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Jeans?

Oh boy. I promised myself early this year that this would be the year I would learn to make jeans. I got some denim (stretch, and non-stretch). I got a pattern or two. I got rivets and jeans buttons.

Have I made jeans yet? With three-quarters of the year gone – still a resounding no.

I don’t know why they’re so intimidating. Like my friend Rosemary says, it’s really just trousers made of denim, right? And I’ve made several pairs of trousers now, pretty wearable even they’re not even approaching perfect.

Still, I’ve been content to focus on other goals (vintage unprinted pattern? Check. Fly-front shorts? Check.), but then Rosemary needed new jeans, and a shot of sew-jo, and when I mentioned I had the supplies but was chicken to actually make jeans… she offered for us to do it together! Community sew-jo, if you will.

So…. October 14th is the official start date for an unofficial, informal jeans Sewalong. Make jeans, make pants, use a pattern you’ve never tried, use one you’ve made a 100 times… but if you plan to finish pants for US Thanksgiving (and I know, decently-fitting jeans is a small thing, but one worth giving thanks for, among the rest of life’s blessings), feel free to join us. Get all the details in Rosemary’s blogpost!

I will probably make the Morgan jeans by Closet Case Files, but I have until the 13th to commit, right?

09.21.16

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Vintage swish!

Advance 5378, a pattern from 1951 (and therefore, yes, older than I!) came into my hands via Facebook auction. Love at first sight!

Advance 5378, a 1951 vintage nightgown pattern

It wasn’t the right size, but I decided as well as being my first go at sewing an unprinted pattern, I would also be my first go at grading a pattern up significantly. (No making things easy here, apparently.)

While the gown isn’t perfect – it’s still a heck of a lot of fun to wear around the house! The skirt is just the right fullness and length to be unequivocally elegant (and I didn’t add any length – shorter sewists take note; I’m 5’8″).

I used a lightweight linen-cotton blend, so comfy! and finished nearly every seam with a French seams, and I added a lining in the bodice so everything’s cleanly finished there as well.

The (tiny, little) downside – this is pretty fitted in the waist. Loose enough to be comfortable, but it’s an over-the-head donning, vs having a zip or other fastener to make it easier. Next time I’ll consider that more as I do adjustments.

UPSIDE – the pattern has a pocket! LOL How bad can it be? 🙂

So without further ado:

unprinted pattern pieces, coded with punched holes

first bodice

a lovely butterfly pocket, if I do say so myself

cleanly finished bodice lining

bias tape hemming

cross-back bodice!

cross-back has a nice pointed back waist

finished gown!!

And the swish! (This “magic spinning” appears to have turned my tomato red, finally! LOL, so I’m going to be eating a delicious, ripe, freshly picked ‘mater tomorrow!)

a ’51 nightgown covers enough for sundress in 2016!

09.19.16

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A trendy bird?

So it turns out the McCall’s pattern company is hosting an online bomber jacket sewalong! They’ll support direct questions if you’re sewing up M7100 or with B6181, but really you can sew any bomber jacket you want to.

Since I already had M7100…. I’m jumping in.

I had a bit of white eyelet pleather – I know! It’s TOTALLY my normal thing to wear, right? But I fell in love with how unexpected it is… so I stashed some for a motorcycle jacket. But when this sewalong came up, I decided that a moto jacket would probably break up the eyelet too much, with all the pockets and zippers (and trust me, I am not reducing the number of pockets on anything!), so I’ve decided to give a go here.

09.16.16

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Sewlong Summer Blog Tour

This tour is about sewing for the transition from summer. While the last couple of days have finally been beautiful, it sure hasn’t felt like “Sew-long, Summer” much at all!

However, as they do, the seasons will change. In the transition zone, you can’t usually predict the weather, not will it be the steady over the day; it can be hot, warm, or breezy and a little chilly in a single 24-hour span! So for the interim: an elbow-sleeved jacket to toss on as needed. Too warm for the heat of summer (but perfect for the indoor AC), great for transition days when you’re not quite ready for fleece and definitely not ready for down & shearling!

HotPatterns 1031 Boulevard Cardigan-Jacket

HotPatterns 1031 Boulevard Cardigan-Jacket! I’m not even sure how long I’ve had this pattern, but when Melissa mentioned “transitions” in describing the Sewlong Summer tour…. it immediately jumped to mind. (And in keeping with the theme of another sewing group I’m in – this is made entirely from stash!)

I love HotPatterns’ drafting, but the niggling thing I don’t like is the “same weight/print” lines, regardless of size. I usually deal with this by carefully tracing out the size, or blended size, I need; this time I went with a straight size, and was out of the tissue I usually trace on, so I marked all the cutting corners with highlighter so my eyes would stay uncrossed…. and so I wouldn’t make a mistake in cutting!
The fabric I chose is an embossed poly knit. I know, poly! But it has good recovery, and looks fairly decent, so I gave it a try. I loved the texture.

Button selection pondering, and fabric texture

The construction of this jacket went fairly quickly – perhaps my skill level might be considered intermediate now? The pattern is labeled intermediate, but what I think may actually push it to intermediate is the minimalistic instructions! On the plus side for speed is that I ended up not needing any pattern adjustments, a very rare thing indeed.

So…. a bunch of construction and detail pics! 🙂