Summer's End Top + Pants

I've whipped up a top and some black work pants - and I'm feeling really happy with them both.

The pullover top is sewn from an 80s pattern (Vogue 8313) and some vintage fabric (quite possibly from the same era).  For all that it's an old style it doesn't look particularly dated to me... and yet it's pure 80s.  In fact my mum had a top with very similar lines to this one when I was growing up, though hers was made from white linen with navy trim inset around the neckline (and no buttons), and had a matching skirt - much more of a classic look than this :).

I found the buttons in my stash - wasn't I lucky to get such a good colour match! 

I modified the pattern slightly to narrow the neckline and to make the buttons decorative rather than functional; I didn't think my loose weave fabric - a lightweight hemp perhaps? - would have stood up to buttoning, and I don't usually have any problems getting pullover tops on. The pattern also called for top stitching to hold the facings in place around the neckline, but I opted instead for lots of 'invisible' hand stitching under the buttoned corners and wherever else I could hide a few stitches...  I love this "no stitches" look and wish I'd thought of it when I was sewing the sleeve hems. 

The top is intended to be a little more cropped than mine but I wanted it to cover the waistline of whatever I wore it with, so I added a few centimetres to the length and cut the front and back with the selvedge in place of a hem.  I can *just* tuck it in too when I wear it with high waisted shorts:

I should have realised such a loose fabric would be slightly transparent - I will have to bear that in mind next time I wear it...


And the black pants are the pants from Vogue 1264 by Anne Klein, described on the pattern envelope as "semi-fitted pants with tapered leg has side invisible zipper" and reviewed here on PatternReview. They're basically just cigarette pants - no pockets, no frills!

Black is so hard to photograph!  

This pattern is a really good basic pants pattern - simple to sew with an invisible side zip and waist darts, and giving a surprisingly decent fit right out of the envelope. My only intentional adjustment from a straight size 14 was to taper the pattern to a size 16 waist, which turns out to be a bit loose on me and makes my pants end up sitting lower than my waistline and makes the pants legs look longer on me than they should (I normally lengthen Vogue pants legs by at least 5 centimetres). 

I also forgot to follow the instructions, and that led to my unintended omission of the cute side slits that should be happening just above my ankles. I'll definitely have to include them next time - they're very easy to sew. and with a nice deep hem they should have enough weight to stay in place and not flop askew.  

I've lightened the next photo so you can see the fit in the back of the pants with my top hoicked up. The fit isn't perfect, but it's a million times less saggy under the backside than all my RTW work pants and would probably look even closer to "spot on" in a drapey wool crepe (these pants are sewn from a stretch cotton):

The pants have a plain facing at the waist and no waistband, and I think this is good for those of us (like me) with a short waist - though I guess it may not work for those who need a belt to keep pants in place. Although I've sewn my pants up with too loose a waist, my impression is that the pattern is also a good starting point for those of us with flat-ish backsides (like me) - the crotch curve looks relatively shallow compared to some pants patterns I've tried.

Extra room for ice cream, right?

Next up I'm hoping to show you a winter dress that's turned out to be more "va-va-voom" than planned (I have no idea whether or not it is going to look alright in the daylight and in photos, but it's looking OK in the weak late-night light...), and then a cute but seasonally inappropriate jacket.

These photos with their varying backgrounds were all taken at Bicentennial Park on the foreshores of Rozelle Bay a couple of weeks ago (thank you mum!) with the exception of the shorts photo (thank you tripod).  I hope this doesn't feel like an excess of photos!

Thanks for reading

Gabrielle xx

Vintage Pattern Pledge 2016

This year I'm once again joining the Vintage Pattern Pledge hosted by Marie and Kerry - I love vintage patterns and I have quite a few, but I need a gentle prod to actually sew from them rather than just drooling over them.

Last year my pledge was to sew up at least 4 of my vintage or reproduction sewing patterns, but 3 is all I managed - a 1940s dress, a 60s cape, and an 80s top:

It doesn't sound like much, does it!

However, there were two more "half" garments; vintage dresses I started and didn't complete.  So this year my first priority is to finish these two off before they become proper UFOs (unfinished objects):

Vogue 8974

McCall 6581

I've already sewn up an 80s midi skirt for our continuing summer weather, so that's going on my list too:

Vogue 1387 (John Anthony)

And my daughter has put in a request for me to sew her this next dress - I downsized a size 12 copy of this pattern for a dress for her a couple of years ago, and she still loves the style:

Judging by my efforts last year that's probably going to be plenty, but I want to add an extra challenge for myself, should I find myself with loads of time and energy on my hands.


I have two small boxes of very special vintage patterns, patterns from anywhere from the 1920s to the 1960s, that I really should think about sewing.  Here are a few of my favourites:

Simplicity 2647

Simplicity 2844

McCall 7023

McCall 7260

Vogue 100 Ronald Peterson

Vogue 1556 Yves Saint Laurent

Putting it all together, here's my pledge:


I, Gabrielle of UpSewLate, pledge to sew at least one more vintage midi skirt from an 80s pattern, to finish sewing the two vintage dresses I started last year, and to sew my daughter the 1970s dress she's requested. And as an extra challenge, I'll aim to sew at least one of the vintage patterns I normally just drool over.  

And I'll be back soon with a modern bit of sewing that my son graciously photographed for me today.



Happy sewing



- Gabrielle xx

Broderie Anglaise V-Neck

You'd be excused for assuming I don't learn from my mistakes...

In late November I blogged a boxy cropped hibiscus print top, and I think most of you agreed with me that it was a bit of a dog. The fabric itself was fine, the shape of the top was interesting, but the combination of fabric and shape wasn't that great, and it just looked "off" on me. Bearing all that in mind, yes, I've made another of those boxy tops!

The thing is, I made this top around the same time as the first, and the hibiscus print top was only ever intended as a muslin for this one, the one that had drawn itself into my brain as a "must sew". By the time I'd photographed and judged the hibiscus version, number two was nearly done - I loved the look of these quieter fabrics together, so I just finished it up and here it is!

Interestingly, this one seems to look a LOT better on. Or is that just my imagination? Is it just that I much, much prefer these fabrics? The shape is exactly the same - the only change I made to the shape was to lengthen it a couple of centimetres through the body.

I'll let you compare the two versions for yourself - same shoes, different skirt, and nearly the same camera angle...

Hmm. It's not just my imagination.  Those couple of centimetres did wonders for my waist! 

OK, a couple more of these dodgy photos from the back - sorry, but I find photographing white clothes quite a challenge - and then I'll tell you about the fabric and show you some close ups of the top laid flat:

Fabric
The broderie anglaise that's the main fabric for this top is a large leftover from a designer remnant that I originally used in the bodice of this dress (oh, I loved that dress!). The fabric came from The Fabric Store here in Sydney a couple of years back, but I think I've seen something similar there - albeit with a larger pattern - in the last few months.

Broderie anglaise having all those little holes in it, I thought I'd best underline the front bodice. For the underlining I used some cream coloured linen left over from this top (hmm, I didn't love this when I made it), and that linen is also used in the sleeve cuffs and in the neckline band. Leftover fabric scraps feel like they're free, don't they - the fabric costs have already been attributed to the projects that came before! - so I'm calling this 100% free fabric.

Here's a close up of the inside bodice, at a side seam so you can see the difference a layer of linen makes to the broderie anglaise. The extra layer of course makes the fabric more opaque, and a layer of linen is more pleasant than lining fabric when you're dealing with hot, sweaty summers....

Pattern

As you may recall, the pattern is the one pictured below, a classic 80s shape if ever I saw one (trust me, I've seen quite a few up close).  It's supposed to be loose fitting, and waist length - check, check! You don't have to make it in a white fabric unless you want the look of that pattern envelope girl, though to really get the look you also need to invest in large plastic accessories.... Maybe next time?

And this cheap pattern is of course another sunk cost. Making it a free top, right?

Simplicity 6742, a classic 1980s outfit pattern

I said it last time, but I really like the way this V-neck is constructed! I know my close-ups in the hibiscus print were headache inducing, but I think the way it's been put together will be easier to see in this fabric.

The first of these next two views shows you the v-neck from the outside of the top (ie fabric right side), and the second view shows you the v-neck finish on the inside:

V-neck from the outside

V-neck construction, on the inside

Fitting and Pattern Adjustments

No fitting required with these loose, that-looks-too-big style of patterns :).

As I mentioned above, there was one change I made to this pattern that made a noticeable difference - I just lengthened it a few centimetres to around hip length. The other less striking change I made was to cut the v-neck pieces on the grain rather than on the bias, and this vastly improves on the original; version two of this top sits nicely on my shoulders :). So I did learn from the hibiscuses! 

Likes / Dislikes
As before, I really like this V-neck :). I love the shape of the top, and I think I'll be wearing it with this knee length skirt as well as with the slightly longer pink skirt blogged here. I suspect what makes it work so much better is that this top covers my waist - when a top cuts off at your waist, I guess that's where people's eyes are drawn!

There's still one annoying flaw with this top: those linen sleeve bands are creasing up like crazy! I did consider interfacing them as I was sewing this top up, and decided that interfacing would have made them too heavy. That may have been the wrong call :0.

Don't worry, it doesn't have to be perfect! 

OK, I think that's enough rambling about this one - there's one more 2014 top I want to blog soon, and after that we can talk about colourful 2015 dresses!



See you soon

- Gabrielle xx

Lil' Black Jacket

I'm back! Sorry for being away from the blogosphere for so long - a few weeks I think - we've had a long run of colds and flus in the family, combined with busy times at work and school, so I fell into a habit of late night sloth.  Sloth is certainly enjoyable, but you don't get much done ;)/

Anyway, I'm back, and I have stuff to show. Like this little black jacket, completed shortly after the 'out of darkness' dress and before the slough of sloth.

It's kind of boxy and imperfect, but kind of cute despite the flaws:

Its shoulders are ginormous (mine aren't really up to the job of supporting them):

But the tapering - YES; the curves - YES:

  

I'll save the worst view to the end of the post :) 

So, the pattern, you ask? It's an old Vogue Donna Karan pattern, a gem I picked up second hand last year and that's been on my "to sew" list ever since. Seeing so many cute By Hand London jackets lately pushed this to the top of the queue:

And the fabric? Well, the fabric was supposed to be a seat cover; how boring (don't tell Mr UpSewLate).  I bought it at The Fabric Shop during the first Sydney Social Sewists meetup of this year, and at the time, Maria said she thought the fabric would make a great little jacket - all the inducement I needed.

Let's talk about the making now, shall we?

First off: sizing... I'd normally make a 12 in a Vogue jacket, but this jacket is designed to be loose fitting, and it's from the era of super-baggy clothes, so I figured that made me a 10. The shoulders are still too wide - crazy wide, but my mum reminded me that back in the 80s shoulder pads were intended to sit partially off the shoulder, and I've used authentic 80s shoulder pads of the excessive size specified in the pattern, so I guess crazy wide was the intended look.

And what about fitting? I sewed the outer as is, in a 10, and then I tried it on. The shoulder pads were so large that I found it hard to tell what the jacket was going to look like with them sewn in, but I thought the sleeves would look better at 3/4 length -  I removed 3 inches in sleeve length. The waist was pretty snug but it was too late to adjust and I'm pretty keen on the sharp angle you get from oversized shoulders and a too tight waist...



And any other changes? Well I thought this jacket was a perfect candidate for a machine sewn bagged lining, which is not what the instructions were telling me to do. I sewed the lining to the facings (per the instructions), then sewed lining to jacket hem on the machine most of the way around, leaving gaps at the lower corners of the lapels.

I removed 4 inches from the length of the sleeves in the lining fabric so as not to get that nasty lining-sticking-out look on the sleeve, and then poked the sleeves through the hemline gaps and sewed sleeve linings to sleeve outers by machine - which takes some topological care or you're liable to get a twist between the sleeve and lining.

With the sleeves popped back out, I closed the gaps with hand stitching - and added a few strategic hand stitching to keep the facings in place.

Any stuffups? Yes, of course! The sleeves - so poorly set in, as I'm sure you've already noticed and been polite enough not to mention. I gathered the sleeve caps carefully before setting them in, but heavy linen just doesn't cooperate with easing in the way wool does - so I should've taken more time with this step. I know I could go back and fix this - and I could bring the shoulder line in an inch - but I just cannot bring myself to do it.

Next up I've got a cape in progress for the Great Kiwi Cape Caper (of course that's not what it's really called), and a completed Princess dress. Which was kid sewing, so probably not so interesting to most of you but maybe I can make it more interesting by having a giveaway or something...


Time for bed - see you later!

Gabrielle x