Just my Luck jeans by Forest & Thread, who may also be called Izzie

 I managed to get a light wash denim with my denim haul a year or so ago. This is a rare find, at least in New Zealand. 

I've been working my way through it.  These jeans have been on my radar probably for about a year, with increasing urgency.  I really want some leopard print jeans, specifically the ones from Free People, but I had fabric coming from Blackbird Fabrics and wanted to make some pants before deciding to buy any in a similar shape.  The Blackbird order got delayed by MONTHS because I wrote my address wrong (oops) but a time crunch brought these to the top of the list anyway -- I had to put away my sewing room to have some repairs done, and I really wanted these done before that!  Builders are not reliable and I didn't know how many months I would be unable to sew for.  Also jeans are just SO SATISFYING. 

I bought the pattern after night shifts and was grumpy and stumped - I wanted to buy a pattern from Forest & Thread, but it sent me to etsy to buy the pattern from Izzie Co.  It was the same pattern and graphics, so I forged ahead.  Then I got google drive download folders (which is an annoying way to get a pattern) and they were by inseam.  There is no file ahead of time to help you choose your inseam before you download the pattern pieces, so this was really frustrating. I have been trying on a lot of jeans lately with this shape, and so I checked on the measurements of one of those I've been stalking online, and went with the 27" inseam. 

Got them printed and ready to go. B block, size 4 

Usual adjustments: shortened rise 1" and left legs alone. 

I followed the instructions, for the most part, mainly because I had to.  You are forced to flat fell the front and back rise, and in theory also the yoke (but I did not do that because I think it's stupid.)  The only reason I did the rise is because it's built into the zip instructions and there was no way to not do that.  I did not like the instructions, they were messy and wordy.  I did not like the fly instructions, but I don't recall exactly why.  I survived all these things and got my jeans put together in a flurry.  

 

I put them on and I am so very happy, they are perfect.  I cemented our relationship by taking them on my Europe trip and wearing them nearly every day with my new Kila top.  (The weather was freezing and these were actually the warmest pants I had.)   Not only did I love these but everyone in my knit group loves them, and one other knitter who sews has made herself a pair too!

I did notice that after about the third wash they have shrunk up a bit shorter than I actually really wanted, but it's not too bad.  They will definitely never drag on the ground.  Also it's visible in the photos - that annoying hump at the top of the zip.  I think this is about putting the waistband on straight.  It is suddenly hugely annoying me, mainly because this zip does start to slide down when I'm wearing these and I want to wear them forever and have them be perfect, and that gets in the way of perfection.  So I am going to focus on the top of the zip/waistband sewing on my next pair of jeans and see if I can get it better.  God forbid I have to make another pair of these before the trend fades out.  If I still had any of that linen denim I probably would actually.  But I decided they are too much on their own to use my animal print for. 

My feeling about this pattern company is that they need to decide what their name is, it's weird for one designer to have two brand names, and the nice website for Forest and Thread leading to another seller on etsy makes me feel less trusting of them.  I still want to make the cool two colour jacket but I don't think I would be following this company for updates in general.  

My Keeper Teddy dress in my favourite scraps

Things have been going so well recently, time for some new patterns and drama!  (Not entirely, but my scrap stash is all over the floor to plan this dress and got annoying so it became a priority.)  I am using some really precious stash for this dress with the hope that the side ties make it a relatively forgiving fit.  It's not a look I would want a bunch of.

I started in with the strong opinions pretty early with this one. 

The pattern is put shortwise on the A0s so each pattern piece has to be taped together in the middle.  The third page of the A0 was nearly blank.  Huge waste of paper.  And as I cut I realised...this is a pattern finished with bias tape, and there is no bias tape pattern piece.  A pet peeve of mine.  We are not really off to a good start.  I decided that I'm tired of my gross non folded bias pieces and dug into my stash for some good old vintage polyester bias tape.  Once I did that I realised I still had to make side ties, and I ended up pulling out my bias tape maker, and using that to fold up the ties, which was very fun.  Maybe I do like making bias tape after all...

size straight 8, shortened 1" at the waist shorten line and planned a deeper hem for the remaining 2 cm that need to come off.  

The neck has two cut options but weirdly the seam allowance line that goes all along the pattern vanishes at the lower neck line, leaving me to wonder if I need to add a seam allowance there or what.  I ended up cutting 1cm above that line as it really looks like that's the continuation of the SA.  

The side tie marks don't line up.  I thought maybe that was strategic, placing them where they will pull the dress just right.  I don't know.  

Sewing this was easy.  However, this is one of those very homemade, beginner type patterns that will not look very good unless you are an experienced sewist who can trouble shoot ahead of time.  Back zip, with bias taping.  No advice at all in the instructions for creating a decent finish.  I taped over the top of my zip and then did a little tuck and fold with the inside of my bias tape to keep it relatively neat.

 

 

Finally it does fit but it's skin tight. The designer mentions that it's a snug fit, but what I didn't realise was that it's a REALLY snug fit.   Seems like you should have ease in the sides so that you can actually pull the side ties in and do something shapey with them, but in my case they have to be as loose as possible or I can't get the dress on.  This means that the ties...are useless.  The ties are also extremely long, meant to be as long as the entire dress, I suppose.  You could just use one tie on each side instead of two if you didn't want that effect (or no ties! Since they aren't doing anything!)  The armscye is too tight on me, of course - I tried it on and thought it would be ok but somewhere in there it seems like it just got tighter. I didn't cut any additional depth. 

So, there are things I would do differently if I made this again - size up (length was good), deepen the armscye and probably create a partial facing to help clean up the finishing.  I will, however, never make this again.  I find it kind of nauseating as a style on me, too cutesy somehow.  I do see how the full length panels are quite flattering, but it doesn't inspire me.  I am trying to pawn it off on friends, but it hasn't found a home yet. 

 

Flat Fell till you Fall: the Sew Liberated Arthur pants

After being not very interested in Arthur or Bob pants for the longest time, suddenly I was seized by the urge.  And it was sudden and urgent!  I had these off to the printer within one week.  They jumped all queues.  The fabric was my stashed beautiful hemp something blend fabric from my last shop at Blackbird Fabrics (I think.)  I've been saving it because it is just so lovely, but a bit too drapey for jeans, and the linen denim I got in the meantime was better for my jacket experiments.  This is the only fabric I had 3 meters of.  Truthfully I don't think I needed 3m, but I didn't test the pattern on shorter lengths of stash fabric.  I have enough left over for a pair of shorts.  

I think this is a good weight for these (or maybe just a bit heavy), a bit heavier than chambray, but it did get thick when I was folding up the french seams of the side.  

My first flat felled seam was a bit wavy but all the others were better.  I did gain confidence as I went along, and I was really glad I used a fabric that doesn't fray.  I think a fraying fabric would really make the process hard.  

I sewed size 4.  I think that is usually what I sew in Sew Liberated Patterns.  I shortened the rise 1" and the height 2" at the lines, noting the pattern is drafted for a height of 5'7".  

 

These are so beautiful on the insides.  That's the trade off for the endless flat felling.  My final feeling is that they are wearable, which is good, though they feel a bit heavy.  But I should have actually just removed 3" from the rise and left the leg shape alone.  I think I created a more curvy looking leg when I adjusted it, and I really do not like a droopy crotch, my thighs are introverts and prefer privacy.  There is however so much fabric in these overall that maybe my thighs won't get too sweaty together, time will tell. 

I think I might do the adjustment of just the rise and make a knit pair quickly (100% overlocker here we come) to see what I think of the shape but without the commitment.  Shapeless loungy pants are my friends and my two pairs of linen lounge pants have SO MANY holes.  It will be awhile before I have an interest in making these in a woven fabric again, it's too useless of a shape for my life in general.  I do think a pair in patterned linen would be interesting though (and I was very tempted in the fabric stores a few weeks ago, but managed to resist.) 

Tammy Handmade Leona dress

 This has been a vision for maybe just a year or two (new in sewing list terms...)

I bought the stretch velvet from The Fabric Box when I first thought of doing this, it's really an easy project and I expected to just make it without delay, but of course, delays happened.  

I've never used Tammy Handmade patterns before. 

Griping: the pages are not well labelled so it took visually laying everything out to get it to tetris together.  I printed the A4s. 

The pattern does not have any information for the height it's drafted for, but clearly at least 5'6" as the front pattern piece touches the floor when I hold it up. 

I went from size 8 chest to 10 at the hips, melding halfway between for the waist. 

Removed 1" above the hips, 1cm above the waist, and 1" below the hips at the version B level. I raised the side slit 1" accordingly. 

I also lengthened the facing with the plan to make a shelf bra.  What else to do with a facing on a knit dress?  On one hand I appreciated the reasoning behind the facing for a very neat, clean finish.  But I do so dislike them...  I was going to cut the back facing on the fold but realised there is a curve so I went ahead and made it per the pattern, but lengthened it about 2".  Once I did all this and tried the dress on I realised a surprising thing - the dress is so tight that the facing can't flip.  And I can wear a bra underneath it!  No benefit from trying to add shelf bra elastic.  I did decide to overlock the facing shorter again, removing about 1.5" and in retrospect wish I had not done that, as the double grippy effect was both warm and held things in place extra well.  It's still fine and a bit longer than the pattern piece, but not by much. 

 

Next set of bodycon dress dramas: I did NOT need to size up at the hips.  I had a pair of wide hips dangling away from my body, and a huge amount of fabric pooling weirdly at the centre back.  I saw the weird poof mid back when I was sewing the seam up, and wondered if it's the drafting or if my fabric shifted funny while cutting.  Anyway, all these seams are a fitter's friend!  I just pinned out the weirdness midback until I was happy and overlocked it away.  Then I went at the side hips and just shaved them flatter until they were snug.  Choosing a size 8 would probably have been fine, but this way I did get to actually choose how I shaved fabric off to fit, which might have gotten me a more precise result, who knows. 

It fits well under...some bras.  Not this one, oops.  This is a super warm and stretchy dress, it will be fantastic for events in winter but in summer I couldn't get it off fast enough, it's hot! I'm really pleased overall with my dress.  There is still a tiny irregularity at the centre back seam, but it's not bad.  It's a fun, fast sew.  I don't think I would use it for a fancy, dream fabric but for a fun easy wearing dress I am happy. 

scrappy Misusu Cuddle Cardigan

 Here is another project that's languished on my to do list for years too long.  I like Misusu patterns a lot and when this came out I noticed it pretty quickly.  I've wanted to do a cardigan from some sweatshirting and it seemed like a lot of things I like - some crafty colourblocking, big pockets.  

I knew I had some scraps of beautiful knits to make it out of so I had also long planned it to be scrappy.  My scrap pile is too big and that was one big pressure to get this done.  I'm at the point where my scraps don't fit in their allocated bins so I'm putting more effort into the scrappy projects.  But by the time I was making it...I was pretty bored with the idea of this cardigan.  I realised quickly that the scrappy look I was envisioning just looks silly and unsophisticated to me.

I had some confusion with the start because the piece I did in animal print is directional and it was hard to find and match the notches correctly.  Once I did this everything else was obvious.  It's quick to put together and I didn't have any other issues with the instructions.   

 

This was straightfoward to sew together.  I made size BB and I think the fit is as expected.  The cool feature of the collar bands crossing over at the back neck actually really annoys me, it creates a spot that can kind of flip over when you're putting it on.  Once I realised all this I limited myself to a single button to make it wearable and have passed it on to a friend.  Can't win them all! 

Open Studio Shop pants pattern review

I've been planning to make these pants for a very long time. 

I was debating between the Shop pants, the Worker Trousers by Modern Sewing Co and the Adams pants. 

I understand that each of the three has some very different features but overall they fit a similar kind of mold to me.  So I picked these because I liked the slightly tighter fit, the front pocket angles and the cool back leg feature.  Comparing the three now, I'm still glad I chose these, and I don't think I would make the others.  Eventually, tired of a queue of pants, I changed all my fabric plans for these and pulled out some iced dyed cotton canvas that I dyed years ago thinking of making a Sienna maker jacket (which I really should still make...)

There are a lot of blogs about the size chart for these.  There are blogs! How exciting!  However it did make sizing feel like a minefield.  I presumed that I'm now working off the new size chart as there were issues which have since been rectified, but I also saw that very precise sewists are still not entirely happy with the final measurements of the pants chart.  So I both committed to the chart, and worried they wouldn't really fit.  I made a size 2 going up to size 4 at the waist, which was kind of a pain as crossing the size lines also affected multiple bits like pockets and darts.  In my previous notes I had put down size 2 as a better fit, and I think, if I reread all the blogs, a size 2 would have gotten me a more fitted final result.  This is what happens when you take too long to actually make something.

Sewing these took a long time because I went on holiday, didn't manage to finish them prior to the holiday and then just didn't think they would work out for me which undermined my post-vacation sewjo.  I thought the ice dye might make them look like clown pants.  Eventually I got irritated with my delays and here they are.  I thought the fly instructions were terrible and I had a lot of nitpicky opinions about abbreviations used in the pattern instructions.  My real complaint is the waist.  I actually took in the pants at the waist, they were so big, and because of that, with heaps of easing HARD, I got the pants into the waistband.  The 4 part waistband was confusing, it was impossible to tell which way was up, luckily the instructions have drawings that help with that, but I possibly mixed up right and left.  I did NOT cut the waistband short so my advice is to cut it extra long!  

Finally done, and they do fit, but they are very loose at the waist. No need to size up to 6 at the waist after all.  I'm a 27 waist and 37 hips.  I think this fits the vibe of the pants as being laid back, chill and relaxed fit.  For some reason I am not very enthused about them.  

 

I wonder if I would fit into them as desired if I sized down completely by one size. The bum is just so baggy and they are roomy everywhere.  The front crotch of the pants is super roomy - good for people who have a tummy as it hides it nicely, so these are great if you want to expand during the day from a good meal.  

 I do think the ice dyeing works on these and doesn't make them look like clown pants, but I'm not sure it's exactly my style (though I adore how the dye came out!)  They just feel sort of silly on me.