Clovers and Pattern Options

These are my Clovers, by Collette Patterns. And I've gotta tell you, I do love these pants. Even better than the other Anne Klein Vogue pattern that I've made. These are made from cotton twill. No lycra. I like a little lycra, but it's really hard to find a nice pants weight with lycra in my neck of the woods. Therefore, if you do use a non-streatch,  you  have to give yourself a little more wearing ease

I made them according to my measurements, which meant I cut a 12, through the waist and tapered to a 10 through the hips and legs...that's right, my middle aged thicker waist and narrow hips.

That was the only modification I made.  I had an accidental modification when I put the slot pockets in the back, instead of the front. But that's okay. They are kinda cute that way!

I think with a few more fit tweaks ( or, more like fabric tweaks) these will be a great basic pant that can be the basis for many styles.

Wearing a Simplicity jacket I made, and a thrifted top.

So, now that these are checked off my list,

I’m ready for another sewing surge.

On my new list of things to do?

1.       The black eyelet dress (using the Lisette Traveler pattern)

2.       Renfrew tops…probably in multiples

3.       A couple of Weekender Sunshine Tops for layering

4.       Another pair of Clovers, made from some cute, cute, cute stretch orange gingham that
            I found for about $3 a yard

5.       A popover shirt ( I love that name…I saw several on the J Crew site. So cute) , using
            Hot Patterns Plain and Simple Superfantastic Shirt pattern.

6.       A chambray top like the one I saw on Cabi.

Wow, now that I look at it, that’s a lot of independent pattern companies!  I love having the option of the Big Four AND independent companies. It’s great to have  budget friendly patterns always available, especially when you can stock up when Joann’s has those ridiculous .99, 1.99 and 3.99 prices. But I do love the independents, too. My first awareness of them ( other than Amy Butler) was when I started listening to Lori’s podcasts after I returned to sewing and started to take my garment sewing very seriously. I tried Hot Patterns and was a huge fan. And I’ve sewn Serendipity patterns last summer with good success. Most recently, I jumped on the Collette bandwagon, and I have to say again, I love these Clovers. I also have the Jasmine top in my collection, along with the book. Oh, yes…the 

Collette Sewing Handbook... oh, yes, The  Book.

The newest pattern I’ve acquired is the Renfrew top from Sewaholic. And I have to say, I’m pretty excited to work on this one. Who couldn’t use a good, basic tee shirt top? And, no doubt, you’ve been seeing all the test pattern buzz around her newest Cambie dress pattern. SO cute!

How do you get chosen to test sew patterns? I would LOVE to be able to do that!

I have pre-ordered my Gertie book, which I’m super excited about. And I’ve been taking a look at Victory patterns, too.

I guess the thing that’s super cool about all of this is that we have options. And there are a slew of very talented people out there to give us those options.

While I’ve never been afraid to alter a pattern or re-make something, I am ever amazed at these right brain designers who can draft patterns, which is so  technical and left brain.

What are your thoughts on sewing patterns? Are you loyal to any particular type? Does pricing impact how you choose a pattern? What are your favorite independent pattern designers?

Bye Bye Birdie?

We really had a nice trip.  Sleeping on the train was, well, like sleeping on a train.  But we will do it again because it saved us from those extra travel days that we need for driving.  Arriving Friday somewhat rested, we so enjoyed our visit with Amelia and Jake and Jameson.  After a busy and fun weekend (which included Portillos, of course, and even a Cubs game!) we said our goodbyes with many tears and boarded that same train back to Buffalo.

Coming home to a quiet house was nice, but a little sad, too. The activities of babies and kids is always entertaining and so I miss not only the Chicago baby, but all of our grandchildren every day.

Birdie may be making a transition to  life with babies and kids. She always stays with Meghan’s family when we go away, and a little grandboy named Levon is head over heels in love with her. 

In addition to some phone photo updates, we got a text from Megan while we were away:

“ok,  so the joint custody arrangement will be as follows: I will keep Birdie during the week while you are at work. You may have her every other weekend and for 2 weeks during the summer, but not 2 consecutive weeks.”

Suddenly we find ourselves smack in the middle of a custody battle. Birdie was rescued from an uncertain future when we adopted her two years ago, and she has become a happy, happy dog, who loves to be around people. And I am left wondering if the unselfish thing to do is to allow her an even happier future, around lots of people.  Birdie does love their family and is so content to run around the farm, plant the garden with Meghan and be a constant companion to the boys. She is never alone. She is trained and social and is a bred to be wonderful consort, so Birdie is a known entity for their family…we will always be able to see her.

And I cried last night at the thought of saying goodbye. Are my tears enough of a reason to hold on to her?

Some of this, and a little of that...

The new Philosophy Summer Grace is amazing. I got some for Katie for her birthday, then had to go ahead and stock up on some shower gel, body lotion and fragrance for myself. It's perfectly lovely. And summery. I have never worn perfume. It gives me headaches. Then I became a Pure Grace fan because of it's light fresh, clean scent. So it was a nice surprise to find that I could wear this scent. It makes me feel like a girl.

JR bought a 1963 Singer sewing machine in a very, very cool cabinet. The machine works beautifully, and we are going to remake the cabinet into a little desk. The drawers were chock full of vintage sewing notions and all sorts of goodies. All for the amazing price of $9.99!

I am working on a pair of Clover's. Finally! They are a pretty cobalt blue with the most adorable little pockets!

Meghan, David and the boys came over last night for dinner. I just love those boys. Augie and I found a pattern to make a knitted Finn the Human doll, and he made me promise that when I went on my train trip I would be knitting Finn the whole time. AND that I would send progress pictures along the way!

We had great fun going through the yarn stash to find all of the perfect colors! Won't he be a fun little travel knitting project? 

Sofia let me paint her toenails! One foot purple, the other foot red. She just looked at them and looked at them, and said, "I have beautiful ponynails, Mimi. I look like a princess."

My serger needs to go to the serger guy again. And I am really thinking I need to save my money to get a new one. So, while I know everyone has their favorites, can you all share your serger love? I'm thinking an under $500 model is what I can afford. I'd love to hear your feedback.

Time to go watch Survivor and knit Finn!

Well, I'm wearing them.

I cannot emphasize enough that my jeans are not a technical marvel, nor are they a seamstress' perfection, but I am wearing them today. And I'm happy to say that this vision that I have had in my mind ever since I saw the Cabi Bootlet Jeans last fall, has sort of become a reality this morning!

I adore them. I think they are just the cutest little jeans ever. So, since I  miscut this pair of  test jeans, the shorter length ended up being a perfect fix.

I dare not show you the top of the jeans, with the misplaced button, horrid fly front and pocket placement that only accentuates my flat butt.  But trust me when I tell you the fit is fine, other than just another minor adjustment to the waist to crotch depth , which, duh, I didn't even think about until I saw the 

Silhouette Patterns Webcasts about fitting jeans. (thanks to Debbie, a reader, who turned me on to this online treasure)

So, I dare say, I'm going to do it again. Now that I've worked out most of the issues and understand the construction, I can say with certainty that the time was worth it this week. I will make a pair of jeans that will fit this narrow-hipped, thick-waisted, short and flat-butted body of mine!

And I will wear this little cropped jeans today because even if they are not the prettiest things under that long top, they fit well and are comfortable and will be perfect for getting a pedicure with my two favorite girls on the face of the earth....my daughters! 

Jeans and Trains

Okay. My jeans are a hot mess. And my serger blade is dull, which really messes up the works. But these are practice jeans, and despite the setbacks, I think I’m getting somewhere! It may not look like it, but I did have had some lightbulb moments this week:

1.  I can make jeans that fit and flatter. I really am most concerned that these stash fabric jeans have the fit issues worked out. which, I think is happening.


2.  After pulling out the fly AGAIN, I’m really left with an unsightly disaster up front. But I have been led in the direction of some fly front tutorials:

Debbie Cook, Peter from MPB, and (while not a tutorial), Katie shared her favorite fly front recipe from Jalie Jeans, so I was able to print the instructions from their site to use the next time around.. I see better fly fronts in my future.

This is not a nice fly.

          

3.  I played around with the idea of a “tummy tuck” panel, and have been exploring some options like extending the pocket linings to the fly or adding an extra bit of structure by way of a separate panel, so I think that will definitely be an element in my future jeans.  

4. I have learned that some combination of denim weight + lycra content are essential to getting a good fit. My fabric did not give good jeans support. I would choose something sturdier.

5.  I need a different foot for topstitching. I think using a narrow foot would be a much better option, especially when topstitching around that fly front mine field of zipper pulls, fly facings and zipper stops. I have the feeling it will give me a little better control.

6. Today, I bought a pair of jeans at Old Navy which fit nicely. I will wear them, and use them as my muse for future jeans sewing endeavors.

     And in other news:

The best thing happened the other day at work. One of our social workers was showing off pictures of her new granddaughter, and I was showing off pictures of my newest grandbabies, and as we chatted, we learned that her Chicago daughter lives about 10 minutes from our Chicago daughter! In fact, as we talked more, she shared that she always takes the train, and then the Metra to the Glen Ellyn station, which is exactly where Amelia lives! As she told me about her train travel experiences, she mentioned she was going again for her baby’s christening in May. The SAME weekend that we are going for our baby’s christening!

So, JR and I are taking the train! I am very, very excited! It’s a brand new adventure for us and seriously makes the most perfect sense since it would cost far more for us to drive, and two extra days of driving time! And my new friend Ellie is going to be riding along both ways with us!

We get to (hopefully) sleep all night and arrive the next morning in Chicago! Needless to say, I am thinking about what I might need to take along for the train ride, and planning an easy to pack weekend wardrobe again.

source

Have you ever taken a long distance train trip? What things should I absolutely not forget to bring along?

Jeans vs. Me

Gosh, I could think of so many fun things I could have been doing the past few evenings. Let's see...
I could paint my toenails,
read a book,
knit,
bake cinnamon buns,
scrub the toilets,
do laundry,
pull my fingernails out one by one...

But, NO....I decide to try to make jeans. Now, mind you, I'm sure, somewhere in my past history, I have actually purchased a pair of jeans that fit. Especially in these days of spandex and shape-sizing and a zillion different options for jeans. But, jeans were on the Spring Wardrobe Challenge, and by golly, I decided to give it the old college try.  After all, I like a challenge. And I like to sew. And I like jeans.

And I have Butterick 5682 and all of those girls look great in their jeans, right?

SO far,
I miscut my pattern so these will be cropped jeans.
I used a denim with 3% lycra that I've had in my stash. Have you ever tried to topstitch on denim with 3% lycra?
And speaking of top-stitching, I ran out of top-stitch thread and couldn't find a match, so the front of my jeans are top-stitched a different color than the back of my jeans, but hey... maybe that could be intentional, right? They are custom jeans.
I've burnt my arm on my iron,
taken out the fly about 4 times, the last time making a hole in the fabric with my seam ripper,
which made me decide that just maybe these jeans need to be distressed so it looks like that hole is intentional.

And all the while I'm thinking of a 30% off coupon at Kohls where I could spend 6 hours trying on 50 pairs of jeans and it just may be less painful and less time consuming than what I'm doing now.

But I will not give up. No sir. I make my own clothes. I can make my own jeans! I will win this battle of the denim!

But did you know that you have to change your thread about every five minutes? These could take awhile.
Oh, and I have rivets, too.

Does anyone like making jeans?

Other people's junk

During the years I was making dolls and had to hunt for vintage textiles, I would go to the flea market at 4:30am on Sundays with my flashlight, and stop at every garage sale I would come across. Never fail, I would always find a little something extra for myself. So, it’s no surprise that as JR and I are shopping flea markets, auctions and thrift stores to find things for our first antiques and flea market show, I would find a little something for myself.

Some of my favorite finds over the past few weeks?

A glass chandelier ( I want to keep it SOOOOOO badly…my husband and I are still in negotiations over this one)

A cloth Moravian star chandelier ( all handmade! It’s the quirkiest, coolest thing ever…for $5!)

A set of amazing green glass dishes

A clock radio, straight out of the sixties, which proudly sits in our kitchen with it’s static-y stations until it moves to our 1961 Scotty camper.

And how adorable is this vintage baby scale? 

A vintage sailboat pitcher.

And my turquoise Spring coat, which started as a Dennis Basso “too-large” coat and after a few alterations, has become another favorite! It certainly has a 50's opera coat style to it. 

That is why I love other peoples’ junk.