Newcastle Revisited

Many moons ago I made myself a Newcastle Cardigan which B has since pilfered for himself. Over time I've noticed some flaws I'd like to correct and B has mentioned that he'd like a more conservative version he can wear around town. Instead of developing a new pattern, I thought it'd be good to revisit the Newcastle and fix it up.

My two major changes were to add a full lining and to switch the hem out for a band. I sized up to an M, lengthened slightly, used the small collar and shoulder yoke from the pattern. Overall, I think it looks great but it's a bit difficult to photograph accurately.

It's so fluffy!

Supplies
Navy and tan lycra/spandex jersey: Plush Addict
Shaggy lining: Plush Addict
Sleeve Lining: Goldhawk Road
Interfacing and buttons: MacCulloch & Wallis

All the jersey innards are finished cleanly, behind the properly bagged lining. I switched up the construction order of the cuffs to make it easier to sew, and to look neater. The shaggy lining was a horror to work with - under the presser foot there was absolutely no problem, I overcast the raw edges as well for neatness. The cutting/handling was dreadful, it was like a fluffy infestation. I was cleaning grey fluff off myself and the flat for days after it was packed away. Even B was covered in the stuff, and this was a secret project!

Must keep a vacuum cleaner handy next time. A note about this shaggy stuff compared to regular minky/cuddlesoft fabric: you can't sweep it, it gets stuck in your eyes and is more prone to flyaway. I used regular minky/cuddlesoft for the red teddy bear in my earlier post and really enjoyed it. It still made a mess but it was pretty easy to handle.

The buttons are beautiful and I have a few going spare, the fusible interfacing is exquisite. I got a MacCulloch & Wallis staff recommendation and am SO glad they know their stuff. I spent a long time fawning over their buttons as well - the plan is to go on a bit of a button spree in the near future. You might also be able to see the buttonholes in this picture - they were stitched in a very slightly lighter thread to give a bit of interest to the front.

If I make the Newcastle again, I may consider adding shoulder pads, as it can get quite heavy, and it may hang better off a man's shoulders. I'm not sure what to make of the fit. It seems fine enough, but the bodice may be too long. B has complained it's a bit too tight at the hips - so lengthening it was maybe a bad idea.

Incidentally, B is modelling this with some of his other Christmas presents - namely handmade gloves, hat and cowl from his sister, who is an absolute yarn virtuoso. These pieces are beautiful and expertly made

Yes, the bag you see is my version of Simplicity 2358 from Christmas 2013.

That's about it, I hope B likes it and it sees a lot of good use.

K

Photos courtesy of Rachel Sheridan

A note on women's tailoring...

Sewing Artistry has been arguing a lot about good trouser fit for women recently. It made me wonder if proper tailoring (suits specifically) aren't really the most flattering dress option for women? Is the actual garment infrastructure not cut out ('scuse the pun) for a big proportion of women?

To put it simply, a jacket front on a guy must curve over his chest in a smooth way. Canvas and fusing give a long steady curve with a lot of structure, they seem to work well for that sort of shape. But on most women those curves are very exaggerated, and definitely not consistent. Can the structural elements of a tailored jacket really support work with/support/flatter a big shoulder/bust/hip ratio? What is a good fitting suit jacket for curvier women?

In any case, here's a recent project: Burda 04/2013 #113 Pencil Capris, lengthened to be ankle-ish length. Made for the office!

They're black trousers...whaddya want?

There was a bit of an adjustment to allow more space at the hip, though the fabric sags very easily which is a shame. I may yet take them apart to add more structure and possibly some belt loops.

The most interesting interesting point about these trousers? The button fly!

It's a button-fly!

See?

Of course you see

In essence, I was too cheap to buy a zip for a zipper fly so drafted a button fly for the CF seam. It took quite a lot of figuring out, but I basically copied PatternCutter206's tutorial for a hidden button placket and it seemed to work out quite well!

That's it for these, take care

K

Baby It's Cold Outside - Part 2 of 3

In making T's gloves, I bought about half a metre of the blue wool, which was luckily just enough to make this sweater vest too:

It's supposed to be a v-neck but I don't think the scoop looks too fudged and I'm actually really happy with it! The pattern is an altered version of my favourite t-shirt. The innards are a little untidy but I'll tidy them up once the vest has been worn a bit.

Just as a comment on how tight it was to get this out of the scrap piece: the whole thing is cut without seam allowances and the banding is pieced to high heaven. It's great though and will hopefully remain a good barrier against the ongoing winter!


On a side note, there's a load of cool cultural stuff coming up:
- Steptoe & Son at the Lyric theatre. Kneehigh are coming to the end of their tour, but there are still some shows coming up
- ROH broadcast day! Royal ballet's Alice in Wonderland being broadcast live around the world on the 28th March (including at my beloved Regent Centre)
- And The Rest Is Noise at Southbank Centre. American weekend coming up...
- Andrew Nemr....
- Joe Bonamassa at the Royal Albert Hall

And of course, end of the month Fridays in museums!

Baby It's Cold Outside - Part 1 of 3

As I write this, it's snowing again. That's pretty good news for me and also for T who requested (for some reason) back in January that I make him some fingerless gloves to wear when he's in the library. Apparently it's still gloves weather in there too.

I have a bit of a history with fingerless gloves. They were part of my very first project and then as part of a mad drive to resist throwing out a much loved pair of socks. Both pairs have been worn about twice. Both pairs have also been technically very simple.


But these gloves are different. They're special. Not only must they be fit for someone else to wear on a regular basis, but he's probably not the kind of person to appreciate gloves made from old socks. These gloves also needed to reach up to his knuckle joints without restricted movement.

Drafting and completing this pattern has been a bit of an intellectual exercise. The geometry is not something I'm very familiar with, and the pattern I drafted had 32 pieces once all the fabric was cut. The whole thing is hand stitched too. Shoving something so intricate through a machine would have been a recipe for disaster.

I drafted the pattern based on the information in a latex glove I basically used as a hand sloper. Stick it on T's hand in the middle of a busy cafe, and mark glove length/fit and also rough size/shape of the gussets. Then this got transferred to paper where I remembered the absolute importance of notches to match different bits. Oh well.

I did cut, stitch and begin to construct a lining but I ended up scrapping it because it was far too bulky, so that was a bit of a bugger.

The saving grace of this pattern was the fabric. It's a gorgeous chunky wool from M&W, which unlike the green stole wool, has some sort of weave in the back.

Ultimately, the weave meant the tiny parts didn't fall to pieces when they got wrangled around and unpicked. It also made the (dodgy) hem job a lot easier. And hopefully it's volume is going hide a lot of the stitches.