Jacket Pattern Decisions

An enormous thank you to everyone that suggested jacket patterns after I asked for suggestions the other day. In case anybody else was interested I thought that I would share the options that I've collated, and infact, writing out this post has helped me make my decisions.


The Blazer

Three main patterns came out as suggestions for the blazer; McCalls 6172, Simplicity 2446 and Vogue 8333.

 

M6172 was suggested by Gail, who has made an inspiring version of this pattern recently. This pattern certainly ticks all the basic boxes, but I think I'd prefer something a little more curvy

V8333, is a Claire Shaeffer Custom Couture Collection pattern, and apparently has instructions for both RTW and couture construction techniques. I really like the sound of the instructions of this pattern, I think I want welt pockets as opposed to the in seam pockets in this jacket, and also think I prefer 2 buttons over 3.

 

And the pattern I think I'm going to use is the S2446. It is one of the amazing fit patterns that has different pieces for different cup sizes, which I have heard good things about and will hopefully make it easier to fit. It has two buttons and lovely angled welt pockets. Unless I discover another pattern, I think S2446 is my girl. (So if anybody hears about an Australian sale on simplicity patterns please let me know)


The Biker Style

For the second jacket, with regards to recommendations one pattern was mentioned over and over and over; the Style Arc Ziggi. However, the price tag of the Ziggi has made me do a bit of searching to see if there were any other options around, which found me the Kwiksew 3764 and the Burdastyle Larissa.

The KwikSew 3764 has the colar and zip style that I'm after, but I'm not sure if it's the styling on the envelope or how the pattern really is, but it looks really boxy. I think a jacket as boxy as that would be pretty unflattering on me.

 

Similarly, the Burdastyle Larissa is also fairly boxy, and also pretty cropped, I am planning to make an upper hip length jacket so it can be worn with jeans etc as well as waisted garments.

And so that brings me back to the Style Arc Ziggi. There was obviously a reason that most people suggested it. The princess seams in the pattern will add shape (or provide the opportunity to at least), and it looks like it's already upper hip length. I've been informed that the instructions leave quite a bit to be desired, but there is a sew along out there for the jacket which should help with the construction. I guess I'll be digging deep into my pockets and going with this pattern.

Fruity Gored Skirt

First up, thanks so much to everyone that suggested jacket patterns to me; I have quite a few possibles now! I will recap those in another post. Today I want to talk about skirts...

I have discussed my gored skirts a couple of times before, here, and here. As in 2011 when I shared my first 5 variations, I am still very much in love with this pattern.

For this reason, I've made another two in the last year, both essentially straight up replications of the most recent version I made with the added pockets. This is the first of those...

The first was made nearer the beginning of the year out of some voile printed with blue and red fruit. As the fabric was quite see through, I tried out underlining the skirt (rather than lining it as I had done in some of my previous versions). I chose to underline so that I didn't need to worry about the print showing through at the pockets.

I also added some red ribbon to the top of the pockets.
One construction difference with this version which has made the fit change slightly was that rather than using a facing at the waistband I used some twill tape. This was a mistake, as there was no give in the twill tape as there would have been in a facing, and so the skirt is a tiny bit too small.

 

Not much else to say about this one, except that I'm still in love with the silhouette and how easy these skirts are to wear.

Jacket plans - can you help?

I would like to make at least one jacket this year. I have two pieces of fabric I want to use, and a vague idea of what the jackets will look like, but not much more than that yet.

It might seem a little early to be thinking about jackets (particularly given that it got up to 37C in Melbourne today), but the fabric I have isn't that thick so I figure these would both make great autumn jackets and I want to be able to take my time.

One of the jackets I want to make is a normal blazer style and I have some dark green wool for it:



The second jacket I want to make I have some aubergine coloured wool for, and am envisioning a biker style jacket with an asymmetrical zip:



However, I don't have any patterns lined up for either of these jackets, so I thought I would put it out there; do you have any recommendations for patterns for either of these styles?

Two new PJ bottoms

Carrying on with catching up on un-blogged projects, today I am sharing two pairs of pyjama bottoms that were added to my sleeping wardrobe during 2014. Both pairs were made from fabric that the Darren brought me back from Japan.

The first pair was made using the pattern that I've used a few times before (that originated from cutting apart a dead pair of PJs and tracing off the pattern back in 2006 and has been modified many times since then). This time I added a little bit of extra width through the hips and larger patch syle pockets (rather than the slash pockets that I have written a tutorial for here).

They were also the first item that I made with my overlocker, and I was a little over keen with the use of the overlocker when I probably should have used my sewing machine. Some of the seams around the waistband are now coming apart a little. That's not stopped me from wearing them though, although I should get around to fixing them so they last longer.

For this second pair, I used the pattern that I'd used for the dinosaur camo pants, as I have since decided that they're more comfortable than the PJ pattern that I'd previously been using. I used the same super-sized pocket pieces as with the dinosaur camo pants (which are about the same size as an A4 piece of paper) but again did them as a patch style pocket. I have taken to doing them this way as there is no pocket bag to bunch up inside the PJ bottoms.

Pattern: Self-made
Fabric: Cotton (feels a bit like quilting cotton) from Japan
Notions: Thread, 1" ribbed elastic

Top 5 of 2014 - Reflections and Goals

This is my last Top5 list, in case you didn't see them, I previously talked about my hits, misses and non-sewing highlights for 2014. The last two lists that Gillian suggested were reflections and goals. I have decided to combine these, as when I started thinking of my reflections, they generally were things I wanted to improve on, and therefore went hand in hand with the goals.

Top 5 Reflections and/or Goals

• Keep working on improving fit - I'm getting there but there's still room for improvement and learning. In particular I want to learn about fitting less fitted garments.
• Don't get stuck in a pattern rut - Recently I have been following the easier path of making garments by altering my bodice block. While this is awesome, and generally gives me a good result, it also means that I've been making things with similar shapes and silhouettes rather than branching out.
• It's ok to do other stuff - I did less sewing in 2014 than other years, often because I was busy doing other things. I need to remind myself that this is ok, I should do what I enjoy and not feel guilty for either sewing too little or too much.
• It's ok to fail - Most of the projects I've done in the last year were things where I knew what I was doing and I was unlikely to fail. However, the project I was most proud of, my Frocktails dress, was a massive risk. It was a style risk, and a techniques risk, and heaps of work went into it. I need to do more projects like this. If I fail, that's ok, as I will likely have learnt something anyway. One thing I would like to do under this theme is to make a jacket. I bought fabric for two potential jackets in Vancouver, I would like to make at least one of them this year.
• Blog more - Blog posts last year were few and far between, partly because I did less sewing and partly because the posts were primarily finished garment posts. I would like to get back to talking about plans and in-progress projects more often rather than just focusing on the finished garments.

Top 5 of 2014 - (Non-Sewing) Highlights

This is the third post for my top 5 lists for 2014, I have previously posted my hits and misses. Gillian describes this section as "non-sewing highlights", so here they are...

1- Involvement with ingress community - This year I haven't had as much time for sewing as I normally would have as I have been heavily involved in the Ingress community.
Ingress is an "augmented reality" game that you play on your phone, and you can play anywhere in the world. It uses google maps and the GPS in your phone to work out where you are, and to interact with "portals" in the game you have to actually go there. There are two teams and I'm a member of the resistance, or blue, team. While you can play on your own, the game is best played as part of the team, which has led to a very strong community surrounding the game.

As part of the game there are events held in particular locations globally; Melbourne got one of those events in May. This is certainly a highlight of the game this year for me. I was heavily involved in the planning and organisation for our team for that event, which was both challenging and rewarding in equal measure, considering as about 400 people turned up on the day across both teams.

Another thing I have been involved in this year for the Ingress community has been getting some keyrings made. With help from Darren we made a design to represent the Australian Resistance (which you've seen already when I shared my  screen printing), and then I opened up pre-orders to the Australian (and global) Resistance community.

I needed to get 300 orders to make the keyring manufacture viable; I had 300 orders within the first 24 hours! I ended up getting a bit over 500 keyrings made.

I specifically chose a supplier that manufactured the keyrings in Melbourne, and am thrilled with how they turned out, both in quality and design,

2- Trips within Australia - I've been on quite a few trips within Australia this year; a trip to Sydney, two to Brisbane, two to northern Tassie, to Euroa (with a very long detour home through rural Victoria), and a trip to Warrnambool and the Great Ocean Road. Some of the trips were to see family, others to see friends, and others just because (and pretty much all of the trips involved some ingressing). It's been great to see more of my adopted country.

The tassie trips were particularly amazing. Early in the year we went to Burnie to visit Darren's aunt and also spent a couple of nights at Cradle Mountain (pictured above).  We then went back in the middle of the year, where the spectacular highlight was getting to go up in Darren's uncle's little 4 seater plane and see the north west Tasmania coastline from the air. AND, even more exciting, I got to fly the plane!!! (pictured below).

 

Another standout trip was a road trip to Warrnambool, where we stayed with a friend's parents and then came home along the great ocean road. The first pic below is us at a place called Tower Hill, near Warrnambool, and the second pic is us at one of the (very windy) lookouts on the great ocean road.

 

3- Our trip to Canada - Darren and I went on a two week holiday in October/November to Canada (and a tiny bit of the US). The trip was a whirlwind tour of Toronto, Montreal, Seattle and Vancouver and we had an amazing time.

The trip was triggered by the decision to have a group meet-up in Toronto with some of the Ingressers we know, mostly from around North America. Meeting some awesome people in person, many that I'd been chatting with online for up to a year, and spending the weekend exploring Toronto with them was an amazing experience (most of us pictured above). We also made a day trip to Niagara Falls, which really was spectacular, just the scale and the amount of water is overwhelming.

 

After the weekend in Toronto, Darren and I went on with the rest of our trip. According to my fitbit, we walked a whopping 200km while we were away. We walked and walked and walked (and ingressed while we did it) seeing heaps of the cities we were exploring. (Picture below is from the lookout at the top of Mont Royal in Montreal.

 

4- Sewing Friends - The friends I've made through the sewing community really are amazing, and their impact on my life is even moreso. From texts and emails for help, to our monthly social sewing days, to the advice, support and encouragement given through instagram, twitter and in comments on my blog, these interactions certainly enrich my life.

Some sub-highlights for this highlight would have to be the honour of attending Melanie's wedding (pic above), everyone I got to meet and spend time with at Sydney Frocktails (below, pic stolen from Nic), and the sewers (and knitters) that I met up with on my trip to Canada, in particular getting the opportunity to meet Tasia and get a sneak peek at SewaholicHQ.

 

5- Darren - Last, and certainly not least, the highest and lightest highlight of this year is Darren (also known as "The Boy"). Darren and I moved in with each other this year, and there is no better word to describe him as than my partner. He has been at my side and supporting me through all the other 4 highlights and many other times besides.

I'll be back tomorrow with my last of these top5 list posts, with my goals and reflections.

Top 5 of 2014 - Misses

After sharing my top 5 hits yesterday, today I will share my top 5 misses. My misses aren't massive sewing fails, as while there have been a few of those they haven't made them onto the blog. Instead, they're items that have disappointed me in other ways...

  

1. Wool Hollyburn Skirt - While there's nothing particularly wrong with this skirt, I don't find myself reaching for it over other options. For some reason it doesn't feel flattering, and I have no idea why. Perhaps it's just the fabric? I'm still ambivalent about the dress I made with this fabric too. And to top it off, the zip has recently broken in this skirt, so it's been sat in a pile of broken zippered items waiting for me to unpick the zip and replace it.
2. Grey Pleated Dress - I'm still sad about the fabric that I used for this dress. Sad and disappointed. I love the dress. It's comfortable, it's warm... and it's unrealistically delicate. Snags appear in the fabric almost as easily as just looking at it. I'll likely still wear the dress (once the weather cools down again), but not as much as I would if the fabric wasn't so snagged and likely to become more so every time it's worn.
3. Lysa Sweater - another slight disappointment, mostly due to the yarn. I have worn this sweater twice so far and it's started pilling and it's already looking more worn than knits that I've worn more times than I could count and have had for over a year. For this reason I'm cautious about knitting with the same yarn again, so returned the balls that I had in another colourway that were destined to be my next project in favour of a different type of yarn,
4. Peacock Eyes Cardigan - got some fingering weight yarn and started a version of "peacock eyes" in February... and I got a decent way into it but I'm just not loving it. I don't know if it's the pattern, or the yarn, or the combinations, but the love isn't there. So it's been pushed into the corner for now. I'm thinking that because I'm not loving it I will likely unravel it and do something else with the yarn, as there's no point continuing with a knitting project I'm not loving.
5. Black ponte shorts - I don't have a picture of these yet, and they've barely been worn. It was possibly a bad omen that the first zip broke as I was making them (I've not had much luck with zips this year). I don't know if it's the fabric choice, the fit or just that my lifestyle has changed. The lifestyle thought is a reasonable one, as I haven't been wearing my other winter shorts as much as I used to (my thurlows here and here).

Top 5 of 2014 - Hits

Today I'm going to join in with Gillian's Top 5 list again. I was intending on posting it as one post, but it got a bit long, so I'm splitting it up.

I've been pondering my 'hits' since Gillian first posted about this years lists. I spent some time this week organising and updating the pages for my blog where I've catalogued my makes, I now have pages for my sewn garments, my knits, my quilts, and my other finished items, which are also all linked near the top of the page.

It took me a little while, but I've settled on my top 5 as:

     

1. My Sydney Frocktails Dress - many many many hours went into the construction of this dress. I tried new techniques, and new types of fabric. The final dress was a triumph and I hope to find other opportunities to wear it.
2. Laura Skirt - worn very regularly to work since making it, the pairing of fabric and pattern were spot on with this skirt. The skirt is smart but really comfy, and the little flounce at the back is a great alternative to a slit. 
3. Bouncing Birthday Shorts - worn very frequently throughout the summer, a great go-to garment for hot days. The stretch in the sateen I think is the key aspect to what has made them so comfortable, which I should remember for future iterations.
4. Aiken Jumper - I've finished three knitted garments this year, and this one is hands down the most comfortable of them. It has just the right amount of ease and lovely and is cosy in cold air-conditioned offices.
5. Shhh, it's a secret - the last of my hits for the year is a project that I've been working on that I can't quite tell you about yet as it's a gift that hasn't been gifted yet. I promise just as soon as it is gifted I'll show you.

I'll be back tomorrow with my misses...

19 t-shirts and counting

Taking stock of both my blog and my wardrobe while I'm on my Christmas break has reminded me that I have now made quite a lot of t-shirts, very few of which have been blogged.

I made my first t-shirt in early 2011, which I made by tracing a pattern off a t-shirt that I'd bought and liked the fit of. Throughout subsequent iterations I have tweaked the fit until I have reached a point I'm happy with.

 

One thing I have tweaked is the shoulders of the shirt. In the photos above you can see that the shoulders are fairly narrow, which I wanted to fix. To start with I thought that I could fix it by adding some width to the shoulder seam. However doing this ended up with a weird too-wide shoulder happening. Upon closely examining this version, I tried removing some height from the sleeve cap, and that pretty much perfectly fixed the problem (see below pics).

 

However, as mentioned recently, the shirt with the too-wide shoulders made a great base for screen printing on:

 

I also modified the neckline to be a round neck rather than a v-neck, and as I alluded in this veeeery old post, there were some hiccups with that process.

The first round necked version I made is shown above. I simply converted the v-neckline into a round neckline and added a band the same width as on the v-neck. This did not work. The neckbands on t-shirts like this need to have the inner folded edge one length, and the outer edge stitched to the shirt a slightly longer length. If not they stick out from the body. Generally the stretch in the fabric accomodates this, stretching into a nice curve.

Now if you imagine a nice narrow neck band, there isn't a great deal of difference between the shorter and longer lengths. However, with a wide neck band there is a great deal of difference, meaning that either the neck band has to be considerably shorter than the neck hole it's going into, or it will stick out away from the body. (this isn't an issue with the v-neckline as the v at the centre front removes a lot of the length difference)

In this version I went with the considerably shorter band, which was very difficult to stitch in, and has led to some puckers in the neckline, and even then doesn't quite sit flat against my chest the way it should.

In future versions I reduced the depth of the neckline and had a narrower neck band (so the finished neckline depth was about the same), which worked very well...

  

 

Unless I don't quite stretch the neck band enough when attaching it, as in this version where the neckband usually sticks straight out, or if it sits flat has unattractive folds in it:

I have played around with the sleeve length, making short, elbow and long-sleeved versions

 

While many versions have been made with "normal" t-shirt fabric (I'm not 100% sure but probably cotton/poly-lycra fabric), I've also made a few out of merino jersey (the green and black v-necked versions above, and the turquoise one with the dodgy neck band, and the ones pictured below).

I am massively in love with merino jersey. Warm in cold weather, breathable in hot weather, and doesn't hold a smell like other fabrics. Perfect for travelling, and to be honest pretty much all other times. And with good quality merino perfectly comfortable to wear against the skin.

 

It's pretty standard for me to wear a long sleeved black merino t-shirt under my outfits in winter. After making a first one, I made two more for the following winter.

Some other versions of the pattern I've done are to add some looser sleeves (by reducing the taper) and a smidge more ease through the side seams, and making out of a heavier weight knit, to make a lightweight sweater:

 

And lastly, leaving the sleeves off I have made a great tank-top/singlet. This one is made from merino too, and really is great in summer, including for exercising in. Rather than sewing a normal-tshirt neckband on the tank I cut a strip of the fabric and folded around the edge of the arm and neck holes to finish them. Incidentally, this shirt was a bonus top, as I managed to squeeze the pieces for both the tank and the t-shirt on the piece of fabric that I'd bought

And so that's 19 t-shirts (or derivatives) from my t-shirt block so far (or 21 if you count the wrap cardigans that I made also based off this pattern). And I expect I'll make plenty more as these and my RTW t-shirts wear out.