A Couple New Jackets

The sewing expo this past weekend definitely helped my sewing mojo.  I bought quite a bit of fabric at Vogue, 3 patterns from The Sewing Workshop, and enjoyed the style makeover demos that were done.

I've already sewn up two of the new patterns.

The first is Ann's Cardigan and Tank and you can read more in my Pattern Review.

The next jacket is from Pearl & Opal Jackets and I sewed up Pearl.  Here's my review

I've worked some more on my Sure Fit pants and finally put up a review: Review of SureFit Designs Pants Kit.

There are more photos in the online albums, just click the photos above and click through.

Winning a contest on Pattern Review - it's so much fun!

Thanks to everyone who voted for my entry in the Lingerie Contest on Pattern Review.  I'm excited that I took second place with my gorgeous combination shown below:

I really do enjoy sewing bras, it's just such a feeling of accomplishment once it's done and when it fits perfectly it's even better.  I will admit it is a bit daunting to first try, but give it a go, and see what you come up with.

My winnings were any pattern for free from Pattern Review and I ordered the Angela Wolf Angel Boot Jean.  I got it today and it looks like a terrific pattern.

I'm looking forward to working on it soon, but I will need to order some nice new denim.

Sure-Fit Designs, Pants Master Pattern

I got my Sure-Fit Designs kits the other day and immediately went to work on the pants draft.  I still have some of a bolt of inexpensive polyester suiting I bought once for just this purpose.

I took my measurements and went to work.  And talk about easy.  The instructions are clear and the videos are easy to follow.

After cutting out my pieces I basted them all together and looked at my backside with a 2nd mirror and thought "dang, they hang pretty well."

The only issues I had were the front darts being about 1" too long, and I'd prefer a bit wider leg at the ankle, but I'll work on that with my first "real" pair.

I fixed the front darts, un-basted it all, sewed it back up with a simple zipper in the center back, added a 1" waistband with the same measurements as described in the pattern, sewed the seams and serged all the edges.

This is what I have right now, and I'm going to wear them to lunch with my sewing group for them to critique farther:

The fabric is lighter weight than I'd prefer for pants, but except for the minor lines around the right knee in the back photo (and that can be the pants hanging up on my shoes) I really don't see any issues.

I'd like to wear them a little lower on my waist, maybe drop my crotch length by 2" (1" front and 1" back) and add the straight leg at the bottom, a bit wider, to flow over the shoes.  

I also do prefer a curved waistband, and those instructions are in the pattern too, but I might just wait on that till I have the standard pattern perfected.

So the next goal is to make a regular pants with a front zip, do my few minor alterations on the leg and go from there.  I can either use the same fabric, but I might see if I can find another polyester suiting that's just a bit heavier weight.  I don't want to deal with lining pants, at least not until they are perfected.  Plus, for how I wear pants, I don't necessarily prefer them lined.

A Perfect Fit - KwikSew 2101

The bra is done and it is a perfect fit.  I'm wearing it now to test out during the day.  Here's the link to the review:

KwikSew 2101 review on PR

I'll post my photos, and you can all see me in my glory, eek.

Not too shabby huh?  I'm just glad to be done because the Sure-Fit kit I ordered arrived today and I want to start playing with that.  First things first, tidy up after this project, do a few things around the house, and then I can play, yea!!!!

KwikSew 2101 and rambling on

You might be wondering how my pants drafting went....fine....the paper is still on the table.  I never went any farther than that.  The draft looks great though, like it just might fit.  I kept reading online and found the Sure-Fit Design System which appears to be basically the same, just more updated, so guess what I did?  Yup, went and purchased it.  I ordered the 3-kit combo and will discuss it once I receive it.

So what to do until it comes, start a new bra of course.

I don't have photos yet as I just got started, but instead of working on the one I did most recently I pulled out a pattern I hadn't done yet, KwikSew 2101

I have not yet made a bra where the top portion is fully lace (not underlined) or without a full band.  Since the last bra was a 34D I'm doing this one as a 34D also, and will worry about the fit after the fact.

So far I have the cups sewn, the bands attached and the casing attached.  I'll work on it some more tomorrow.

I can already tell it's not as supportive due to the type of band, but I won't be able to analyze it fully till completed.

Starting some pants drafting

First things first...if you don't have a teenage son you might not get constructive criticism like I got recently.  I had my 20 year old son take pictures of my recent jacket and sweater.  When we got to my backside, I received a very constructive "Mom, your butt is looking a bit frumpy there.  It's not quite so perky anymore."

It doesn't help that I was wearing the one pair of pants that fit me well (the only pair I might add) at this time.  I actually thought my butt might not be looking too shabby.  Needless to say, I was wrong.

I accepted his comment graciously and took a good look at the photos.  Dang, look at those drag lines.  There is NOTHING wrong with my butt, we all just have to accept our bodies as they are at that moment in time.  But it does show me that it's time to work on some pants fitting.

In case you have a bit of an evil streak in you, or just want to know if your butt looks better than mine (which is quite possible) here's what we currently have....

The lines are no different than the ones I've had issues with in the past, flat butt syndrome perhaps, I'm not exactly sure.

So as of today I'm on the quest of a pants pattern.

I'm going to start with this:  The Magic-Fit pattern I got at the Salvation Army this past Spring.

not my photo, so hopefully the internet police doesn't track me down

The current plan is to do up my measurements as the master pattern describes, create the muslin and then go from there.  If it's a flop, we'll move on to draft #2 (which I haven't planned for yet.)

And to keep you all up-to-date, I did draft out the pants pattern today, but I don't have muslin to use, so I will wait till I do.

A Vintage Jacket - Completed

I complete my jacket for the Vintage Pattern Contest on PR this month.

The pattern is a size 16, my measurements fit pretty much spot on (minus the waist, but it's not a fitted jacket.)  I whipped up a quick muslin and it fit great from the start.

I followed the directions to a tee (minus the ones I goofed on, like the cutting instructions on the lining).  I didn't like sewing the lining in by hand, today's "bagging" technique makes for a nice lining insertion.