Productive weekend: 3 pairs of leggings and a Burda Style shirt

After my disasterous jacket last week, I decided I must just keep sewing despite some terrible makes. It was a real shame it did not work and to be honest I am at this place now where I do not dare to cut anything else until I sort out the fitting problems with that jacket because until I do I could end up with fitting problems on everything else that is similar. In other words fitted clothing - so shirts, jackets etc.
In fact I am going to have a go at making jeans soon because that is something I managed to make as a twenty something and without a pattern. I used proper jeans buttons and rivets etc then too. So assuming I have not completely lost all my skills down to aging then I should still be able to make jeans. I think its time to do what I used to be good at, and stop copping out.

So I need cheering up. I have already chosen my fabric to remake the disaster jacket ( perhaps I should rename my blog post about it that!). Trouble is to do the FBA I need to trace the pattern and have no paper and Karey said to do the adjustment on non-woven interfacing and I have none of that either so the FBA is going to have to wait till next week. I already have my fabric for it washed and dried though so once its done here comes version 2. Anyway because of this possible FBA / fitting problem I feel reluctant to cut anything out, other than things that are "likely" to work.

I aleady have this top cut out back in January when I was all enthusiastic and raring to sew. The pattern is Burda Style 116, 10/2017. Nice top. Zip front and a few ruffles. I never fancied the front ruffles but did cut out the sleeves ruffles x2. It does fit despite the jacket not fitting so that is going to make everything far more difficult. As in will a future pattern need a FBA or will it not need it? Oh dear. I see endless muslins in my sewing future..............................................

Back to the new shirt: I sewed the first ruffle on one sleeve and was very unsure about it so decided to cop-out and not add the second ruffle and just have one sleeve frilly.

I have tons of zips but none with a closed end it seems. I bought loads from a company that was closing a while ago so have oodles of open ended zips but no normal zips. So I decide ( stupid me!) to use an open ended zip which went in fine. But it was full length so I went with that. End results is sort of jacket - wise despite being a shirt.

Still not sure about this at all!


 Then I attached the facings and was nearly finished making this top when the overlocker cuts off the end of the zip, ( yes being lazy and overlocking as much as possible despite it being a  woven fabric).  And the zip is a trifle long - I was intending to pop it into the neck edge and there it goes chopped off by the overlocker, o not the best way to sew it up. So then I have a problem cos the facing is slightly short so does not cover the zip. So ruffle number two becomes collar and cuffs. But unlike the disaster jacket at least my collar matches up on both sides so thats something to be happy about! I had just the right amount of scraps of interfacing to do these. I wish I had done the back yoke too with interfacing although the pattern did not tell me to because you can see the spiders from the lining showing through to the top fabric. Its a cheap poly cotton off Ebay. £1.99 a meter. I bought 2 meters a while ago on impulse. Though to be fair its a great cheap fabric to use as your muslin and still wearable so not such a bad buy after all. Yes folks,  I am now convinced after the disaster jacket that I really do need to make a muslin.

Then I added my button holes. Tested on a scrap first and went fine and just like the last time I made a button hole on my skirt it went wrong. But this time I am ready. I bought a tiny stitch ripper, I knew it would come in handy when I saw it on offer. Just 99p. Bargain, so I actually unpicked my dodgy button hole, managed not to damage the fabric and then redid it and this one worked and so did buttonhole number two. My machine can sew on buttons. I have yet to learn how, but its something I need to do because I hate sewing on buttons and now I am finally venturing into the world of serious sewing I think I need to learn to do this. It will allow me to make more and finish rather than cop-out with fastenings all the time and have a growing pile of UFOs. Joining cuff to shirt sleeve was a bit odd on the sleeve with a frill cos you need to pleat the sleev into the cuff without pleating the frill. It works though I am not so sure I did it according to Burda instructions because I did not understand them. I realised later that the frill I had done, I added wrong. It was meant to be sewn into a tube before attaching. Ah well minor error that. I did a nice rolled edge on it which I am pleased with so I can live with that oversized frill. I do wish I had added the second frill because I actualy like this sleeve with a frill a lot.

So This is my shirt.

I do not partcularly like my long front zip cos it just feels a bit weird on a  shirt.

As you can see if you were to do this to this pattern you need to change the facings which stop where the original opening does. I probably will not wear this as far open anyway so no worries about it right now.

At least its fitting OK.


I had already cut this out before I knew I might need a FBA. To be honest I have not got big boobs so it never occurred to me.

Still from what I have read it is probably true because in RTW I always but the trousers 2 sizes smaller than jackets when I buy a suit ( as in interview type clothing).Will know about this next week hopefully when I have the materials for the FBA experiment.

So this shirt is finished despite being another suspect in my long line of slightly not perfect makes.


So yesterday afternoon I decided to cheer myself up and make something that in all likelihood will work out. So I cut out some easy to sew stuff - just to give myself some encouragement. So I cut 3 pairs of leggings out and some T shirts. These are the leggings:

The red tartan are virtually identical to these: http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2016/01/10-tartan-leggings.html   which I have worn until they look old. They are cut to the normal lenMcCall's M6173. The original pair were the longer ruched length. gth on The fabric is not particularly good quality two way stretch but does seem to keep shape and in I have not gained saggy knees in my old pair despite it appearing to be a polyester fabric without lycra. Still I am guessing. I do not know what the fibre content of any of these fabrics are.

I am quite pleased with these Tartan leggings cos the pattern almost matches accross the front. Sadly not at the back but half way there!

 

The black and white stripe I cut to the longer length which is probably a mistake. May shorten later. The print is a graduating pattern from black to white stripes so the front ends up lighter than the back. 4-way stretch though and lots oflycra by the looks of it. Other than the length I like these though am thinking maybe should make a size smaller more like proper exercise wear.

Third pair - blue animal print are not quite right. I love them but the ankles are too wide. This is a very soft 4-way stretch which is lovely and soft. No idea what this fibre is but would like more of this though it is quite difficult to sew.

All 3 pairs are overlocked and then the elastic is sewn in a loop and then attached to the right side to the waistband by twin needle stitching to give it stretch then it is flipped over and sewn down again with twin needle stitching. I found this method a while back and it beats having a waistband where the elastic gets twisted inside.

Ah so not a complete waste of time this weekend after all. I am still unhappy about the disaster jacket but maybe next week I can get that sorted - or at least the pattern adjusted and version 2 cut out and then see if it will fit me.I suppose in the end if I keep making it it has to work out.

Thanks for visiting

Bracken