Dotty flared trousers with twisted seams

I have already made two versions of this Burda pattern. See here: http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/98-and-99-sports-top-and-flared.html
and here: http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/mmm17-day-24.html
Both worked pretty well though I have since wished I had altered the direction on the pinstriped fabric to make a feature of the different directions. Hindsight is a wonderful thing. Still they make a great pair of work trousers and few people have actually asked where I bought them so they look good enough to be RTW which pleases me. The other pair were simply an experiment which used up lots of scraps and worked out wonderfully. They are a very favourite pair of trousers. I even wore them out to lunch on my birthday. I love them so much. They are one of the big successes from this sewing journey.

This pair however are not as good. I was really careful to put the pattern pieces along the grain line etc but still the seams are twisting. I do not know why. If anyone reading this does please tell me because I would like to never make this mistake again. Luckily they are still wearable because you cannot really see the twists with the very busy dotty pattern but I am not happy with them. They will probably become "lounge" trousers which will mean this does not matter. Autumn is with us in the UK and its getting colder in the evening so they will be great for just lying around slobing and watching TV. Also I will be able to pop out to the shops and not feel like I am wearing pyjamas. So not a complete disaster. I almost felt like claiming they had "engineered twisted seams" like the 1990s Twisted Levis, but maybe that is pushing my luck a bit.

 You can just about see the twisted seams here:

 

Luckily the  very busy print hides most of the seam error

You can see the seam problems here

 I also added a yoga type of fold over waist band to these so they are very comfortable which makes them ideal for slobbing around in! If you want to add this kind of waistband it is simply a wide strip of fabric. You join the ends together to form a circle, fold the fabric in half, keeping your circle and sew with both edges together to the top edge of your trousers ( or skirt). This forms a neat fold over top for your trousers.

Inside  and outside of fold-over yoga waistband

These trousers do go very well with my favourite wrap top made here:

http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/95-and-96-skirt-and-top-for-tms-bright.html

I am thinking, despite the obviously second rate sewing here, that I will enjoy these all the same! Despite not being even remotely perfect, these are as good as some RTW, they make excellent yoga/lounge pants and if nothing else they are unique. And you can only see my dodgy twisted seams if you really look close and most people don't.

Thanks for visiting my blog,

 Bracken

Burda Easy Shirt dress - part 1

I bought the magazine for this pattern ages ago now when it first came out. Sadly, Burda Easy is no longer available in the UK. Shame because the current magazine is looking good so I may have to buy a German copy. I was hoping that the "Easy" version of the magazine would have better and more detailed instructions.
WRONG!
But it does have all the patterns on separate sheets so you do not have to trace them which saves time. This also means me buying a German copy is viable because I cannot follow most of the instructions anyway.

Having said that the instructions for this particular pattern are not too bad. You do still need to use a bit of logic to work the correct order out for some bits but that's the fun of sewing Burda.

Anyway, I cut this out months ago. Sewed it slowly because its not as easy as the magazines suggests. It would have been easier if I had not used a stretch (woven) cotton, but there, I did. Next attempt - and yes there is going to be a second attempt because I bought a lovely printed cotton for my next attempt - is not a stretch cotton so should be easier.

The pattern does not require you to interface things like the pocket flaps but I could not get a reasonable finish. Its the button holes mess it up because the machine foot seems to ruck up the fabric and make it look rubbish. In the end I have used a small square of interfacing inside the pocket flap and that sorted the problem. Luckily I had some spare fabric to make a new flap after I messed the first one up!

As you can see despite me having been sewing this for 3 weeks now it is still unfinished. I tend to find usually that I sew and sew and get very tired and then I muck things up. Sometimes it does not matter and is easily hidden but with this garment I want a reasonable finish to wear it to work. So this time I have deliberately taken this very slowly. I have done a few quick and easy projects in between to keep me going but I have seriously taken my time over this shirt. And I needed to.

I have yet to do all those front band buttons. The one side of the front band will not quite lie flat but I think once finished it will be difficult to see and it is my third attempt at sewing it so it will have to do now. I need to repress the whole thing ( after leaving folded for a whole week) that will help to make it lie a bit flatter - and I have a brand new iron for that -Yay!



I bought it reduced in Asda and its pretty good so far. It was £45 down to £20, Bargain.Its a Morphy Richards Breeze. I was finding the old iron left black bits on the fabric. They would scratch off but I would rather they did not happen in the first place. Anyway, the new iron is just so much better steam-wise. I know you can clean irons etc but the old one is at least 10 years old anyway so needs replacing. I have kept it so that when ironing on interfacing I will use that and I may then not get loads of glue stuck on my new one. Also I got a new ironing board cover so I am all set up for some serious pressing. Its not shown above being just a boring ironing board cover! The picture is of my new iron on a normal table. I do not iron on there obviously. I just wanted to show you my lovely new iron



Mistakes so far: I never stay stitched the neck. I am a little worried about this but will not know until I attach the collar it it is going to be a problem. When I started I thought because the pattern came from a magazine called Burda Easy that I would make this quickly.

Well that was definitely a mistake!

The I did the pleats on the back:

 They look OK really but while at work I have observed lots of people wearing shirts and most shirts seem to have the pleats at the centre back not where I put them. For this particular garment they will remain where they are now because by the time I had realised this I had already constructed the rest of the shirt body and added the sleeves and top stitched as well and besides me being lazy it will just mark the fabric and possibly trash the entire garment if I start ripping it all apart. Something to remember for next time.

The hem is not brilliant either but I think I will get away with that also. I had a look at several of my RTW shirts and lots have uneven hems some worse than this so I can live with that for this make. I need to slow my machining down next time I make a shirt hem.

Probably I could have hurried making this a bit more but my PhD viva is in just over a week and I am also working fulltime. I need to spend all my spare time doing revision because you only get one shot at passing your viva.

Also I want this shirt dress to work out well and be wearable and not look like it is home made. Lots of my early makes are obviously me-mades. And yes there is a charm in that but I really want a more professional look for work. I start a new job the day after my viva ( 13th September - usually I find the 13th lucky not unlucky possibly because my brother was born on a 13th) and I really want it to go well so wearing an obvious me-made is simply out of the question. I am hoping this shirt dress will look good enough for my new job.

Hopefully next week I can show you how it turned out. Assuming my neck has not stretched too much I should be ok attaching collar and cuffs - may just need a slightly bigger collar if necessary but its do-able and I have extra fabric for it if I need to do that. Fingers crossed for the front buttons working ok!

You can read part 2 of making this shirt dress here:
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/shirt-dress-part-2.html
 

Thanks for visiting my blog

Bracken

Kalinda free top pattern - disaster!

 When I got sent this free pattern from SewSewEasy I thought it had everything. Wrap top, hood, long cuffs with thumbholes! I intended to make it last winter when it arrived but as ever had so many other projects going on I never got round to it. I have this lovely paisley fabric I bought a while back which was always intended for a wrap top so it seemed the perfect choice.

Well what can I say about this pattern? I chose the size to match my measurements but sadly it did not fit. It is sized for adults but I think must be made for very short little people not for giants like me. Not that I am a giant at  5 foot 7 inches ( about 168cm I think).

The hood is minute as in really small to non existent as you can see here looking at just the paisley fabric it simply does not cover the head and probably will not on anyone. I do not think I have a particularly large head. The sleeves are too short or if you want the thumbholes they are too short.
The back has an extra panel at the bottom that seems completely pointless and it could be made with longer princess panels to eliminate that. It is based on a princess seamed top with an extra bit to make the hood - which doesn't work being too small!

So I made it up to find everything wrong with it.

What to do?

Scrap it?

I like this fabric although it was inexpensive hence making a muslin could actually have cost more than simply making up in this fabric. This fabric would make very good underwear and I probably will do that with the left over scraps but I did not really want to chop this up. At least not just yet. It would be nice to get a few wearings as a top because there was a lot of effort to make this top.

In my stash I had some bright orange ribbing left over from this top:



Theres more here on this top which I originally also considered a disaster but I do actually quite like:

http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/mmmay16-day-19-green-orange-top.html

All I had was really just small scraps of left over orange ribbed fabric so I had to make do and make this work as best I could. Having got this far I needed to try and rescue my new top.

So I cut a very wide band - about 10-12 inches wide and doubled this over to add onto the front to make the hood work. This left me with some short narrow bits of ribbing. I cut these to fit the bottom edge. To make them long enough I had to join several small bits together. I used the bottom of the sleeves as a pattern to cut a couple of lining pieces so I could make thumb holes.

Now the instructions for this top are virtually non-existent so to make it I had to visit the SewSewEasy blog and read the comments. What I did not get at all was the pattern instructions say to cut two squares. So when reading the comments I discover they are from a different pattern that have been accidentally left on this one. Fine. Only I think that is wrong because you need a lining to make the thumbholes. Well unless you make this top for a child you will.

The pattern pieces are strange but it is relatively easy to understand from the pictures what goes where. Either way it just does not work so to make it work you need to make it bigger at the hood and cuffs. The only sensible way to finish the bottom edge seems to add a second band here as well. If I had had more fabric I would have added a wider band on the bottom because even for a wrap top its a bit too short. I must remember to wear a long top under it next time because I spent the entire day pulling this down over my too old to show to the world belly! I know crop tops are in but its not my look. I am after all over 50!

You can see the problem below and this is when its pulled down:


Despite my serious amount of bodging I think it works in the end. I do not recommend this pattern though.

The sizing is completely wrong.

It looks great in the pictures from SewSewEasy but simply does not end up anything like the photos.

Or mine did not and as far as I can tell I did not do anything wrong in construction.
















By adding bits on it kind of works but next time I want a wrap top I will use one of the Burda ones because I already made two of this very simple pattern and it works and adding a hood would be relatively easy.
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/95-and-96-skirt-and-top-for-tms-bright.html
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/mmm17-day-6-green-mesh-top.html

The Burda top is also a very fast make and this took several days before I could decide how to rescue it and the Burda top is a comfortable top to wear and I feel good in both versions whereas this top is not because I wore it to work yesterday and did not feel comfortable all day long!

Verdict: forget this pattern and use a different one. Don't waste your nice fabric on this!

Thanks for reading

Bracken

Stretch navy top from Blank Slate Hi-Lo pattern

I was squinting into the sun hence silly faces!

Really should take off the name badge tho it does prove I actually do wear my me-mades for real life!

Well I made two other tops from this pattern. The first was in jersey and I hated it. Its somewhere in my stash never worn because I can reuse the fabric for something at some point. That one is here:
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2016/02/20-blank-slate-patterns-high-low-top.html

Then I had another go at this top with some scraps of gingham and made this:

The gingham which I bought on a whim for some unknown reason because I generally do not care much for gingham well this top has turned out to be a favourite for work and play and I even wear it on a  weekend as well as to the office and that's despite it having spiders in the lace and not quite being average. I just LOVE this top!
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2016/09/62-gingham-along.html

And you know what till I searched for these I forgot all about my sequin top! Also made with this lovely pattern!
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2016/12/77-playing-with-sequins-blank-slate.html

So I made FOUR of these so far!

So here is my latest version. Narrow frills on the sleeve edges and no darts tho I never folded them out I just did as my gingham top and ignored them so its kind of a mild swing top.

It is wearable and makes a good work top but I am not very into this.

Maybe it will grow on my but right now no! I do not like.

It will get worn because I am short of work clothes but its just not me. Still you cannot win them all so they say!

Thanks for visiting my blog,

Bracken

Navy blue work trousers from Burda 7122 and a second black pair as well!

Well I have not got very far with making a new wardrobe for my man. I have, however, made yet another 2 pairs of Burda 7122 trousers for work. These blue trousers are 4-way stretch cotton ( I think!) from an end of roll off Ebay. Cost 99p for about 3m so seriously cheap. Downside, when I washed these is they have to be ironed. They crease something rotten so no easy work clothes here. For summer though they are brilliant cos the fabric is more a shirt weight than a trouser weight. I made these knowing that though because it has been very hot and muggy and all my work-worthy trousers are just too thick for the weather. Once ironed these look smart enough though the colour reminds me of school uniform but whatever! These are nice.

Then I made another pair- these are from the same fabric as the first pair here - or at least I believe it is the same fabric as the first pair:
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/07/working-wardrobe-1.html


Again from a very cheap remnant/end of roll off Ebay. Although this pair were a bit of a risk in that I made one leg piece from the rest of what was left from the first pair and then the other three leg bits are made from the two bits of fabric I bought at the same time as I bought

the fabric for that pair so I was a bit unsure if the fabric was exactly the same but it did look the same and they worked out Ok and I am happy with them. It all came from the same seller. I cannot even in daylight see any difference in colour, texture or anything else so I think the seller was just listing them separately to get as much money as possible. My three pairs of work trousers cost me just under £3 for fabric and the cost of 3 invisible zips ( about £4 for them) also from Ebay although the quality of my invisible zips is pretty poor so I may end up having to replace them at some point. Still for now its pretty good cos at last I have bearable clothes for work.

As you can see despite me shortening the pattern by 3 inches so about 7cm and still doing a wide hem they are still a bit long for me if worn with flat shoes so at some point soon I will have to sort that out else I will end up with a 90's style frayed hem dragging on the floor with me walking on the bottom of them all the time. Both of these pairs of trousers are a size smaller than the first pair I made and fit me much better. They are also much better made and finished and I made both pairs in about an hour and a half - not including cutting out time. I am getting into this idea of making several items from one pattern now. It certainly does improve the finish of what I make and make it far more RTW-ish.

Also before I finish writing this blog post I really need to brag about something. When I wore my navy trousers to work, I also wore this top:
http://brackencrafts.blogspot.co.uk/2017/04/95-and-96-skirt-and-top-for-tms-bright.html
And people I work with thought I bought it. I did not tell them I made it. That really made me happy because some of my early clothes definitely would NOT pass for RTW at all.

Overall though I am happy with my work clothes experiment so far. I now need some nice tops.

Thanks for reading my blog,

Bracken

Now thats what I call cullottes!

I hate the modern culottes. I have tried several patterns I don't like any of 'em. Sorry people but I just don't. So I started looking about two years ago now for a pattern I made ages ago.  It took me two years to track down this pattern and I could only find it in size 14. This is my first vintage pattern and is for cullottes from 1985-ish. The pattern says 1987 on it but this was when the previous owner must have bought it. 







In the mid 80s I made this pattern:

In the end I bought this pattern for $27 including shipping from an American seller. I made this in 1985. Then it was in pink and white cow-print cotton. But I was young then! Bearing in mind I originally made an 8, I was a bit unsure but remembered it to be easy to alter. I think as it turns out regardless what my RTW clothing says I am no longer a 1980s size 8. However I am also not yet a 1980s size 14 because I needed to take it in several inches. Better bigger than smaller tho! Easy to alter.

Now I did the same this time as in the 1980 because I do not like the plain shorts back of these patterns so I used the front piece in view 3 for both front and back. It worked in the 80s so why not now. You end up with a pleated back as well as pleated front that really does resemble a skirt. In black its kind of school-ish but still ok and very good as part of my new working wardrobe.

So I spent $27 for just one pattern piece in the end. Still I am very happy with the results despite my mistakes.

 Well mistakes! I was obviously a more experienced sewist back then because I remember this being so easy to make. Not so this time. Partly it was down to my choice of fabric which was satin backed black stuff. No idea what fibre. Another ebay bargain! It feels quite luxurious though so is very nice to wear for work. I used the satin side for the waistband which I cut as a size 14 and never bothered to shorten - mistake number 1:

 It is a vintage button which may be bakerlite, Came from a stash I inherited from my Great Aunts. 

Problem number two: never cut excess fabric off waitband so I could not get either of my machines to sew a buttonhole! Sorted by faking it with a snap on the inside! It works.

Then there is the basting! It says to machine baste the pleats so I did both front and back as directed but then realised it marks the fabric - probably permanently. I will find out for sure if the marks come out when I wash them but I suspect the small holes made from the stitches will be there forever. You can just about see in the photo below:

Each pleat is folded, sewn and then topstitched to hold it in place and guess what? I actually steamed the pleats properly. They worked a treat and I am really proud of myself here! They were even intact after sitting at work most of the day setting up a database. Yes I have cracked this. Picture below shows sewn pleat.

So all in all despite the cock-up of marking my fabric badly - which in the office I work in probably no one is going to notice anyway and the lack of proper button hole I like these culottes better than the other versions I have made with modern patterns. I am intending to make a second more fun pair asap. But first some work tops I think since I am struggling with them too and a couple more pairs of trousers.

Thanks for visiting,

Bracken