Black jeans and a flower-power t-shirt!

Much as I would like to spend my time making Chanel inspired dresses (see my last post) I really felt that it was time to get down to creating some autumn casual basics. And for that, of course, you can’t beat jeans and a t-shirt.


Vogue 8536 & McCalls 5894

When making this outfit I was aiming for a casual but ‘put-together’ look. For the jeans I chose a black cotton lycra twill fabric, it’s sturdy but has some give for comfort. I added brass rivets and a brass button


Black jeans with brass hardware


The pattern is McCalls 5894 – it’s the second time I have used this jeans pattern, so for more about the pattern, and my tips for making jeans, check out my earlier post here.

The t-shirt is made from Vogue 8536


Vogue 8536

I have to say that I LOVE this pattern, it has some great shaping. What the pattern envelope pictures (or my photograph) don’t show very clearly is that the front has a little gathered section at the side seams at bust level. You can (just about) see in the line drawings what I mean


Vogue 8536 line drawings


I added some extra ease by doing an FBA that created a ‘dart’ but instead of sewing the dart I just incorporated it into the gathers at the side seam. The effect is subtle but it makes for a much better fit around the bust, especially if, like me, you are ‘curvy’. Another design feature of this pattern is the deep hem with side slits –


Deep hem and side vent

I think that this makes it look a little dressier than the average casual t-shirt and it means that the hem sits very nicely when worn with skirts. The fabric I used was a rayon lycra mix, purchased from Vogue Fabrics - I was attracted by the fun flower print. I can see me making this pattern several times more and I think it would be very lovely and luxurious made in a silk jersey.

I feel that I have made a very slow start on my fall sewing but in the last couple of weeks I have worked out lots of plans for clothes that I am eager to make. I do hope that your sewing for this season is going well?

I used the fabric of shame!

Those of you that live in the USA are currently gearing yourself up for the ninth season of Project Runway, which starts this week. So you might be a little surprised to hear that here in the UK transmission stopped at season 6 and there are no plans to show seasons 7 or 8. However, to my delight, I recently managed to get my hands on a dvd of season 8.

Whilst watching episode one, I was thrilled to see that one of the designers picked out this fabric

I purchased some of this very same silk fabric at Mood, back in August of 2009 (blogged about here), and I used it to make a dress shortly after. How excited I was! Could it be that this fabric was going to be used to make the winning creation? Would Heidi, Nina and Michael love it?

No, of course not. The designer was McKell Maddox and her dress was the losing dress. McKell was out.

I am trying not to feel too mortified because she only used this fabric for a part of the dress (the waistband and sash). Also I think that it was the design of the dress (Michael hated the "side cleavage") and the styling ("a train wreck"), not this particular choice of fabric, that the judges took issue with.

When I used the fabric I didn't mix it with other fabrics. Here's the dress I made (I originally blogged about it here.)

McCalls 5927 - made in November 2009

I actually love this dress - it is now over a year and a half old and I still wear it quite often. I stand by the fabric, it handles beautifully and I really love the colours and print. I have some left and I do plan on using it - with careful thought!

With McKell's dress I think it's a case of good fabric being made bad, although under that kind of pressure I think she can be forgiven! In fact, I think that one of the most difficult things about making your own clothes is working out what fabric is going to work with what style, especially when used in combination with other fabrics. I have certainly made quite a few bad choices and I believe that even the most experienced of sewists have sometimes been surprised to find that their style judgements haven't quite worked out as they expected.

Have you ever taken a fabulous fabric and turned it into something disastrous? Do tell .......

Does this dress look odd?

I loved the look of this 'easy' knit dress pattern, McCalls 6319, and was very keen to make it. There's a lot that I like about the finished look

particularly the asymmetric neckline and the draped pleats of the skirt. However, although it may just be me, I do think that there is something odd about this pattern.

McCalls 6319

I confess that I did notice it when I was cutting it out but, in my enthusiasm, I didn't really think hard about what it would mean in reality. Let me see if I can explain.

The skirt and bodice are sewn together then the seam allowances are used to make an elasticised casing. Nothing unusual about that except that the dress is designed so that this 'elasticised waist' finishes up an inch above your real waist. This is what the skirt front pattern piece looks like, I have outlined the marking for the waistline in red, so you can see how it falls below the seam line that joins it to the bodice.

Now you might think that this wouldn't actually matter because the draping of the bodice would allow the elastic to settle into your waistline but that doesn't happen because the bodice is lined and the lining pattern piece is quite a bit shorter than the outer fabric. This means that although the outer fabric drapes, the lining inside doesn't and it keeps the elasticised casing above your real waist. As per the pattern recommendation I used tricot for the lining and, although it is stretchy, it doesn't stretch enough to allow me to pull the elastic down to the waist, where I think it would feel more comfortable. Does all of this make any sense?

It might be, of course, that this wouldn't bother you (that model on the pattern envelope doesn't look at all bothered!) but if I were to make this pattern again, I think I would make the lining the same length as the outer fabric or I would lengthen both the bodice and the lining or I wouldn't line it or ...... oh, I don't know but I'd do something different! Sometimes things don't work out quite as you expect them to but at least I have learned something in the process and I don't think this is too disastrous?

Finished jeans ... and some tips!

So, you have been warned, my jeans are finished and, yes, they are purple

But that is the wonderful thing about making your own jeans – you can make them any colour you like! The fabric is a cotton twill with a little lycra and it’s just perfect for a summer-weight pair of jeans – it is sturdy but cool.

These jeans are the product of taking Jennifer Stern’s ‘Blue Print to Blue Jeans’ course on Pattern Review. It was excellent – I got some great fitting advice by posting pictures of my muslin for Jennifer to comment on.

Here is the back view


And this is the pattern I used, it’s McCall’s 5894
I did, however, make the fit a little different because I lowered the front rise by about an inch and I narrowed the legs from the hips to the knees. I was aiming for a ‘relaxed’ fit with a slight flare. If you are thinking of using this pattern, the instructions are excellent but you might want to go down a size from the one they give for your measurements.

When it comes to making jeans I do think that it is worth the effort of adding the details that turn a pair of pants into a pair of jeans




The contrasting topstitching, the coin pocket, the rivets and the belt loops all give the garment ‘authenticity’ and a nice toughness, even if you aren’t working with denim.

When looking at the close-up photograph of the front, above, you might be wondering if I lost control of my sewing machine when it came to topstitching the coin pocket because on one side of the pocket the stitching extends to the waistband. This wasn’t a mistake, it’s one of the design suggestions that Jennifer gave us in the course and if you look at RTW jeans you will find that quite a lot of them have similar interesting stitching details.

While constructing my jeans there were two pieces of equipment that I found invaluable. This one,

called a Jean-a-ma-jig, is a simple but ingenious device that helps your machine get over the hump of lots of layers of fabric. In fact my jeans weren’t as bulky as denim but the difficulty wasn’t stitching through a lot of layers of fabric so much as when I had a difference in layers, i.e. when there is a hump of fabric and the presser foot can’t lie flat. Without the Jean-a-ma-jig I would never have got my belt loops sewn on without throwing my machine (and myself!) out of the window.

The second thing is a pair of Prym Vario Pliers.

These pliers, which cost about £9.50, make inserting rivets very easy indeed. One squeeze makes the hole, then you change the heads, place the rivets in the pliers, another squeeze and they are in. It’s very quick, simple and secure. I also used the pliers for attaching my jeans button (when you buy the buttons they come with the special heads for the pliers). No need for hammers, screws, wooden blocks etc. I purchased mine at Kleins in central London. If you want to see them in action, Kleins have a video on YouTube, you can see it here

Another tip. I discovered that it is much easier to make a neat buttonhole if you don’t sew down the front belt loop on the buttonhole side until after you have made the buttonhole. I made a couple of trial buttonholes on spare fabric without any difficulty but when I tried it on the real thing my machine jammed up. What was happening is that the back of the buttonhole foot (which extends quite a long way) didn’t like having to go over the belt loop. Once I had unpicked the stitching that held the belt loop down, so that I could fold it out of the way, the machine did the buttonhole without any trouble.

Before I go, I must, of course, also mention Peter’s MPB Jeans Sew-Along. If you want a clearly explained tutorial on jeans construction then Peter’s blog is the place to go.

Having finished making a pair of jeans I feel quite light-headed. Designer jeans cost a lot of money – it’s a billion dollar business - and there is something very liberating about the thought that I can make some of my own. In any colour, with any of the little design details that I fancy. And if I can, then believe me, so can you!

my festive plum dress

Before you gasp at my sewing speed (which isn’t actually very speedy at all) I need to tell you that I didn’t make this dress in the last week since my return from New York, I actually completed it just before I went. However, with so much going on, this has been my first opportunity to get Mr Fabulous out in the garden with a camera so that I have a picture to show you.

A few weeks ago I was passing through the fabric department of John Lewis (the only department store left in the United Kingdom that sells fabric) and spotted this beautiful plum coloured, 100% wool crepe and just had to have it. I thought it would make a perfect holiday season sheath dress. The pattern, which I highly recommend, is McCalls 5927

This is the one I used for my ‘sheath dress with a little bling’ but, as you can see, this is a more restrained version. The construction is the same, except that for this one I omitted the neck tabs and jewels. I was aiming for a ‘little black dress’ that can be dressed up or down but in a festive plum colour. I wanted something stylish but respectable. In New York I accompanied Mr Fabulous to a business dinner at the Harvard Club where I wore this dress and didn’t get frowned at, so I must have got the respectable bit right!

A word about wool crepe – this was my first time using this fabric and I loved it. It didn’t slip around, has a nice drape and took to steaming into shape beautifully. Now you know why I purchased two more lots of wool crepe while I was in New York (at a considerably cheaper price than I paid in John Lewis!). Why didn’t I know before how wonderful it is to work with? I’d love to know what kind of fabrics you have had some good experiences with?

Since I’ve returned from New York I haven’t had the chance to do any sewing at all. It’s all been about jet lag, unpacking, dental visits, calling in the electrician and Christmas preparations. Lack of sewing has been making me quite tetchy so I’m going to try and get some done soon ……

I'm working on "The Fashion Sheath"

As I believe I have mentioned once or twice before, I love dresses. I spend many happy hours looking at dress patterns and fantasizing about the perfect dress I am going to make from them ..... until reality bites and I remember that in order to realise this dream I am going to have to actually decide on a pattern and get on and get it made!

So, decision made, in the pipeline is this lovely little number McCalls 5927 – “The Fashion Sheath”

A big selling point for this one is that it comes with separate pattern pieces for A/B, C and D cup sizes – such a boon (isn’t that a lovely vintage word?) for ladies of my shape, or, indeed, any shape that is not ‘standard’. I’m starting with a sleeveless version but I like that it has options for different sleeves if I decide that I want to make it again later. But I’m getting ahead of myself, goodness me, let’s get this one done first!

After a small amount of fiddling around, my muslin left me feeling rather hopeful – in fact it’s looking pretty promising. However, I would like to say a little something about the fitting. This dress has one of those bodices that doesn’t have horizontal, underarm darts, but has vertical darts that come from the waist up to the bust line. I’ve never made one of these before but the pattern, as it is made by McCalls, has one of those round things that indicate where the apex of the bust should be and the darts finish (just like horizontal darts do) one inch away from the apex. Here’s a picture of my traced-off pattern piece -

I measured the pattern and got it all worked out so that the apex mark on my muslin matched the bust point on my body but it looked all wrong. The darts didn’t sit right and it didn’t fit round my body at all. BUT, when I put a horizontal tuck across the bodice between the armholes and the shoulders to lift the whole thing up, so that the darts ended just a tiny fraction of an inch below my bust apex, it all fitted smoothly. Now I'd be interested to know if any of you have any thoughts on this but I found it a little puzzling because everything I’ve read about this kind of thing tells me that darts are supposed to end an inch or more before the apex. However, I’m going to ignore these rules and I’m making this dress the way I think it fits me best. Reckless – maybe! But it’s my dress and I’m going to do what I want and I did take some encouragement from Pati Palmer and Marta Alto in Fit for Real People because, although they seem to be pretty firm about ‘Bust Dart Rules’, they do also say “Just remember, if it works, it’s right!!”

So, anyway, I shall be posting pictures of this new dress soon – I do hope you're going to like it ......