Kwik Sew 1672 - men's boxer shorts.

P wanted some boxer shorts so I took a break from useless stuff for me and cut him a pair out of scraps from one of my dresses.

The Kwik Sew pattern is nice!  It's color coded on paper thicker than the usual tissue.  It's also nice to have a pattern that is only two pieces : )  The most time I spent fiddling with the fly opening, and I did this over two evenings because I was also trying to finish up a few other projects.  (Working on three things at once has some benefits but it seems like everything gets done at the same time!)  The elastic went in without any trouble.  I especially liked how the instructions had me sew down the elastic at each quadrant, before I sewed along it, since this held it down really nicely.

Overall I think this is my best finished project yet...but it would be hard to mess up.

Lisette 2209- Passport jacket

This is the last of my Lisette patterns!  It seemed like the most daunting project and because of that I left it for last of the batch.  Of course in the end it was pretty straightforward and the fabric was incredible to work with.

For this one I used some lovely green silk-linen that I got at the Global Fabrics while passing through Dunedin.  I was planning to line it with pale blue chiffon but it ends up that I hadn't read the pattern very thoroughly and it doesn't require a lining.  Next decision was whether to use same-fabric facings or to use something else.  I didn't have anything optimal in my stash - plain black or white silk seemed a bit silly and I did end up having enough of the fabric itself so I just stuck with that.  After reading through Tasia's sewalong for the Lonsdale (an upcoming project!), I was super keen to go get some seam tape and make my seams beautiful....but the local shop didn't have any : (  Stupid small towns.

I cut a size 10.  I had cut the previous Lisette designs in an 8 and on this I had initially considered doing a wide-shoulder adjustment but I thought 4" of wearing ease might be enough to take care of that.  I know I'm mixing up design ease and wearing ease but the pattern is cut in enough pieces to make me hesitate before changing the wrong ones.  (And the various types of ease are a subtlety I'm only now starting to understand, I'm not sure if they matter in practice.)  I also hesitated because the front is cut in two pieces and I wasn't sure where to add in the shoulder width.

A lot of cute variations online made me consider more than one button and after trying it on before I put the facings in, I saw how totally shapeless the back was and went for three buttons.  The third button down is the key one in holding the jacket together so it's not too boxy (er, and so I can lift my arms...)

The ruffle went on without a hitch.  I ran out of thread near the end and used bright blue on the facings though...not sure if that looks stylish or tacky.  I had to give in and buy more so that I could sew the hem.  Hand sewing practice notwithstanding, I don't have enough faith in my abilities to slip stitch an entire hem.

The final word is that I truly have to work on putting in more effort into fitting my garments.  This is a project I put a lot of time into and it's really cute, but the shoulders are just too narrow.  I have only recently noted that my dresses and tops are all either tank tops, or are stretch knits.  There is a reason for that!  I actually don't fit into standard size shoulder width tops!  This is always obvious for me when I buy things in stores, but when I'm fitting patterns for myself, somehow I imagine I will fit just fine...by the end of the first day I noticed that the back seams were pulling apart just a little bit.

Also, my pictures are very unflattering.  I probably need to figure out the self timer because I'm too self conscious when others are taking pictures of me and I clearly haven't got much sense of what angles I need to actually show off the good work I've done. 

This jacket would definitely be awesome if it did have a lining.  I'm quite sad not to get to use seam bindings - etsy came through so some are on their way but I ended up just using shears on all the seams, and I will eventually seam bind the bottom. I will get some wear out of it, but the shoulder limitation means it's uncomfortable to bicycle in and that's my primary mode of transportation.  Seeing how one day damaged it makes me hesitate to put it through my usual rough wearing.  Also, silk linen is nice and shiny in certain light but it wrinkles a lot!  This would be really cute in corduroy.  And this fabric might make a nice Scout!  Hah!

So, are handmade garments inherently more fragile?
How do you decide what fitting modifications to make?  I know that making a muslin is the obvious answer but it seems like I don't figure out a lot of things until I wear the dress/shirt/jacket and see what happens.

Grainline Scout tee - total fail

I was coveting the Scout after I saw so many people making so many variations of it.  After all...making dresses is fun but quality wardrobe basics are probably a more useful achievement.

So, teal merino wool!  I started to have nightmares when I realised my first Scout was to be in a stretch knit -my first stretch knit top, although my confidence is up a bit after my long underwear success.  So I sized down to a 2 for this one assuming I would want very little ease.  This seems to be a lesson in learning how to match the correct fabric to the correct pattern.  Even in a size 2, the Scout came out massive and shapeless.  Before I started on the bias binding I had already written it off.  Sewing it was ok, I used a ballpoint needle but I didn't do anything else particularly special.  I didn't really have wide enough bias tape to follow the instructions so after sewing it on I just flipped it over and stitched in the ditch.  Not always accurately...it created a very narrow neckline. 

I do think that the Scout pattern might work well for a silk top that I have planned.  I will probably size down to a 0 without making any other changes - in that structured fabric I suspect I'll have more success.  Because I wasn't so good at the bias tape bindings, I might use actual bias tape on the silk version to get a better result. 

Oh but this was my first Indie pattern!  Lots more in the works!

Vogue 8755 Pants

My first trouser attempt!  I wasn't initially planning this so soon.  In fact, last week I was lurking Tasia's delightful sewalong for the Lonsdale dress and that was the plan for this week.  The sewalong gave me so many great ideas, things like using seam binding...so I went to the local shop and they didn't have any : (  Not to mention underlining, it was a breakthrough!  I want to do this to everything...I could hand sew all those floppy facings down to something!

I thought about that afterwards and realised I have finally gone up a level.  I noticed it with the Lisette jacket (it's almost done!) - it finally doesn't seem like too much effort to bind my seams and do extra little touches that make the final product genuinely awesome.  I'm even considering hand stitching things -- I have never slip stitched anything in my life; all my hand sewing was made up as I went along and usually to fill in a hole or fix an open seam.  As a result it usually looked pretty bad close up.  It's been illuminating to realise what a big place hand stitching has in sewing. The Colette Sewing Handbook had a great chapter on how to properly hand sew.  (Unfortunately my CSH came without its patterns and I am still pining for them but Amazon wouldn't ship them to New Zealand.)

So I went to Wellington and got this crazy silver spangled wool.  And I thought it would be perfect for the Vogue trouser pattern.  I was so right.  And I have apparently figured out Vogue's sizing (choose one size smaller than you actually are) because I picked a size 10 and they fit perfectly (even maybe a touch loose at the hips).  As always, halfway through the project I thought they were too small.  These were a super easy project to do and overall just took a few hours...until I got to the facings.  It's a bit bewildering to do pants - I am not used to which piece connects to what, whereas with dresses it usually seems instinctive, and the zip was to go in the back and I followed the pattern then realised I do have free will and I would have preferred it on the side.  The lining is black silk that I got as a remnant.  Naturally it's just a facing (oh I sooo hate facings!) but a nice one and it will definitely help the pants hold their shape.

I was so pleased with how the zip went in - the instructions were to baste the back shut, apply the zip, and then open the seam, and I did that.  I shortened it at the bottom and then, feeling oh-so-clever, I shortened it at the top so I could fold my facing over the edge.  Um, oops.  People, there is a reason that zips have a little plastic stopper at the top....yes, I zipped my zipper right off and that was the end of "just a few hours."  And the end of my awesome teal blue zipper.  The other one I had in the right size was sky blue, still a little bit interesting but not exciting.

Three hours more work to get the zipper in, again.  In the thick herringbone wool my stitches nearly vanish, and the trousers have three darts on each side.  (One front and two back.)  So I sewed the facings down by just sewing vertically up every seam (sides and front), and sewing along the darts.  The stitches are invisible, and my evil facing is held down!  Awesome!  I'm actually really excited how these pants turned out, and I definitely put in some extra effort finishing edges and facings.  I did a simple hem and most of the finishing was done with my shears.

Sorry for all the shots of my bum...

Sparkly wool!  Again, sorry for close up butt action but that way you can see the zipper too.  I will be doing side zips from now on.

Jalie thermal underwear (and a shopping spree in Wellington!)

Took a little break from dresses in favor of a bit of practicality.  I was hunting for awhile for a men's thermal underwear pattern.  I had gotten some nice black local merino wool and my boyfriend was keen for a pain of longjohns.  Via various forums I found the out-of-print Jalie thermal underwear pattern, available for download on their website for $9USD.

I am so far not in love with pdf patterns.  The Jalie pattern was particularly confusing because it has an unreliable amount of overlap and doesn't outline each piece clearly so you know where to cut.  Luckily my boyfriend was willing to help since he got something out of it : )  He did the cutting and we taped together.  He's a skinny 31 waist and he chose a size U (the pattern covers toddler to big adult), which in retrospect was a touch big, but he says he likes it that way (I also cut off about an inch of the waist to make it sit slightly lower toward his hips.)

It was my first time working with knits!  Jalie recommends first zig zagging the seam, then following it with a straight stitch.  I did that in some places, although it seemed better to do the straight stitch first which held the fabric and then I did a zig zag to better hold the edge.  The instructions were a bit funny for the fly and I had to undo some mistakes there when I sewed the front and the back together, but it was otherwise straightforward construction and my first ever elastic application went well.  I did use a ball point needle, and I'm not sure it's totally necessary but seemed like if that would improve the final product I might as well go for it.

Overall it is a functional result but definitely a quick job - the fly bias tape is a bit funny and I didn't cut the top above the elastic totally straight since I shortened it by guesswork.  I'll admit I still don't own any kind of a ruler except for my measuring tape.  My next attempts at knits will probably be tshirts as another project that will be quite straightforward.

Speaking of which - I went to a conference in Wellington last weekend, just for a day.  Quite a rushed day because of course it was a priority to get to the fabric store!  I had to choose which lectures to miss of the conference, and I was still late getting back.  Global Fabrics has changed its name to The Fabric Store, a bit dull but this *is* New Zealand.  And they were having a sale!  My frantic hour in the shop taught me something about needing to have a plan before you enter the shop!  I ended up with some merino wool in aqua and green, green twill for my upcoming Minoru jacket, some green wool I couldn't resist, just in case, rainbow striped shirting, and some interesting stuff for pants involving lurex threads and silk-cotton blends. 

Of course I'm totally sure I left some incredible things behind but I suppose there will eventually be another trip to Wellington, and I definitely have enough to keep me occupied already! 

Vogue: V1344 Rebecca Taylor pattern

I ordered three Lisette patterns and basically worked my way through all of them as a learning exercise.  The only thing left to do is the Passport jacket, and I didn't feel quite ready to do a jacket yet. (It'll be next, after some long underwear for my boyfriend.)

I visited the States in June and randomly ordered some Vogue patterns ahead of time to ship to my parents house, along with some lovely blue raw silk on Etsy.  Not exactly sure what I'll do with that yet, but everything in New Zealand is expensive!  I hadn't discovered Mood fabrics yet...but unfortunately their shipping abroad is extortionate so I can only drool for now.

The first Vogue dress on my list is V1344, and in my mind I had it paired with a to-die-for Liberty silk.  In order to gear up for such a project I decided to use my second Spotlight purchase to make a wearable muslin.  My local fabric shop finally came through as well with some interesting green silk chiffon to use as lining.  In this project for the first time I attempted to line a dress and work with silk so those skills could prepare me for potentially doing an expensive version of this dress.

Hah!  Not sure that's happening, I'm still on the fence.

My first problem was getting used to the Vogue pattern style, which had dotted lines all over the place and seemed really confusing.  I traced the pattern, also a first, since I have no faith in my ability to figure out my size.  I'm not sure how tracing can be considered reliable...It seems like I'm now two degrees away from the original pattern (tracing it, cutting out the tracing). Naturally upon cutting it looked very small - I cut a size 10 because the Lisette patterns scared me with their unpredictable ease.  Going by my measurements I would have cut a 12.  (34, 27, 36)

I was soooooo right about the nastiness of working with this chiffon, not to mention my tracing skills leave a lot to be desired.  But my first complaint was with the Vogue instructions, who put a bunch of shoulder pleats in without explaining how they could possibly match up front and back.  And why put shoulder pleats in the lining?  The result of the lining pleats is that on one side of the neck, the lining is really visible because the pleat at the shoulder pulls it out.  I did each step pretty slowly and meticulously considering my terrible cutting job.  After dealing with the pleats when it came time to sew the lining into the bodice I discovered that my lining really didn't fit at all.  It was about 5 inches short of reaching the armholes.  So I basted big chunks on (it's lining, right, it doesn't matter what it looks like?) so that I could reach the armholes.

It wasn't too bad after that until I got to the mysterious task where Vogue vaguely says to put the elastic into the seam allowance at the waist.  Whaaaaat??  This is a 4 layer seam allowance!  And the elastic is not that small....So I did it, and sewed it shut, tried it on, and then sewed it again on the elastic at all the spots that had frayed open.  That seems like a really dumb way to put in a waist elastic.  If I did this dress again (note again: that is in doubt) I would increase that seam allowance to 1" so there would be room for this step.

In the end it did fit - in fact it was too big...and too late for me to overlap the front more so it totally fails a leaning over test.  If I do this pattern again I would probably cut the size 8, or cut a 10 but with bigger seam allowances (I'm not at the point where I'm ready to tackle too many more subtle changes than that.)

But considering the new patterns I've ordered: Deer and Doe, Sewaholics, Aimecommemarie, and By Hand London...there are a lot of things on my to-do list before I come back to this.  I probably won't use the nice Liberty silk for it either, as it's a fine georgette that won't look good unless it has a dark lining, and probably best in something with smoother lines.  

Lisette 1878- Diplomat dress, take 2

I worked my way through the cutesy fabrics and now I'm finally on to some cheaper stuff that I got on a whirlwind first visit to Spotlight (=Jo-Ann Fabrics).  I had immediately envisioned a long sleeve version of my first dress in a cozy, sleepwear-like plaid flannel.

I'm also trying to slow down a little.  The first wild projects careening through my head are taken care of and I thought before I move on to the next ones, I need to actually start doing something well.  I have a host of Liberty fabrics in mind for upcoming attempts and I don't want to mess them up! (Heh - although that said Ebay pulled a trick on me and some fabric I ordered went to my parents house in the States!  So much for doing that dress for awhile...)

So on this dress I wanted to focus on matching up the plaid (arrrrgh no one told me that flannel sticks to itself, and shifts around, and never matches!)  and also on making a wide-shoulder adjustment.  I stuck to the same size 8 even though it was small because this fabric has more give than the muslin, and with the wider shoulders it will fit much better since the shoulder area was the main problem.  This time I also wanted to do the facing correctly.

Other than the plaid really not matching up that well (I tried!), this went smoothly.  It's definitely easier to do a project the second time around - I had a lot more confidence and there were no surprises.  With the shoulder adjustment - I added 2 inches across using the Colette online tutorial - it still pulls slightly in the front chest, but the back chest feels better.  If I hadn't done this I think the long sleeves would have been uncomfortable.  

For some reason I also placed the zipper in too low, so until I get around to sewing in the hook and eye, it gapes a bit.  Since it's winter that doesn't matter for now, I'm always wearing a cardigan over it. (But it's quite obvious in the pictures.)

I do like this dress now that I'm better at making it, but I don't think it's anything special - not enough to do again.  I've read a few posts by those incredible sewing bloggers creating multiple variations on each dress theme, but I haven't found a pattern I like that much yet.  I'm looking forward to getting on the bandwagon and trying out some of the popular things I've seen up lately!

It's taking awhile to get coordinated enough to photograph my projects - trying to get quicker at it but I've chosen to keep everything chronologically accurate even if I'm behind a bit on posting.