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. 

Megan Nielsen Brumby skirt in ikat

Ah deep pockets!  I loved Frobelina's version of this and I think that's what convinced me to give it a try, since I'm not super into skirts.

This is also part of what seemed interminable stripe-matching projects that I started in Seattle this summer.
Mainly I tried to match the colours so there weren't violent shifts between the dress/pocket/waistband.  I had to cut the front waistband in two instead of on the fold in order to do that, since ikat is always only 100cm wide and the purple was in the center. 
I also wasn't sure how the gathering would affect the stripe placement.

I cut a size S.
Sewing together was totally reasonable.  Gathering was painful, but I got the job done.  My ikat cotton is from Thailand - I got it from a shop in Chiang Mai.  I did not have much left over, and in fact the inside of my waistband is an old scrap which decidedly doesn't match. This ikat, being loomed, is 100 cm wide and so that was part of why I had to watch how I placed the stripes.

I got to the zipper and ran out of time in Seattle, so it took awhile to get back my skirt mojo and finish.  My interest in this project was waning fast and I pretty much doubted I'd like it by the time it was finished.  It fits really really well, but I don't like the gathered fabric over my butt, it's so fluffy!  I just can't see myself in this style of skirt.  Maybe if it were a really drapey, flowey fabric with no body, maybe then.  But it's just too much gathering for me.  

Luckily I found a friend who loves it!

Merchant and Mills Camber Set in Thai ikat (plus an obsessive look at wide shoulder fit problems)

I am happy (happy?) to finally be done with this pattern.
This is it.
Not because it's perfect, but because I finally understood that I do not like shapeless woven shift dresses! Why did it take so long to figure this out?  This dress, also, UNLIKE what the M&M website says, should be made in something really drapey.  Not linen type fabrics.  At least, I think that would get rid of the big expanses of space problem. 

I kept the shoulder widening which I had done previously for the last iteration of this dress - on the back, but not on the front.  I didn't make any other changes, the dress is a size 10.  I eased the front of the shoulder into the back without problems. 

My shoulder, and the dress shoulder, are just NOT in the same place, and I have a lot of pulling at the front

First I thought I was being very smart by adding knit sleeves.  But you see now all the weird ways my shoulders and this pattern don't get along - a lot of space in the sleevehead, especially in the back, no room in the front of the shoulder.  Now I finally suspect it's all due to having sloping shoulders, not just due to their wideness.

So those knit sleeves were a no-go.
No problem, sleeveless!

Except it's just not very flattering.  Expanses of space.  Reminds me of the Inari.
It's going to turn into a tunic with a nice high low hem and side splits, because I love this fabric.

The fabric: brought back from Chiang Mai in Thailand, it's a soft cotton ikat, medium weight.  It of course doesn't drape but it looks like it'll soften even more with use.  So overall this can be salvaged, but it made me reflect on how easy it is to go astray with style.  Style is a subtle thing, isn't it?  Have you made something over and over again before you realized it wasn't working because it just wasn't your thing?

Weaving ikat in Luang Prabang

During my trip I discovered a local weaving industry called Ock Pop Tok ("east meets west") in Luang Prabang.  It is a fair trade business providing livelihood for village weavers, and also has a lovely cafe that fed us local style food during our course, a shop which sells products made by the weavers there, and four boutique hotel rooms.  The location is amazing, with balconies over the Mekong river.  Impossibly, they told me that in the rainy season the water is only a few meters below your feet.  Can you imagine?

Looking west-ish from the Ock Pop Tok balcony.  Doesn't that fisherman look stranded?

Looking eastish, in the afternoon.  The shore seems really far away and it's impossible to imagine the water nearly lapping our feet.

I read about it in Lonely Planet, and immediately reckoned I should take a one-day class. It was hard to stay in one town too much in Asia, since it was my first trip.  I couldn't always settle in the present - if HERE is so amazing, then what will I see NEXT???  I had definitely not anticipated the variety of textiles, the hilltribe weaving and embroidery, and the access to the weaving and information.  By the time I got to Laos, I already had too much fabric to carry around with me!

So, class list.  In one day you could learn about dyeing and then weave a placemat.  In two days, you could weave a kit scarf using Lao designs.  And in three days, you could actually learn and do a full ikat scarf by yourself from nothing!  I had to revise my travel plans to fit three days in for this course.  Obviously it was the most thrilling option, and there was no looking back.

When you look forward to something, and it's a one-time affair, is it possible not to be disappointed?  I got sick on the way to Luang Prabang, and it just made everything even more intense and poignant, because I had three days of weaving to recover before moving on.  From sewing, I think I have become a craft pessimist - I know that my first attempt at anything is going to be crappy and so I don't try as hard the first time around.  But when the first time is also the only time, then I feel stressed to do the impossible - perfection!

The staff were truly amazing, and the project of first wrapping your silk into skeins, then tying it up, then dyeing it, and finally weaving, was so well done that now I definitely understand the theory of ikat and I could do it myself (on a bigger scale?) or teach others how to do it.  My teacher didn't speak any English so I learned a few words of Lao and she laughed at me, fixed my mistakes, and did half the work for me in the evening (all that wrapping skeins and bobbins of silk, agh!)

That foreshadowing of catastrophe was based on two things - the skeins for dye colours were aged and had faded - they actually redid them during my first day of weaving, which was sort of painful since I got to watch the beautiful colours drying and wish I'd chosen those myself.  I chose colours I wasn't sure about because they were all very pastel colours and I couldn't imagine how much darker my dye results would be. And the weft threads were black, which wasn't pointed out to me, but which makes a huge impact on the result.  If I had understood these facts, I would have chosen dark, rich colours, or asked about making olive green.  So I was weaving out of colours that I really didn't like. 

The sunbleached samples of doom.  The items below are all from the garden, and are the materials that you use to dye the silk.  We went and dug up all our dye!  (I didn't take an after picture of the new dyes because I was bitter.)

Weaving commences!

The ikat is in the yellow, and is visible up close.

The other thing is just that weaving takes time, like knitting.  I'm really glad I wove a scarf.  I was convinced not to run out and buy a loom!  Weaving is pretty boring work!

I ended up sending my scarf to a friend of mine who is a PhD in historical textiles.  I thought she might like the colours more than I did and I knew she would appreciate the work (and she says she loves it!) 

As for Ock Pop Tok and Luang Prabang, I loved these places enough to suspect another Asia trip will happen someday, and I'll be back!  Maybe to weave another scarf? 

Thai copy artists & ikat silk

My favourite pair of summer pants:

sorry very small picture

They are so threadbare that I was almost worried a copy would be too big because the fibers have relaxed a lot in the past five years of wear. I had debated copying them myself by taking them apart.  I was right to consider this an urgent matter, as later on this trip they fell apart spectacularly by ripping open across the entire bottom.

 Interestingly, the shop in Bangkok said that the tracing method is much easier than taking a piece apart.  I would assume it's less precise for some reason.

Copy number 1 is in a medium weight cotton:

Copy number 2 in silk Ikat from Bangkok:

Unfortunately I forgot to ask the guys to give me all my scraps.  I am pretty sad about that as I bought 1.5 meters.  Because of the width of the looms, thai silk is always about 1 meter wide, but I am pretty sure there was a lot left over.  The tailor cut on the cross grain to maintain the pattern and I was pleased with his pattern placement on the waistband and pockets.

Final opinion after wear:  I did this in the nick of time!  The waistband on both new versions is too big, but I'm hoping it'll shrink with a wash. It doesn't make them unwearable by any means.  They are of course stiffer than  my aged originals.  This copy project took two days!!  It cost me about $30 per pair, plus about $6 for the brown fabric.  Everything is finished nicely on the insides. I may regret asking for no belt loops because of this - I realised when they ripped that as the originals got looser they hung lower and lower on me, and fit less well. 

Unfortunately I was in a rush when I paid, so I can't tell you who the guys were in Bangkok that made my copies.  If you care, I can give you directions.  They were lovely gentlemen with good English, and they are good enough that they have clients in Switzerland and actually fly there to measure these dudes.  I think they aren't the cheapest out there - so far in Thailand there are sewists literally on every corner but I can't speak for the quality of everyone. 

Glutted on Textiles in Chiang Mai

Enough talking about fabric.  I don't usually take photos of people, of things in shops, or surreptitiously.  But here's the exception: a kaleidoscope of things I saw in Chiang Mai.  The children were all outside the Doi Suthep temple.  Because it was festival time in Chiang Mai, they were out of school and wore their ceremonial dress, possibly to try to get coins from tourists taking their picture.

Too bad I have nowhere to wear this amazing coat...

Hmong dress, modernised!

Silk Ikat, the blue pile.