Boating trousers

As I mentioned in my last post, I made my first pair of trousers at the weekend. I'd been out all day and realised on my way home that I didn't have the trousers I'd been intending to wear for the punting trip made yet. I had 2 choices, make a pair in one evening or wear something old. So it was that I came to be sewing late into Saturday night!

Deryn 'helping' me cut out

I started at 6pm, cutting out my pattern pieces. As I knew I had fitting issues with simplicity 3688, I decided to try my 'tried and tested' pattern, Eva Dress 650 which has some loose fitting 1930s trousers. Given how simple the blouse is, I was hoping that the trousers might be easy to put together too!

Eva Dress 650

I cut out the pattern pieces and then used them to make a very rough toile while we watched Torchwood. As it ended I whipped the pieces through the machine and tried them on. Miracle - they were a perfect fit! No adjustments needed!
I cracked on with the cutting out, going more slowly this time as I didn't want to ruin my lovely fabric, a linen mix in blue and white stripes that I bought for a song at the Nylon Shop in Kingswood, Bristol. It still had a sticker on one end from Italy, presumably where it's from. This linen is fine but in a very tight weave, giving it some weight, but is as soft as most vintage linens I've come across. I was really paranoid about messing this up!
The pieces went together very easily. There are 4 darts front and back and then the regular seams to sew up. One piece has a 'tab' at the side waist for the opening which I sewed up to. I wanted to use buttons to fasten these and not the press studs that are suggested, so I faced one side of the opening and used the tab to face the other.

Button holes could do with tidying up...

I overlocked pieces as I went which probably sped things up because I wasn't stopping to carefully finish seams. It was a bit mad as the overlocker merrily cut the fabric - lose concetration and you end up missing a chunk of your trousers!
The waistband was a bit of a trial - it's cut out in 2 pieces and then the instructions get very vague about how it all goes together. I improvised and just stitched the 2 pieces together and binged it on, but I think it may have a more refined approach if you take the time to figure it out. It was about 10pm by this point though and I just wanted the trousers finished!

Look how tidy the inside is!

The turnups are so simple. The hem it turned to the inside and stitched about 2 inches in. The resulting cuff is then turned back to the outside and sitched on the side seams. After I'd pressed them, they stayed up all on their own! I could have made the turnups a bit deeper as it turned out. I was paranoid about making them too short but as it is they are slightly on the long side. For someone of 5'9 using a 1930s pattern, this is pretty impressive!

I'm amazed at how wide the legs are - 14" each! They billow as you walk :)

The only really tricky parts were the tab bit or the side opening and the waistband construction. Sadly the instructions are vague enough that I couldn't work them out in my half asleep state, but my bodge job seems to have worked just fine.
I finished sewing the button holes at a bit before 11 - 5 hours after I'd started cutting out the pattern pieces and toile. As I stopped for a dinner break we can probably say that's 4 1/2 hours work.
I sewed on the buttons and hand stitched the inside of the waistband down in the car journey to Oxford, so that's about another hour's work, although I could have 'stitched in the ditch' has I been at home and saved myself about 50 minutes.
And here I am enjoying the fruits of my labour!

The trousers are so big and the fabric so light that they were perfect for the scorching day we had. They're also very comfy, being huge and unfitted at the waist, so again great for sitting around in the heat.
The crotch is surprisingly low - as 1930s trousers for lounging I suppose that's to be expected. This means that there's plenty of space for my 'full derriere' as it's delicately put, and when sitting they don't ride up at all.

The waist fits nicely and the darts shape the top 2-3 inches, but after this the trousers just hang. No fitting required!



These are absolutely wonderful trousers and, like the blouse (which I'm also wearing here - entire outfit from one pattern!), are simple enough that I can see myself making various adjustments to get new pairs in the future.

I think I will be making these again in a soft fabric specifically for lounging in - they're like pj bottoms but much smarter.

If I made them for work or something similar, I'd probably raise the crotch by about an inch, just to take some of the excess out and narrow the legs by an inch or 2 as well. Otherwise I'm pretty happy with these as they are! This pattern really does come highly recommended - for the cost you get 2 very simple, very effective patterns which are both simple enough for beginners to tackle. The only thing that lets them down is the 1930s style instructions which are pretty vague and not terribly well explained, but anyone who's made 2 or 3 garments before should be able to figure them out.

Tried and tested

You know those patterns that some bloggers can't help but use time and time again (I'm looking at you, Karen)? Well I finally have one of those myself!

The EvaDress 650 1934 blouse is, on the face of it, not very exciting. I think I struck gold, though, when I decided to try and turn the collar into a pussy bow, as I love my blue blouse and wear it to death. The pattern is simple enough to run up in a couple of hours, and also basic enough to withstand amateurish fiddling from the likes of me!

I had some cotton/silk mix left over from the Sew Weekly meet up that I was planning to use for a skirt, but decided it was just too light and have been wondering what to do with since. I figured that actually it'd make a good floaty blouse and thought what better than to use my EvaDress pattern to make a third version of my blue pussy bow blouse! This week I had a few hours spare, so set about sewing and this was the result!

As with the previous version, I simply lengthened the collar piece, sewing up the ends before attaching it to the neckline.

I also trimmed the neckline into a more gentle V, rather than keeping it as a slash as I had before. This gives less spare fabric under the bow when it's tied low on the chest.

There were two long shoulder darts in the front of the pattern, but I turned these into 4 pleats near the shoulder and I think it worked well!

Finally, I used my overlocker to finish the seams as I went for the first time, and I'm really chuffed with the results! I even changed the colour threads the overlocker was using. I feel very talented now!

I feel like I am sewing at a far more intermediate level now. Although the pattern is in no way challenging, I used a finer needle on my machine to avoid pulling the delicate fabric - something I've not bothered with before, I used a narrow hem foot for the sleeve hems and of course I was switching back and forwards between the overlocker and sewing machine. Add to this the 'as I went along' pattern alterations and I really felt on top of sewing this blouse like I don't think I have before. I'm really pleased with this, with the overlocking it really feels like my first professional piece.

Next on my list is a third skirt made from Simplicity 3688...maybe I can have a tried and tested week where I just wear the two patterns together all week?

Sewing bows

I was feeling pretty tired this weekend, but I still managed  to get a reasonable amount done.
First was gardening, and some fun gardening too. We paid a trip to the local garden centre and spent a happy (me; boring as hell, Tom) afternoon looking at plants and having coffee and cake.
Once we came home I got to plant the seeds (my favourite gardening job) and plant up my hanging basket (second favourite job) but didn't have to do any real work like digging. Success!
Later that day I sewed up a top I cut out earlier in the week, It's my second time making the EvaDress 650 blouse (first one is here) and I thought I'd make some changes. I've been hankering after a pussybow blouse for some time and so I thought I'd have a got at altering this blouse, since the pattern is so simple. All I did was to extend the collar pieces by about 50cm past where their normal end would be, and it's worked pretty well.

When tied low down, the faced edges of the slashed neckline do fold up and stick out a bit, but fortunately the fabric, a linen mix, has enough drape that this is well hidden, and I have the option to tie it higher up at the collar if I want.

I decided that I liked the blouse sleeveless so I finished the armholes by facing them with some bias strips, et voila!

I wore it to work today with my old faithful work trousers and a cardigan. I'm really happy with how it's turned out for such an experimental item!

Thanks to Rebecca Jean for the lesson on how to tie a bow this week - it's amazing how something simple can be tough to work out on your own!

You may also be able to see curly hair in the picture. I set my hair last night and the front turned out really well. Sadly, the back had several pins escape and I ended up with a few straight bits, making the back look rubbish. In the end I couldn't find a style to hide the back and show off the front, so I threw the whole lot up in a clip. I'll get the pin curls right sometime!

I managed to spend some money on Friday, the first since I started my 'lent' thriftyness. It didn't feel as good as I thought it might, which is a nice revelation. Possibly. I realised, though, that I needed fabric (and no, there was nothing suitable in my stash, honestly, I did look!) for the Horrockses dress which I'm making for an event in May. If I'd waited till the end of the no spend period to buy it, I'd only have had a few days to make the dress up, so it was now or never really! Still, I got what I needed and nothing more, which is quite a change for me!

It's a lightweight viscose and the drape is lovely, hopefully it'll work ok on the rather structured bodice section.

I've also cut out the final pattern for my trousers, so I might finally take the plunge and cut up the real fabric this week...

Productive day

I spent Sunday mainly watching films and sewing, I'm making some costumes for several people at the moment and, simple as they are, they've been very time consuming of late. I'll also not be able to wear them on a regular basis (I'll pop some pictures of them up soon!) and so I've been feeling a bit bored with them. I managed to get the bulk done on Sunday morning though, and so I thought I'd use the rest of the afternoon to run something simple up for myself.

Eva Dress 650

I already had the pieces for this blouse cut out so I thought I'd have a go at putting it together (loving this bulk cutting out I've been doing - it makes sewing so much quicker!). I'm happy that my sewing skills are advancing so that I was able to finish this in about 2 hours. It would probably have been a lot quicker but I decided to watch a film with subtitles while I was doing it, so couldn't really give it my full attention!

I thought the fabric was a cotton or linen blend, but it obviously has a high synthetic content as, while pressing the facing under, I managed to melt a spot. It's gone a bit yellow and all wrinkly. Very irritating! Still, it's not too visible and at least it was very cheap! I also now know that the pattern is a.easy and b.fits me well, so I will be happy to run more like this up in future, this time paying more attention to fabric content!

Despite how quick it was, I ran out of time towards the end when I had friends coming over and so haven't added a pocket (I may still do this but I quite like it without) and I also didn't turn the sleeves up as instructed. I think that this does mean the sleeves are too long, so I'll probably either go back and turn them up, or possibly just chop a couple of inches off the ends and leave them plain.
I could also have added a button and loop at the collar but I liked it open, so didn't bother. I think I would do this if I make it again though. I'd probably lightly interface the collar on another version and possibly lengthen the body slightly as it wouldn't tuck into anything that isn't high waisted. Other than that, it's pretty perfect as patterns go!
The collar went on easily, the 4 darts were simple and, despite the rather sparse directions (being a copy of a 1930s pattern) it was all pretty common sense and I didn't have any trouble working it all out.

I would recommend this pattern for anyone who's sewn a couple of patterns already and feels they could work out the directions for themselves. For anyone with good experience, you wouldn't need any instructions at all! It's dead simple, dead quick and really sweet.

Stitching and swinging

I went to the lindy hop class I mentioned this weekend, and I had a fabulous time! I didn't do much dancing, as I've had pretty low energy levels the past couple of weeks and it was quite full on (if you never exercise like me!). Even so, I have learnt some basic steps, turns etc. and more importantly, Tom has learnt how to lead me in dancing! We are definitely going to get along to some more lessons and social dances in the near future! I'd highly recommend the tutors if you're in the Bristol area and their weekend courses will give you enough confidence to do some basic dancing on your own, without having to commit to 8 weekday evenings!
I wore my aeroplane dress and got a lots of compliments - it looked great when I was spinning!

There was a girl there wearing a fabulous red skirt. She said she got it from 20th Century Foxy so I looked it up when I got home. Sadly it's £55 and I really don't have that to spare. However, it's a pretty simple, bias cut, 4 gore skirt with flared gores so I'm going to have a go at making one myself!

After the dancing, I went over to The Nylon Shop, a poorly named fabric shop in Kingswood which sells lots of dressmaking fabrics and foam, cut to size. It's a pretty horrifying mess, with stuff piled everywhere and no real organisation that I can tell. Lots of fabrics are marked down because they're dirty and the pricing is a bit haphazard. Despite this, the fabrics are, on the whole, excellent quality and very cheap. They have a very good range of basic dressmaking and costuming (fur, leather look, tulle etc.) fabrics and I was able to find everything I wanted, except for a choice of wools and heavier suiting for skirts and trousers. I am most definitely going back!

I did pick up this medium weight cotton mix in charcoal grey with black stripes which I'm going to use to make my trousers with.

I also saw this dress on ModCloth and fell in love. It's out of stock, though, and very expensive, so I started to think about making one. Then I realised that the pattern is very close to the Swing Dress, which I've already bought. I reckon once I've adjusted the pattern for the dress, I can alter it enough to make something similar!

 Then I found the fabric below in the Nylon Shop. The colour looks all wrong in this picture - it's actually close to the dress' colour - a deep blue tinted pink. It's 100% cotton and a nice weight. I'll probably have to line the bodice as the white is a bit transparent but otherwise it's perfect!

Finally, I spent most of Saturday night cutting out pieces for my next few projects - it's my least favourite part of sewing, so getting more than one project cut out at a time makes me more likely to actually sew them in future!

I have a nice light herringbone wool for this Vintage Vogue skirt.

 And this pretty floral linen for the EvaDress 1930s blouse.

I'm also still working on my Glamour girl dress but it's causing me no end of problems, so I'm diverting myself with what I'll do next!

I think I have a busy few weeks coming up!