Vogue 1051: Somewhat Less Successful than Expected

I just finished my first attempt at "real" pants, with a fly and everything!

Technically, this was kind of a muslin. I had never sewn pants with a fly before, and because of that I didn't want to just do a muslin for fit, but wanted to construct the whole thing so that I could practice on the fly and inserting the zipper.

Ultimately, they were somewhat less successful than I had hoped. Mainly because I don't know enough about how things fit to understand how they SHOULD fit.

I always take a photo of the clothes that I make, and at first I was a little horrified at the fit of the pants, but then realized....they fit exactly like the pants at the store! So, let's face it...they'll still get worn. They just don't fit the way that I anticipated based on my experience with other patterns...that fit so much better than RTW. But when it comes right down to it, these pants fit EXACTLY like the grey ones from Ann Taylor that I wear constantly. I have just never lifted up my sweater and let someone take a picture of my butt in those!






So, I won't count these as a failure, since they are as good as the stuff I normally wear. What I will do is use them as a jumping-off point to make a TNT pants pattern.

Two positive things about these pants:

1. The waist fits PERFECTLY. Normally, if pants fit my hips, the waist flaps around in back. But because I have a round bottom and large hips in relation to the size of my waist, I always find myself with pants that I have to take the waist in on.

2. The legs are exactly the shape I wanted. Wide leg pants look best on me. With my shape, if I wear pants with narrow legs, my silhouette becomes that of an ice-cream cone.

The negative:

1. They are too tight across the hip and make the little "crotch smileys". But let's face it, when you're chubby, crotch smileys are just a part of your life. But, if I am the one making the pants, I would like for there to NOT be smileys.

2. The crotch curve in back is a touch high. It doesn't FEEL like I have a wedgie, but it LOOKS like I do. I think I need to scoop it out some more, but will look at some information about pants fitting on PatternReview.com.

3. I need a bit more ease across the hip, and will add some tissue beginning about half-way up the thigh, and then curving back in at the waist, since the waist actually fits.

4. The fabric is a bit to flimsy. The pants that I used to compare to the pattern to select my size are made from a more substantial fabric. I have some black RPL from Gorgeous Fabrics that will be my next version.

Then of course there are the things that I did that weren't so smart.

1. Because the pants are made from a black suiting with khaki pinstripes, I decided to use khaki-colored thread and top-stitch with it. BAD IDEA. I should have just used black. I'm not good enough at top-stitching yet, and it just ended up looking stupid and like I had a bad twitch and was blind in one eye (my apologies to one-eyed twitchy people who may be reading this).


2. I also don't know enough about the construction of pants to finish the seam edges the way that I have been lately. For example, I had no clue how to insert the fly. So, I ended up just following the directions one step at a time, and not really looking ahead. As a result, I ended up with one side of the fly unfinished, and had to go back and zig-zag the side.


The remainder of the seams I either did with Hong Kong binding, or in the case of the crotch seam, I did a flat-felled seam for strength.


Here are a couple of issues that I faced with the pattern and changes that I made:

1. I did not include the pockets. Not because I couldn't figure out the instructions, but because I don't like pockets. With such a round bottom half, pockets always pull open, unless I buy Giant Clown Pants. Which just serve to make me look bigger. I also hate back pockets because they serve no purpose other than for me to catch the button on something getting in and out of the car, and putting a hole in the butt of my pants.

2. The instructions for inserting the fly aren't great. I have to say that I am really GOOD at deciphering pattern instructions, but these gave me trouble. I ended up with about 15 layers basted together and somehow managed to miss the part where you ACTUALLY SEW IN THE ZIPPER. So I had to undo half my basting, sew, rebaste, sew, remove basting stitches.

3. The instructions assume that you already know quite a bit about constructing pants. For example, it tells you "Make 1/4" (6mm) bar tack at lower end of left front opening." WTF is a "bar tack?" So I pulled out a pair of RTW pants, and I assumed that a bar tack is that thick line of stitching at the bottom of the fly. So I did that. It may or may not actually be a bar tack.

4. I also managed to sew the two backs together rather than to the front and had to pick out that whole. long. seam.

Now that I have actually constructed these pants once, I am eager to get the fit issues worked out and make a pair from a more substantial fabric. I have both a black denim and black RPL, as well as a grey wool herringbone that I think they would be very nice in.

BUT, I don't want to get carried away making too many pairs for the size that I am now, because I kind of "chubbed up" before the wedding (now you know how I deal with stress...FOOD!!), and need to get 15 lbs off ASAP. I think that that may take care of a lot of the fit issues that I have with these pants.

On the other hand, I'm not going to wake up tomorrow morning magically 15 pounds lighter, and in the meantime I need some darn pants!! And let's face it, if I buy new pants, they are going to cost A LOT more than what I have been spending on fabric. So I'm probably going to go ahead and chop into the fabric that I have, and hell with the 15 pounds. I can always take them in, right?

Updates and Recent Projects

Lately I have been sewing a lot for other people; and continuing with sewing lessons with my niece.

She has been doing very well, and has a couple of new items. We purchased a length of pre-smocked material from Hancock's, and she used that and some pretty green ribbon to make a summer shirt.


She also dug through the scrap box and found a length of jersey left from a dress I made, and made view C of Simplicity 4076.


She also adores polka dots, so I let her buy some sale corduroy to make a simple elastic-waist skirt. No pattern necessary, just a hem and a casing.


Speaking of polka dots, she is currently working on McCall 5627 view C in a polka dot and turquoise contrast.


This one is taking quite a bit longer to finish because we are at the place now in her learning where she needs to learn to do without me standing over her shoulder. Since she now has to decipher pattern instructions, and find the matching notches on her own without me pointing it out, it has slowed her down considerably. We have also had new learning experiences, like how to clean the iron after you iron the wrong side of fusible interfacing (waxed paper. Run the iron over some waxed paper. It will slide just fine after that).

While she has been sewing on her own projects, that gave me some time to complete some projects that I had been working on, including a coat that I was making for my grandmother.

My grandmother asked if I would make her an unlined, wool flannel coat for spring. She didn't want a lining because she wanted it to be fairly lightweight.

When I was a kid, I always remembered my grandmother as a really classy dresser. Since she has gotten older and her health has deteriorated, her clothing options are more in the range of sweatshirts and slacks. So, I wanted to make something that was more like those pretty shirts and pantsuits that she wore when I was little. Because it had a bit of a 60's vibe to it, I picked Vogue 8123, view C.


She selected the fancy button, but since she has a bit of trouble with arthritis in her hands (she has completely quit sewing and crocheting now), I used a very large snap to close the coat, and sewed the button on the outside of the collar. Because the button very clearly has a vertical axis to it, and the collar makes a bit of a vee when it is closed, I sewed the button on while the coat was on the dressform. That way, I could insure that the vertical axis was actually vertical, rather than thrown off by being aligned with the collar.

Since she has specifically requested no lining, I wanted to do something to neaten the seams, so I used a remnant of silk twill from another project to make bias strips and did Hong Kong seams inside. I cut the binding 1 1/2 inches wide, and probably should have made it a touch wider. It was a bit difficult to work with because of the thickness of the wool; which of course I neglected to take into account!


While I like the style of the jacket, I do have a bit of a problem with the Vogue "Very Easy" patterns. Sometimes I think that they skip over some very important construction steps for the sake of maintaining the "very easy" aspect of the pattern. For example, they direct you to use fusible interfacing on the collar, however with the stand-up collar, it needs much more support than that. I used Hymo and attached it with pad stitching instead. This gives the collar much-needed body, much more than simple fusible would provide. I wouldn't mind so much, but there is no way to get the collar to resemble the drawing if you don't assemble it right! I know that it is important to have "very easy" patterns for beginners, but wouldn't it potentially frustrate a beginner if their finished products consistently came out looking differently from the illustrations? So wouldn't it be better to actually include instructions that will allow you to make the jacket look like the illustration? Or, don't include the upright collar as an option. The standard collars will look fine without Hymo.

Next up, I am back to sewing for myself. Currently on the cutting table I have Butterick 4985, Butterick 4924, another version of McCall 5591, and Vogue 1051.

Kid's Patterns: Butterick 3475

I've been trying to sew a shirt and shorts for my nephew, and this has been an adventure in frustration. I'm using Butterick 3475, and he is so tall and skinny that his height is off the size chart, but his other measurements fall between a 4 and a 5. So I end up having to lengthen everything by 5 or 6 inches.

He normally turns up his nose at the things that I make (ewww, homemade. That must be even worse than hand-me-downs in the mind of a seven-year-old), but he's been bugging me to make him "something with skuls. Or flames. Or skulls and flames But definitely skulls." So I found a black, white and grey quilting cotton that looked a bit like camouflage made out of skulls. I also found a black denim for the shorts that was embroidered with skulls and crossbones.


Once I got the patterns altered, everything went together very easily. The shirt was super-simple, and the sleeves eased in perfectly. In continuing on my quest to make garments with attractive insides as well as outsides, I made the shirt with french seams and used binding on the armscyes and the edge of the front facing:


The shirt was a really simple to assemble, the facings were cut right on the the front of the shirt, and they do not extend around the back of the neck. The center of the collar is folded up and whipstitched to the seam allowance.


For the shorts, I tried my hand at making flat felled seams. The embroidery on the denim made it a little difficult to press those tiny seam allowances when you are trying to fold one of the embroidered spots. I nearly roasted my fingers with the steam from the iron, but was ultimately successful. I made the flat fell seams as follows:

Begin by pressing the seam allowance open and trimming one side of the seam allowance to 1/4". I did all the seams so the shorter seam allowance that the other allowance would be folded over is the one facing the back:


Next press both allowances to one side, with the narrower allowance laying over the wider:


fold the wider allowance back over the narrower, "wrapping" it around the narrower seam allowance:


Then press the seam allowance to the other side so that the raw edge is caught between the seam allowance and the pant leg:


Then stitch along the edge, making a seam parallel to the original seam:


The completed seam:


Here are the finished shorts. The hems aren't really two different lengths, that's just the way they are hanging:

I'd Like to Thank the Academy...

And most especially HeathersSphere at SEWspicious Minds and Linda at Seams Well who both nominated me for the Sisterhood Award.

The rules of this award are:

1. Put the logo on your blog or post.
2. Nominate at least 10 blogs which show great Attitude and/or Gratitude!
3. Be sure to link to your nominees within your post.
4. Let them know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
5. Share the love and link to the person from whom you received your award.

There are so many awesome sewists out there...but the sewing community, even online, isn't huge; so most of the ones I know have already been nominated!!

So I will nominate some non-sewers, but who also have great Attitude and Gratitude! But I can't think of 10, so I will do 5. Someone else can have my other 5. Go crazy! Nominate 15!!

1. Lore at The Red Planet
2. Li'l Cherry Bomb, even though she hasn't written anything in FOREVER.
3. Tee at Makin' Trouble and Baked Goods
4. Grace at Funemployment
5. Shmorg at Further Weavings

In other news, I finished McCall's 5591, View A; a pleated skirt with contrast band around the bottom:


Continuing on my quest to make the insides of my garments look nicer, I have been selecting simpler patterns so that I can focus on thinking through how to deal with seam finishes. As such, I utilized the contrast fabric to make bias strips for hong kong seams and binding around the pocket exterior.


The only seam that is not finished is the seam that is underneath the pocket, where the pocket joins the front of the skirt. I didn't bind that seam, because there were already a lot of layers of fabric there and I didn't want to add additional bulk.

Speaking of pockets, the jury is still out in terms of whether or not I like the pockets. On one hand, the pattern instructions are great, the pieces just fall together, and the strip along the front gives it a nice finish. On the other hand, I have a round belly, and pockets tend to pull open.


The round belly is the same reason that I stitched down the pleats rather than basting and then removing the threads later. Other than that, I did not make significant changes, and followed the pattern instructions fairly closely. I did find that the waist is slightly large in this pattern, and in the next version I will cut it down to a 16. Overall, though, I am really happy with the way this pattern turned out:


I already have my fabric for the next version, and now that it is warming up, I am starting to think about making spring clothes:


One of the great things about this pattern is that it offers an opportunity to use some of those great quilting cottons that I always want to buy but can never think what I would make with it! This way you can use some really off-the-wall patterns, but pair it with a solid, or even confine it to the contrast band. There are a number of other fabrics that I think would be great in this skirt:



Oh, the possibilities!!!

Completed! McCall 5522

I finally got around to finishing McCall 5522. I took a long time completing it because this is one of the projects on which I am focusing on finishing the interior as well as the exterior.

For this pattern, I cut my normal size 18, which matches my bust and waist measurements. I did not do any alterations because this pattern contained separate pattern peices for B, C, and D cups. I am a (spoken at a whisper) 34DDD, so used the D pieces assuming that there would be enough ease to accommodate. I did find, however, that there was MORE than enough room. The one place there isn't a whole lot of room? In the arms. If I make this again, I will give myself about an extra half inch in the bicep area. Here is the finished product:



For this project, I used french seams and binding (details in two previous posts) in order to finish the interior. Here is a photo of the interior of the shirt:


The collar stand and front placket also hide raw edges. They are folded under and whip-stitched:


I finished the armhole seams with white binding, as well as the underbust seam. On the underbust seam I was able to use my binding foot, but for the armholes, I just pinned the binding down and sewed using the regular presser foot.


This is also the first time that I have used my buttonhole attachment. It works like a dream, although I did manage to do a complete bonehead move and put the buttonholes on the front running from side to side rather than along the long axis of the placket. I know, I'm a dork. But then I realized that this is only the second garment that I have made with buttons, everything else ties or zips!


They may be on sideways, but the attachment does make lovely buttonholes:

Been a Little Busy

So I've been a little busy the last couple of weeks....


Which means that I didn't get back to sewing on this devilish black and white fabric until just a couple of days ago. One of the members at Pattern Review started a "technique sew-along," and that has helped me get back on track. For this sew-along, participants are focusing on better seam finishes (flat-fell, hong kong, binding, french seams). I have already finished a garment using the hong kong finish, so I decided to use something different for this one. Also, part of the fun of the hong kong finish is to use a colorful or unexpected fabric; and this charmeuse is much to thin, the finish would show through.

Right now, I have everything finished but the collar and the button placket, so I have finished with all the specialty seams. The remainder of the seams are hidden within two layers of fabric on the collar stand and the placket.


On the interior, I used both french seams and seam binding. Here you can see the french seams on the vertical seams, and the binding on the under bust seam:


I also used binding on the armscyes and because I was so enamored of my binding foot, I also bound the hem and sleeve laps using black bias binding.


Yeah, I know, why? Because I love this binder foot! It makes everything so simple!


In other news, my niece continues to be enamored of sewing and we have finished a few more projects. Last weekend we did a little shirt for summer using pre-smocked material from Hancock's and ribbon for shoulder ties, as well as a polka-dotted corduroy skirt with an elastic waist. She also got her next project cut out, what else, a polka-dotted shirt. That kid is ga-ga for dots.