Wool Knits and Jalie Patterns

So back in November (maybe?) when FabricMartFabrics.com had their big sale on wool knits, I bought ....and astonishing amount of yardage from them.  Which I then proceeded to make woolen warm clothes for the whole family.  I got a combination of jerseys, interlocks, and ponte knits, all of them almost 100% wool.  A little itchy, like all wools but the most cozy merinos, but for $8-$12 a yard, who's complaining?

I used mostly Jalie patterns, as I am in love with their fit and all those sizes. One of the first Jalie patterns I ever bought was 2328, their men's thermal underwear pattern. I've used it countless times for either my husband or one of my three boys.  I've got the paper pattern which is no longer available. It's still available off the Jalie website as a download, however.

Here it is in a heathered gray wool ponte knit.  I used the three yards I bought of this fabric for a pair of leggings for me, one for DD, and one for DIL as well as this pair of thermal pants for one of my sons.

I also made a whole lot of shirts for my sons and husband using Jalie 2918. No pics of those, but there's only so much to see.  It's a t-shirt. Nuff said.

For DIL, I made this matching set of leggings and Jalie 2806 the gathered scoop neck top.  I made a whole lot of these for myself a couple of years ago.  These are made of wool/lycra jersey in a gorgeous periwinkle.  Not my color, but it looks fabulous on her.  The leggings I made from a pattern copied from a pair of leggings she already has that she likes the fit.

Apologies for the crummy pictures.  Laying things out on the floor is not my preferred way of displaying my creations, but it's snowing and blowing outside and kinda dim and dreary inside.

All in all, since November, I made alot of tops and pants for all the members of the family.  Good thing, too, 'cuz it's been coooold this year.

Fitted Blouse with North American Smocking

I started working on this shirt on the opening day of the Fitted Blouse Contest on PatternReview.com and I finished on Saturday.  That means it took me 22 days from beginning to end. Not bad.  Not bad at all.  And I am oh, so pleased with the North American Smocking effect on the midriff.

The fabric is a medium wright stretch linen from Fabric.com.  The pattern is Jalie 2322 Women's Shirt.  Essentially, I eliminated all but the horizontal bust dart, and instead used the smocking to shape the waist.  The side seams are slightly curved for added shaping.  I added about 3 inches of length so the shirt would be too short after the smocking ate up its requisite 20%.  And I added a bit of length to the sleeves as well.  I've made this shirt before with the same fabric in reversed colors and I found that it shrank quite a bit with successive washings.  The closures are cap anorak snaps in antique bronze.

I saw this smocking technique for the first time on the Lilacs and Lace blog.  Laura Mae used it to make an evening bag, and I thought it was just amazing.  I was stunned by how beautiful, useful, and simple this technique could be.  I did a small trial sample with a scrap piece of shirting that was lying around.  I intentionally chose stripes so I could see just how the fabric was being manipulated.  Genius.  Absolute genius!  The tutorial for this can be found at Le blog de Gédane in both English and French, but the pictures are pretty self-explanatory.

What I learned from this is that there is an approximate 20% loss in both width and height of the smocked area.  But here's the cool part:  the smocked area is elastic!  Obviously, you don't get the full width or height at maximum stretch, but you get some.  And of course if you pull too hard, you'll snap the stitches that make the whole thing work.  But it still has some mechanical stretch.

What to do with this marvelous discovery?  Obviously, it was time to make a shirt.

I started by cutting the fronts and stitching the horizontal bust darts.  Then I marked the wrong sides with the grid and lines for stitching the smocking.  I left about 1/2 inch unsmocked for the side seam (this pattern uses 1/4 inch seam allowances) and enough room at center front for the front facings.

I actually removed the front self facings.  As you will see, the smocking is going to gather along the center front.  Separate facings were necessary to handle all that gathering.

Here it is partially complete.  It takes a few rows to see the basket weave begin to form, but once it does, it is so exciting.

The front is complete.

Now on to the back.  You can see in this picture how the smocked area appears recessed in relation to the rest of the fabric.

 Inside the shirt you can see the bajillion little hand stitches I took to make this thing work.  I haven't decided what to do with the thread tails yet.  Next time I do this I'm going to secure each fold with a lockstitch.  That'll get rid of all the thread tails and work just as well as long as I leave enough thread between each stitch to allow for the mechanical stretch.  These knots are simple square knots that have then been secured with Aleen's Jewel-It embellishing glue.  It's intended for glueing rhinestones and such to fabric, but I find it just makes a good glue.  I like to use the Aleen's because it's not scratchy at all and has a lot of flexibility.

After all this it was typical shirt assembly.  Had a bit of trouble with the stretch linen in the collar and cuffs, but just the normal stuff you'd expect with a stretch woven.

I like how well the shirt goes with my cargo pants of last year.

The areas of smocking meet at the side seams for a continuous band of smocking all around the waist.

I could've hoped for a slightly better transition between the two pieces at the side seams, but hey! for an experiment I think this is pretty good.

If that bit of extra length in the sleeves doesn't shrink out, I'm going to smock a few basket weave bands on the sleeves, too.  But I'm virtually certain the dreaded shrinking will occur.

Twinkle Toes and Tshirts

Here's the wool socks and the fleece slippers, elegant aren't they?  They both have gotten a workout already.  Daughter wears the slippers every single day.  She's definitely going to need one or two new pair before this New England winter is over.

And Youngest Son's long sleeved tshirts are finally finished, too.  It's so hard to make interesting clothes for boys.  There just isn't that much variation in boys' clothing.  The pattern for all of these is Jalie 2918 Men's Tshirts.  A very nice, well-drafted pattern.  I used a size slightly bigger than his measurements, so a little room to grow.  I like the length on these.  Kid's shirts always seem to be too short for Youngest Son, but this pattern fits fantastic.

All the seams are serged, and the hems, sleeve hems, and necklines have all been coverstitched.  This is the technique I've been using to make t-shirts from time immemorial and I rarely have any trouble with it.  Occasionally one of the children will pull too hard on the hems or neck opening and pop the coverstitching.  It's pretty rare, so I haven't bothered to change the way I do things.  I guess if I really wanted to make them last, I'd put wooly nylon in the loopers.

This one on the left is a chocolate cotton/lycra -- probably from Fabric.com -- with organic cotton ribbing -- definitely from Fabric.com -- for the neckline.









The one on the right is brown organic cotton jersey with conventional organic green cotton jersey for the stripe and organic cotton rib knit for the neckline.




Here we have brown organic cotton ribbing and charcoal conventional cotton ribbing.  The color block seams really wanted to ripple on this one, but a session with my iron settled that rebellion.

The one on the left is a plain gray cotton ribbing.








This one on the right is camel and brown organic cotton jersey with brown organic cotton ribbing.








Not very exciting, I know, but sometimes the sewing just isn't that exciting.  I want to make a few Christmas gifts next, so those should be a little more interesting.

A Week in Plain Sewing

Sometimes you've just got to bite the bullet and do all that sewing you've been putting off because it's boring.  That was last weekend for me.  Several pairs of thermal pants and many, many t-shirts were at the top of the priority list, so I got out my trusty Jalie patterns, a pile of knit fabrics, and my 45mm rotary cutter and got started.

First I cut out thermal pants using Jalie 2328 Mens Thermal Underwear.  I think this is the very first pattern of Jalie's that I ever bought.  Oddly enough, I vaguely remember not liking it at first, but I can't for the life of me imagine why.  I was probably expecting something unrealistic.

In any event, this pattern gets my unqualified approval, regardless of my first impression (thereby proving that first impressions aren't always accurate, right?).  The tops fit well, the pants are well designed.  If you have men who work outside in the wintertime, and your winter is anything like New England's (or worse!) this is a great pattern to have. 

A really long time ago, I worked in a textile factory making, you guessed it, thermal underwear!  A before that I worked in a factory making, you guessed it again, long-sleeved knit shirts!  Um, so I've sewn pieces like these alot.  Like thousands of times.  So I feel like I'm a good judge of this kind of pattern.

I cut out three pair from some nice cotton thermal knit that I found at JoAnn's a few years ago.  Two of them are sewn and the last is waiting patiently to be assembled.

Assembly time: less than one-half hour.

After those, I started working on long sleeved tees for Youngest Son.  For these I chose Jalie 2918 Men's T-Shirts.  I haven't used this pattern at all yet, so I'm walking into unknown territory.  What I do know is that Jalie has been very reliable over the years, so I have no reason to expect disappointment. 

I started with the size that matched his measurements, but Youngest Son has got rather broad shoulders.  Made with a cotton rib knit, it fits in the chest, sleeve length is good, overall length is good, but the shoulders just don't quite fit.  I don't think it's the pattern though.  I think it's going to be a standard alteration on all patterns for Youngest Son.  This first tee is wearable, but it won't be long before he grows out of it.  I love how forgiving knits can be.

Next pattern tracing: Size up by 2 sizes to accommodate the shoulder broadness. 

Should have at least 3 or 4 of these tees finished by the end of the day.

So that's what I've been up to.  I do get tired of sewing practical items sometimes, but I get alot of satisfaction knowing that a great many pieces of my family's clothing have come from my hands.  That makes it all worth it.

Mini Wardrobe -- Finished Contest Entry Safari Style

So here it is:  My finished contest entry.  Safari style extravaganza!  If you're a PatternReview.com member, you can vote for your favorite mini wardrobe.  Check out all the entries.  So many people have done such a fantastic job.  It was a real pleasure to chat with them on the message board for the whole trip.

The tank top is a modified Kwik Sew 2517.  It would have to be -- that pattern is actually a dress.  I've made this tank top lots of times and I really love it.  For this one, I used the original armhole curve, but I've also modified the pattern to make a racerback tank top as well.

The pants are Jalie 2908 stretch jeans.  For these, I added expanding cargo pockets to the back and thighs and narrowed the pants legs so they'll fit smoothly into my boots.  I love these pants.  I wore them all day yesterday and they are oh-so-comfy.

The button down shirt is Jalie 2322 done in a stretch linen.  Also a comfortable fabric.  I wish I'd bought more than just enough for one shirt.

And the vest is Butterick 5616 made in the same stretch sateen as the pants.  With extra pockets.








I am really loving all of these outfits.  Different shoes give a whole different look to them, too.

Well, It's Not Glamorous...

...but it is a nice tank top.

It seems like I live in tank tops.  I can always throw a nicer shirt on over the top if I need to.  Or a sweater when I get cold.  Or a jacket.  Or I can wear it alone when I'm cooking, or baking, or washing dishes.  Or digging in the garden for that matter.  Because I really hate trying to roll up my sleeves when I'm up to the elbows in either flour, or dishwater, or dirt.

This is the second piece of my mini wardrobe.  And it's not glamorous.  But neither is my wardrobe really.  And neither am I.  So it suits me perfectly.

It's not that I don't like glamorous.  I do.   Alot.  It's just that I promised myself that this mini wardrobe is going to consist of things that I'm going to wear to death.  This tank top is going to have little bits of broken lycra poking out all over the place before I throw it out.  And my linen shirt is going to have holes in the elbows -- or at least I'm going to spill something on it that I can't get out (and I'm pretty good with stains so it's going to have to be a dilly).  Of course, I haven't been able to get out permanent marker.  Anybody know how to get permanent marker out of cotton twill?

But I digress.  The point, Trinity.  Get back to the point.  The point is this is two pieces down, and two to go.  And five days left.  I know I can do the vest in about 5 hours or so.  The pants might be a little more challenging.

Wish me luck.  I'm going to try and get both pieces done before Monday.  Hey, I got my entry in to the One Pattern Many Looks contest back in February with a whole seven minutes to spare.  I still think I can do it.

First Wardrobe Piece -- Jalie 2322 Women's Button Down Shirt

Okay, so I'm a little slow moving on this wardrobe contest thing.  But I am making progress.  Though, I have to confess, I don't think I'm going to get all four pieces done in time for the contest deadline.  Don't get me wrong, I haven't given up hope.  I still intend to keep working away.  I might be able to make it yet.

I do have the first piece done.  It's Jalie 2322.  I've made this pattern once before and I wear that shirt all the time.  This one is also likely to get a workout, because I really like how it turned out.  It's made with a soft stretch linen with an oh-so-subtle pinstripe.  Comfortable because of the design and the stretch of the fabric.  And Jalies fit me so well without having to do any altering, so I can wear it right out of the envelope. 

I love absolutely everything about this pattern.  Starting with the paper it's printed on.  Heavy white paper that's easy to trace and doesn't tear if you look at it too sternly.  The instructions are printed a little inconveniently, but Jalie solved that problem by making pdfs of the instructions in English and French available on their website.

 I very much like the way Jalie does their darts.  Just three dots and a measurement for how far from the edge you should sew for the center dot.  Somehow, when I do darts everybody else's way, no matter how carefully I try to mark them, I always get the alignment messed up somewhere along the line.  I don't have that problem with this method.

I like the folded over self-facings for the front closure as well.  Much nicer than sewing on a separate piece.  And the three layers give you built-in interfacing, too.

All the  pieces fit together like a dream and even the sleeves went in without a sliver of protest.  The curved hem is flattering as is the very subtle waistline shaping.  The collar has a nice shape, too.  Not to big, not too pointy.  I'm really picky about collar shapes and I'm always grumbling about them as I cut them smaller.  This size of this one is just right for my taste.

The only thing I'm on the fence about is the seam allowances.  I'm used to 1/2 or 5/8 inch seam allowances for woven fabrics, and the 3/8 inch seam allowance on this pattern was a little hard to get used to at first.  After working with it, though, I think I might even prefer the smaller seam allowance.  The collar stand was so easy to attach to the shirt, and it might have been part of the reason the sleeves were so easy to install as well.

I just finished the last buttonhole and button placement this morning and I couldn't wait to wear it.  It goes nicely with my favorite forest green Nautica cargo pants.

As for the rest of the wardrobe, the tank top is also nearly done.  I just have to change the threads on the coverstitch machine and topstitch the bindings around the neckline and the armholes.

Half way there.  Too bad I saved the hard parts for last  :o/

Back in the Sewing (and Blogging) Saddle At Last

It's been a busy few months, but I'm finally getting some sewing done.  Last night I finished the shirt for my oldest son that's been hanging on my dress form waiting for buttonholes and buttons for about three months now.  I double stitched the mock flat-felled armhole seams, partly because in my first pass I didn't catch the folded over seam allowances in some spots and partly because I wanted it to look a little different from the other two I made in this fabric. This was the last of this nice yarn-dyed stretch shirting that made such beautiful dress shirts.  Ah, shucks, I'll have to do some more fabric shopping...

I also made a whole series of pants and tees for Youngest Son.  They're not very exciting, but sometimes practical sewing takes precedence over the fanciful stuff.  Youngest Son likes the cargo pockets on these, and always tells me to be sure to put them on.  I've got OOP Jalie 2107 -- Men and Boys Pants pattern.  I think I'm going to use that one for his next pair of pants.

Youngest Son's shirt series used up of alot of my knits in earth tones -- I'm going to have to do some more searching and buying in that department, too.  I've been making raglan tees for him, but this year I decided to trace out the regular tee from Kwik Sew's Sewing for Children book.  I sized down to get rid of the enormous '80's ease and lengthened for the proper fit.  They turned out very nice, though I see that, after a few washings, I'll need to reduce the length of the neckline ribbing.  I hate it when it bunches up at the inside edge of the curve.  It's truly amazing how shortening the ribbing by just 1/4 inch can make the neckline look so much better.

That's for the boys.  I've done some sewing for Daughter, too.  But I'll get to that next time.

Jalie Scoopneck Top -- Quick and Easy...

...and oh so satisfying.

I love TNT pattern and Jalie 2806 is definitely one of them.  I've made this in lots of fabrics, but my favorite so far is the one done in cognac colored wool merino.  This one, however, is fast overtaking that one for the favored position.

I originally bought this fabric for the men of the house, thinking it (and the heathered brown I also bought) would be a good color to make winter shirts for them.  When it arrived on my doorstep, though, the fabric turned out to be thin and somewhat see-through--not what I was expected and not really good for men's shirts. But I fell in love with its graceful drape and softness to the touch -- it really doesn't feel like wool at all though it undeniably is.  It's also not nearly as see-through as I thought it would be, either.  As long as it's used in a pattern with drape, it's fine.  Once it's stretched a little, you could probably count the picots on my bra elastic.

I've gotten away from wearing black every day, and started mixing up my wardrobe with other earth tones, notably browns and reds and the occasional white.  I like this very pale heathered gray, too, and I think I'd like to have more things in this color.

I've picked up a couple of not-typical-for-me shoes and boots as well.  Some new (but on clearance) and some from the new local consignment shop.  I'll show those in another post later.

The Black Rayon Challis Print -- Remade!

I couldn't take it.  I just couldn't take it.  I couldn't allow my pretty black rayon challis remain a wadder.  Not even for one. more. day.

First thing:  I cut the skirt off the Butterick 5181 Epic Fail Dress and just made it into a regular elastic waist skirt.  That was pretty easy and basic, and I've noticed in the past that rayon challis elastic waist skirts look pretty good on me.  They don't get too full because of the drapey-ness of the rayon, and I like the way they swish.

Then:  I used the couple of pieces of fabric left over from the Butterick dress to cut the top.  The pattern I used is the very first pattern I drafted for myself, way back in 1997.  It's still my best fitting shirt pattern ever.  Probably because I spent an entire winter perfecting it. 

The result:  An outfit I'm mostly happy with.

I like the v-neck.  I like it sleeveless.  I like the virtually invisible snaps for the front closure.  What I don't like is the mistakes I made.  I'll get over them, though, since they're mostly the kind of mistakes nobody else would notice.

What really bugs me is that I neglected to take into account that the pattern was drafted for cotton, not rayon.  Which means that the darts are not quite where they should be due to the nature of the fabric.  But since it's not that visible, I don't think I want to run the risk of ripping a hole in the fabric to take them out and re-sew them.  You know how delicate rayon can be.

On a whim, I decided to sew the top with all Hong Kong finishes -- in some pink floral binding that I cut a while back for some project that I no longer remember.  So the inside is a little interesting with all that pink.  Some of it peeks out on the right side, too, but it's more interesting than distracting and I don't think it looks bad.


All in all, I think it's a successful save.  Not perfect, mind you, but good enough to make me happy.

Ravelling Buttonholes -- Yikes!

There is nothing -- and I mean nothing -- worse than making a dress shirt only to discover that the buttonholes start to unravel after the first couple of washings.  Well, okay, maybe there are lots of things worse than that, but you all know what I mean.

I've made lots of shirts for Jordan.  I've never felt like I had to do anything special to secure the threads of the buttonholes because I've never actually had one come undone.   Until now.  It's those black shirts with the woven herringbone pattern. 

They wrinkle, too.  Horribly.  But I digress.

I can fix the buttonholes. It's not a fun task, at least not to me, but I can do it.  I'd much rather do the buttonholes right the first time.

 I know lots of people use fray check, but I've never liked using fray check in buttonholes -- I just don't like fray check, I guess.  It's scratchy.  I don't like scratchy things.  So I thought I'd shoot for another solution.

When I made the olive green shirt out of this fabric, I tried pulling the top thread to the underside -- you can do this if you gently tug the bobbin thread and then grab the loop that forms -- and knotting the two together.  This holds the threads of the buttonhole together so that it can't unravel.  The only trouble was that there was these two little thread tails on every single buttonhole.


On the next shirt, I took those thread tails, threaded them onto a needle, and ran them under the stitches of the buttonhole on the underside for a quarter inch or so, and then clipped them.

Now the threads are secure and it looks good on the inside, too.

Shirtmaking -- Seam Finish Details

Yep.  I'm still working on Jordan's shirts.  But I'm making some progress.  I think once I finish the one I have almost done, I'll take a break from shirts for a little while.  Youngest Son and Daughter both could use a few new things.  As could I.

I have to say, though, all this practice has been good for me.  My shirt making skills are definitely improved since last year.  Every new shirt goes a little faster, my technique gets a little better, and the finished product is a little nicer.

And I've been telling myself that I need a flat felled foot if I ever want a decent flat felled seam on the sleeve cap of these shirts.  But after this last shirt, I no longer believe that's true.  This was done just by ironing really, really carefully and scrunching up the excess fabric at the sleeve cap.  Boy, am I proud of this flat felled seam! 

I love it when the seam finish is so nice, you have to look twice to be sure the shirt isn't inside out!

Shirtmaking -- Collar Details

As you know already, I make lots of shirts for my oldest son to wear to work.  This week, I decided to try David Coffin's technique for attaching the collar and collar stand, as detailed in his book, Shirtmaking.

Rather than the traditional home sewing method of attaching the collar to the collar stand and then sewing the collar stand to the neck opening, Coffin's book details how to stitch the collar stand to the shirt first and then attach the collar to the stand.  I like this approach because it allows you greater control over the positioning of the collar in relation to the center front.

I have to admit, though, that I have some trouble controlling the bulk that is formed where the collar stand is joined to the shirt front.  I just can't seem to get a nice crisp corner there.  It looks okay.  I guess.  But I'm not entirely pleased with the roundedness of that corner.  I definitely like the look of the conventional method better, even if it is pretty hard to get the collar stand seam to line up just so with the front edge.

This side looks a little better, more like what I was hoping for.  Maybe it's just that I need some more practice with this new technique.  In many ways it's easier to get the topstitching to look more professional, but in other ways it's definitely more difficult.  The collar still doesn't have that nice, clearly defined right angle like it gets when the conventional method, though.  I'm not entirely sure that it's possible.  I'm a little disappointed that David's book doesn't include more closeup pictures of his shirts' details.

So, do you do shirt collars and how do you sew them?  Have you ever tried David Coffin's method and what do you think?

Simplicity 4022 -- First Version Finished!

It's more of a wearable muslin, I suppose, since I like the way it turned out, but it's definitely not perfect.  It's only a muslin, though, since the sewing was a little more complicated than I expected, the pattern pieces didn't fit together as nicely as I'd like, and I got bored putting the zipper in so the midriff bands at center back don't match up properly.  I was also too lazy to finish the seams.

And the pattern isn't really designed for a stripe, (since the midriff bands are a little curved) and it shows.



I'll be making the for-real version next, with a few small alterations.  The style is nice, and the front gathering doesn't make me look pregnant like is so often the case with patterns similar to this.

 I like the neckline, though I may raise it just a tad.  On the other hand, it looks nice with my butterfly cameo, so I may just leave it alone.  It's a little lower cut than I usually wear, but I think I'm okay with that.

What I will do, however, is change the construction techniques.  I like the way the front panel is set into the side fronts, but I don't really like the way the rest of the lining pieces or the midriff band is attached.  Simplicity has you complete the lined bodice before attaching the midriff band, and I think I'd rather attach the midriff band to the lining and the shell separately and then join everything together.  And I will set the sleeves in flat, since I really don't like circular sleeve setting and only do it when I absolutely have to, like with two piece sleeves.

I'm going to take out some of the sleeve cap ease, since the sleeve have a bit than is strictly necessary, and I had to put the right sleeve in a couple of times to take it all up.  I really see no need for so much ease, since my other shirts fit just fine with less.

I also need to lengthen the midriff bands (or at least find out what the problem was) since I had to do an awful lot of easing to get the pieces to fit together.  I think the midriff pieces simply aren't long enough, but I'm going to check that first before I make any assumptions.

I'm also going to use an invisible zipper instead of a lapped one, mostly because I don't have a matching zipper for the fabric I want to use, but I do have an invisible one.

The fabric will be a nice black rayon printed with tiny peach flowers.  Very pretty, but I can't take a picture right now since it's currently in the washing machine :o)

I'm also thinking this will look really cute as a shorter length dress.  If I have enough of the black fabric, I might just add 18 inches or so to the length and turn this into one.

Burda Men's Shirt

Finally some pics of the shirt that I made for Oldest Son.  He likes these shirts hip length since he doesn't tuck them in.  I found that the interfacing that I bought from Fashion Sewing Supply for the cuffs and collar performed beautifully after washing.  They're both still nice and crisp and will hopefully remain that way.

The next shirt for him is in an olive green stripe.  I've made so many of these shirts for him so far that you'd think I could do it in my sleep.  But no.  I still have to be careful and do each step by the book.

PR Menswear Contest Day 5 and a New Project

Almost finished with my son's shirt.  All that's left is to sew the buttonholes and sew on the buttons.  Five days from beginning to end is not bad.  Not bad at all.

What I'd like to make next is this coat from Orvis.  I just bought some awesome 50%wool/50% acrylic olive green suiting from Fabric.com (sadly out of stock, but I got 10 yards, woo hoo!) that is perfect for this jacket.  I also have a stock of leather scraps in a couple different shades of brown, so I should have all the supplies on hand.  What I haven't been able to locate are those cool bone buttons -- I'm probably going to have to compromise on those.

I have two Burda patterns that I'm going to morph into this jacket.  Burda 7704 and Burda 8186. 

I'll use 7704 for the collar (which I'm going to have to widen and shorten) and the patch pocket placement (and therefore the seam which I think those front pockets are sewn into).

And I'll use 8186 for the breast pocket placement (and therefore the placement of the leather shoulder patches), the bottom front hem and the back vent. 

There's no back view of this jacket on the Orvis website, but it looks like there's a back yoke as well.  For that part, I'm going to have to wing it.

I'm not sewing this coat for the Men's Wear contest -- I really don't think that 10 days is nearly enough time to tweak the patterns, make the muslin, and sew the coat.  Well, not without completely ignoring the rest of my life, anyway.  But, of course if by some miracle it does get done before the deadline, well...

I washed the wool today, and it is now hanging to dry.  So it's on to finishing the shirt.  I've reviewed this shirt already, so then it's just a matter of taking a pic, editing my review, and submitting the entry to the contest.  Yay!  I actually did it!

PR Menswear Contest Day 1

Today is the opening day of the Pattern Review Menswear Contest.  This means that the entrants can begin working on projects for the contest. I got the fabric pieces cut out for my Oldest Son's next dress shirt.  I decided to start with the gray stripe, but I'm tempted to cut the olive/cream, too so that's it's all ready to sew when I finish the gray.


It always feels like it's a good sign when I get some progress made on Day 1.

Simplicity Tunic Finished!

I did indeed get both my projects finished in January.  This is A. Good. Thing.

Here's Simplicity 2852, the knit tunic.  I made this in a size 6 (the smallest size in the envelope and my usual size for tops).  The fabric is a premium cotton lycra/knit purchased from Fabric.com a couple of years ago.  This is View E, which is also the one in the sample photo on the envelope front.

I'm going to start by saying this:  I never really understood why pattern companies make patterns for knits...and then treat them like wovens.  I just don't get it. 

Case in point: This top has a kind of a neat yoke, interestingly constructed with a front yoke, back yoke, and shoulder straps.  All these yoke pieces get interfaced (with fusible tricot) which thereby eliminates most of the stretch of the fabric.  Doesn't matter, though, because the neckline is large enough to slip over your head anyway.  The sleeve caps also have ease.  In a knit?  *sigh*

Those things said, I actually like this pattern.  Everything did go together beautifully and painlessly -- well except setting the sleeves was a little funky, I really didn't expect sleeve cap ease.

I like the bell sleeves on this, but I do wish the body of the tunic had a tad more shaping.

All in all, this turned out to be a pretty nice tunic.  It really looks best on me with a close fitting pair of pants, so I may have to make a pair or two to go with it.  It looks fine with my jeans for now, I guess.

I'd like to try View B yet.  That has the bell sleeves and the jewel neckline with the front shirring.  Not sure when I'll get to that, but it is on my project list.