Field Trips in Fiber - Adventures in quilting, hand dyed fabric and fiber art.

New Look 6005 pants

Isn't it weird to see me do a garment post? 

One of the reasons that I got out of garment making is that I am very difficult to fit. I'm average length from my neck to my waist but my arms are stumps. My front is a size larger than my back. My legs are short, my waist to hip length is a lot shorter than average but I'm wide front to back in the hips. I'm a mess.

Buying clothes isn't much easier. When I find clothes that fit, especially pants, I buy 3 or 4 in the same style and often in the same color. 

Whe I used to sew most of my clothes, I rarely made the same garment twice. I went through all of that fitting hell for every single garment that I made. Crazy. Then I took a class with Shirley Adams and was introduced to the concept of using one pattern and changing design lines. Sewing became much more fun for a while. Of course, now those patterns that are used over and over are called TNT (tried-n-true) patterns. When I decided to start sewing clothes again I vowed to make every pattern at least twice. Pants patterns need to be able to be used dozens of times!

You might wonder why I didn't start with a skirt so fitting would be simpler. Well, I don't wear skirts and dresses. Hate them.  I have made lots of pants before and even drafted my own jeans pattern. So I have some fitting knowledge.

So, that's the background. I decided to start with an elastic waist pattern for ease and comfort. I wear my shirts out anyway so the waist doesn't really matter.

I bought this pattern because I wanted to make some linen and silk pants for summer. Notice how fitted the pants are on the cover. I felt that would work really well with some light to medium weight fabrics.

I made the mistake of following the pattern size chart. According to my measurements I should wear between and 14 and 16. I cut out a 14.

I used my old pants sloper for the initial alterations, but only paid attention to lengths. I shortened the leg 1.5" and the length between the waist and crotch by 1/5". I also scooped out the back crotch curve a bit. Then I stitched them up.

This fabric is from my stash. I made some pants from is a few years ago and had enough left for another pair of pants. If they went horrible I was going to be OK trashing them.

In the first fitting they were HUGE. I meay gigantic huge! I took in the side seam 1/2" and the inseam 1/4" for a total of 1 1/2" on each leg.

 

The photo on the left is after the first fitting. (These are grainy because they are mirror reflections.) You would think that clothes that are too big would make you look smaller. You would be wrong. They add 10 pounds to you! They were still huge so I took them up until they were about a  size 10. Now they fit much better.

You can see how much I took them up if you look at that motif that the arrow is point to. See how much it moved into the seam! I think I cut 5 pounds of fabric out of them and lost 5 pounds off my body without cutting out even 1 gluten-free vegan cookie!

Remember when I said that I was OK if I had to throw them out? Well, without being aware that I was doing it, I spent an extra hour cutting these out matching up the fabric pattern at the pocket opening! Old habits die hard. (Kim, you are laughing, aren't you?)

I'm glad I spent that extra time. I will wear these often I think.

Next I will make them in some pink and black linen. I'm cutting out a straight 10, with my length alterations for those. The third pair will be the silk ones. By then they should take only a couple of hours to sew together. It's so nice to use some of my garment fabric stash finally!

This was sure a long winded post for a simple pair of pants.

 

Coleus Blouse

Ten or 15 years ago I was primarily a garment sewist. I loved tailoring suits and making evening wear. But at some point I found a line of clothing that I liked to wear for work and I discovered that with quilt making I could use colors that I didn't wear (everything other than black) and there was no fitting involved.

Since I quit work, I've had an interest in starting to make some casual clothes. When I made the Coleus gradient I knew that I wanted to make something from it. A sleeveless blouse seemed perfect.

I really like the effect of the gradient on this blouse and can see myself making more garments like this. I placed the pattern so that the waist aligned in the center yellow band of color. That means that the darkest green band is not included. I used the darkest red for the collar. The pattern is placed on the cross grain but that didn't cause any problems. 

I've joked about my vast button collection before. I don't have a lot of small buttons but I had at least 6 different styles/colors to choose from!

The pattern is Kwik Sew 3668 and it should be a simple project. Well, it is for most people. However, I require a LOT of pattern alterations. It's one reason I selected a sleeveless pattern first. Getting the bodice to fit was enough without having to deal with sleeves.  How much fitting? Basically I am size XS in the neck and shoulders, S in the back and M with a large bust adjustment for the front. I have sloping shoulders and my head sits a little forward. There were lots of dart changes. When I make knit garments I actually cut the front and back in different sizes and ease in the different. It works!

For this project I used my favorite pattern alteration book, Fitting and Pattern Alteration.  I was shocked to see how much it sells for now but I certainly wouldn't sell my copy for $100! I use that book every time I sew and every time I help someone else fit a garment. 

When I make a new garment pattern, I ALWAYS make a test garment for fitting. That's how I got this tacky print blouse. I still needed to alter the pattern some after I made the test garment but I finished it so it is wearable too. I just won't wear it outside of the house! It's a linen blend from my old garment fabric stash so it's good to have one less fabric in that cabinet......although you can't tell tha tanything is missinng.

In the end, all that extra work was worthwhile because my Coleus blouse fits perfectly! Now if only we could get some warm weather so I can wear it.

Beginner Sewing Class Sample

I realize that this isn't much to get excited about but these are scrubs for a beginner garment sewing class. I really enjoy teaching beginner sewing classes. It's fun to be there when someone finishes their first sewing project, especially if it's something that they are proud to wear. I am teaching two beginner sewing classes at Quilting Adventures. The first is the Retro Aprons class. I taught this last month. I had two students and neither had made a garment before. One of the students was so stressed at the beginning of class (she was moving to a new home in a week) that I though she was going to break down and cry before lunch. By the end of the day she was enjoying sewing and she finished her apron before going home.

In May I am going to teach some basic garment sewing with a 2-Saturday class to make a simple shirt and elastic waist pants. I like to let the students pick their pattern and I will just provide criteria for pattern selection. For the sample we picked Kwik Sew 2807. I made 3 pieces for the shop sample and did each on a different machine. The green top was done on my Pfaff and has the seams finished with a zig-zag stitch. The pants were made totally on the serger, thanks to the cover stitch and the white print top was done totally on a straight-stitch machine with the seams either top stitched or double stitched. I want to make sure that people know they can sew garments with whatever machine they have. I sure hope I get some students!

Unfortunately, these do not count in stash used for the week. This fabric was supplied by the shop so it never counted as "in". I did use 6 buttons out of the million that I own though!

A few aprons

I a teaching a beginner sewing class at Quilting Adventures in a few weeks (and again in April) and I wanted to make some new samples. I cut them out last night in about an hour and a half and made them all tonight in about 3 and a half hours! They are all from Retro Aprons by Cindy Taylor Oates. They are all really cute patterns and terrific for a beginner sewer. I made the first one from some stash fabrics that I've had for about 4 years. I also have a 3rd fabric of cups in this same group. I think they are really cute fabrics and great for an apron.

  This purple and green one is made from fabric that I bought this week. It's a new line at Quilting Adventures called Floragraphix 2. The whole line is beautiful and I wanted to make one of the samples in something not vintage or retro looking. It's quite a classy apron don't you think? I'm pretty proud of myself for not buying more than enough fabric for this apron.

This last one is made to look truly retro from 30's reproduction fabric and vintage ric-rac trim. It's a very tailored apron with 6 pleats.

These were a lot of fun to make. I think they would be great gifts and they are a great use of stash because most of them use 1 yard or less pieces and offer lots of opportunities for mixing prints.

Now I can just hope that some people sign up for the class!

Indygo Junction Jacket

Yes, you are in the right blog and I did sew a garment! It's nothing to get excited about. This is the Indygo Junction Never the Same Twice Jacket. I made this in January for a shop sample. I was going to teach the jacket in the Spring but we didn't have enough students. It's doing better this month so I needed to get another sample done before class starts Wednesday. This is meant to be a beginner class so don't have any big expectations! LOL! I tried to do different closure details on all 3 jackets that I made.

The fabrics were chose to match two pants that I have for winter. On this side I fused three of the circle motifs on the left front and stitched around the edges with a matching thread. The pocket is made with two 1/2" button holes made about 1/2" apart. the purple tie is sewn to the jacket and each end fed through a button hole and then tied in a bow in front. That pocket is so huge that I will not need to untie the closure to use the pocket! The button is actually a mother-of-pearl button (back up), a purple button and a bead.

This side is simpler. The pocket has two large buttonholes and the buttons are painted with some of my new Stewart Gill paints!  I sewed the buttons on with beads.

It only took a few hours to make this jacket - it's a perfect beginner sewing project. Unfortunately, the Extra Small is still too big. I can wear sweaters under this one!