Cali Faye Hampshire pants x 2

It's long been on my list to make these pants again, sizing down.
I made an XXS this time - down from an S.

The model in the photos wears an S, has my measurements, and yet the pants fit her. When I made my first pair (here) they fell off me and were dangerous to wear in public for that reason.

This fabric is a most delicious shade of terra cotta, stretch corduroy. Unfortunately the piece on etsy was 70 cm long, and the piece I measured after washing was 61 cm long.  So I made do and cut them as long as the fabric allowed - I'll have some great long shorts for summer (and conveniently enough, summer is on its way).  I recall liking the instructions for the fly, and now I have to say after making Persephone pants this fly didn't seem quite as great.  I sewed the crotch, and then cut into the seam allowance to fold that SA over separate from the fly.  Seems like I also um sewed the fly shut but anyway that was fixed rapidly enough.  I overlocked everything and didn't do any french seams.  I'm sure when the novelty of the overlocker wears off I'll be french seaming stuff again but I'm not there yet.

I couldn't sew the buttonhole in Arizona, so these fell into the black hole of travelling luggage and emerged in time for summer.  I managed to get a buttonhole into them because I've learnt how to use a bartack to just sew my own buttonhole.  Trying them on for these photos I think I will hem the bottoms because they end awkwardly right at my knees.  The pockets gape a LOT but these feel luxurious!  They are a bit stretchy and the pocket bags are silk noil. 

In the meantime I thought the fit was fine, so I cut into my secret sweatpants material - from Miss Matabi on etsy, this was described as sweatshirting, with a hard exterior, like it's painted on, and with no stretch. After a full wash and dry cycle, the material does have a (very) little stretch and although the blue exterior is smooth, it's not hard or boardlike. I would maybe have benefited from raising the mid-back a bit where it dips towards my bum, and what I did do was a kind of on-the-fly quadriceps enlargement - I just pulled the pages of my taped pattern apart to add some room in the front of the thighs. I thought that might make the pockets pull less. Plus my massive muscular thighs always benefit from extra space.

The fabric really does have some give and these now match the photos of the designer, despite sizing down 2 sizes from the recommended chart. And excuse me from totally reusing photos of a tank top I have talked about elsewhere, I reckoned after so much effort the pants deserved their own post! This fabric has a fluffy inside which sheds onto everything, but they are otherwise really lovely and cozy.

The side pockets of these stick out quite a bit, and now that I've made them a few times, I'd probably stick with XS in future but I think in the meantime I'll look for pants with more flattering front pockets.  Oddly enough, my very first pair, oversized as they are, remain among my favourites...

Me Made May 2018 - week 1

I decided sort of lackadaisically to participate in Me Made May.  I'm working nights, living in limbo and it means I commit to anything these days rather hesitantly.  Even wearing things I make.  Which I do anyway.

Because I don't change clothes on a normal schedule (nights! and surfing!) I'm not bothering to take photos of me in the clothes.  I have put in a modicum of effort to make sure I'm wearing something me made almost all the time, though - I think I didn't sleep in me-mades this week but sure, I can fix that for the next few weeks.  Conveniently enough I'm about to make even more loungepants!

This also forced me to finally learn how to make photo collages.  I'm so behind on the concept that there is an app for everything.

Week one included the following items:

Many tshirts: Briar and 2 Renfrews - the red one is upcycled
Mission maxi upcycled tank.
Mystery swimsuit, pattern tester.
Hampshire pants
Calyer pants.
New Jalie cardigan, soon-to-be blogged

I'm perfectly aware that my wardrobe in New Zealand ends up always falling back on comfortable, easy wearing but not necessarily flattering basics.  I am repeatedly surprised how much wear these Hampshire pants have gotten but they are the perfect post-surf pants for fall and winter, which means I wear them regularly once the weather is too cold for capri length pants.  

Cali Faye Gardenia dress in merino

This dress caught my interest when I first discovered Cali Faye's patterns.  I pondered it at length and was so excited to make it!  I went through a variety of fabrics in my head.  It seemed to have a lot of plusses - cool orientation of the fabric, knit, interesting shape, etc - this is close to the sort of thing I often cave in and buy so I pinned a lot of hopes on it.

As I started to feel the stress of another impending move, I cut out any plans for a muslin and inspected the pattern pictures closely.  The model in the photos has basically the same measurements as I do and is in a size S.  Based on the fact that I didn't want the dress too loose, I went for an XS instead.

Merino jersey: from The Fabric Store, this time from Dunedin just because I happened to be there visiting a friend.

I also changed the neck binding as I didn't really like the idea of applying the binding as thought it's a woven - after all I hate doing woven bindings and that's part of why I like knits!  I did a foldover knit binding like from the Megan Nielsen Briar - and initially I thought I had done it too tight and ruined the dress and my mood was low.  But I persisted.

I put in so much work to get the pockets in.  The instructions are ridiculous here.  I think usually you attach the pocket to the front and back of the skirt, with right sides together, and sew with a small seam allowance.  Then you flip the pocket out and align the front and back, and sew the entire thing together, turning nicely at the corners.  That way you don't have any funny gaps all over the place.

The instructions here had you sew the pockets separately from the skirt, and left all those gaps where things didn't line up the first time around.  Luckily knits are forgiving and all those gaps were closed eventually....

And then I tried on my dress and was in horrors, because those awful, hideous pockets ruin the dress!  They add width directly over my hips and are too low to be useful.  It took me a week with my Gardenia in the time-out pile before I picked it up and realised all I had to do was take off the pockets and the dress would be fine.

Sry forgot to iron hem

I did that.  And it was.  I like it now!  

Cali Faye Hampshire pants

I planned to make these for ages and in fact was obsessing over this pattern and had certain fabrics already chosen.  Naturally all my projects fell by the wayside with my move from the States, and the fabrics were also put away.  But I didn't manage to pack any pants for New Zealand so I started over with new fabric and my new Pfaff Passport 2.0 and got working.

I had even made a muslin of these from a bedsheet which goes to show that muslins do not help me as I can't translate from the muslin to reality.  I just don't get it!  The muslin was too big but that didn't foreshadow anything to me - I just thought I will maybe take in the waist a bit in the real version!  

It started out as the second project with the new machine (Pfaff Passport 2.0) and so far I'm really really happy with the machine.  It is possible that once you have an IDT you can't go back.  But I'll keep working and eventually review when I have more thoughts.

I got this super cheap fabric at David's Emporium in downtown Hamilton.  They are kind of the local crafty junk store and have a lot of unlabeled and very cheap fabrics.  I didn't burn test this but I have been ironing it really hot and it never melted so it's probably 100% cotton.  It was $6 per meter!

I cut a size S based on my measurements, despite that muslin, thinking that I didn't want to go too small as these pants are supposed to skim right over the hips.

I really enjoyed the instructions.  They have great details for finishing everything -- you are made to french seam the crotch and then topstitch it prior to sewing the back and the front together, which looks really good, although it does mean you can't adjust later.  I totally took this technique and used it on my Chataigne shorts too and I will probably keep doing it, because I love having the crotch curve finished nicely.

Everything went together great although I skipped the triangles you put over the pocket because I folded the pocket pretty side together.  If you want your pretty fabric on the inside of your pants, then you need this triangle on the outside as a kind of pocket facing.  It took me awhile to reason this all out and then I just ditched them.

Also, after my terrible Safran experience the fly was a joy.  I did baste it shut badly and then had to undo a bit but overall it was so straightforward and I think it produced the best fly result, possibly as good as or better than the Sewaholic Thurlow fly.  Not my fly seam though, that went a bit crazy.  Oh well...no one will be staring at my fly, I hope.

In the end they are big!  Muslin was right!  I thought at first about taking in the darts, taking in the waistband, etc, but then I decided these will be my baggy pants.  While under that ridiculous impression I went for a crazy jeans button that was a spare from something.  The back had pointy prongs that needed to go into the front.  I finally used like a hammer and then some epoxy glue to hold the prongs in...but it does look professional (from a distance) and it's really stable...

These are the pre- pictures, and they may look nice but it's actually because of the scenery and having an unusually competent photographer. 

Can you tell these pants are FALLING OFF?

So I wore them for like half a day and faced reality.  These pants were not going to be my baggy pants in this state.  They needed serious surgery and it was embarrassing being out in public in them.  2 centimeters removed out of each side seam all the way down.  It took me ages to get around to doing this but it was a super easy fix!  And like magic, they now fit just the way they were supposed to - just a tiny bit baggy, loose, comfy...total save.  I think they are still not the most flattering, but they are no longer in danger of falling off.

My measurements are waist 27, hips 37, I'm 5'4" tall and didn't adjust the length and they are exactly the right length on me.  And I am going to make the XXS next in a stretch fabric to see if that fits better.  Even with a total of 4 cm removed they are very baggy.

Cali Faye Rumi top

I was strangely drawn to shapeless knit tops recently, and the Hemlock didn't exhaust my attraction.  Well, this usually wouldn't either but Andreia wrote so convincingly that I went ahead and gave it a try.  I used a piece of organic hemp knit from Siebenblau. (Have I mentioned how sad it makes me that they don't ship outside the EU?)  I knew it was a little lightweight for the pattern but I couldn't resist using it, and I did NOT narrow the pattern even though it looked suspiciously wide.  I cut the XXS which absolutely didn't match my measurements.  (33-27-37)

My one change from the pattern was the neck - I cut a single strip and sewed it onto the outside, then folded it in as though it were a facing, without too much tension, and sewed it down.  That gives a clean finish, additional support, and works well on the hemp which is not super stretchy.

Verdict is mixed.  I think if I were making this in the right season, I'd wear it.  I really like how the little sleeves give it shape.  But I think I'd cut about 2 inches out of both the front and back on a future version...

I was pretty excited that the remote for my old Pentax works on my new Pentax, but it works by infrared which means it has to have "visual" contact with the camera haha, made for some funny poses. 

So I decided to make that second version late at night after some wine, and forgot that taking 2" out on the fold meant I was removing 4".  This fabric is quite heavy, and it was really a muslin - I didn't have enough fabric scrap for the full length, but I much prefer the width of this version.  This is one I'll revisit with some sweater knits, which I think will be a better match for the pattern.

Overall I don't really understand how other people look so good in this top but I'll put it down to others using relatively lightweight, sweatery, drapey fabrics, which I didn't use at all.  I still like the sleeves, which for a very simple pattern give it one nice elegant touch.