News and a search for an impossible to locate pattern

So the reason for my absence/why I didn’t make it all the way through Me Made May/why I haven’t sewn in 2 weeks has to do with those awesome/horrid hormones responsible for that first trimester.  I’m due Christmas Eve!  We’re excited, but I am very very tired.  I’m starting to get a little more energy, but it’s slow going, and right now, I’m content to be able to cook dinner–something I couldn’t do with either Sam nor Noah because I was so morning sick with both of them.  No morning sickness this time, just the tired…Like when Olympia, the wind up doll from Les Contes d’Hoffman falls over in the middle of her aria and has to be wound up again tired.

I can tell I’m starting to get a little more energy though because I’m starting to plan a little.  I snagged an old Ottobre on Ebay that has a great camisole pattern and a cowl neck.  I think the cowl would be great for a fast and easy copy of this White House/Black Market tee.

What a great summery basic, right?

Also really really high on my list are these maternity pants from Burda.

I love the princess seams in front and back and how go with everything these pants seem like they would be.  This came out a few years ago, but it’s sadly OOP and I’ve seriously been checking Ebay and Etsy nearly every day for about 4 months and it has not appeared even once.  Does anyone have this, and can I buy it from you?  You can name the baby Rumplestiltskin style–just kidding, but I almost want this pattern that badly.

I’m looking forward to getting sewing again.

Restyling the past and young promise

In thinking about my MMM ensemble yesterday, I thought I’d revisit the past in the way of my garments.  So I pulled out BWOF 2-2008-119.

I made it back in October of 2009, too taken by the modeled photo to consider the fact that it was a shapeless sack of a garment.  I remember it being awful to fit.  Granted, I knew very little about fitting and what size I really am etc., but I really struggled with this one.  I did an FBA hoping it would be useful but it just created a host of other problems.  It was awful.  Still, I often worn it because I love the print.

Today I pulled it out in some sort of experiment to see if I could get it to work.  If it was hard to get it to work before, it’s extra hard now.  I’m at least 25 lbs lighter than when I made it (I would say it was relatively fitted at that point).  So if was sacky and shapeless before, it’s even more so now.  The modeled photo has it belted, which is hard for me to do because of my height.  I could belt it with a maxi skirt, but I do not have one, and it’s not a style that appeals to me.  So in thinking of other ways I could introduce structure to make this top work, I tried out some of my jackets and added my Burdastyle 3-2011-131 linen shorts.

I settled on a Forever 21 jean jacket I bought while at a conference in San Antonio in college.  It’s definitely a more fitted jacket and it does help to bring structure to this combo.  I sadly can’t button it up without tucking the shirt as the batiste turns into a rather poofy weird peplum underneath.

I still don’t think this top does me any favors, but it’s a good exercise I think to think about some of the items that we love but no longer are in the mix for whatever reason.

Today, I pulled out my Burda 7508 that I had made in the aqua striped shirting (I’m also wearing my shibori dyed zipper jeans which you can still vote for here [insert shameless plug]).  When I made it it was relatively fitted, but I still think I biffed the neck sizing and traced something too wide.  At this point, it’s hanging on me, but one of the variations of this pattern has you add some elastic to cinch in the back waist and then you cover that with a scrap of fabric.  This turned out to be a good solution today to get a little more fitted look to save this top for me to wear currently.  It’s still a little big in the wrong places, but it’s wearable, and I also can’t expect a woven top to fit like a t-shirt.

Do you find yourself restyling items that you’ve forgotten about but still love?

Totally unrelated, but I’m feeling the need to brag on my 3 year old.  He was helping me cook lunch (Melissa Clark’s wonderful Red Lentil Soup with Lemon, though I used parsley and farro instead of cilantro and bulgur), and I had him cutting up some rye bread for croutons.  Though he loves his little Kinderkitchen Dog Knife he got for his birthday, he decided that cutting up the bread took too long, so he went all rustic and just started tearing the bread and throwing it into the bowl.  I swear, every time I leave him alone with a task, I’m surprised by his intense focus and genuinely good instincts he has in the kitchen.  

He tossed them in the garlic olive oil I made in my mortar and pestle and we toasted them up in the oven.  He’s going to be a better cook than me…that is if he decides that PBJ isn’t really all that interesting.

Foot tray for jeans

I’ve been thinking about this for a while, but as it’s a little lengthy to put in my probably already lengthy posts about any given pair of jeans, I thought I’d let it be it’s own little thing.  When you’re making jeans, there’s a lot in play.  You have lots of different feet you need for different purposes plus at least 2 different kinds of thread and possibly 2 different kinds of needles if you use a denim double needle.

Here’s what I use:

1. all-purpose foot–for non-topstitched seams
2. applique foot–for topstitching the fly and for bartacking.  I prefer it over the ap foot because it is clear, so you can really see where you’re going
3. ditch quilting foot or blind hem foot–both of these feet have a guide that follows along a seam and allows you to stitch right at the edge of a seam (one sews closer than the other, but they do the same thing).  Either foot lets you do the first pass of topstitching on a seam
4. 1/4″ foot–this foot also has a guide like the ditch quilting or blind hem foot, but it stitches a little farther from the edge of the seam where the guide is riding.  This helps you make your second pass for topstitching seams.
5. zipper foot–for installing your fly
6. buttonholer–to make a buttonhole for your tack button
7. topstitching thread–heavier than regular thread and probably a constrasting color
8. normal thread–for seams

After this pair, I’ve figured out how to simply keep things organized so it’s readily accessible.  I don’t doubt that this pair was my fastest constructed jeans to date partly because of this.

My solution to keep everything in one spot so that it’s ready to go when I need it is to take all of the feet needed out of the foot box and store everything on the lid to my foot box.  It’s simple, and I was surprised how much time it saved me.

How do you keep yourself organized for big projects?

P.S.:  You can vote for my shibori zippered jeans here.

And lastly, some quick MMM shots.

Day 17: Vogue 1027 in mocha jersey.  I’ve lost a lot of weight since I first made this, but I still love how instantly polished I feel in it, despite it being a color that I wouldn’t normally choose on any planet.  It goes with every accessory I own and it has such a pretty silhouette.  I could even run after the kids at the park in it without worrying about a floor show.

Day 18:  Boden Twist top knockoff, Ottobre 5-2007-9 in bleach dyed twill.

Wednesdays for Wee Ones

I’m declaring Wednesdays around ~E Made This as Wednesdays for Wee Ones.  It’s not that I don’t like sewing things for my kids, but often, my queue is really deep.  Inspiration is always buzzing around me and I get caught up in the whims of my own imagination.  In the midst of this, projects for the boys are the first thing to go down on the priority list even if they’re things that are really needed.  At the end of the day, what I like sewing is garments.  Period.  Be they miniature or for me, watching a jacket or pants or a top take shape brings me tremendous joy.  50% off Saturday at ARC also gifted me with some great knit fabric in the way of blankets and a construction-themed cotton curtain, and it got me to thinking.

Rather than being weighed down by guilt brought on by how much I sew for me and how little I sew for the kids, I’m setting aside 1 day in the week to work on stuff for them.  To really work on things that they will enjoy and to give myself a mental space so that I can enjoy doing something for them instead of rushing through it so I can get to what I want to do.  I think it’ll be a good rhythm for me to do this, and though it’s one more thing to commit myself to, I think it’s a good goal.  Too much I look at my Ottobres and my NY Kids’ Style book too longingly and wonder when I’ll find the motivation and time to work on things out of them which is absurd because I love working out of them.

Today I made some pajamas out of the construction fabric and Butterick 4647 and a shortened version of the Ottobre pants that I always use for Noah’s bottoms.  I love the rounded edges of the collar and the facings on the top, but not so much that the facing can’t be sewn with the collar at the same time.  I hate stitching the edge of the facing into the shoulder seam after the fact.  It just isn’t the prettiest finish.

I also made a pair of long bottoms for the long top I made out of Cars flannel I made for Noah’s bday (Katie‘s big guy is his virtual twin).  What with the silly 45″ fabric, I had underestimated how much yardage I needed, and wouldn’t you know that Noah has not been the most excited about the pajamas since there weren’t pants to match.  So last time we were at JoAnn, I got a little more to finish up the pants.

I don’t know how long I’ll be working on Wednesdays for the kids, but I want to do it for a while.  By next week, I’ll have a badge ready in case this is a challenge you would like to take on as well.

 

More MMM and something new in another post for today

So we’re now halfway through MMM ’12, and that’s way further than I thought I’d make it.  I was too scrambled in my head yesterday to post what with my husband coming back after a week in LA for work.  Noah took the picture for yesterday–it was clearer than my picture, and I love the wonkiness of it, and how he captured his brother in his natural, one-socked state.  So yesterday I wore:

Shibori dyed zipper jeans

Heathered coral pearl snap henley

big thrifted wool scarf: while it was 80 degrees outside, it was very cold in the sewing room where I decided to do some mindless sewing in the way of a few grocery bags I made up from some thrifted fabric.  I have enough that I regularly use for one store, but not two, and I never grocery shop at just one store on a given grocery day because it’s inefficient.  I’ve put off making more because Burdastyle’s Charlie bag is kind of a cloth-hog as the handle is integrated.

That said, it’s super fast and rather roomy.  My local ARC has lots of random lengths of home dec fabrics, so I picked some up for next to nothing on 50% off Saturdays.  And let’s face it, cloth is cuter than plastic any day.

Today is all about:

Boden Twist top knockoff

Burdastyle 3-2011-131 linen shorts

The something new I think really needs to be its own post, not because of length but because of importance, so there’s another post coming today.

Shibori dyed zippered jeans

I’ve been sitting on this gray denim since January when I picked it up at Denver Fabrics’ New Years’ sale for all of $4 for the whole 2 yards.  It has a touch of lurex in it, so there’s a little bit of silvery sparkle running through it and it’s a nice weight with good stretch.  But I couldn’t leave it alone.  When I saw a blue breasted kingfisher like this one at the Denver Zoo with the kids and my friend and Noah’s bestie, I knew what I had to do.                                                                               

Aquamarine + grey =happy spring.  My jaw actually dropped when I saw the bird and now struck flat by inspiration, I almost ran out of the aviary right then and there.  I needed dye asap, and wouldn’t you know that Rit makes the perfect aquamarine.

I looked around on Rit dye’s website (which is really cool btw–who knew dyeing could be so hip?) and came across a tutorial for hand stitched shibori dyeing.  I fell in love with the texture of this effect–it’s tie dye for sure but not so Grateful Dead.  Basically you make long gathered stitches with strong thread (I used leftover Gutermann topstitching thread from another pair of jeans–not sad to use it up as my machine hates the weight of it) and pull them up and knot them before you put the fabric in the dye bath.

This took a while, but it was a relaxing bit of reckless kind of hand sewing.  I sewed approximately parallel to the selvages in rows about 2″ apart.  It was really gratifying watching 2 yards of this crunchy denim get wadded up into perfect little gathered sections.  

I put the fabric in a foil roasting pan and applied a fairly strong solution of Rit Aquamarine in a squeeze bottle.  I applied a very weak solution of powdered Pearl Grey as well.  The grey didn’t show up very well, but I didn’t really want it to–it just adds little flecks here and there through the fabric.  I don’t have a microwave, so I baked the fabric at 200 for seriously 4 hours at which point it was dry enough and my patience was waning and dinner had to be made.  I rinsed it out in the washer and sent it through a warm cycle to finish it off.  Then I cut the threads and admired it for a while before I cut it up into a Jalie 2908 stretch jeans. I did a different design for the back pockets, just simply combining some curves from a heart template on my cutting mat.  I traced it onto some of the sewer cloth that I use to trace patterns.  I transferred it to each pocket by just tracing right on top of it with my red Frixion pen.  The ink bled right through and I had two pockets with no fuss.  I mirrored the image for good measure and after I topstitched in white C&C heavy thread, the iron took care of the marks. I’ve kicked around the idea of putting side zippers in jeans for decoration for a while, and I knew this pair would be a good match.

The white zippers go perfectly with this light denim both in vibe and color.  I pressed back the seam allowances and stitched them with topstitching thread into place.  The first side of the first zipper went in without a hitch.  The second side…not so much.  I couldn’t get it to align with the other side no matter what.  It was a case of the denim having too much give and the zipper not having any and having to sew with the zipper down, so that extra ease in the denim can’t be dealt with by the feed dogs. Why it took me 3 times of sewing the same zipper badly and picking it out again to bring out the Steam-a-Seam, I will never know, but I did get there in the end.  I marked where the bottom of my zipper hit on the tape and ran a line of SAS on the far edge of the zipper tape.  Fused into place on the denim, it no longer slipped about and my zippers were aligned without a hitch.  Zipper #2 was an easy install after that.

I put the zips in upside down because I figured if I wanted to make a little vent at the bottom I could.  I don’t think you’d want to vent your undies.  I did put thread stops right where I’d want the top of a vent to end.  The zips are for decoration, not function, but I didn’t want any possibility of a wardrobe malfunction.

This denim had just a little more stretch and just a little more body than my last denim, so after I basted the inseams, I had some under booty wrinkles to contend with.  I remember an alteration from the Threads Fitting DVD series where you unpick the back at the inseam to the knee, slide it forward so that the raw edges of the fronts and backs no longer meet.  You want to mark your seamline on the front and sew everything back together.  Essentially what this is doing is cutting your back inseam a size smaller from the crotch to the knee which is one way to contend with a flat posterior (I also folded out a 1/2″ wedge in the inseam tapered to zero at the side seam seam line–I’ve found I get a better fit combining alterations).  I really like this alteration because it’s the only one you can do after you’ve cut the cloth.  I couldn’t get rid of all of the wrinkles, but I got as close as I could without a back princess seam.

The upside of using zippers in the sides is that you can unzip the side seams and sew and topstitch the inseam in the flat!  Yay.  It’s not only a flattering detail, but the topstitching really helps keep the seams flat on the inside, which on a fitted jean makes for an even smoother appearance. I gathered my courage and gave Jalie’s bias waistband a chance.  I didn’t have much choice.  I cut a straight grain band and it was inches too short.  Now, I know that the bias is going to stretch, but 2.25″?  For the sake of science, I had to figure it out.  Just to be safe, I cut the edges of my bias band extra long.  Sure enough, even after I interfaced the band, it stretched that magic 2.25″ that I was short on the straight band.  Plus I wanted to see just how a bias band would behave on a real body. I basted the waistband and not unlike everyone else who has made these jeans with the bias band had to fix the gaposis at CB.  I sewed out a little 3/8″ dart and put everything back together.  I followed Velosewer‘s advice and centered my seam not at CB but where one of the belt loops would be placed.  It gives the illusion of a one-piece waistband which I liked.  The bias band does conform fairly well to my curves, but I can get a better fit the first time with a contoured waistband.  It makes sense right?  The extra seams allow for more fitting at each of those seams vs. one shot at perfect fit at CB with Jalie’s waistband.  Per the contest rules of PR’s Best Pattern contest, I had to stick to the pattern, but next time, I’m using my Burda waistbands–they just fit better even if they are more irritating to make because of the extra pieces.  I’m not going to lie; cutting 2 pieces for a waistband vs. 6-8 of very similar looking pieces is much much nicer.  But if you’re sacrificing better fit, I’ll go through the irritation next round.

The only other thing I did was to incorporate the selvage into the belt loops.  It had this pretty fluffy fringy white sprinkled with the lurex strands.  I folded the belt loops so that the raw edge of the selvage ran down the center of the strip and topstitched close to the fringe and on the sides as I usually do.  I’m glad I could use the selvage–it was too pretty to waste I thought.

Overall, I’m loving these jeans.  They are what I had in my mind, and I’m happy and proud that I figured out how to make that vision a reality.  One last shot for MMM, day 14 with my Cabi Gather Tee 1.0.

My full review is here, and I reckon I will be looking for your vote in the contest!

MMM catch-up

I’ve still been taking pictures for MMM, but my jeans have taken over as they always do when I’m making a pair.  I can’t see much beyond topstitching, but I’m okay with that.  I thought I’d do a quick catch-up post since the jeans post is too long for any MMM business.

Day 11:

I was feeling pretty tired and it was cold and drizzly.  We cooked all day and dropped off books at the library at the car drop.

1. The muslin of my ponte pants in periwinkle lightweight double knit–they’d actually be more wearable than the actual pants were they not periwinkle.  Perfect for the house and dropping books off at the library car drop.
2. Jalie 2921 in stretch lace minus the scarf collar plus a lining.
3. surprise face apparently

Day 12:

Still cold and drizzly.  I happily wrapped myself in an enormous sweater.

1. Burdastyle 1-2011-126 lounging sweater
2. Burdastyle 12-2009-120 heathered coral henley (I love this top) with pearl snaps
3. BWOF 8-2008-122 skinny jeans

Day 13:

Happy Mother’s Day!  Had brunch with just my Mom and the kids (Dad’s working and hubby is out of town) which was kind of sweet.  We had quiche and fruit and my favorite almond cake from here.  Proud baker that I am, there’s not too many bakeries I’ll admit who can bake a better cake than me, but this one is beautifully textured with a delicate almond flavor.  I keep looking for recipes…and the reason why sometimes the self-timer takes blurry inside photos even with the same lighting conditions as day 11.  I’m starting to take the bad photos less personally, so that’s good.

1.  Jalie 2921 as a v-neck with added flowers

2.  Striped Piped skirt (Burdastyle 5-2010-130)

3.  Banana Republic kelly green sweater jacket, given to me by a much taller friend.  She’s 5’8″, and it’s a “cropped” jacket on her.  On me, it’s the right length everywhere.  It’s big literally everywhere else which makes me sad because it’s such a happy color and a great style otherwise.  I’d really like to take this one to a tailor.

4.  vintage French silk scarf I picked up at the thrift store yesterday for $2.  $2, silk, French…3 things that should always be together.

Watch out for jeans, people.  They are coming your way.  I have hems and hardware to add and they’ll be done!

The T-shirt Project #2: Boden Twist Jersey Top

So I guess I’m getting to April’s knockoff here on May 10th.  I will aspire to be more on top of things in the future.

At any rate, I sewed up 90% of this at my last fitting group meeting.  Maybe I’m getting more efficient, but t-shirts really are becoming a quick sew for me–a mind cleanser from big projects like jeans–but I think I’ve said as much before.

On the board is Boden’s Twist Jersey top.

It’s a great empire waisted crossover top with a little detail, but nothing too difficult.  In a matter of total coincidence, Aleah also knocked this off recently for PR’s RTW contest.  I think she got closer to what I’m about to show you, particularly in the pleating in the crossover.  Jalie 2804 (my base for this top) doesn’t have any pleating on the crossover, and I kind of miss that about this pattern.  In general, there needs to be some shaping in the bust on this pattern.  It’s still a good pattern, and it got the job done, but if you’re looking to knock this off, you might check out Aleah’s base of Simplicity 1916.  I’m definitely picking up this pattern for some of the variations at the next sale.

To start off, I had to fix some issues I had with this problem from the last time I made it.

I had huge problems with the depth of the empire line when I made this as a maternity top. I swear this pattern is for the bustless among us as the seam hits literally inches into my braline, even though I’m probably not quite a D these days and wear really well fitting, not cheapo bras. At any rate, rather than struggle through several muslins as I did in my maternity version, adjusting the empire line, I compared the pattern to an empire line that I knew worked for me–that of Vogue 1027. To give you an idea of how high up there the seam is , I had to add a full 1.5″ to the bottom of the crossover pieces to equal the seam on the Vogue pattern (I subtracted 1.5″ from the lower bodice piece). The Vogue fortuitously hits a little below my bust line which was helpful because after I made my muslin, I realized that I needed to do a kind of large petite adjustment–3/4″ vs. the typical 1/2″ that I usually do on patterns. There was *just* enough length in the added length of the crossover to accommodate this.

Comparing this pattern to my TNT, which is Jalie 2921, I noticed that the drafting is really quite different–the aforementioned bigger armscye and it’s slimmer fitting as well. It’s not a complaint, just something I wouldn’t necessarily expect.

To make this twist:

1.  Cut two rectangles the full width of the empire seam plus an inch X 7″ wide. I folded them in half, wrong sides in and serged the raw edge and turned the tube. Rather than pressing the seam at the bottom of the rectangle, I moved the seam around so it was more or less in the middle of the rectangle. This allowed the top and bottom of the tube to be seamless from the right side–a feature that appears to be on Boden’s top. You could do just a single layer of fabric and hem the top and bottom, but my jersey was pretty lightweight and I never like the look of hemming on twist tops, so I went with the double layer instead.

2.  Next, I folded the tubes in half and slipped one around the other. I put a pin where CF landed just to keep things together for the next step. From the wrong side of the twist, put right sides together on one side of the twist and serge or stitch as far as you can before you hit the twist itself. Repeat on the other side. I then gathered the sides of the twist which is really clearly there on the Boden top. I made sure I had extra length to play with in case the twist ended up being too tight. I figured it’d be easier to fix it if it were drooping than the other way around. I basted the twist under the empire seam into place and basted the side seams to check the fit and placement. With my particular jersey, I had about an extra 5/8″ that eventually had to get whacked off the sides of the twist. I got the placement where I wanted it the second time and cut off the excess before I serged the side seams.

3.  I tacked down the center of the twist at CF so that it wouldn’t droop and so that it would still cover the empire seam.  You’re really going to want to do this because even if you hemmed and made a single layered twist, it’s going to be heavy, and anchoring it helps distribute that weight so the poor side seams aren’t having to do all of that work.  Also, I didn’t want the empire seam showing since the twist already provides a horizontal line–it seemed too busy, and I’m all for disguising empire lines in general.

I flatlocked the seams as I’ve been doing lately because it’s ultra fast and produces a really nice finish on the inside–nicer than a twin needle, but mostly just faster because I can use my serger for the whole thing. To do so, change your tension for flatlocking (0 on your needle, the highest on the loopers or at least higher than normal) you press up your hem then treat it like a blind hem. Though, watching some of the Power Sewing videos, Ron Collins showed the same method without switching the tension settings for flatlock, so you just get a seamed hem. I will definitely try this the next time I feel like serging a hem.

I don’t think I need another one of these tops as my short-waistedness makes me feel a little Princess and the Pea about anything around my midsection.  I should have noticed the proportion difference between me and the Boden model, but the twist kind of blurs that.  I’m sure if I were to try on their regular version of this top (they do make a petite version too), it’d be something like tunic length on me.  I’m not disappointed though.  I think part of creating is figuring out what works for you and what’s better on someone else.  You tall and long waisted people, this is a great choice for you!

As for me, I’m still enjoying my version with my linen shorts today with friends and all our kids at the Train Museum for MMM ’12, day 10.  It was hot and sunny, but a nice day for crawling around inside of trains.  And as predicted, I’m really glad for the breathe factor of the linen.

My review of the top is here.

Loden and grey linen Shorts

Shorts have never been high on my love list in garments for the same reason that pants never have been either.  Trying to find RTW ones is an exercise in seeing just how bad you can feel about yourself in a dressing room.  Needless to say, since I started the pants fitting journey, shorts have been kind on my want to sew list.

I had planned to pick up McCall 5391 at the next pattern sale but only if I couldn’t find anything in my Burda mags.

JoAnn is not as close to me as it used to be, so I have to be more strategic when going there.  Add two kids in the mix and just avoiding going there usually works out better most of the time.  I’m sure that the McCall’s is a lovely pattern, but I really prefer working with Burda because they fit me better and I don’t have to guess at their sizing like I often do with big 4 patterns.  And if I’ve learned anything from working with Burda mags, you can almost always find basic patterns for things like shorts if you dig hard enough.

What I came up with was Burdastyle 3-2011-131, a classic Bermuda short with hip pockets.  I liked the slight flare of the line drawing.  One of the problems I have with shorts as a style is that many of them are more pegged at the knees which is not the best look on my 5’2.5″ self.  In real life, they are a little straighter, but at least they aren’t pegged.  I wasn’t so crazy about the hip pockets, which are poofing out here on the model (like hip pockets always do):

I substituted the totally awesome angled pockets from Burdastyle 5-2010-130.

I sewed it up in this great two-tone loden and grey linen from Denver Fabrics.  They have a surprising number of linens that I can attest are really nice quality for not a lot of money.  I found a heavier weight berry and cream herringbone linen that I’m saving for some more casual pants too.  This one is lightweight but not sheer with really beautiful drape and flow.

I used some lime Mettler Metrosene for contrast topstitching and added some back pockets from Jalie 2908, so I guess technically this is a Frankenpattern.

I’m totally going to sewing jail for this one, but I hate interfacing in waistbands.  I always save the selvages from lightweight fabrics and use them to stabilize waistbands by just basting them 1/8″ away from the seam but leaving enough to cover the seam so that it gets sewn into the seam when you add the other side of the waistband.  The selvage from this linen in particular was perfect–it added no bulk but kept the linen from distorting and stretching.

I thought about adding some hem details like tabs or vents to these, but I decided to keep them plain.  I have a nice bit of linen/cotton/wool/silk tweed that I picked up last year at Elliott Berman’s anniversary sale (which I didn’t shop this year since I stocked up elsewhere–boo) that will definitely be made up in these shorts, so perhaps I’ll add some details on that pair.

I’m really proud of the fit.  I think I’ve finally cracked the back fitting code for myself.  They’re wrinkly here only from wear–they are completely wrinkle free from fit.   Yay!

If you’ve never made pants before or are completely utterly intimidated by it, I can’t urge you more to try it anyway.  The end result of pain and tears and frustration is well-fitting pants every time, and we all know how rare it is to find 1 pair of pants in RTW that gets even close.  The pockets sit a little funny in front and in back, but it’s because of the linen.  I was asking it to be all crisp when it just wants to flow.  I’m okay with them looking a little slouchy though–it’s linen after all.  Ah, linen.  I’m going to be really glad I made these in linen when it’s 90+ outside.  I’ll enjoy them today when it’s 81.

Today for MMM ’12, day 9, I’m wearing them with my Ottobre 5-2007-2 shirt and some gold flip flops.

My review of the shorts is here.

MMM ’12 day 8

It’s funny to me how MMM is getting me to think more about combinations in my closet.  It’s been a while since I’ve made orphaned garments, but still, it’s awesome to be able to go and put things together and have them work together.  It’s still a little cool, but wonderful in the sun today.  We went to the park with friends and the boys played in the backyard while I started putting dinner together (chicken tikkas, fresh naan, and some kind of salad I haven’t decided on yet).  It was a perfect day for this poplin jacket and jeans.

1.  Designer Pastiche Jeans (Jalie 2908)

2.  Fall poplin jacket (BWOF 2-2007-104)

3.  Jalie 2921 in Milly rayon jersey

The only bummer about this outfit is that the jacket is definitely too big on me now.  I cut it at a 34 in the shoulders before my realization that I am actually a 32 in the neck and shoulders.  It’s a raglan sleeve, so it’s perhaps not as obvious as it would be in a cut-on sleeve, but it’s definitely poofing in a way I’m not super excited about.  But I’ll keep wearing it because I love the color and it goes with so many things.

I’m itching to make a knit dress.  I have a couple of different choices in my stash that are all siren-calling to me.  Still, I have some shorts to finish, hopefully to be ready for the train museum on Thursday (it’s supposed to be like 80), my T-shirt project #2 knockoff to write about, and jeans to cut out of my mystery denim.  No rest for the wicked I suppose.