A few more projects to share - slowly catching up.

Once again, it has been too long in between blog posts. I have returned to full-time work - but it is a little less crazy than at the start of the year so I think I am keeping my sanity. Sewing helps with this, but I am not the type of person to sew when I am busy.

This dress is my latest version of the Skater style dress (but using a pattern that I had in the stash). The pattern is Kwik Sew 3472. I ended up tracing a new pattern after sewing my last dress because the last dress was basically hacked there were many adjustments I needed to make. I traced a smaller sized bodice, reduced the length of the bodice and lower hem by 5cm each and my my regular sloping shoulders adjustment.

The fabric is a crinkle knit that I bought at a designer fabric sale last year. The neckline looks crooked because the crinkle unfolds after you cut it and the hem in raw because I needed to cut it straight. When I took pictures, the hemline is not so bad after all, the neckline I can live with. I had to make a knit slip to wear under this as it is a little on the sheer side. I used the pattern pieces as a guide and kind of winged it and it worked out. The edges are finished with picot elastic.

Next up are black wool pants. A bought this great herringbone weave black wool at my local Bargain Box store for a song. The pattern is from a Burda Easy Fashion magazine. I made adjustments years ago before having a pants block done and made some in a navy/black wool. They are always so comfortable and hang nice so I thought I would make it up again, even though I have the same pattern traced up and adjusted with the pants block. Somehow my adjustments work better.

I know skinny pants are the thing, but I just love the cut of bootleg pants.

Just chucking this picture in here, because I use this blog and refer to previous makes when I am sewing new things. I bought this sweater knit fabric at the designer fabric sale last year and it is lovely. However, it is very much like a hand knit and just horrible to cut up and sew. I had to overlock all the edges before I sewed them together. There was distortion and the whole thing just annoyed me. On top of it, the neckline became super stretchy and the cuffs where lumpy. 

I made this months ago and the other week I decided to give it a shot and wear it to work. It is actually quite snuggly and the neckline eventually stretches out at the back as well as the front so it doesn't look as bad as when you first put it on. There is no way I am refashioning it due to its unstableness, but I will be worn at least around the house. The patterns is Kwik Sew 2874 version A with version C neckline.

Lastly we have the outfit I entered in the local show in May. There was a casual wear category this year, right up my ally, so I made a tee and some jeans.

The t-shirt is Burda's gathered sleeve raglan from issue 2/13 (# 127), which I have made before. The jeans are Jalie of course, I think this is my fifth version of the pattern. Like last year's pair, I straightened the leg seam.

I really like the cut of the Burda shirt. I did have another top that I planned to enter in with the jeans which had seam details the went with the semi-circle topstitching, but it did not sit well on my body.

I spent ages topstiching with my old Princess machine, which inspired my Mother's Day gift of a Singer 99 with hand crank.

I still have a pair of pants, a dress and three tops to photograph at least. No doubt they will make it onto the blog at some stage in the future. Thanks for reading.

More Jalie jeans

I have finally finished my second pair of Jalie jeans. I truly thought this pair would be easier. I had one pair under my belt and hadn't had any problems with them, so why would I think there would be a problem this time around. Turns out there were going to be numerous issues and annoyances crop up.

See, I used a much thicker and stretchier fabric that my last pair. I could not locate any jeans needles anywhere locally, so I went ahead a used a regular size 16 needle. Worked fine for the regular thread, but my machine had a fit when I had to topstitch with the topstitch thread.

And the waistband totally stretched out when I sewed it. This wouldn't have mattered so much if I had sewn on the belt loops. But in my wisdom, I had left them off thinking my needle/machine would not be able to cope with so many layers at once. So the stretched out waistband was a total disaster. And I had no more fabric to recut the waistband.

Lucky for the jeans, my stubborn streak kicked in and I spent an evening unpicking, pressing, adding some interfacing at the top edge and re-attaching the annoying piece. I ended up topstitching the seam where it is attached at the waist with regular thread and the buttonhole is in the navy thread as well. The other three sides of the waistband is the the topstitch thread. I figure no one is really going to notice and anyway, who cares.
I tried to come up with a really cool picture for the back pockets, something like Mary Nanna's here or here or this amazing design from 21Wale, but I don't want to be a copycat and I can't draw, so I just went for some not so random lines. It took me a whole morning to come up with what I wanted, how sad is that.

Look Mum, these are not real jeans. I actually made them, check out the mistakes.

They are super comfortable and I think will be in high rotation this month. Although I am hoping to churn out a few more things before the Me Made Month is over. This is a long weekend without any out-of-home plans and there is only two more weeks of school before the holidays. I really want some more pants and maybe some more tees and jumpers.

Toffy pants in denim

I thought it would be a good idea to make DD, DS and my jeans altogether. I finished the boy's pair an age ago, so it was about time to finish the girl's before I finished mine.

The pattern is Ottobre's Toffy pants (#15 from 4/2009) but with the pockets from #12. The Tulip pants (#12) are the girly version of the Toffy pants, but with the gathered wide legs, it was probably too baggy for my skinny minny. I liked the gathering on the front pockets and the pintucks on the back pockets though. The binding looked good too.

I find it hard to believe that I traced a size 116 for the girl. Of course, she is still 98 in the width (and I had to take it in more at the waist since there is no elastic).

Jalisa is thrilled with them. I am glad to get them finished and into her wardrobe where they are needed to the chilly weather we are having.