Jumping on the checkered clothing bandwagon - McCall 5273 pants

I have had this grey/black checkered cotton knit since 2009. I bought it at a liquidation sale at a local fabric store and hadn't really used it. It's slightly stretchy with a firm hand. It's a bit heavy to use for spring and summer. So this Fall I decided to use it for a pair of slim pants.

I have noticed how popular checkered fabrics seem to be this Fall/Winter. Many high end designers and high street labels have produced checkered pants, dresses, tops and jackets this season. I guess I'm jumping on the checkered bandwagon too, while busting my fabric stash from 2009! Yoohoo!!

I used my altered McCall's 5273 close fitting pull-on pants pattern. I knew that they would not be leggings-like. I just wanted them to be slim knit pants that I can wear under tunics. And here is the result:

The pants don't look that great as is but under a tunic they seem okay (excuse the wrinkles on the tunic - I had been wearing it all day):

I'm happy with them. They are slim fitting which means they will fit into winter boots easily and I can also wear them with flats. I guess I'm on the checkered trend now!

A quick look at the New Vogue Sewing Patterns

I haven't bought brand new sewing patterns for almost 2 years now. But I still enjoy looking at the new patterns online when they become available. I would try to see if there were any new styles that I liked and how I would adapt my existing patterns to recreate something similar.

The new Vogue Winter/Holiday patterns just came out and I am a bit disappointed in general. There wasn't anything in particular that attracted me.

This one looks a bit baggy and odd. Even the model doesn't seem comfortable in this herself...

This one seems to be an 80's rehash with some unfortunate fabric.......

This one can be cute.....

I know this is supposed to be artsy but the shape of the jacket may not be the most flattering for most....

This one I can probably copy easily with existing patterns. I heard that checker/plaid fabrics are big this season and I have this big red/black plaid wool in my stash.....

This one could be cute but the fabric is a bit unfortunate again.....

I noticed that the Vogue sewing patterns are not as interesting these days as they were say 10 years ago when I first started sewing. Too bad. I really missed the quality designer patterns.....

(Source for all photos: http://voguepatterns.mccall.com/)

I met another sewist in my neighbourhood!! Hurah!

I had been complaining about not being able to meet anyone who sews in my neighbourhood for a while. And now I have met one! I met her at my local thrift store where I was buying some vintage patterns for my toddler. She was lining up behind me at the cash register. She saw my patterns and asked if I wanted her used ones. She is a vibrant grandma who sews for her kids and her granddaughter. Of course I said yes please! We met up later and she gave me a bunch of toddler patterns and we chatted. She seems just as happy to meet up with someone who sews too! I hope I can keep this sewing friendship going and she doesn't find me too annoying! LOL!

Now if I can find more sewing buddies in my generation in my neighbourhood.....

Refashion: Toddler Boy's pants to Toddler Girl's pants

I made these forest green sweat pants for my son a few years ago. He grew out of it and the pants were passed onto my daughter. Now they have become too short for my daughter. So I rummaged through my fabric scraps box and created a pair of longer, more girlish looking sweat pants for her.

First, I used my trusty seam ripper to ripped out the stitches at the bottom of the pant leg. I found some hot pink ribbed knit scraps in my stash.

I cut 2 rectangular pieces of ribbed knit and sewed them together into 2 tubes. Then I folded the tubes into halves and attached it to the bottom of the pant legs:

I sewed them on and then realized that the former stitch line of the hem was still very visible. I would have liked to attach some cute pink ribbon or rickrack to cover that stitch line. However, I didn't have any in my stash. So I just used a hot pink thread and sewed a tight satin stitch to cover that line as decoration.

I noticed that the ribbed knit tubes were a bit long on the pants so I just folded them up. Voila! Another pair of pants for my toddler daughter for this Fall/Winter!

Pattern Review: Butterick 4930 (altered) jacket

I'm still using existing fabric stash and pattern stash for new sewing projects. This pattern is from 2006 and actually for a coat. I don't remember why I bought it because it's really shapeless but for a coat I guess it's okay. I made the short version in size M with modifications.

I have had this hot pink thick cotton sweatershirt fabric in my stash for a long time. I thought I could make a jacket for layering in the Fall/Winter. I am not really a pink clothing person but I thought the bright colour could brighten up my black and grey Fall/Winter wardrobe.

The pattern is super simple with no darts anywhere. It was supposed to have this puffy peter pan collar which I thought would be to fussy and childish looking on my short frame so I omitted it. I knew the pattern would be boxy and shapeless so I added back darts to give it some shape.   I intended the jacket for layering thus I didn't want anything too fitted (it's difficult to see the back darts in the picture). I added black shiny buttons from my stash to jazz it up a little. I think it looks okay but hubby thinks it makes me look stumpy. Perhaps the big wide sleeves are to blame? What do you think?

Refashion: a quick and simple velvet jacket transformation

I love the look of velvet jackets for Fall/Winter. They just look so elegant and versatile (can be dressed up and down). I bought this boxy brown cotton velvet jacket in my local thrift store last year. Its oh-so-soft fabric and the low price of $7.99 drew me to it. Little did I know that it would cost me almost twice that price to dry clean it! Oh man!

The jacket is a bit boxy for my body and the sleeves are a bit too long. So I just shortened the cuffs by 3cm, changed the boring brown plastic buttons to brass-look military style buttons, moved the buttons further in by 1.5cm and voila, a much better fit for me. Although the refashion/alteration was minimal, I think it looks better on me now:

Yay! Another quick and easy refashion and a new wearable item in my wardrobe for this Fall/Winter!

Refashion: Too small suede skirt....my first time sewing suede!

Just when I said I didn't wear skirts a lot these days in my last post - here is another skirt refashion! I thrifted this too small suede skirt last year. I am not usually a leather/suede clothing person. But I liked the colour of this skirt and at this low price, I thought I could learn to sew with suede. If it didn't turn out wearable I could always disassemble it and make a purse!

The skirt was so tight that I couldn't even put it on. I laid it down on the floor and measured it with the Vogue 8126 skirt I just made. I needed to add about 8 cm in width from waist to hem in order for me to put it on.

1. First I disassembled the whole skirt with my trusty seam ripper: waistband, lining, side seams.

2. Then I used some remnant black ponte knit and cut two 6 cm wide strips. I attached them to the side seams with leather needles. (NOTE: I had to buy Leather needles. I tried using a Jean needle and it didn't work at all. The Leather needle had no problems whatsoever. I was able to sew at at regular pace with the leather needle.)

 3. I then trimmed everything to length. I don't usually look good with waistbands so I just omitted it and cut and sewed a new lining (Bemberg) directly to the top of the skirt. I then flipped the lining over and topstitched the waist. I tried it on and it fit perfectly with the black knit panels slightly stretched (Too perfectly actually. The suede has no give which means I can't eat a a meal in this - hahahaha!).

 4. And to add some interest to the skirt, I added this black ponte knit detail at the back:

It's actually not too practical to have this embellishment at the back. I just wore the skirt and sat on it and the bow became all wonky! I guess it's the kind of skirt that you can't sit down in - just kidding! I'll just take the bow out.

I'm pretty happy with this simple refashion. I'm not scared of sewing with suede anymore. Yay!!

Pattern Review: Vogue 8126 skirt in Mykonos Blue

Ah time for some Fall/Winter sewing again! I'm using stash fabrics and a stash pattern. I bought this pattern years ago when I was trying to make a nice skirt suit for the office. This is the skirt pattern I chose.

Pattern Description: 
Misses/Misses' Petite skirt - below mid-knee, straight skirt has back zipper closure. A: topstitching in front, B, C: pleats in front. I made View A.

Pattern Sizing:
8-22. I used size 14 which was too large. I had to take the skirt in at the side seams to about size 12. My usual size for the big 5 is between 12 and 14.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?
A bit.

Were the instructions easy to follow?
Very easy.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?
What attracted me was the drawing of view A. I thought the frilly front was very pretty looking yet polished enough for the office. It also sewed up very quickly.

Fabric Used: 
A wool mix gabardine type fabric I got from the cheapy bin years ago.  I love that dark teal colour. Who knew it would be a trendy colour for the Fall/Winter 2013 season (according to Pantone)? The fabric has a firm hand and was easy to sew. However, I think the weight of the fabric makes the 'frills' in the front a bit stiff. A lighter weight fabric would make the skirt more fluid and pretty I think.

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:
I originally made a size 14 which was too big so I took in the side seams to about size 12. I also shortened the skirt because I'm short.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?
 I would definitely recommend this to others. It's easy to sew and has a bit of style. I usually don't look good in these straight skirts because I have a very boxy figure already. But these frills in the front softened the boxiness. Moreover, the extra room in the front of the knee makes walking fast much easier! I don't know if I would sew it again since I don't wear much knee length skirts at the moment. Perhaps I will revisit this later when I need more knee length skirts.

Conclusion: 
Nice styling, easy to sew. Highly recommended.

Note: It's very difficult to show the real colour of the fabric in the photograph. The actual colour is more teal than this.

Refashion: Mickey fleece Scarf to Kid's hat

I like making kids' clothes. They require a little material and are super fast to make (I do choose simple clothes to sew). My son has outgrown the winter accessories I made for him 2 years ago so I quickly sewed up a new one tonight.

This red fleece Mickey Mouse adult scarf was bought at my local Thrift Store last year for $1.99. My son likes Mickey Mouse so I knew I wanted to make something for him with this. It just happened to be the perfect width for my son's hat.

1. First I cut out the top part of the hat. Basically it's a rectangle. I cut 2 of these - 1 for the front and 1 for the back.

2. Then I cut out the headband piece with the back lower than the front and a little extra flaps for the ears. I cut 4 of these. There are centre front seams and centre back seams. The band will be double thickness.

3. I sewed the top 2 parts together. Then I sewed the band together and then connect the top and the band and voila!

I still have more material to make him the neck tube. Not too shabby for a $1.99 thrifted item!

New Burda Fall/Winter 2013 patterns - inspired to copy

I haven't bought any brand new sewing patterns for a long time, except the out-of-print/vintage patterns from my local thrift store (50-99 cents). But I still look forward to the new collection of patterns each season from the bigger pattern companies. If I see something that I like, I would try to find an equivalent from my pattern stash and try to figure out how to tweak mine to look more like theirs. I have seen the new Burda Fall/Winter 2013 patterns on the web and one of those that really caught my eye is this one:

I thought what a clever way to accessorize the same basic strapless dress to make it look completely different! I have always liked versatile clothing. This seems to me an even better idea than those infinity dresses.

Since I already have a good basic strapless knit dress pattern, I will just have to figure out ways to create the accessories like the one in this pattern. I don't love view B so I will just have to do a variation of that.

If only I have a special occasion coming up.................

Refashion: Men's jeans scraps to Toddler hat

This is a super simple refashion project. I have lots of men's jeans scraps from various refashioning projects. They are too small for making adult clothing/accessories but are perfect for kids' stuff. Here is a reversible hat I made for my toddler using the men's jeans scraps and a red floral cotton skirt I made for myself ions ago.

For the rest of the scraps, I think I'll just sew all the small pieces together and make a bath mat. I'll let the edges fray to give it some character. There are lots of examples of this type of denim rug everywhere on the net.

Pattern Review and a Refashion: McCall's 4842 dress

This is both a pattern review of McCall's 4842 (out of print) dress and a refashion. I picked up the pattern from the cheapy bin years ago and never made anything from it until now. I was attracted to the knit dress on the envelope. The material I used for this dress was an XXL teal blue elastic waist cotton knit skirt with pockets that I found in my local thrift store. I liked the colour and the fabric and thought I could make a top or dress out of it. This is the before:

I used size 14 which was actually a bit big on me. I had to re-sew it down to size 12. I upcycled a black ponte knit nursing shawl (already cut up for other projects) to make the neckline band and the armhole bands. The neckline was too wide so I had to redraft the neckline by folding out about 2cm from each side of the front and back neckline pieces. I didn't recut the dress portion because I thought the armholes were a bit low and this change in the neckline might pull up the armholes a bit. Good thing this is a moderate stretch knit material. If this were a woven fabric, I would definitely have to redraft the dress part as well after the neckline changes. The armholes were bounded with the same black ponte knit as I thought it would help prevent the armholes from stretching out.

The pattern was easy to sew but the neckline was too wide for me to wear a regular bra. I suppose if I had wanted an off-shoulder look it would be perfect but I didn't want that. So the neckline adjustments I made worked better for me. I'm sure if I were to make it again with sleeves I will have to make adjustments to the sleeves pattern pieces as well due to the neckline changes.

I have worn this dress out (as you can see I got a stain on the front already!) and it's very comfortable. But I don't think this particular neckline is flattering for my broad shoulders and back. I think it makes me look even broader. Well, I'm wearing it anyways, probably with a cardigan or a jacket. I do like the colour and the weight of the knit. I hope that this will be another dress I can 'winterize' for later this year.