Day 5

Day 5, originally uploaded by thecupcake.goddess.

What I Found Out About Altering Pant Patterns

So I made those jeans for Mr. S. I made a muslin beforehand for those too, just to see about fitting issues I might have. I did have some. Surprise, I know.

Just for fun, let's break pants into two sections. The pant legs and the pant torso. The pant legs are the section that fit the legs and the pant torso is the section that fits the lower half of the torso. I only ended up making alterations to the pant torso. On the muslin the pants were too short in both sections, the pant torso and the pant leg. I thought if I just added more length to the pant torso, that would in turn add more length to the pant leg. As you probably know by now, otherwise I would not be writing a post about this, that is wrong thinking. Here's why, or why I think it's wrong:

Now that I have the pants made for Mr. S, I see what really happened when I lengthened the pant torso. By the way, I lengthened the front and the back pant torso 1 inch. Do you know what that did? By lengthening the pant torso, the waistline went up (the crotch stayed in the same place), but the pant leg stayed the same. Now that's pretty interesting, I mean at least it is to me. What I'm really saying is this is a very very good point to keep in mind when you need to do this alteration to the pattern itself.

What I'm also saying is that you should think of these sections, the pant torso and the pant leg as two separate sections. What I should have done is alter the pant torso less and added a little to the pant leg. You know what's kind of funny? The pattern will tell you to do this itself  indirectly as there is an alteration cutting line on the pant torso and the pant leg. Pretty fun huh?

So that's what I learned about altering pant patterns. Maybe something you already figured out or knew, but just in case you didn't, well, there you go.

xoxo,

Sunni

Forever In Blue Jeans, Babe

Um.... and you thought I wore the pants here? If you don't know by now, this is my Mr. S. And I'm his Mrs. And we go together like peaches and pie. He he he. I've never sewn a single stitch of apparel for Mr. S and I thought it was high time. He was in desperate need of new jeans. I've seen the jeans bug hitting a lot of stitchers these days and I think for very good reason. Everyone wants jeans that fit really well, have a great wash, and make their...ahem...features stand out. I love jeans. Love them. I'm planning to make my own soon. Very soon.



When we go shopping for Mr. S, we run into troubles. The tall and thin troubles. You see, we can find clothing for tall people, but not thin people and we can find clothing for thin people but not tall people. Mr. S is a small boned dude and really he's not that tall, but clothing companies seem to think that if you're a small guy that means short and thin. There's nothing beyond a 32" inseam in jeans. It's so rare to find a pair of 34" inseam pants in a 30" waist, and that in our price range. Is it crazy to anyone else that we spend (at least in the US) over $100 on jeans? Sometimes over $200. Um, that's just silly. Do you even realize how much I paid for the fabric for these? The fabric wasn't even on sale and it was still only $3.99 a yard. And I only needed 2 yards for this. Under $10 folks. Now that is really sick. I mean really.



I wasn't emotionally prepared for the hunting of  jeans that don't seem to exist this time around. So here is Kwik Sew 3504. Doesn't look like much on the pattern cover, but these are jeans peeps. I'll be making these again and again, I think. I don't know that Mr. S is completely convinced that he likes them. But hey, these are my first pair. A few more and perhaps he'll be swayed. Let's get down to specifics shall we?



I used a stretch denim for these, which was murder, complete murder on my machine, and did a gold denim topstitching thread.  Having read the Selfish Seamstress' posts on her jeans and Petite Republic's post on her jeans, I knew just where to find the rivets. Give that an ebay search. Surprisingly, jean buttons are just at your local fabric store, usually, so those were pretty easy to get and then I took a look at Brian Sews tutorial for how to make these puppies work. After all was said and done I tried distressing the jeans. I'm not sure that these really worked out that well and I don't know if that's because of the stretch in the denim or not. I tried bleaching these and sandpapering them and giving them a few bleach pen streaks. Google "How to Distress Jeans." And they are still not quite right and I'm not really happy with the result. And by the way, I tore up my fingers pretty good with all of these methods. Best tip if you are going to try this: wear gloves! Oh well! Let's get back to the pattern.



The pattern is actually quite good. There are a few tweaks that still need to be made for next time, but overall I'm happy with the fit and the construction. The instructions are great and quite straight forward. Totally recommend!

And that's that. Sigh. I'm ready for a really easy sewing project next. What say you?

xoxo,

Sunni

Stitching Spotlights

This has been one hell of a week for me. Haven't been feeling real well, hence the lack in posting and such. But I couldn't just miss my weekly spotlights now could I? There is some great sewing going on around webland these days. I mean there usually is. You guys are seriously awesome.

For your listening pleasure, a little french music.

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This week's spotlighted creation is from Karen at Did You Make That? A little green to go with your envy for some sewing inspiration. You know what's crazy? I made this dress in green too, if you remember. Great pattern. Great fabric. Great fit. Karen, this is crazy fabulous! So glad you finally got to wear it too.

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Have you seen these? They are to die for gorgeous and a perfect compliment to the warmer weather coming up. These flowers are like JCrew worthy if not better, don't you think? Love love love them! I'm sure you will too! And they look seriously easy to make, not to mention so sophisticated and elegant.

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Lastly, here's a peek at my next sewing project. I've been contemplating a fitting shell for awhile now. Just to see what it's like. I'm sure you'll be hearing a lot about it. Crazy thing was, I was just about to buy the Vogue one and the pants too (which I still might) online and then I went thrifting and what did I find? Yeah, this perfectly intact pattern, uncut, complete instructions and only a whopping 50 cents. That's right. Now that is what I call a bargain and in my size no less. What luck! And did I mention that there are 8 pages of instructions on fitting and alterations and such? This one is from 1985, however since it doesn't look to have changed too much from the modern ones,  I think it will do the job just fine.

Happy Sewing Adventures and a well rested and invigorating weekend to you!

xoxo,

Sunni

Stitching Spotlights

This week I've gathered some inspiring sweetness from sewing peeps that have caught my eye. Keep all that great stuff coming, because I love getting excited about what to sew next.

For your listening pleasure, a little Willie Nelson with Bonaparte's Retreat. I'm due for a little Red Headed Stranger, down to earth inspiration.

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This week's weekly creation comes to you from Rachel. I've seen the polka dot madness going on all around and I've thought about wearing polka dots and have just never really tried. This Rooibos creation is the bee's knees, and did you by chance notice how flat the fabulous little collar is laying? I've noticed that this has been a problem for several who have tried this pattern, we might just have to ask for a tutorial to let us in on that secret! Beautiful job Rachel!

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Have you seen Esther's blog/burdastyle creations? Yeah, I'm way jealous that she's only 15 too!!!! Way way way jealous. Where was I when I was 15? Definitely not being cool or doing anything creative.  She's got some serious photography talent. Not to mention all of her hand sewn creations are way out of this world.  And she has red hair. Now who doesn't like a girl with red hair? Who?

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Simplicity 2724 is getting some well deserved spotlight attention! Amelie (I know, can you even believe that this is her name, too sweet!) and Rifka from Burda Style have both made up their own superb creations. And threadsquare and Selfish Seamstress are pondering about making their own versions. I say, jump on the bandwagon folks, it's a pretty ridiculously fabulous pattern. But then, I guess I'm a little biased.

Recently I made the rather expensive purchase of a pair of Gingher Pinking Shears. I don't have a serger, and I actually don't know many stitchers who do. If you're hankering for a serger and just can't afford it right now, pinking shears might be a good investment for the present. They work great, especially on cotton, and don't leave behind the bulky seam allowance other seam finishing techniques might. For added fray-edge security, I give the seam allowance a simple straight stitch close to the pinked edge.

And that's a wrap cupcakes! Happy weekending!

xoxo,

Sunni

How to Avoid Sudden Curve Clipping Death

I'm a little nutty about good sewing techniques. When I find a really good one, I want to shout it from the rooftops and let everyone know that the secret to such and such is doing this. It's very fortunate that I have you, dear readers, to tell all these things to as shouting on rooftops is a little looney. Let's have a small trip down memory lane before I let you in on this HUGE secret.

Giving Your Fabric a Bleached Makeover

When I began the search for the fabric for my Perfect Spring Dress, I received numerous comments and emails about how I should keep in true form of the dress by finding a border print fabric. I've looked. They are hard to come by.  I had an idea dawn on me after the fabric had been voted on and I decided to give it a try. I did try this on the original winning fabric with no result, because it was made of a colorfast polyester/cotton blend. And then unfortunately I ruined that version of the dress anyway. I had read about fading fabric with bleach over at Wisecraft awhile back and I thought I could, just possibly, achieve a faux border print look with a little help from a few cups of clorox and some water. This was an interesting experiment to say the least, but one that surprisingly worked, maybe not to achieve a border print but a different looking fabric. The method was easy enough. I wanted the bodice to be the most faded here. To do this, I cut the pattern pieces first and then bleached them. The same was done for the skirt except, I bleached the skirt in sections starting with the top section. I dipped the skirt into the bleach mix starting with the top and allowed it to sit for 1 minute before moving the skirt down 6 inches and then repeating this process until I got to the bottom. Then I soaked the pattern pieces in water and apple cider vinegar (a neutralizer) to stop the fading. I air-dried the pattern pieces before sewing them and well, there you have it. I'm fairly happy with the result, however I think I could have bleached a little bit longer just for a little more fading. And the tie is bleached too. What was once a rust orange is now more of a poppy red. What do you think? Have you tried this before? Have you ever thought about it?