The Powers That B

B's birthday has rolled around again, and if there's one good thing about making things it's that you don't actually have to think very much about buying stuff for people - y'know, except at Christmas, which is a a bit of a frenzied exception. I've been fretting a bit as I've vaguely been promising many beautiful things for B, none of which had an actual timeframe.

Anyway, I finally decided on a waistcoat. B has recently begun dancing with Gog Magog Molly and is building up all the components of his costume. You know what, this might actually count as my first real costume as well!

If you think this looks a little bright, you'd be correct. We have some very particular specifications to meet. Broadly, it should be: bright/saturated colours, coordinating but deliberately haphazard/mismatched with the rest of the outfit and the rest of the group, interesting to look at from a distance and also up-close. Look at them all together - doesn't seem so outlandish now, does it?

So, the waistcoat - the fit is fine but not great. I wouldn't repeat it at all, so will need to trace a new one from somewhere if B ever needs a formal waistcoat. And maybe actually measure B at some point instead of guestimating. The pattern is Burda April 2014 #136. I'm not used to the men's sizing in Burda so assumed 94-110 was normal, when actually it's a tall pattern. I traced approx 102 and resized to a normal/petit size.

The outer is a patchwork of scraps - chosen for their brightness. In there you can see last year's birthday gift, EDF Zingy, our lounge curtains, my first (and only) button down shirt, yellow jeans and a bunch of others. I pieced together a big bit of cloth and laid the pattern on top. Things are deliberately mismatched a bit across the seams (mostly to annoy any perfectionists in the neighbourhood). It's underlined in a teal muslin I had lying around around.

The lining is Amy Butler Love Paradise Garden in periwinkle which I had used many moons ago for a Blue Sky sunhat. There was just enough left for the lining of the waistcoat. In the original plan there was an idea for facings and labels like a proper garment. This is still an actual lining, it's got pleats instead of darts. Those plans changed when the potential to make it reversible came about, so the waistcoat is now fully reversible. This really helped mitigate some worries that the other members of the troupe wouldn't approve of the actual outer.

I added 3 poppers/press studs as a fastening.

I also did 3 rows of topstitching in bright colours around the edge (2 rows around the armhole). This was some really nice hand sewing - uncomplicated. However, an injured index finger made it a little more difficult. Think papercut but with dressmakers' pins, right at the tip of your finger. It did affect dexterity a bit!

To complement (though actually it came first), I also hand sewed this brooch to give some 3D depth and movement to the costume. Honestly, it was a compromise after being told that I wasn't allowed to copy someone else's spangly sequin trim. Good luck meant that it also perfectly suits the B-side-formerly-known-as-lining!

It's basically a feather boa spiraled up on to a felt oval. I used the whole length of a boa and was glad that by not cutting it, it didn't generate too much fluffy mess. This was a plus as I was sewing it on the train and other passengers (or crew) might not appreciate the yellow feathers everywhere. The result is lovely and dense and fluffy. The fluffy supplies are from New Trimmings and other supplies are from my stash.

You should all be proud of me for having this finished in good time before the big day! You should also be completely unsurprised that at 22:30 the night before, I decided it wasn't enough.

You know what safety pants are, right?
You can guess what they are, right?*

B's had the Comox pattern from Thread Theory sat in his stash for a while. I traced it off and buzzed up a pair of pants. This was a first for me and I rejigged things to omit of the opening at the front. I mean, it's more appropriate because they're safety pants for dancing in public. You really don't want easy access! I was also thankful because this helped to speed up the process. In my idiot sleepy state the one-way print ended up upside down, though I really doubt it's important.

Shark pants! Safety pants! Safety Shark Pants!

(And there was enough left to make up a pair of shark pants for me too)

That's it! If you see these guys out and about, please stop, watch a dance and say hi

Bye!
K

Photos courtesy of Andrew Swaine

*Unfortunately I have no illustrative photos of safety pants in action. The idea is that when you are dancing in a skirt or dress, sometimes the skirt will fly up and show off some areas that are best kept private. Members of the Gog Magog Molly are encouraged to wear safety pants under their skirts, but over their tights, as part of the costume.

That was the year that was (the year of the trouser)

I've finally emerged scratched an battered from December's festivities. It's by far my favourite time of the year, though after a month of non-stop parties (and great company), I'll be grateful for any darkened or quiet rooms that might cross my path. People (even the ones you love dearly) are exhausting.

Somehow I managed to make a few Christmas gifts for the most discerning of loved ones:

Tap shoe bags for 2 lovely teachers

A Thread Theory Newcastle Cardigan for B

2 teddy bears

2 bird ornaments

Keep your eyes peeled in January (or maybe Feb at this rate) for a proper write up of the teddy bears and the Newcastle Cardigan, both of which were really engaging and rewarding projects.

More detail on the shoe bags

I also finished my last 2 pairs of trousers for the year at the tail end of November

The brown ones were a remake of Burda 10/2013 #126 Bootcut Trousers using my stamps fabric and a brown denim from Ditto Fabrics. I sized up to a 36 for this pair after my previous versions (34) were too tight. Again, still not bootcut!

The rainbow ones were a bit more special and deserve their own post in due course. I still have 2 pairs of "in progress" trousers waiting in the wings. I tried to dedicate a lot of time to trousers over 2015 and have learned a lot in doing so.

Firstly, I learned a lot of new things about fitting and patterns. Assuming that all clothes are some weird geometric 3D experiment, it's still mind boggling to imagine how a 2D alteration will affect the 3D garment once it's on a body. To that end, I'm still not sure why you'd ever need or want to make an adjustment to the crotch seam on a pair of trousers. A bit like my approach to armholes I guess: check the shoulder, the chest, the torso, but do not mess with the armhole unless you absolutely have to, and you know all of the follow-on corrections you'll have to do afterwards. With trousers it's best to check the wait, the hips, the height, the grain etc. I'd only want to directly mess with the crotch seam as a measure of last resort.

I've also learned a lot about finishing and detail, the factors that really make you feel like your project is a cut above everything else. A lot of this is RTW industry standards (it's one way to spend the tube commute) and expectations for trouser styles. This is the really nerdy stuff about reinforcements/bar tacks, where the top-stitching goes, appropriate pocket styles etc. I'm all about making it look as good as it can be. Part of the general trepidation about sewing trousers is probably based around the finishing and making them look "real" (and not like a pair of clownish pyjamas), moreso than just fitting.

Anyway, that was the year of the trouser.

I'm clearing out my textiles at the moment ready for 2016's theme. It's been really useful to look at RTW, me-mades and fabric stash all as the same thing for once. The holistic approach is going to be my guide for the year ahead. 2016 will be the year of the outfit.

My making usually takes on a bit of a delay between inspiration and finished item. The stuff I found really exciting and inspiritng in November should (hopefully) be ready before the end of March. And you know, some of that is pretty flashy and challenging. If I only make that stuff then pretty quickly I'd have no underpants or pyjamas. You know?

I liked making nothing but trousers for 3 months. I liked production-lining wrap skirts (it was efficient!) but it's time for a different approach because my old RTWs are slowly wearing out and the projects that were "just about good enough" aren't getting chucked out when they should really go.

Thinking in terms of whole outfits will (hopefully) mean I can balance the fun with the sensible and really make sure that professional/officewear is fit for purpose too. You see, I want to dress in a very specific way at work. I want my bosses to think I'm valuable so I want to dress like I'm valuable. It's cheeky- but why not.

2016 is shaping up to have some interesting sewing challenges ahead: more little'uns, more softies, more gifts, more garments, more pants.

K

Janet revisited

You remember two years ago when I lauded my Janet Dress?

You remember it was perfect?

I should have added one thing to that post on "things I wish someone had told me when I started sewing". DO NOT MESS WITH ARMHOLES. Whatever the pattern, DO NOT MESS WITH THE ARMHOLES

Busts and backs and bumps and bums are weird enough but DO NOT MESS WITH THE ARMHOLE or you will be in a world of pain.

Convinced the fit of my Janet dress was perfect, I've made a further three off the same pattern: Mod, Jerome and Lizzie. That's what you do when you're convinced that a pattern works. Big mistake. One shows sweat patches, one has bust darts as high as my collar bones and one is so tight in the chest that it's tough to climb the stairs to my flat.

I'm considering putting them on eBay. Imagine the notice. "Handmade red dress. Would fit child, weedy geek, house plant or amputee. In latter case, will require assistance with back zip. £8 ono."

So I started again.

The modified pattern pieces from 2013 were a hot, alien mess so I retraced the original V8766 and spent a few fitting sessions trying to improve the muslin. I must be one of the only people in the world to bloody hate this pattern. I hate the shoulders, the armholes, the darts, the darted sleeve caps, the waist, the side seams, the tiny tiny upper chest... I hate it. I got it as part of Lynda Maynard's Craftsy class - which is a great teaching tool and has a lot of good principles.

I'll cover fitting adjustments in another post, but I'm quite happy with the results. The sleeve pitch is still off as I hadn't altered the original at all. Otherwise it looks good.

This is the Unsquare Dress - named after everyone's favourite 7-count Brubeck number.

Front

The outer is a Milly (who dat?) silk charmeuse from Emma One Sock, and the design is still recent enough to show up on eBay in the original garments (450USD NWT?!) and in Google image searches. It's got a bit of a sheen and I love the mix of colours. I didn't make any major attempts at pattern matching but have at least kept the black horizontal lines matched across the seams.

Side

The bottom band is a black sateen from my stash, originally a remnant from Misan Textiles. It doesn't rip at all, which would make it great for pockets or high-stress areas. I also used a strip as a trim on the neckline - with hindsight it may have been better to measure this instead of winging it. It would have made the neckline look a little more refined.

Optical illusion alert: there isn't actually a waist seam on this dress

There's a lapped zip in one of the side seams and the lining is a cotton duvet cover I got from Hema when I lived in Brussels. It's so comfy, is well worn and laundered so it won't shrink or run. It's also slightly warmer than I'd have expected, which means I don't have to bundle up so much.

This was originally planned for a friend's wedding but also helped land me a new job (Kaisla also helped), so I'm quite fond of it already. Hopefully there will be more like this to come!

Bye,
K

Purple Seagull Trousers

This is version 3 of my first RTW rip-off. You can see more detail on the fitting in this post where I've grouped all 3 versions together to show the progression.

The jeans are fully-fledged jeans and I'm proud to say that I can just about complete a pair in a day (6-8 hours). This includes all of the cutting, fusing and stitching with a good level of detail. If only jackets took that long!

While my dream of bright pink trousers still hasn't been realised, these are the best possible alternative. The fabric is a beautiful burgundy/mulberry/plummy colour and it was very easy to work with. It comes from Ditto Fabrics and did have a designer label attached to it, though I'll be damned if I remember which one. Thankfully it has lost a little of its sheen in the wash, at first it looked a little shiny under artificial light.

I've been wearing them practically non-stop since they were first made. The fabric is being broken in and I think these will become perfect once they've been laundered a few more times. The fabric is also quite dense and is fairly wind resistant and warm - which is a relief as we're heading in to winter.

The pocket lining and waistband facing are both seagulls again. I think this'll be the last of it. There are two lines of top-stitching, one in a a similar colour, which ends up nearly invisible, and one contrasting dark blue which pops a little up close. It's quite subtle but draws the garment together quite nicely.

I finally remembered to take a photo of my bar tacks! Yay!

Inseam topstitching

Up until now I've been freestyling a bit with belt loops, for future versions I'll actually measure and cut pieces that look a bit more normal.

Look at how this toptitching lined up across the waistband and the fly facing, yeah!

You know the problem though? By the time I get around to belt loops I'm so close to finishing and so excited to be nearly done that they get forgotten a bit. They definitely don't get the care they need. There's always next time.

I'm still getting my head around waistbands. My most recent pairs have been good, but I may do a whole post on the little nuances that make a difference.

It's probably about time for some normal-looking trousers, don't you think?

K

Blue Octopus Trousers

I'm not sure what to make of these jeans. The topstitching is absolutely adorable - it adds a great pop to the trousers, but they've got a few problems and are already sat on my repair pile.

First of all, I messed up the pattern (no biggie, it's a learning process) and took out too much space. You can read more the nitty-gritty of fitting here.

The plan for these trousers was a summery lime green or bright pink. B talked me out of it and in favour of this sky blue. Now, for all my grumping and moaning about the colour choice, it's actually quite nice. It's bright and goes well with the threads/notions I had in my stash. These trousers got worn a lot during the Edinburgh Fringe as they went well with the staff uniform. They also proved useful when colour-matching my lunch over the summer. The quality of the fabric isn't good, which is quite annoying, and you could tell from a distance that it wasn't great stuff. It has pilled and gone fluffy after very few washes - I should've said something before the guy cut it off the bolt. Too bad. It draped and stretched and bunched during sewing. My bad - it made sewing quite tough and it shows when they're laid out flat.

Colour-matching my lunch

Colour-matching with RIBA's Brutalist Playground

The detail shows these trousers have triple topstitching, bar tacks, octopus pockets, contrast waistband facing and zip fly. You know, I completely forgot to take any detail shots of these trousers, so hopefully you can see some of it in these pictures.

We'll see if they get worn a lot - they're useful as there's no way they'll fall down. I can't correct them without remaking the whole thing, so it's not really worth the effort.

I do need to develop better waistband habits though. This time the edges didn't meet nicely at centre front. For this pair and the yellow pair I also understitched the top edge of the waistband before anything else. So the corners ended up messy. I think it would be a better option to stitch this near the end.

Next up - purple jeans

K

Yellow Seagull Jeans

It all started on the bus...

I spotted a lady wearing quirky ankle grazer trousers with seagulls printed all over. This was absolutely brilliant and put a grin on my face at the end of a long, hard, wet day.

I grew up in a part of the world where seagulls qualify as birds of prey, seeing such quirky, cute birds printed on these trousers was unexpected. I simply had to make something that had seagulls on it, that would make people smile on wet days.

I stalked this seagull quilting cotton for weeks before buying a small measure from Fabric Rehab. It was sat patiently in my stash for a few more weeks until I managed to pop over to Goldhawk Road for a snoop. In my head I wanted to emulate some lime green shorts from M&S...I even dithered with fuchsia/hot pink ideas. I've had trousers in these colours before and it seemed reasonable. But there just wasn't the right colour or texture mix in any of the shops. Then I spotted an absolutely beautiful golden marigold yellow and it came home with me. Oh, it's just fantastic.

I made these jeans over the course of a "crafternoon" - the cutting alone took 2 hours. We were making things late into the night, accompanied by prosecco and Celebrity Masterchef - but had to stop when our Wodehousian neighbours climbed into our (3rd floor) lounge through the window. That kind of thing does hamper working on your waistbands and top-stitching a little.

Front

Back

These jeans feature double top-stitching in yellow and blue, french seams, flat-felled seams, deep front pockets (lined with seagulls), back patch pockets (with top-stitched seagulls), zip fly, belt loops, jeans button and contrast waistband facing. I adore them. I honestly didn't expect to love wearing them so much. I also honestly didn't expect that other people would enjoy seeing them quite as much as they do. Before making these jeans, I always wondered what on earth yellow jeans would be good for and where I could possibly wear them. Thanks to this pair, I have been testing them out:

Good for many things!

These are also part of a wider project on fitting jeans. If you want to see some fitting details, have a gander at this post.

In the meantime, I absolutely love these jeans. They're just brilliant.

Bright jeans for grey days.

K

Working backwards from the answer

Do you remember in school where the answers to all the exercises were stashed in the back of the maths textbook? Peeking was frowned upon because if you followed the right steps in the right process, you'd get the right answer anyway.

One of the things I'm learning (rather cynically) is that sometimes it's good to start with the answer you want to see and work backwards do decide how you can get there. Knowing the answer can help you to choose the right process, and the right steps to achieve it.

Why should I try out a pile of unknown trouser patterns (choosing the process without knowing anything about the answer) when there are a few items already in my wardrobe that I'd consider to be the answer that I want to see? This might be a good way of taking out some of the mystery of more complex garments. I'd love to be able to copy them and just make endless repeats of the ones that work. I have had a particular pair of jeans a long time and they've finally worn out. I like the length, the fit and the size of the pockets. They don't have any darts and the grainline is quite visible after so much wear. I thought they'd be a good starter for my first RTW copy. I took a lot of the copying principles from Kenneth King's Craftsy class, Jeanius, though really wasn't keen to follow him to the letter. I used muslin, not organza; tracing paper, not carbon paper; and did a lot of marking in Frixion pen.

Original Front

Original Back

Once all the information was copied from jeans to muslin to paper, I threw it in the laundry and had a blank canvas muslin ready to copy a new item.

Version 1: Yellow Seagull Jeans
Despite their beauty, these jeans came up 2 inches too big in the waist. There is also some rumpling in the back thigh.

Version 1 Front

Version 1 Back

Version 2: Sky Blue Octopus Jeans
I compared the V1 pattern to the original jeans. The waistband was too big and the yoke pieces were slightly too big as well. I reduced the side seam above the hip and slashed the yoke to curve it more (which would in turn reduce the waistband by 2 inches).

The fabric is less stiff than the yellow pair, so some twisting and rumpling occurred during the execution, which shows all the way down the back of the leg. I think this compounded any issues that appeared in Version 1.

Here the waistband ended up slightly smaller than expected and the jeans ended up slightly too small all over. Bear in mind that all the adjustments were above hip level. By curving the yoke to reduce the top edge, I think I took a lot of space out of my backside that I really needed to have! Although these are low-rise jeans, they cause quite a few wedgies!

This also had an effect lower down where the outline of my pockets were visible through the front!. I clawed back some space through the seam allowances but it didn't fix the back.

Version 2 Front
Pocket outline on my right thigh (because it's bigger than the left one for some reason)

Version 2 Back

Version 3: Mulberry Seagull Jeans
I put the yoke back to its original shape. Now, Kenneth King's Jeanius doesn't cover copying waistbands at all. The message from the lecture is "don't worry about it, a waistband is just a long thin rectangle - ignore the one on the garment and draft a suitably sized rectangle". I believed him at first, then I did some snooping and pondering. Then I smelled bullshit.

Correcting the yoke

After looking closely at the waistband on the original, I spotted the grainline is different between the front and the back. This shouldn't happen if it's a basic rectangle, should it? Measured the top and the bottom edges of the original waistband again. One edge is 34" and one is 35.5". Aha, I'm betting the curve in the waistband is quite important.

This bet is for 3 reasons:

1. I have quite a curvy back, so rectangular waistbands often sit a little funny, even if they are the right size.
2. Ignoring the rise of these jeans, the difference between my waist and hip measurements is about 10". The distance between waist and hip is about 9"-10", so anything that sits on the body between waist and hip could be curved to match the change in shape more effectively.
3. I've seen some pattern cutters argue about matching curves, and more heavy interfaced parts of a garment "pushing" the regular bits around (Patterncutter206 has this video and this video on shirt collars which is relevant, Catina on PatternReview is also a mine of information and ideas) which seems very applicable in this case.

Adjusted curvy waistband

Staying on the idea of matching curves - look at how the front two pieces align without a waistband:

Curvy front pieces

Surely a straight piece of fabric is just totally inappropriate?

Anyway, this is the finished set of version 3:

Version 3 Front

Version 3 Back

Those of you still with me will see the back wrinkles are still there. I reckon that this is mostly linked to the length of the leg and drape of the fabric. I like my trousers long, but when barefoot they will meet the floor before my feet do. The sturdy fabric rumples all the way up the back of the leg, whereas a drapier fabric might pool on the floor. This is what happens when I turn up the cuffs:

Version 3 Back (when they're not too long)

Better! Though you still need to discount the wearing wrinkles. Voila!

This effect will probably be cancelled out after some real-world wear. If you look again at the original jeans, the back heel has been worn out so the legs won't rumple. The fabric will also probably shrink very slightly over time. Wearing shoes and wearing the jeans at different heights will also have an effect on how much excess length there is in the leg.

I'm finally happy with these jeans and the pattern - I can finally throw away the old pair away and use this as a good pattern to churn out jeans. Copying RTW is also quite addictive, I have a shirt and some more trousers in line ready to make up as well. These have some more interesting details (like darts) and it might take some time to get them right. You'll probably see some updates soon. In the meantime, I'll do some posts on the detail and finishing on these jeans shortly.

Take care for now,
K