Sewaholic 1203: Twill Thurlows

Welcome to my month of pants! I finished up my pants block with StephC this week and I can't say how happy I am with the finished result so now its time to work on transferring the block into patterns.
It was easier to trace/transfer over than I thought but I did make a bit of a newbie error on these pants - I didn't pin out the front dart so the added width of the dart has skewed the side seams at the top, add that to the fact that this material is a crappy polyester twill that gave me all kinds of hell sewing it means the side seams embarressing enough I nearly didn't put up the side photo!
But it was a good learning experience and if I make the Thurlow's again I'll be changing the pockets a bit (turning them into classic pockets with a pocket stay) and making the waistband wider. Having said all that though I am very proud of how smooth these pants sit at the front without any extra adjustment other than using my block.

I added a bright red sateen facing and red buttonholes (I've become rather obsessed with Sherlock and I love the red buttonhole on his coat!).



So stay tuned for more pants! I have plain, bright, long, capri's and jeans planned!

So a huge thanks to Steph who gracefully dealt with looking at more pictures of my crotch than anyone ever should have to!

Vogue 8648: Skater dress

Another copycat dress from RTW! I've liked this one at citychic and a friend of mine said she wished the black was on the outside to help create a taller/slimmer shape.

Source

Since I had already muslined up this pattern for the Couture dress plus the pattern was very close to the same design lines of the skater dress I decided to use it. I know I had originally done a FBA to the muslin but for some reason it wasn't on my pattern pieces so I didn't do one to this dress...I think the only reason I got away without it was using the ponte knit, but the bust doesn't fit as well as I'd like so next dress I make from this pattern will definitely have one! The underbust seam is about an inch too high and its stopping the waist from sitting properly.



This was a sz22 with about an inch taken out of each side to help it fit. I constructed this a little different than usual, doing the side seams last. I've found with this cheap ponte from Lincraft that it stretches out over time so this way its an easy fix to tighten up the side seams if I need to.


I added pockets!


I like the way the skirt hangs on this dress, I'd like to make it out of a cotton sateen to make the circle skirt stand out a bit more!

McCalls 5859: Velveteen jacket

This jacket has a little backstory to it - it started off as a vintage jacket (I'm kind of guessing from the 1960's?) that belonged to an elderly lady my Mum was friends with. Mum saved it from being donated to charity with the thought that I could rework it into something more wearable that she could wear to the lady's grandsons wedding in September.


I've had it sitting in my sewing room for months now because sewing velveteen scares the hell out of me! The last time I used it I managed to scorch, melt and swear at it, lol! So this time I spent a bit of time playing with it, trying out interfacing, ironing and sewing scraps. Surprisingly the fusible interfacing went on fine so I didn't have to bother with interlining or sew in interfacing.


I don't have a needle board so I pressed it from the wrong side using a press cloth and not putting any real pressure on it (on that note, I'm guessing it velveteen? I could be wrong though and it might be velvet? It feels beautiful anyway, lots nicer than a polyester velvet). I didn't have enough to use the velveteen on the facings so I used the original satin lining. It surprised me how much it used, I expected to have a lot of left over material but was only left with tiny scraps!



Its hard to capture the colour properly, its a real deep emerald (my husbands been calling it the leprechaun jacket!)


I had a lesson in humility trying to do bound buttonholes in velvet! They are are a little wonky and uneven but the nap helps hide it a bit!


A little note about the spare buttons - I've been getting frustrated about left over buttons so came up with this idea - a scrap of the material from the jacket with the buttons sewn on and a eyelet in the top. That way it can hang on the clothes hanger and you know straight away which piece of clothing it goes with and you don't have spare buttons hanging around!



This was my Mum's birthday present - Happy birthday Mum :)

Mario Quilt Along: Yoshi

This is a block thats not included in the quilt along but my Son's favourtie character is Yoshi so I wanted to make him one.
Its about half again as big as the other blocks so I'm not quite sure how it will look in the end, I'd like to do this as a centre block and the smaller ones around the outside but will wait until they're all made and lay it out first.

I have been doing some normal sewing as well - I've started working on my pants block with Steph from 3 hours past and I've been working on a velvet jacket for my Mum.

Mario Quilt Along: Goomba and Cloud

Goomba and cloud finished! The grey on the cloud is a bit darker than I'd like but it was the only grey I could find.
I've found if I pin them straight while I iron the seams open it doesn't warp as much as well :)

Mario Quilt Sewalong: Mario and Luigi

I am so excited about this quilt! I was a huge Super Mario fan when I was younger (and still play it a bit now) so to see this quilt then find out Cut to Pieces is doing a quilt-along is so cool!

I couldn't find any of the Pellon stick n washaway locally so used a thin interfacing and pieced the blocks like Oh, Fransson! showed with her Postage stamp quilt.

The mario block is a little twisted, I had the iron on too hot and it shrunk and warped the interfacing a bit.....Not sure if I'll redo it or not yet. I found I had to dampen both of the blocks at the end and pin them straight then iron and starch them as they had twisted a bit (I think it was from ironing the seams out flat?).

I've got a bit of catching up to do (the goomba and cloud block) but they go together pretty quickly (I pre-cut all my material) and its kind of feels like doing a jigsaw puzzle to begin with, the ironing is pretty painstaking though!

Simplicity 1783: Denim Skirt

I've been dreaming of summer! Its been such a long cold winter down here this year, lots of frosts in the morning and rain. So its nice to sew summery clothes and dream of the beach and warm evening walks with the family!


I actually got this pattern for the pants (though they'd be nice made in bengalene for work), but I really liked the skirt and the top as well! Its meant to be made from a non-stretch fabric but I wanted a basic denim skirt. I graded up to a sz24 but with the stretch I ended up sewing a sz20. I made a tilted waist adjustment (finally figured out that's what I was doing when I raised the back waistband and lowered the front!), added back pockets too just to break the back up a bit.


I love using jeans buttons and rivets and have been ordering the prym brand from the UK to use with the prym pliers (beats a hammer any day!), but the stockist I'd been buying through has closed down. I found mrecht recommended on patternreview, you have to buy in bulk (100 buttons!) and they sell the backing bits separate, but it works out really cheap and I'm pretty impressed with them.


I really like the construction of the vent, I changed mine from being on the front of the skirt to the back and I like how its got a facing on it so it doesnt gape open.


I really like this skirt, I'll be making more for summer :)