New Look 6927: Childs coat

My best friends daughter is 18mths old and I thought it was about time I sew her something!
I had this herringbone wool fabric in the stash and wanted to use it up (its only 1m big). It was very ravelly and had quite a loose weave so I decided to blockfuse the entire piece of fabric with sheerweft fusible interfacing. I didn't add any extra interfacing as I wanted it to stay quite loose and drapey. I was going to do bound buttonholes but I didn't want to add the extra bulk to what is a tiny little jacket!


I added a lining


I didn't want to sew piping around the facings so I used flat bias strips and sewed them on at 5/8" then sewed the lining on at 3/8" which left a nice little strip exposed. I'm sure I read about this on a blog somewhere but I just can't remember (think it might have been on Sunny Gal Studios blog?)


I really enjoyed sewing this - it uses up those bits of material I always seem to end up with and its nice and quick to sew.

McCalls 6408: Tie Cardigan

I loved Heather's version of this and since imitation is the best form of flattery, lol, I wanted one for me too!
I picked up this ponte knit at Lincraft (I love ponte! So nice to wear)


Its got heaps of ease included so I ended up cutting a szM and did a 1" FBA rotated out to the waist gathers plus a 2" upper arm adjustment and I cut about 3" off the length.


I'm pretty happy with the fit - I have some excess fabric at my lower back and it seems a little tight on my hips at the back so I might add in a back seam and add some extra width for for my hips on the next version.


I set the sleeves in flat, serged the seams and used clear elastic to stabilise the shoulder seams. I am a total convert to setting in sleeves flat, its easier to check the fit, you get no puckers on the sleeve head and its quicker - whats not to like!


I love it! It feels a bit like wearing a dressing gown because it is so comfortable, and I like how the ties give that bit of waist definition!

Sewaholic 1203: Denim Thurlow pants

As soon as I was emailed about this pattern I ordered it! I've had a lot of trouble fitting Sewaholic tops/dresses on me (even though I've made heaps for my Mum/daughter), but since the crescent skirt fitted me so well I figured the pants would too.
I made the first version as a pair of shorts for my daughter, they weren't a success (I based them off a pair of shorts she told me fit well, after I had nearly finished the thurlow shorts she tells me that she hadn't worn them in months and the rise was way too low and the waist was too tight......) but they did give me a go at the construction. The major thing I changed was the fly, I had a lot of trouble wrapping my head around the instructions and wasn't really happy with the end product so on my pants I changed the pattern to a cut on fly and followed my normal tutorial. This let me cut two of the same front legs rather than a left and right front leg.



I also did the no-fail welt pockets here since it worked so well on my Sailor pants.


All told they went together quite well, I scooped out the back crotch curve by a lot but otherwise they are a straight size 16 in a stretch denim I think I got at Lincraft (its not the best quality material but good enough for the first go). I tend to cut wide seam allowances and fit pants as I go instead of making a muslin as its so hard to match the same stretch material but I ended up cutting off all the wide seam allowances as the pattern has a lot of built in ease (5" as its designed for woven fabrics).
I am really happy with them, I had a minor freak out at my first try on, because they were too big in the legs and because the rear crotch seam wasn't sewn (you do it last) I had a lot of fabric pooling at the back and it looked terrible! Thankfully after I took in the seams and basted the rear seam it started to look better and once the waistband was on I was happy! Its not perfect but good enough for me!
Next version I'm adding a little extra to the rise at the back, they don't sit really low but I like them slightly higher than they are. Plus some stay tape to the pocket edge as I've found they have started to stretch out.


I highly recommend this pattern, especially if you have curvy hips/thighs. I have a lot of trouble with RTW pants and usually stick to a wide leg pant because I hate how tight usual bootleg/flare jeans are at my knees but these start to flare above the knee and skim down to a nice wide hem. Also, the pockets don't gape!

Simplicity 2345: Jacket

I was asked over on pattern review if I had made the jacket from this pattern yet, when I reviewed the last cowl neck top. It got me looking at the pattern again and i figured I'd use up the leftover ponte from the Burda dress to make it up. Because I was using a knit I made a sz18 with a 3/4" FBA, plus dropped the bustline by about 1".

I inserted the sleeves flat and I left out the facings and used self made bias binding to finish the edges and serged the rest of the seams (sorry for the bad photo, I've had trouble with the lighting over winter and my photos seem to be either too dark or overexposed).


I originally added buttons to the front but decided to take them off, the buttonholes looked a bit icky in the ponte and I decided I liked it more without them, thank goodness I hadn't cut the buttonholes open!


I've been really impressed with this pattern, I bought it on one of the sewing pattern sales just because it was so cheap and I've ended up really liking it! At the moment the cowl neck tops are one of my most worn tops and I think the jacket really does go well with them. The pattern includes a striaght leg pant and I can see that it would probably suit the tops more than my wide leg pant.

McCalls 5525: Shauntung trench finished!

Finally done! If I wasn't so stubborn about finishing everything this would have become a wadder as it was such a frustrating project to finish! Its all my own fault, even though a fusible interfacing worked beautifully on the Violet trench because the shantung was so much thinner I think a sew-in interfacing would have saved me a lot of headaches! The interfacing has buckled a bit and tends to crease and you've got to be so careful ironing it. Plus the bound buttonholes and welt pockets just don't look as nice in the shantung, they've creased a bit on the edges so I probably would have been better off doing standard buttonholes and in seam pockets, but we live and learn I suppose.....
I think some form of weight in the hem would be good too, it puffs out at the back a lot more than my Violet trench.



I used satin cord inside of my piping for the first time too.....I don't recommend it, it hasn't got as much of a ridge for the zipper foot to go up against so its harder to get it sewn in evenly compared to using normal piping cord.




Somehow it ended up being a single breasted coat not a double breasted? I'm still not quite sure how I did it, just made it a bit too tight I think and so its a lot more comfortable as a single button up coat.

But at least its done! It's one more off my UFO list and I learnt a few lessons on fabric and interfacing choice!

Get Creative 2002: third version

Third times a charm right? Umm, not for me! This shirt was meant to be a quick easy project and ended up being a complete headache! I didn't buy enough fabric to begin with so had to change from a proper facing to a skinny one, then I managed to cut that too short and had to join another bit of fabric. Plus I'm not really happy with the hem and I decided to leave out the side slits but might have to add some in as it tends to bunch up on his hips a bit.


But at least its done and I managed to match the plaid better this time!


i've been trying to finish off a few UFO's that I've had lying around, I really don't like to leave anything unfinished so its nice to clear out some stuff.