Evie La Luve Esme Panties

Well well, I have been looking for awhile for a knicker pattern that could be done in a satisfactory fashion without an overlocker.

The Watson bikini, the So Zo knicker, and the Kitschy coo Barrie bottom (here is an overview of all of them that I sewed recently) ...are all lovely and fit just fine.  However they all shred or fall apart because of using a normal sewing machine, and they all give me horrendous panty lines.  So there was still room for improvement.

I saw this pattern on etsy first, but then got even more keen when I saw Elle Joan's had a kit with all the right lace in it.  I've been really enjoying service from her shop lately since she is local in NZ and the shipping is so fast!  Tailor made shop was my go to prior to this, and most of the time I was happy with what I got from her - the kits are certainly beautiful, but I did find once that the various elements didn't match very well, and when I ordered Madalynne lace kits, the lace was non-stretch.  It didn't stop me from ordering from her again.

I thought this pattern would give no panty lines, since the back is lace AND that simplifies a lot of the sewing. I was less sure how the FOE at the waist would go.  It doesn't feel very substantial.

My one kit had enough of everything for 2 pairs of knickers in a size S.  The second one needed FOE from elsewhere, hence teal.  On that second pair, in order to tighten the waist, I pulled the sides around to the XS mark instead of just the S mark, which is an improvement.  I think I could use the size XS instead of S.  My hips are 37". 

These took honestly like 12 minutes to make.  I was initially wary of just folding over the leg openings and zig zagging down, but it seems to hold up ok.  On the second pair I took out extra steps like finishing the front of the crotch piece, and doing an extra layer of stitching on those leg holes before you fold over.  I didn't plan quite far enough ahead to do a sandwich for the crotch piece to enclose it - you have to do that very early on before attaching all the pieces - so it is still unfinished but the lace is good at camouflaging my layers of zig zags.

These are comfortable on.  They are low lying over the hipbones in the front, so the elastic behaves ok.  I will see how they handle being washed before I comment on their longevity - so far no pair of panties with picot elastic has lasted very long (at least looking good) because the elastic all shredded in the wash. 

French Navy Calyer pants: tacky lounge pants for the win!

Like most people these days I discover new patterns via Instagram.  I saw a few pictures of Calyer pants sneak up before the pattern was put up for sale and I was already drooling at the lovely front, the spiraled side seams and the clever pockets.  Plus the fact of no closures on pants that look so stylish had me full of fancy aspirations.

I bought the fabric at The Fabric Store in Auckland to make these pants.  The fabric is a marled grey woven in a weird blend of merino, plus linen? silk? rayon?  who knows.  When I washed it the fabric kind of shrunk in on itself, getting a bit denser and rougher feeling.  It doesn't really have stretch, but it has a lot of mechanical give in the horizontal direction.  It has basically no drape.  The fabric is also super narrow.  I think I bought 1.5 or 2 meters, which is of course less than the pattern calls for.  The pattern calls for a lot of fabric because the back piece is very wide.  So, note the width of your fabric if you want to use less!  I could not fit the pieces across the width and had to cut my front legs in two pieces and make a seam just above the knees.  I actually quite like doing that and I think of it as a design feature, but if you aren't keen on such things, then ensure your fabric is wide enough to cut the back pieces on.

My sewing friend Tessa had made Calyer pants a few weeks ago so I saw her learning process as she didn't leave the seam allowance for the pockets and had to backtrack.  She also cut a size smaller than the size chart recommended.  (Size chart for her measurements were L, but the finished measurements suggested she'd be fine in a M, so that's what she cut.)  It was also very good to see her finished version as the pattern does not make clear that the pocket lining will be visible when the pants are worn.  Tessa's fabric was extra wide, so she could fit the pattern pieces on something like 1 meter of fabric!

The directions are so precise they are almost micromanaging.  However, this is an "advanced beginner" by which they mean intermediate pattern.  That is because the shape of the pattern pieces diverges from "standard" pants, and because the order of construction is original.  By precisely following the directions you are basically guaranteed a fantastic result.  Seriously.  These look amazing.  There is basically no spot that doesn't line up, no edge that's crooked.

As for me, I cut a size XS and I am glad of it.  I considered cutting the S.  My waist is 26-27 and hips 37. I am scared, because my Orla dress was fit for (and was given to) an 8-year-old.  So I was tempted to size up.  Truthfully though I think I had a psychosis moment because on the Orla dress size chart I was not an XS or whatever I cut, but something like an M, so that was my own mistake.

I made no changes to the pattern, and I used some faded rose coloured silk for the pockets and for the front waistband facing.  That was good as the nice stable fabric was easy to work with.  I liked the pop of colour which is subtle but blends in with grey.

I did these during my sewing day, so they took about a third of a day.  I had no problems and my only pause was when Tessa went out to buy my waistband elastic.  I also did not shorten the hems, though they are drafted for a person sized 5'6" and I am more like 5'4", the inseam seems fine on me.  If you are tall these will be slightly above ankle length.  I like the length as it is though.

All my photos are taken at the Mount, aka Mt Maunganui.  The pants did well for a movie night, followed by a morning stroll and a climb up to the top of the mount, though I was pretty sweaty by the top.  (Google says it's 231 meters up.)

My final thought was that the pants look so super cool lying on the floor but when I put them on, the gathering from the back elastic makes my bum look terrible.  They are not form fitting, and so they are kind of like a pair of classy lounge pants.  However then I realised that I basically live in things that don't fit very well which are takes on classy lounge pants.  Also, it was my own fault for not using drapey fabric.

I wore these to work and they were comfortable and made me happy (I am working night shifts and thus basically wear takes on "fancy lounge pants" in order to not wear scrubs.)  I don't plan to make more now, but if I made more I might take a tiny wedge out of the front waist just to dip it down in the centre front.  Other than that, and using a drapey fabric, I wouldn't make any changes.  I suppose theoretically I could size down from the S at the hips to XS at the waist, to decrease the amount of fabric entering the waistband gathers.  But I think first trying a lower profile fabric might make a difference.  So pay attention - if your fabric has a lot of body it will not lie flat due to the elastic!  Also make sure to leave precise seam allowances when sewing the pockets.

Overall I am really happy with these and the pattern.  It was sort of a mystifying experience as I went along but it came out great.  I still don't really get whether the weird angle at the hem of the pants mattered, but I guess it's good when life leaves us with a few unsolved mysteries. 

Madalynne's free Barrett Bralette, x 2

When this first cropped up on Madalynne's instagram I was very impatient for the pattern to be made available - which in short order, it was!  I haven't been sewing much, and I've been choosing rather carefully what to sew also because I've been sewing only weekly at my friend Tessa's, but this pattern alone revived my lingerie sewjo which has been lurking at nil due to last year's lace-based catastrophe and an overdose in other bralette patterns.

Size small which fits me correctly. The sizing chart seems accurate.

I went into it a bit pessimistic, because I quite like my findings - all from Elle Joan via etsy - a local NZ seller so very awesome to get fast service and be able to support local.  I reckoned no way could it end up as good as I hoped.  Plus it's not an easy bralette to make.  Despite the popular sewing bloggers all optimistically waxing poetic, this bralette has lots of little tricky bits and the instructions are very wordy - a thicket of words often obfuscating what the actual next step might be.  Going into it I felt a bit nervous due to those instructions but as long as you have made bras and are used to dealing with picot elastic it doesn't hold major surprises.

I did the first cup wrong - sewing the lining and the outer material of the vertical seam separately, but by the second cup I realised what the instructions were trying to say and I sewed all four layers together correctly.  Indeed it creates a much better result as the seams lie flatter, and I can see the difference when wearing the bralette.

I thought the instructions for putting together the straps were bad, and I referred to the Marlborough bra for those, because it's an easy thing to get confused on.  In the end one can always figure it out.  But this is one of those cases - which reminds me of Tilly and the Buttons patterns - where a multitude of pictures and words can cause more confusion rather than clarity.  I also really hate colour pictures and strongly prefer drawn diagrams.  I think that people are polarised on this : )

As I was making the bralette, the open V of the front didn't seem to sit straight.  It is improved once the straps are on and does not influence the fit but I think I could have changed the angle with which I attached them to that bottom elastic.  I realised once I put clothing on that it is very important because it creates a lumpy silhouette if you don't have that v totally flat.

It's the bottom elastic that makes this a particularly not simple sew.  Because you have to overlap and maintain the SA - I think that is an intermediate skill.  Madalynne assumes that you have glued the layers together and that they will act as one.  I didn't use glue so I had more layers to manage and I had to undo and fix some areas where all three layers didn't catch in my stitching.

The stitching is really visible when it's lying flat but not visible when its worn, so it actually miraculously looks quite decent on.

My sewing machine is borrowed and the needle is offset from what looks like centre.  It has a terrible system for adjusting the width of the zig zag.  So I need to pay a lot of attention to choose the right zig zag and to correct for this visual error I kept making which meant I was stitching off the side of where I wanted to be, which added to my grumpiness.

Overall it was still under 3 hours. This is a fantastic pattern and I really love the fit, so for once despite some errors along the way I'm both happy with the result (yes I will wear it) and I am excited to make the next one, and make it better.

And the second one:
I discovered the width adjustment for the zigzag.  Haha, oops.  Things are better now.  I also got in the habit of putting the needle down into the fabric so I'd know where it was starting, which has also helped. 
I didn't stretch the elastic quite enough under the arms.
To improve the underbust elastic problem, I measured 1/4" down from the top of the bust elastic, and drew a horizontal line to pin the fabric to.  I left this alone at the center front, put the bra on, measured where those 2" should be at the V of the front, and then pulled and gathered in order to get the V to lie flat.  Bra 2 is much nicer looking under clothes - it doesn't stick out weirdly.

I think I've had enough of these, though they were fun.  I have been inspired to go back to an old plan of making a Noelle-Mallori Lane mashup...

Patterns for Pirates Linen lounger shorts in ikat

Sewing day, episode 3.

My friend Tessa has been inviting me over once a week for a sewing day.  This has been very instructive.  First, to see how someone else sews.  Tessa is prolific.  Also she has returned my faith in just taping pdf patterns instead of tracing them.  But I have mostly been buying A0 printouts which is fantastic.

Second is that when I have a day to sew, and I really can only sew during that day, but it's also fun and social, I am very clear on what I plan to do.  And I do it.  And then afterwards I go home and I honestly assess if I care to wear that item and whether it was worth driving around and not surfing all day.  It's helped me to stay honest with myself about how sewing really should not be the centre feature of my existence. 

I decided to make some shorts for Sewing day, week 3.  Last week I was doing some pattern testing which was very stressful, and in fact Tessa will be lending me a sewing machine so I can do some sewing at home to finish all the pattern testing. So, will I turn back into overstressed sewing Sonia?  Remains to be seen...

These Linen Loungers looked great - so many options.  In fact other than the overly bubbly pattern presentation, my big problem with P4P is that there are so many options for each product that it can be hard to tell what you're doing, or follow instructions in a linear fashion.  For these shorts, you can make them short, longer, even longer, or as pants, with two different types of pocket, with or without a fly, with two different types of waistband...egad!

My fabric is a scrap of ikat I have been saving for shorts - purchased in Thailand.  It was a big step to go ahead and make untested shorts out of it!  But in a way that's why I sized up (if anything; my hips shrank in Nepal so now maybe they are 36") - because I reckoned for sure they would fit on my body, at least. 

I cut a size S based on my measurements.  I used the inside pockets and followed all the instructions for the bias binding despite initially thinking it seemed unnecessary.  It gives a great finish, and means the pockets are solid.  I used the curving hem bottom which also was a bit of work but is a nice finish.

And of course I went crazy over-overlocking, just because I could.  I now understand that you are supposed to straight stitch the seamlines, in order to get the correct seam allowance, and then overlock to finish things.  I get it now.  : )

My personal opinion is that there is a lot of fabric in these.  They are very relaxed fit.  And because of the waistband, and the ikat fabric being relatively thick, I feel like I ended up with a lot of fabric between my legs.  For people, anatomically speaking, who have thighs that don't touch, this is great.  But for those of us whose thighs rub together, I do not want extra fabric, because it turns into a big puddle right in the front of my crotch when I am walking.  So I was suspicious.

However everyone on instagram loved these right away and I have gone ahead and worn them every day to test them out...and they certainly function fine.  Nonetheless, for a second pair, were the right fabric to call my name, I would make the XXS, using the yoga style waistband, and lengthen them somewhat.  This length really is a bit on the short side.  Hah, ironically that means the excess fabric is sort of a comfort, if they are short at least they are baggy...

So at least for now looks like my friends hankering after these won't get them.