Thread Theory Jedediah pants

My cousin saw my velvet persephone pants last year and was inspired. He wanted me to make him some pants.

I bought various fabrics at Mood and chose the best contender.  I don't recall what they were, but this is a soft cotton twill that is brushed on one side and has a slight twill weave on the other.  The soft side is nice but it attracts all the dust, so I opted for that side in.

I cut this out in January before I moved and would have loved to have time to complete the pants, but of course once I moved I didn't sew and then once I sewed I had so many UFOs and it wasn't til Jason saw my jeans in September that he started to whinge a bit and I thought I better get on with it.

Here they are:

Making stuff for men is pretty easy. They tell you a waist measurement, and eventually an inseam, and you cut the size belonging to that waist measurement and then you cut that inseam.  I added some moderately subtle detailing on the pockets and lots of labels on the inside.

Here is proof of a happy owner:

In terms of the instructions, I recall them not being very good, but my memory is now fuzzy.  I have made pants a few times and so any confusion that I had was allayed by experience even if the instructions themselves were not easy to follow.  My cousin likes the pants but he thought there was too much shaping at the hips and wants them a bit straighter, so I will probably make them again sometime in the next few months.

Megan Nielsen Briar & Thread Theory Strathcona Tee

I realised during my first Briar: I'm over Briar.  Unfortunately I had more planned!  Sewing week was entering full swing...

The first, for me, was an amazing heathered black cotton blend from The Sweet Mercerie.  I really can't recommend this shop enough.  I found it only a week prior to my sewing holiday and I fell in love with the knits.  The photos are true to reality and the prices are super low.  Shipping was fast and cheap to Germany.  I got the last piece of this black stuff, and so I didn't do the usual Briar hem - I just cut it as long as I had fabric for and then evened it out a bit.

Yup, playing on jungle gyms makes you dirty.

The one for my friend had some additional requests - she wanted a higher neck and a bit more modesty at the belly.  I also cut one for her in green interlock knit but I ran out of time and didn't get to sew it.  Next time!  Overall I just eyed these changes.  My pattern was modified thus: I traced the short Briar line + 9 cm length, in a size S, with 1cm removed from the front shoulder.  Unfortunately it took me quite awhile to realise why I didn't love the results - I looked at my blog and saw that I had cut an XS, not a S to fit.  So this cm removed was irrelevant and the fit was too loose for my liking.

 Anyway, in the XS I get pooling in the front shoulder - see my Briar 2, and removing 1cm seems to fix it. The fabric is from the market in Delft, it's a very drapey rayon.  I have more and I'm still trying to figure out exactly what it should be.

Then I made my host a shirt to thank him for letting me turn his flat into a third-world sweatshop for a week.  I used the Strathcona Henley pattern and cut a size S according to his chest measurement.  I think the pattern runs a bit small because it was really fitted, and he was in the lower part of the size range for a small.  The instructions are really vague and kind of weird.  I think they are mainly for making the Henley - if you are making a plain shirt it's assumed that you know what you're doing.  (There is a sewalong if you need help.) Also, the neck binding is shown cut along the grain instead of against it, which I didn't like.  I forgot to lengthen the sleeves, so I added some cuffs, per the pattern.

I planned a second shirt (sounds like deja vu right?) with normal sleeves and a neck binding cut with across the grain...but I cut it out and didn't have time to finish it.  Anyway my friend was super pleased with the one he got. 

Overall a solid, simple men's tshirt pattern.