Hi everyone!
Sounds like a toxic combination, doesn't it? I've got a
double-whammy for you today, but I have to say that I'm not sure
these pieces go together that well. First up is a Hemlock Tee, the
free one-size boxy top PDF pattern from Grainline that I made up a little
while ago when I needed a nice quick and easy project but haven't had
the chance to photograph until now.
The Hemlock is made
with some old jersey that my mum donated to me (along with the stuff
I made my beige Plantain from), it's probably from the 1980s. It
doesn't have very much stretch to it, and similarly to the Plantain
I had to make the sleeves a bit shorter to fit it onto the narrow
fabric. I really like the colour of this top, although the weird
sheen that sometimes appears isn't my favourite feature. I'm not sure about this style on me
though, I don't know if I really look effortlessly stylish in these
kinds of tops like others do, or just a bit slovenly. Anyway, it was
a very easy make, the only thing I managed to mess up a little bit
was the back of my neckband where it's a bit puckered, and I have to confess it's a little weak under the arms as I haven't quite mastered turning neat corners with my overlocker yet!
I've worn this
a few times as I made it back in January, and I took it away with me
to Madrid, where I wore it with the same trousers but was feeling and
looking too ill to get many snaps then, even though it was
a beautiful day in the Parque del Buen Retiro (doesn't it just suck
when you're ill on holiday?). I also paired it with my shortened
Elisalex – one of the first dresses I ever made and still going
strong, especially now I've lost some of the length to make it more
wearable and easier to walk in - perfect for exploring the city and checking out Templo Debod!
The trousers are Sew
Over It Cigarette Pants, which I made in February in their Cigarette Pants class. I'm pretty pleased with these but they're not quite as
slimline as I wanted them to be – but I learnt a lot from the
class that I hope to apply to the next pair. If I'm brutally honest, if I had left these as
drafted without fitting them they would have looked dreadful on me –
luckily with the help of the tutor, we made quite a few adjustments
to get the look and fit that I wanted, and I'm so pleased about this
as it would have taken a lot of trial and error on my own. I think
that's the main benefit of the course really, as by this point in my
sewing I've tackled trouser construction a few times and it's really
fit that concerns me as being the trickiest part to get right.
For this pair, we
added 3/4” inch more room at the fullest part of the rear, made a
1/4” swayback adjustment at centre back and at the waistband, and
took out some room at the back of the thigh. This fit pretty well
when I had the trousers constructed, but I didn't entirely like the
look of the pants on me as they didn't have that Audrey Hepburn-esque look I was going for – they looked much more like a
uniform at that stage being straight cut but not slim enough in the
legs. The teacher helped me pin in until I was happy with the fit and
I shave a bit off the side seams both inner and outer til I was happy
with the look, and I transferred all the changes as best I could to
the paper pattern (which was very beat-up by this stage!).
I enjoyed the class
experience and would say it's set me up well for handling
trouser-making with more confidence. Big pros are obviously the
fitting supervision, and as we had a small class this time around –
just three of us plus the tutor - so we really got a lot of
one-on-one time to tweak personal fitting as well as enjoying one
anothers' company.
A small drawback was that we did a few
time-consuming things in class that didn't need supervision – like
cutting out our patterns (I would have much rather traced mine so I
could work with the other fabrics and sizes in future or have a basis
for design changes) and cutting out our fabric, which actually I
probably would have done more carefully at home! That said, we did
get to try on pre-made muslins in class which helped us pick our size
before cutting, so this is obviously a huge help and time-saving step
that offsets my mild gripe.
My trousers are made
up in crepe rio from the Sew Over It shop – this is one of the
recommended fabrics for the trousers and is lovely and comfortable to
wear and thankfully didn't shrink in the wash, as the fabric went
straight from the shop floor to the cutting table without the usual
pre-washing. It does however tend to grow while wearing it, which is
why these trousers (which have been worn a few times now) look quite
loose in the pictures. I think they've relaxed in the waistband and
are sitting lower on the hip, as well as having grown a little in the leg. To
counter-act this I wear them with the hems rolled to give that '80s
cuffed look (which sadly hides my hems which were finished lovingly
as instructed by overlocking then turning up and invisibly
catch-stitching into place by hand). I have another pair of Cigarette
Pants in the works that are cut in a more stable tartan fabric, and I hope these will keep their shape a little more. I also really hope they fit, as I was working
with the adjusted pattern piece for the crepe pair so I hope it still works for a fabric with tighter weave!
I'm really excited
to sew my next pair of trousers, even more so now that I picked up a
couple of issues of Patrones when in Spain, which is basically a
pattern catalogue with all the pattern sheets over-printed as they
are with Burda Magazine. The issue I picked up is all about separates, so there are several lovely pairs of trousers I'd be keen to apply the
adjustments I learnt in class to! (And several lovely shirts to wear
them with...)
Happy Spring making everyone!
NorseOtter xx
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