Sunday 22 February 2015

Three pairs of trousers later, a jacket and a leather coin purse...

I was going to apologise for not having posted for several weeks but then I wrote the title of this entry and realised I've been quite a busy bee!

Yes, I've finished 3 pairs of trousers - or rather two and a half as one pair was pretty much done I just needed to slim into them if you remember and rather oddly I managed it without trying (I think I was a bit puffy when I made them!).

So two pairs were a test of the Thinlow pattern from my last post; the first you know about, the second were made from some lovely red Ponte Roma I originally bought to make a jacket from. I decided I wanted some nice easy wear, comfortable but tailored trousers and this fabric seemed to fit the bill. It sewed up really nicely, very warm and with a little stretch for comfort and fit. All great until I washed them (no I didnt prewash the fabric - I'm a buggar for this) and the dye ran everywhere, dying my son's school trousers lining pink in the process... Woops!

The latest trouser make was the Ultimate Trouser from Sew Over It, inspired by episode 1 of The Great British Sewing Bee's third series where contestants were given some ridiculously short time frame to make some trousers. It usually takes me a good two days to make a pair of trousers so I felt woefully inadequate watching the episode and wanted to see what the participants are up against. Well the Ultimate Trouser pattern only has 4 pieces which is a far cry from the usual 12-16 pieces I've been used to recently with fiddly flies, welt pockets and side pocket linings. The four hour time limit contestants are given, seemed a bit more reasonable after all, only a side zip to contend with. I used the same fabric as my first pair of Thinlows, the chambray with no ease, so after sewing the trousers up dead quick I ended up unpicking it all to let the seams out! Having done so though, I was really pleased with the result for a fairly basic pattern, and think I may have found the perfect pattern for my gorgeous teal velvet I've been pondering over what to make.

This weekend I finally found a use for some beautiful dark turquoise baby needlecord I bought in Edinburgh in August last year - The Great British Sewing Bee Series 1 Hacking Jacket. I was instantly drawn to the pattern when I first bought the book; it's an unlined jacket which was most of the appeal as I'd planned for this to be my first attempt at tailoring and couldn't quite stomach the thought of a full on lining. However I actually cut my tailoring teeth on a full blown lined Butterick Jacket pattern which worked out brilliantly (except for the fundamental fitting fail), so I thought this unlined jacket couldn't be any harder... How wrong I was! The instructions are abysmal and whilst I appreciate the pattern isn't for the novice they could have been more descriptive and accurate - references made to notches when in fact there are dots on the pattern , and references to large and small dots when they're all the same size! The upper collar and facing was the upper worst part, I just couldn't sew round the corner and then couldn't fit the facing and fronts together. The collar now has an unsightly pucker and a cut where I slipped with the scissors trying to repair said pucker. All that being said, from a distance the jacket looks fairly respectable if you dont look too closely, and I'm very pleased with the french seams I used to neaten the inside of the jacket seeing as it isn't lined. The fabric is gorgeous as is the colour so puckers or not, I'll be wearing it out!