Burda Young 7020 coat review

 Not a lot to say about this project. It was one of those things that was at the periphery of my attention for a long time: I wanted to use bulky coating to make a coat, maybe a Sapporo?  But then Sapporo (which I think is now called Nova) had all these fit problems, and the pattern was revised, but I had the old version.  Lost the plot on that but I still thought I wanted a simple coat...this seemed to fit the bill.  I got the pattern from a secondhand shop. The drawing on the front led me to believe it had princess seams with the dart coming off the seam and therefore slightly forward side pockets.  In actuality there is only a side seam so the pockets are standard side seam pockets, and the dart comes off the seam.  

I made a size 10/36 which was the smallest in this pattern.

 What I learned is that I will not be satisfied with throwing together a very simple coat.  Other than the thing I already know - which is that when you make a project NOW that you wanted 18 months ago you will be Not Interested. 

 

I had the basics handy. The coating is from The Fabric Store, and is lovely.  The lining is flannel, and the sleeve lining is slippery rayon.  The coat came together quickly.  But in the end, it is too simple.  In seam pockets do not work.  They are too small, they gape, they are in the wrong spot.  I got pretty bored with this by the end, and didn't even try to iron it enough, because really I'd been thinking about it for 2 years and was probably bored when I started making it (when will I learn?)  Thus I hemmed the bottom which also doesn't work.  You really have to hand sew the hem on these things or it won't hang properly.  I didn't put buttons on and it sat for many months before I attached a clasp in order to at least get it off to the secondhand shop while it's still winter.  (Took these pictures before I added the clasp.  Needed this out of my life already!)

The fit is not bad. If you go into this project really planning to wangle a super complex bulky fur or quilted fabric into submission then you might be pleased. But I think if I'm going to make coats, I need to be willing to up my quality game and learn the tailoring techniques to make a really nice coat. 

Burda 03/2013 #107, aka the Most Amazing pschedelic cardigan EVER!

I have had this pattern since last summer.  I think I originally wanted to use some Missoni fabric for it.  Thank god I came to my senses and made a Plaintain instead.  (That was hard enough!) After that I never found fabric I liked - something stretchy but fine knit.

Until a few weeks ago, that is.  I had been musing on cardigans as in the summer a small cardigan is perfect to carry around and throw over your tank top when it gets cool out.  This cardi pattern, chilling in my pattern bag under everything else (is it ghetto that I have one of those big shopping bags as my pattern collection?) was itching to be made *and* while I was in Bern it was the perfect time to splurge at my favourite fabric store, VeroStoffe.  The shop is privately owned and has a well-curated selection.  Unfortunately, not cheap.  I doubt anything is less than 30 franks per meter.

So this amazing cool drapey rayon jersey, at 32 franks a meter, seemed like a steal.  I was in love and didn't hesitate, and I took it home and made up this cardigan in like 2 days flat, brushing aside all the half done projects in the way.  I cut a 38 although I debated a 36 because the material was so stretchy, but the 38 was fine (there is quite a bit of fabric under the arms but not in a bothersome way.)

It is amazing!  I was terrified because of hating gathers but I survived them and although they hang a bit low, it's the pattern - the gathers are not to hold your boobs up, they are more to hide the stuff under your boobs.  I think this is actually a super fabulous pattern.

Ok then I did the stupid thing.  The denoument was waiting to happen, right?  I have this snap maker, and I have all these pretty snaps, and even dark blue ones!  So I spent an hour educating myself on plastic snaps and then filled up my great cardigan with snaps.  Which was perfect!  Until I had to take it off after trying it on!  The snaps are so much stronger than the fabric, even in two layers, which I did NOT ever think of interfacing, that they rip straight out of the fabric.

ooohhhh I hate learning by experience!  So I debated...cutting 20 little squares, interfacing them and zig zagging them on and then re-snapping.  And I put this in a corner to sulk.  And then I thought that is too much work and I am sooo lazy.  So if I just cut one long strip for front and back, interface then and zig zag them on and then re-apply all the snaps, it will be like a band feature.  What do you think?

In the end and with the help of some patternreview comments, I realised I was making things too complicated!!  I zigzagged the band shut, and sewed buttons over the holes (I just pulled out all the snaps.)  So I love my new shirt, even though it no longer opens up the front, it doesn't really need to.  I will interface the front band on my next version and I will use actual buttons.

Here are the after pictures.

 

Burda 8237 miniskirt

 This is such an easy skirt pattern that anyone could presumably draft it themselves (but we don't want to!)  It has two back darts and an inside waist facing.  I cut the lining exactly like the main skirt, then basted the lining and the facing together.  I applied them to the skirt as one, and then folded the bottom facing edge in and sewed that down.  It makes it look almost like it has a waistband.  I finished the zip by sewing the lining to the zip tape in the seam allowance and for once my zip sits nicely at the bottom. Must be...my new sewing machine!  Maybe I will talk more about that some other time.

When I assessed my theoretical size on the chart (12) and measured the pattern piece (waist 30! 3 inches of ease, crazy people.) I decided to cut that size anyway so that the skirt would hang just above my hips, and it does.  It is perfect.  The back waistband is curved and the front waistband is flat, so for me that evades the whole swayback issue.  I did not change the length at all, although by wearing it lower it's de facto a touch longer.  I'm 165 cm so keep in mind that this is a MINIskirt for sure on people with longer legs. 

I finally have my sewing groove back after being sick and making boring projects from last year.  I have absolutely no need for a skirt with racing horses on it.  I love it!!  I also am wildly in love with Steel & Cotton, the fabric company.  I'm not sure how I've gotten brainwashed to be in love with fabric companies, but I also stalk Art Gallery fabrics, and I am so so so sad that I can't access any of their pretty fabrics in person.  I have finally started very slowly buying a few things on etsy.  It's frustrating to do without seeing it, but even with extortionate shipping to Switzerland (really, does it cost $20 to ship 2 meters of fabric??), it's cheaper than trying to source here.  (a meter of Art Gallery knit was selling for 35 franks in the shop.)

But anyway, I got these horses in 1000 Stoffe in Berlin.  The shop was small but amazing and I had a delightful chat with the girl who works there.  I fell in love with this fabric immediately and knew it was fated to be this skirt.

The lining is silk charmeuse.  Live a little...it makes my skirt feel expensive.  It's from the garment district in LA, when I cleverly bought about 5 meters of totally useless colours that I now have lying around.

Burda 7841: I made my dad some pants!

Well, I wasn't the one to plan this project.  My parents were at the Pendleton wool factory in Oregon state at some point because I had a cousin working there.  My dad, not long retired, picked out some wool and figured it would be "easy" to sew himself a pair of pants.  He was an aeroplane engineer and I guess he figured drafting and sewing by a pattern were the same, right?

So a month with nothing to do on my hands seemed like a good time to save him from this misconception and sew his pants.  He had already chosen the size.  I compared the pattern with his most recent pants (made by his tailor in Taiwan in 1998 for 1000$, he said.  Hm...not sure I'll compare.)  Anyway it looked like the crotch depth on his favourite pants was about 3" deeper than the more modern pattern but I warned my Dad of it and told him I wasn't going to make any changes.  After the tragic fitting of my Thurlows and my Peter and the Wolf pants (they are going to be lounge pants - no way to shrink them), I wasn't feeling up to pattern modifications.

The wool is an interesting pale blue and grey loose weave.  It didn't cause me too many problems although it was sometimes difficult to remove stitches because they sink deeply into the fabric.  For mostly my own entertainment I used an old scrap of my mother's flower fabric for the pockets but to save my dad's sanity I put the bright colour to the inside. I was making these at the same time as I made a pair of Grainline Maritime shorts, and it was strange how many different ways there are to put a fly together.  I think the Thurlow way made more sense than any of the others but I don't have my pattern anymore, and I was also wary of diverging from what Burda wanted me to do.  A few times the pattern seemed confusing but it was usually my reading of it, plus the general situational irritation of sewing at my parents house.  However at one point I was supposed to sew together 4 layers at the fly, and with the thick wool that wasn't happening.  I made do...

I think I now understand why it's so amazing to have your own sewing space!  I was switching between two sewing machines, in two rooms, with the iron in a third room, my cutting space the dining room floor (and that floor was also my sewing table...my back will never be the same.)  These pants took me nearly the entire month to make and it felt like they would never get done.  It was a huge difference from the calm environment I had in New Zealand where I commandeered the entire dining room, with two walls of windows and direct overhead lamps, to be my sewing room.  At the end the sewing machine bobbin became a thread snarling monster and I stopped trying to neaten up a few loose edges, but the pants were done by then.  This lack of machine-control was also annoying.  The Necchi downstairs didn't have any zipper feet, but it had the only semi-functional buttonholer.  (Until it turned to the dark side.)  The machine upstairs had a broken bobbin winder and I couldn't learn how to thread the stupid machine.  So I had to keep ferrying between the two and getting my mother to thread the sewing machine...sigh.

In the end the pants are done!  They are a little more modern than my 83-year old dad is used to but he professes to like them.