what I didn't realise was that it's a REALLY snug fit.   Seems like you should have ease in the sides so that you can actually pull the side ties in and do something shapey with them, but in my case they have to be as loose as possible or I can't get the dress on.  This means that the ties...are useless.  The ties are also extremely long, meant to be as long as the entire dress, I suppose.  You could just use one tie on each side instead of two if you didn't want that effect (or no ties! Since they aren't doing anything!)  The armscye is too tight on me, of course - I tried it on and thought it would be ok but somewhere in there it seems like it just got tighter. I didn't cut any additional depth. 

So, there are things I would do differently if I made this again - size up (length was good), deepen the armscye and probably create a partial facing to help clean up the finishing.  I will, however, never make this again.  I find it kind of nauseating as a style on me, too cutesy somehow.  I do see how the full length panels are quite flattering, but it doesn't inspire me.  I am trying to pawn it off on friends, but it hasn't found a home yet. 

 

Flat Fell till you Fall: the Sew Liberated Arthur pants

After being not very interested in Arthur or Bob pants for the longest time, suddenly I was seized by the urge.  And it was sudden and urgent!  I had these off to the printer within one week.  They jumped all queues.  The fabric was my stashed beautiful hemp something blend fabric from my last shop at Blackbird Fabrics (I think.)  I've been saving it because it is just so lovely, but a bit too drapey for jeans, and the linen denim I got in the meantime was better for my jacket experiments.  This is the only fabric I had 3 meters of.  Truthfully I don't think I needed 3m, but I didn't test the pattern on shorter lengths of stash fabric.  I have enough left over for a pair of shorts.  

I think this is a good weight for these (or maybe just a bit heavy), a bit heavier than chambray, but it did get thick when I was folding up the french seams of the side.  

My first flat felled seam was a bit wavy but all the others were better.  I did gain confidence as I went along, and I was really glad I used a fabric that doesn't fray.  I think a fraying fabric would really make the process hard.  

I sewed size 4.  I think that is usually what I sew in Sew Liberated Patterns.  I shortened the rise 1" and the height 2" at the lines, noting the pattern is drafted for a height of 5'7".  

 

These are so beautiful on the insides.  That's the trade off for the endless flat felling.  My final feeling is that they are wearable, which is good, though they feel a bit heavy.  But I should have actually just removed 3" from the rise and left the leg shape alone.  I think I created a more curvy looking leg when I adjusted it, and I really do not like a droopy crotch, my thighs are introverts and prefer privacy.  There is however so much fabric in these overall that maybe my thighs won't get too sweaty together, time will tell. 

I think I might do the adjustment of just the rise and make a knit pair quickly (100% overlocker here we come) to see what I think of the shape but without the commitment.  Shapeless loungy pants are my friends and my two pairs of linen lounge pants have SO MANY holes.  It will be awhile before I have an interest in making these in a woven fabric again, it's too useless of a shape for my life in general.  I do think a pair in patterned linen would be interesting though (and I was very tempted in the fabric stores a few weeks ago, but managed to resist.) 

The crazy Bernadette Frankenskirt: a dreamy success story!

 This plan started as all bad ideas start: on night shift 

I wanted a skirt from a fancy dress shop but it was >500$ and really...just a linen skirt...and I don't even wear skirts that much.  But the skirt had a kind of magical shape and really cool hidden pockets.  The dreamy exciting thing about this skirt was a huge front pleat that pleated forward over itself (one side over the other) in a way that when you kick your knee forward, the pleats open, but when you stand upright, they hide.  The pockets are brought around towards the front and hide just under the fold of the pleat.  I thought if I could find a skirt with front pleats, I could probably recreate it.  

I deleted most of the photos of this skirt (I had MANY) and am left with the following: 

 

I thus went on the hunt for a skirt with front pleats.  I reviewed a few options but the Bernadette stood out.  

As you do on night shift, I bought it immediately and sent it to the printer so it would be ready in the morning.  

The feature I needed: big front pleats that I could shift around.  The challenges were many: 

-Bernadette has a back zip, my dream skirt has back elastic and a flat front

-my pattern has pockets hidden under the fancy front pleat. 

So the big question is: how much fabric do I add to the back skirt to change it from a zip to an elastic waist thing?  Subsidiary questions: how far around does the elastic back come/how wide is the front flat panel? And how wide are my pleats?  How far over each other do they cross? 

To create version 1 I used a piece of pale sage green linen which was my only unallocated bit of stash suitable for a skirt.  I measured my hips and made the skirt back wide enough to get over them with the elastic fully stretched.  I made a vertical line at the lateral edge of the pleats, and created a seam there. I added pockets into this seam.  I used the Bardon dress pockets as they are the best pockets of all time.  I used the excessive number of photos on my phone of the original skirt to recreate the direction of the pleats since I was pleating them towards the midline and over each other.  

Voila version 1!  It actually looks legitimately like the original!  Wahoo!  Oh but we are NOT there yet.  Some pitfalls: it really just barely gets over my hips.  I think the fabric could only tolerate me putting it on 3 times before it threatened to burst.  There is not enough gathering in the back.  And my pockets are not tucked into the pleats deeply enough, they need to be at the spot where the pleat creates a fold.  It was time to revisit the inspiration.  I went back to the shop with my booty and spent too long in a dressing room with the two skirts and a measuring tape.  This is a fancy dress shop and the attendant was a young man who thought I was too shabby looking so I'm sure he was pretty suspicious of what I was doing in there.

I identified that I actually needed something like 20 cm more across the back, wow!  I also needed to bring the elastic waistband all the way to the front pleats rather than ending it at the side seam.  I measured the front piece to get the right width, which also increased the size of my pleat components and moved the pockets out a bit from the midline. 

Scavenged through my stash which is mostly allocated mentally to other projects, or not bottomweight...I fell upon this amazing kind of textured viscose from Fabric Godmother, it's beautiful and was at risk of being deep stashed as just too pretty to cut.  BUT I knew this skirt would fit and the first was wearable so I KNEW it would be wearable and was willing to take the leap.  

 I leapt!  (leaped?)  

 

I am so happy with the results.  My knitting club reckons my skirt is better than the original.  Possibly true, I think my pockets are slightly further out which feels more normal.  It's definitely amazing enough that I couldn't justify buying the original anyway, and luckily for my resistance, the skirt sold and is gone.  I'm not making another one of these in a hurry but my skirtmaking flurry is nearly at an end after reaching a lifetime high.  As a side note, my green practice version was snapped up by a petite Malaysian work colleague who LOVES it!