Vogue 1098 -> Green Shorts

Alas, the boiling hot weather has disappeared too soon - when my shorts are finally done!

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I used V1098 yet again, because as I now know, not all Vogue trouser patterns are shaped the same - and I think these are a a pretty good fit.  This is my fifth time using this pattern: I've used it to make pinstripe linen trousers; grey wool trousers; black mystery fabric trousers; and a turquoise cashmere jacket.  I have so got my money's worth from this pattern.

With these shorts so similar except in length to all those earlier trousers I don't have much to say!




The fit is quite snug in the rear, but I intentionally made these up a little smaller than usual this time around because the pinstripe linen trousers have gotten significantly looser after wearing.





My vintage button stash included some buttons that coordinated really well. The button holes aren't perfect but they're what my machine does. Oh and that curve in the waistband is from my pulling the button up for the photo; in real life the waistbands are straight and aligned.

 

This time around I added side pockets using the Vogue Basics pattern that I had originally planned to use. You can see one of them bulging open in the photo above :-0

 

The pocket openings are reinforced with tacking stitches, which you probably can't see even in the side view... nice deep (5cm) hems in case I decide they need to be longer. And the photos moved inside because the nextdoor neighbours came out onto their very nearby balcony :-(.  Oh no - caught in the act, looking like such a poser!

I took some time over the fly to try to make it look neat and flat, but by the time I got to finishing the waistband I just wanted to get the shorts finished. So both the waistband and hems are machine rather than hand stitched.

Fabric from The Fabric Shop - a medium weight linen.  Speaking of which, if you're in Sydney this weekend, are you coming to the meetup?

Classic Linen...

Linen is a classic look, isn't it, and so is navy with cream... perhaps a bit boring for some tastes, but definiteley useful in the me-made wardrobe. So here is a new maybe combination but more likely separation of linen pants and linen-cotton mix jersey top:



Quite hard to photograph together with the top so white bright and the pants so inky dark!


The top is made from V1310, the relatively recent Chado Ralph Rucci pattern (the one with the photo of a severe looking model in a column-like burgandy skirt and loose white top). After my recent ooh-this-feels-too-tight issues in a "semi-fitted" Vogue size 12-graded-to-14 dress, the ultra loose fit of this (also "semi-fitted") size 14 Vogue top was unexpected, although I guess part of that may be down to my fabrics.

tucked up hem

free hem

The top is cut on the bias, and the pattern calls for a bias-cut self-lining, but that would have been too hot - besides, I only had a single metre of this fabric, and it had turned itself from a neat rectangle of fabric to a wonky trapezium in the wash. So facings is all I could do.

Being cut on the bias, my neckline was very keen to stretch out. I tamed it with narrow transparent elastic, the sort I usually sew into the shoulder seams of knit tops, and made it very slightly gathered. I topstitched the facings in place with a sliver of facing showing all the way around to give the neckline a decorative edge, but I don't think you can really see it...

spot the serger tension error!

Time: About 2-3 hours

Cost: $12 all up: fabric about $12 on sale at Lincraft; sewing and serger thread $0 (already used in other projects); pattern $0 (second use); and elastic $0 (leftovers).

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The pants have been lying around as an UFO in my sewing area for ages...  I'm sure they were originally ironed and carefully draped somewhere for attention "soon", but by the time I got back to them they were a scrunched up mess. A happy surprise amongst the crumples - the fly was finished, top stitched, and even nicely basted together to wait for the waistband to get sewn on. When I tried them on I remembered why they had become a UFO - they got too tight midway through the sewing! They should hopefully get a bit looser in the near future... if I get myself out of this chair and do some exercise :-)

No, but seriously, that's the best looking view of the pants! And the colour is about right.

With my camera sitting on a chair on the coffee table in the middle of this room, I am getting some leg foreshortening happening and I do not like it:

 

Anyway, you can see that they nearly fit me already (and I only did the getting out of the chair part so far!) and that the stripe matching is OK.  I had to change tops because my camera wasn't coping.

I've made these pants before (here in grey wool and here in black stretchy stuff) because the pattern (V1098, an Anne Klein pants and jacket pattern - ooh and I made the jacket in yummy turquoise cashmere a while back) seems to generally fit, and is one that's easily taken out or run in along the side seams. And I've got to the point now where I just grade the waistband up or down to fit the width I've sewn the pants :-).

Here you can see the details: belt carriers, a neat fly, waistband drafted to fit and cut to match the stripes as well as possible on the curve:

And the sign apparently means Beware of the Dog!

Time: I don't know - too long!
Cost: About $30: fabric a lovely big remnant from Tessuti - call it $25; sewing thread $3; pattern $0 (fourth use); 2 buttons $0 (part of a vintage buttons gift); and zip $2 from a little local haberdashery.

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Has anyone else been having troubles with Blogger lately?  I've been struggling to sign in for about a month (this is a known problem in the Blogger forums but the solutions haven't worked for me to date, so I'm using a strange workaround) - but worse still, over the past week I've found I can't reply to comments! Please accept my sincere apologies for what certainly may look like rudeness. On the subject of replies though I read in a Blogger forum that many people reply to comments by emailing the commenter directly - is that right? Is that what works?

Anyway, thank you very much for reading my ramblings, and if you do comment I will TRY to reply.. .

V2 of V1098 Pants are Done!

Yes, they are done. And they are marching through the garden, looking for a more photogenic spot.

They feel a bit tight. And I intend to re-hem them. 

But I can certainly wear them! That's cause for a small celebration, right? A few balloons?

So... not much to say that I haven't already said about this pattern (Vogue 1098) here when I made the pants first time around. It's a good basic pattern if you want a boot leg style of pants.
This fabric is a smooth lightweight summer wool suiting from The Fabric Shop in Sydney. Probably this style works best with fabric that is not too lightweight, so probably my first pair looked better. However, the first pair had a hardware malfunction (a zipper issue), so they are gone-ski. This second pair is much better put together... much less embarrassing if ever seen inside out!


I don't think I'll be making another pair of these - I'm fancying the more tapered look now.... but who knows how long till I make more pants anyway.

Ooh Cashmere! Vogue 1098 Anne Klein Jacket

This bright blue cashmere/wool jacket is what I've been working on over the evenings of the last week.  It's by no means perfect but I'm rather happy with it... it even garnered unsolicited compliments in the office.

You won't recognise the dress, but it's from another Vogue pattern, and previously posted here.



I think this jacket looks good draped over the concrete ...

I took my outdoor pictures today at lunchtime, out at Barangaroo.  Not many people around except joggers and tourists wandering too far past Darling Harbour, and interesting views of sea, concrete and sky.  The office felt a long way away - I must do more of these interesting lunchtime walks.

And yes, I went a bit overboard with these pictures, but it was fun and there weren't too many witnesses.



And I returned to the office de-stressed!

 

Modifications:
You may have observed that my large buttons are non-functioning. You may also have observed that they are a little off-centre. There is a reason! On Saturday night my sewing machine refused to complete the button holes. I had practised on bits of doubled over, interfaced fabric - but I hadn't taken into account the impact of the seam down the centre front and also the angled seam. Both of these annoyed my button hole foot, and made the fabric way too thick for it to cope with. On Sunday afternoon I unpicked the mess and considered using a buttonhole service (if they could put handsome buttonholes on top of my mess - could they?). On Sunday evening I decided I couldn't wait, and decided I'd use platters (ie large buttons) to cover the mess with big press studs underneath.  The buttons had to be positioned to cover the buttonhole marks, and these of course were off-centre because that way the fastened buttons would have been centred!

 

 

The other modification I made was to remove the collar. This was Jacquie's idea, and I think it was a brilliant one - it makes the jacket look more up-to-date.  I did take the opportunity to cut, fuse, trim (for that extra bit of turn of the cloth allowance) and sew the collar pieces so that I could practise some of Sherry's techniques and see what it looked like:

I guess that's a proper collar! Maybe I should finish the edges and attach fastenings so it can be a detachable collar... hmmm don't think I can be bothered, although the idea does interest me in a theoretical way. 

Sewing and Fit
The jacket looks like this on the pattern envelope:

It goes together nicely and seems pretty fool-proof (eg it already takes into account a certain amount of turn-of-the-cloth allowance for the collar and provides different sized upper and lower collar pieces), but I  found the sleeves and body a bit short on me. The point where the main sleeve pieces join to the shaped "cuff" feels too high - I would have thought this should happen at elbow length, but it seems to happen an inch or so higher. Actually they look this way on the pattern model too! I'm still pretty pleased with the jacket, and it probably fits better than most of my RTW jackets.







Fabric
I used a cashmere / wool / poly mix for this jacket, and wow did it feel luxurious to sew with - like moving a knife through whipped cream. I found I only needed about 1.6m of 150cm wide fabric for the jacket in a size 12, although the suggested amount of fabric for size 12 is 1.8m - so this is relatively affordable to make in nice fabric compared to a coat.  My lining is just a regular lining, nothing special.  At the time I was planning the jacket I couldn't get the matching turquoise lining so I chose the green as something I thought would complement the turquoise and go with other colours I wear.  Both the outer and lining fabrics came from Tessuti fabrics last year, and the buttons came from Tessuti a few days ago.

30 - 31 March: That's all!

Phew! The end of me made March! I soooooo don't care what I wear tomorrow.... luckily it's a casual day at work, so no one else will care either :-)




Today was definitely cold, but I was determined to wear this skirt that I didn't think I'd worn this month (please correct me if I'm wrong).  

The skirt is made from Vogue 1038, but I shortened the skirt to knee length. It's an unlined skirt with waistband made from a single piece that wraps around you from one edge of the zip to the other, but the front and back are your usual 3 pieces - the waistband was a little too big when I made it and a bity bigger now. This is a good thing but the skirt needs a longish top to cover up the gaping.

The fabric I used was some $5/metre ex-Cue fabric from Tessuti - some kind of lightweight stretch suiting material. I didn't do a great job with this; I am not proud of all that puckering along the hem (which is also too shallow) and in various places around the waistband.

My top and jacket are not me made - my favourite orange top, bought on sale at Veronika Maine a year or so ago, and a rather old Blooms jacket that my mum was throwing out as "too worn" about 5 years ago.  I like the shape of the neckline on this jacket. Nor are my shoes - favourite orange flatties from nine west, now getting rather scuffed and stained.

And yesterday looked to be a bit cold, so this is what I wore:

* Ancient me made jacket - to be quite honest, I probably made it 20 years ago (when I was 2 ;-)). I think it was made from a Burda pattern but I don't know where the pattern is so I can't tell you the number - guess it's OOP anyway.
* RTW sleeveless blue top. This top has a zip down the centre back that starts at the neckline and is just the wrong length - when you tuck the top in to your waistband you are tucking in the lower part of the zip, which feels pretty uncomfortable. If I'd made this myself it would have been a shorter zip!
* Me made Vogue 1098 Anne Klein pants, previously posted here.A terrible thing happened to these pants later - when I was hanging them up I pulled the zip on the fly up a little and the zip pull came right off! Oops - I'd forgotten I'd cut this zip down in an unthinking manner. I've already had to rethread the zip pull back on once during construction and it took a really long time. I'm not sure I can be bothered again.
* Old shoes that I don't wear very much, Witchery sunnies.

You've seen both the jacket and pants before, but here are a couple of my original pics:



 

 

I've signed up for Sherry's RTW Jacket Sewalong, which I'm really excited about, but I think I'll need a little breather first. We're supposed to have our muslins ready, but all I have is my pattern and fabric:

16 March 2011: TWO me made garments!

please take another, just in case ...

Trousers plus a top, with the trousers being my first MMM repeat I think, apart from my stripey bag. And no one at work said "did you make that?", which is a relief.  Mind you my colleagues are mostly guys and they don't tend to pass many comments... Perhaps it's fairer to say I didn't catch anyone staring at my hems or neckline or what have you - even on a long walk around town at lunch, and on public transport to and from work. 

These trousers are the only ones I've made that currently fit ie the first pair made in about 20 years, from Vogue 1098 Anne Klein, and the top is a shorter version of the dress from Vogue 1120 DKNY - so only a small amount of silk was required.  I guess you can tell I didn't iron this - but again, no one commented on it all day and I am an appalling ironer so I thought it best not to even try.  I think I usually get this top dry cleaned (!!shock).

The original posts linked above have more close-up pictures; in the interests of a short post I won't repeat them here - though I will show you why I keep standing in these silly hands on hips poses:

It seems to work for them! I wonder if stand like this for the family snaps too?