Guess what I made 3 months ago? - Simplicity 1155 and Decades of Style Empire Waist Trousers

What's that I see on the horizon? Is it a new blog post? It couldn't possibly be! We all know I've disappeared into the fabric shelves of EOS and/or my winter hibernation cave.  It's true, I've been spending most of my time in those places and battling the tidal wave of germs that elementary kids so helpfully bring home to share.  But today I'm temporarily germ free and thought it was time to finally show you the last two FO's of 2016.

Wayyyy back in October of last year I blogged about some "Unofficial Halloween" sewing plans. You may remember that only because of the kick ass skull fabric that was dug out from the bottom of the stash. Fueled by the desire to show off my sewing skills to impressionable children, I stayed up a few late nights to finish in time.  My "candy giving out" costume was exactly what is pictured here.  It managed to simultaneously scare children under the age of 5 and illicit exclamations of, "That is so cool!" from middle school aged girls.

One of the design features of this blouse is the high neckline with visible darts on the front. Mmmmmm delicious darts. Of course if you need to lower the neckline then all those delicious darts are gonna become a problem.  I thought, "Well I know that 40's necklines can be super high but I'll muslin this as is and hope for the best."  Yeaaaaahhhh, that muslin was like being slowly strangled by a lethargic snake.  Not exactly what I'm looking for in handmade clothing.  After letting my brain mull over the problem over night, I decided to try lowering the neckline and lengthening the darts the same amount.  Viola, problem solved.

No other major issues to report on Simplicity 1155.  The sewing is very straight forward if you've made any sort of blouse in the past.  I do like both the button back and the full sleeves.  (You can tell I've drunk the 40's cool aid because I would have laughed about these sleeves a few years ago.)

Now on to the trousers.  Those of you familiar with this pattern might be saying, "I'm pretty sure they're not supposed to have a waistband." You are correct eagle eyed readers.   I got a little excited about sewing this outfit and didn't think about how a nice soft rayon probably isn't the best fabric for empire waist pants. (I was thinking about how rayon would make nice swingy pant legs instead.) Also once muslining the pattern I realized that my low bust point wasn't making this look like it did in my head. Any sort of waist definition disappeared and that bothered me.  So what to do to solve both of these problems? Cut some of the Empire waist off of the top of the pants and turn it into a wide waistband.  I did take pictures of this process so if you'd like a quickie "How to" blog post just say so in the comments. Otherwise I sewed this pattern as drafted and like it a whole bunch.

(Not the best pic of the back, but this was literally the only on in focus out of 35 pics)

Patterns
Simplicity 1155 and Decades of Style Empire Waist Trousers.

Fabrics used
Blouse - Stashed Crepe de Chine from EOS.  Thanks to Facebook time hop I can tell you this was bought in 2010 about a month and a half after Desmond was born. (Just making myself feel better about not sewing it right away.)

Pants - Stretch Rayon from Marcy Tilton. Fabric was a new purchase in October, but has sold out since then.

Pattern changes/alterations
Blouse
1. Lowered the neckline .5" and lengthen the neckline darts the same amount.
2. Standard 1/2" forward shoulder adjustment to shoulder and sleeve.
3. Added 1/2" more length to the sleeve.
4. Redrew the placement of the buttonholes on the back.

Pants
1. Extended the back crotch length about .75" (Used the Wearing History Smooth Sailing Trousers as a guide since those fit me well.)
2.  Took in 1.5" inches in at the side seams at the waistline. This alteration was mostly because of my fabric choose of a stretch woven. I had to give that area some negative ease to get it to stay in position.

Confessions/Advice
1.  I found the bias width of 1.25" a bit slim for my fumble fingers when finishing the neckline.  I increased it to 2".

2. The directions say to close the sleeve cuffs with thread loops and buttons.  I found this out really late in the process and was not in the mood to hand sew some thread loops.  Instead I checked to see if the cuffs would fit over my hands with a buttonhole added.  They were wide enough thanks to my hand and wrists being the daintiest part of my body. I did end up doing a standard button and button hole finish to the cuffs. Now 3 months later I'll admit that doing the thread loops would have been better. The cuffs are just a little bit too tight when the blouse needs to move with me.

Husband Comment
Pretty sure he said, "I like your sleeves" because Napoleon Dynami quotes are a staple of our household. Though I think this outfit is on the husband scale of "I'll keep my mouth shut because she'll put on a less weird outfit soon."

My Final Thoughts
It might have taken me three months to show off this outfit but I'm pretty pleased with it. In the end it turned out just like I'd imagined.

Going forward I'm hoping to blog a little more regularly. There's still plenty I want to sew and share with like minded people.   So here's hoping for a little more sewing and blogging time in the new year.

More FESA Makes - The Smooth Sailing Trousers

Pants.  We've had a long and somewhat traumatic history. I think my pants fitting rant was the first blog post that was written purely for "laughs."  Laughs really meaning cathartic venting/sobbing into my sewing machine.  Two years later my pants fitting has improved all that much when it comes to fitted pants. The perfect crotch length/depth ratio seems to be an elusive number that forever tap dances out of reach. So I did the only sensible thing, stopped wearing pants.  OK, maybe not sensible, but it was an effective way not to have to deal with pants fitting for awhile. For the most part being an exclusive wearer of dresses and skirts has worked out just fine.  I've got my emergency pair of RTW jeans in the dresser for really dicey weather, but wool tights get me through most of winter.

Being a happy dress wearer does not stop me from occasionally having sexy pants daydreams.  You might be saying, "Listen Heather, we all daydream about sexy men in pants sometimes. I mean have seen Tom Hiddleston dancing?"  Oh yes I have and I'm a strong proponent of his "snake hips", but that's not really what I'm talking about here.  The kind of pants daydreams I have are of completed outfits that are not actually in my closet. Red capri pants are featured heavily, but it seems planning outfits in your head does not make them magically appear. My window for red capri pants is quickly closing so I decided to put the second most wished for pant on my FESA list, a pair of wide legged cuffed pants.

For several years if I put on a pair of pants, it was a close fitting capri or jeans style. But Vivien of Holloway's Swing Trousers got me thinking about wearing wide leg pant. So roomy, yet elegant!  I toyed with just buying a pair, but my inner seamstress was very adamant that saving money through sewing was the way to go.  "You know there's a shit ton of wool in the stash. Sew that stuff up!!!" OK inner voice, you win this time.

There's a couple of nice wide legged pants out there but I decided to go with the Smooth Sailing Trousers from Wearing History.  They were the closest in style to the Vivien of Holloway pants with the waistband at the natural waist and a seam seam entry.  The Smooth Sailing Trousers use a zipper instead of buttons, but that was just fine with me. I can confidently say that I don't need more "visual interest" in that particular area of my body.

So pants fitting, how does that work out when you're making wide leg pants?  A lot better than it does with fitted pants!  Only the waistband area is supposed to be close to the body so it's a lot more like fitting a skirt than pants.   I did need to lengthen the back rise because hello big butt.  It might still be too long or too short, I honestly don't know.  There might be some sort of black hole vortex thing going on back there bending time/distance so that no rise will ever be right.  But I do know that you don't have to worry about under butt wrinkles in these pants. Huzzah!

See? And any wrinkles there I can just use the excuse, "It's how I'm standing." Muhaaa, Big Pants!

As a sewing project these pants were pretty boring.  While a good wardrobe staple, plain navy wool is enough to put anyone to sleep. This lead to a lot of procrastination, especially since they needed to be lined. My brain knows that skipping lining is a bad bad move that I will forever regret later. That doesn't make it any more fun cut and sew.  I need to hire some lining elves or to promote froggie to linings. He says he needs a pay raise for that and a cake every Monday morning.

But enough about my frog contract negotiations, let's get back to pants for a minute. During the boring sewing I kept telling myself that once these babies were done I'd be pleased a punch.  Happy to report that this is 100% true.  The Smooth Sailing Trousers pattern was exactly what I had in mind when daydreaming about big wide legged pants. Now I can finally get my 40's vibe on and/or climb things in a reckless fashion.

Pattern
Smooth Sailing Trousers from Wearing History  (I bought the PDF version.)

Fabrics used
Lightweight wool suiting and poly blend lining.

Pattern changes/alterations
- To accommodate my tilted waist, the front waistline of the pants was cut down 1/2" and graded out to nothing at the side seams.

- Added 1" of length to the crotch.

- Straighten out the front crotch curve to give an additional 1/4" of ease on waistline at the CF. (For cake babies and such.)

- Shortened the leg length by 3/4".

Confessions/Advice
- To line the pants I used the same pattern piece but shortened the pants length an inch.

- My muslin showed I needed more waist ease. Then my real pants were a little too big in the waist.  Curse you muslin! (Or maybe I need to start putting zippers in muslins. Sigh.)

Husband Comment
"Wait, did you make those? Really? Pants?   They're BIG."

My Final Thoughts
Swishing around in giant pant legs is weirdly addictive and I might.....might have to make another pair. Or maybe I'll wait until I've got my child labor trained.  Sew Desmond, Sew! No, put the scissors down! On second thought child labor might be more work in the long run.  Sigh.

P.S.  I finally did my Better Photos Project homework and scoped out a new photo location near my house. Or how the police might term it, "Trespassing on a local law office for inexplicable reasons." Don't worry though, I'm non threatening enough that no one pays attention to me dancing around on a lawn....
other than one very loud squirrel. I almost started hollering, "Go eat those nuts loudly somewhere else!!" Blog picture taking is much more important than your winter preparations Mr. squirrel. ;)  Anyway lighting was a little dicey here and I wound up trying out 5 different angles. Took so many pictures that I fully depleted the camera battery and had to hope some of those shots were OK. Thank the sewing goddess that several of the pictures were fine.  Meanwhile Gillian has far surpassed me and is taking street photos. Oh My Lord how cool is her last post?! 

Seriously Gillian, you're too cool for school...which might make your job hard to do. ;)  Thanks for having me on your blog pal. I'm looking forward to next month's Better Photos Project posts so I can learn a thing or two.

The Holy Grail of Jeans

In the past I've talked about my problems with pants fitting in general. The crux of the problem being my giant backside and the amount of pattern manipulation needed to cover it. Scotch brand tape probably sees their stock go up when ever I try to alter a pants pattern. Quick Froggie, bring me another roll....or maybe a 3 pack.

Despite fitting aggravations, I've been amassing jeans supplies for years.  I've bought every jeans related class on Craftsy and tried numerous patterns. Most of them were complete failures and I smashed the multiple muslins into the trash can in a hulk like rage. Why so many jeans patterns for people with flat butts?  Can't those of us with bountiful booties have one? Cause I've tried to reverse engineer a "flat butt" pattern and it always goes sideways once you start adding 3+ inches to the rise. Not even kidding about the numbers here, the big booty genes are strong in my family.  It had gotten to the point where I'd thrown my hands up in the air about sewing jeans and decided to purchase NYDJ jeans from now on. (Side note - Best fitting RTW jeans I've come across. They don't gape in the back and the rise is longer than most. Though if you've got a big booty don't size down like they tell you.)

So I was never gotta try a jeans pattern again until Heather posted that she was releasing one. Heather is a bootylicious lady like me! Does this mean that big booty ladies finally have a jeans pattern?  I creepily tweeted her that my butt was very excited about this new pattern. At least I didn't attach a picture.

My hope for a big booty friendly pattern turned out to be true. I selected the higher rise skinny leg version and only made a large calf alteration before making a muslin. It fit better then most of my "real" pairs of sewn pants. Ahhhh it's so good when the fit model is closer to your figure than not.

I did go back and make several more fitting tweaks before sewing up this pair.  The next pair will have a few more fitting tweaks. That's pretty much pare for the course when it comes to pants fitting on my figure. That and there will always be wrinkles in the back of my legs because I need that ease to sit down. Curse you butt, can't your fullness be higher? Nope. Also giant calves and skinnies don't really mix,. But that's the style of jeans I like right now so screw it!

Those unfixable fitting issues aside, these are the most comfortable pair of jeans I've made to date. For once I want to make another pair of pants rather than run screaming towards some knit jersey. That's like winning the lottery in my book, the jeans lottery!

Pattern
Ginger Jeans from Closet Case Files

Fabrics used
- Dark Navy stretch denim - I think this one was a designer roll end purchased from Hot Patterns. They don't sell fabric anymore but it was a good score at the time.
- Left over Chambury for the pocket bags and waistband facing.
- The top-stitching thread is Gutermann brand - Color 1870
- Jean's button from Cleaner's supply company.

Pattern changes/alterations
Quick run down of my lower body fitting problems - tilted waist, small lower back/sway back, large butt, post baby gut, full thighs, large calves and ankles.

1. Made a large calf alteration by slicing up the middle of the back leg. See Cation Design's pants fitting post for more info. This added about 1/2-3/4" extra circumference in the calf area. (My calf circumference is 15.5")

2. I also increased the calf circumference by folding the pattern up 1.5" to the knee and adding the same amount of length to the bottom of the pattern. (Most of that length was cut off later.)

3. Added 3/8" to the inseam of both the back and front legs since I carry a lot of weight in my thighs.

4. Increased the back rise 1/2" on the line provided on the pattern for my big butt.

5. Added 3/8" to the front side seams at the waist/pocket area and blended it out. This accommodates some of the post baby gut.

6. Took 3/8" off the CB seam of the yoke since my body starts narrowing as it goes to the back waist.

7. Darted out the back waistband 1.5". This the mid rise hits right at the narrowest part of my body and I needed to take a large amount out to get the waistband to lay flush on my lower back. Used 3 1/2" darts to reshape the waistband.

8. Reduced the length of the pants legs by 2.25". I cut it off the bottom rather of the pattern instead of using the shorten/lengthen point.

9. Moved the pocket placement up significantly. My muslin showed that the pattern's pocket placement was too low for my butt shape.  I might have overcompensated and put them too high. They are 1.5" down from the yoke on the side seam side and 1" down from the yoke on the CB side. For now I'm holding off on putting in rivets until testing out placement on the next pair.

Confessions/Advice
- Since the stitch quality on my old machine is pretty crappy, I sewed these all on one machine. Pre-reading the instructions and grouping top-stitching verses regular thread tasks is the way to go.

- Didn't mention it on the blog, but due to a sizable donation from my sister I was able to get a new Bernina sewing machine in the middle of the year. It proved it's worth on this project as it chugged over multiple layers of denim without a problem. I did find that increasing the bobbin tension a bit worked well when using the top-stitching thread on the top of the machine.

- The instructions for Ginger Jeans are excellent. Each step has both a written instruction and pictures. Despite sewing numerous fly fronts the order of assembly is never retained by my brain. Heather instructions for this are easy and give you a great finish. Have no fear of fly fronts!

Husband Comment
"Looks great from the back." Which made me think of the 30 Rock "Brooklyn without Limits" episode. Don't think Tracy Jordan would have a problem with my butt size.

My Final Thoughts
I pretty much feel like my search for the perfect jeans pattern "for me" is over. I could jump up and down....so I did. You'll be seeing more of this pattern since all that hoarded denim can finally be sewn up. So, so, so much denim.

Me-Made-May Day 21 - Snake Infestation

Hmmmm, exactly how big is my snake infestation?

Maybe if I poke it with a ruler it will slither away

That didn't work, maybe I'll throw this lace over it's head.

 Oh well, looks like we're just pals now.

Me-Mades today Hotpattern's Sunshine top short sleeve version and a repeat of the Hotpattern's boyfriend jeans.

My Sewing may be Cursed

Beware blog readers, it seems I've pissed off some sewing goddess and she has cursed me. (Cursey, cursey, curse, curse.)

I've completed 4 muslins of Burda 7447.

They seem to be progressively getting worse.

It's makes me want to stick blunt objects in my eye, until I remember my eyesight is terrible already.  New plan, fit without corrective lenses on. What under butt wrinkles? I don't see a thing!

Still we've all admitted that pants fitting is hard and my twitter peeps are helping me out.  I didn't think about curses, just the eternal pregatory of pants fitting that is my lot for loving cookies. Cookies, I can't quit you.

P.S.  Here's the recipe link for these, they are amazing

Damn there are no cookies in my house.....but what were we talking about? Oh yeah, cursed sewing.

So I cut out a Renfrew, a project I've made a gazillion times with out a problem and the darn thing was too tight!  What?!!!  Seems that beefy jersey that's been sitting in the stash doesn't stretch nearly enough. Fine beefy jersey have it your way, I'll covert you into some sort of baby shirt....probably never.

So what do you do next?  Buy a new pattern, hooray new digital pattern smell!

I got the Kimono Tee from In-House patterns cause I like trying new pattern companies.  Also a lacy yoke is so in right now and I wantz it, precious.

This should have been super simple, a couple of pieces/9 seams max and it would have been if aliens hadn't stolen my brain overnight.  So many brain dead sewing mistakes where made... I sewed the right front side seam to the left back side seam for shits sake.  I is college graduate of sewing skillz?  No?

Some seam ripping and cursing in front of the baby fixed that (sorry son) but it could not fix the fact that the shirt was GINMOROUS on me.  Oops, maybe I should stop ignoring this "comparing the flat pattern to your measurements" stuff.  I should....but I won't. #bullheaded

It's really quiet clear that none of these problems were "my" fault, right?  It's a sewing curse...guess I better get Jobu some rum and a bucket of fried chicken.

Pants fitting - the cycle of hate

Hello blog readers, this is a post that I debated about writing. While I'm not an overall positive person, I do tend to be positive about my hobbies.  And to say something is hard often discourages others not to try it/increases their own doubts about trying it.  But I've decided this is an area where I just need to vent and maybe you'll just shake your head in agreement.  Ok here goes....

Pants fitting is hard!

So now let me give you some back story.  I haven't had a proper fitting pair of pants since I hit puberty and developed the family derriere.  The family derriere is large in proportion to the rest of the body and is very full at the bottom and ski slopes into the lower back. So that old adage of "take a pair of RTW pants that fit well," makes me want to grab said writer and smash their head into a wall repeatably.  (SHE HULK SMASH!)

What if every pair of pants you've every bought gaps wildly at the CB and yet does not give you enough butt coverage to confidently bend over?  (Other than maternity pants, which where the shizzel.) What if you've been living with a semi-wedge all your life that you're not even sure what a properly fitted pant is supposed to feel/look like?  What if the properly fitted pants you see in fitting books looks like something your grandma would put on with her Keds to go buy mass quantities of fabric at auctions? OK maybe your grandma plays bingo, but you get my drift.

I've been working diligently (in spurts) on pants fitting since 2011.  I've purchased several books, read blog posts, bought craftsy classes, talked to other sewcalists and still the cycle of pants fitting hate continues.  It goes like something like this...
1. See slim blogger with "flat white girl butt" rocking a newly made pair of pants.
2. Think that looks fantastic I must buy that pattern.
3. Full of enthusiasm the pattern is purchased with thoughts, "This time I'm gonna make some awesome pants and look fabulous too."
4. Pattern is traced and first muslin cut out. Dreams of fabulousness continue with planning shirts that will go with the awesome pants.
5. 1st muslin is tried on and I am once again confronted with "yes my ass is that big."  Still optimism remains, I have fitting books.... I can fix this.
6. Make 2nd muslin, try on. Think "I added 3 inches to the rise, how can this thing still be giving me a wedgie!  Also what's with all the wrinkling on the back of my thighs?"
7. Make 3rd muslin, try on... there is still not enough ass room.  I start scooping out the crotch but somehow it makes very little difference. My brain starts musing that the right measurement for the back crotch length must be some made up equation like (The airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow - the number of red shirts killed in original star trek episodes x a number that Nathan Fillian is thinking right now.)  Decide to add length to the front crotch too.
8. Make 4th muslin, try on... now the damn front is f'ed up and the back looks exactly the same.  A pox upon you pants!!!
9.  Remove front crotch alteration, scoop back crotch even lower, extend back crotch another inch.  Make muslin #5, try on and.......@#&%^*(@&#%%  the back looks exactly the same as it did in muslin #2.  Commence a 15 min rant about how pants are a dirty dirty b**ch to my confused husband who replies with, "I thought your hobby was supposed to be fun."
10. There's a 50/50 split on the final step in the cycle of pants hate.  A. I make the pants anyway figuring they are slightly better than RTW cause they don't gap at the back, or B. I light the pattern on fire while laughing maniacally and then go make knit tops.

This is my long ass way of saying I'm in the middle of pants fitting again and I see the cycle of pants hate repeating and it frustrates me.  I don't want to hate pants because I vastly prefer wearing them. (Probably because I fall down a lot and not giving strangers and accidental up skirt shot is a real concern.) I want to be able to figure this out and then rock some (non granny) pants even though I have a giant ass.  Is that really too much to ask for?  Well I'm still on step 6 of the cycle of pants fitting hate so maybe, maybe this time things will be different. Cross your fingers for me.

Lounging Around - Maria Denmark Lounge Pants

We interrupt self proclaimed "Button Down March" to bring you lounge pants.  Cozy, cozy lounge pants.  This pattern is courtesy of Maria Denmark and is a steal at $5.20. (Less than that if you're a PR member and get it though their site).

Might used the "I saw it first" rule and stole from the kids fabric stash.  A 2 year old isn't gonna appricate fangy clouds like I will.

As with all pants patterns I took one look at the rise and said, "Well that's not gonna cover my all the junk in the truck," so the following changes were made...
Starting with a size XL
1. Dropped crotch 2 1/2" on both front and back.
2. Added 1" to the top of the back crotch at CB.

After sewing a pair up I found that the waistband was too loose and that the pants needed a tilted waist alteration. Took off the waistband and...
3. Cut down the front of the pants 1 1/2" at CF which was blended out to nothing at the side seams.
4. Took the pants in about 1/2" at CB and trimmed the waistband down the same.

Reattached the waistband and the pants were perfect!  Which is good because all my RTW knit pants are falling apart at the seams.

Front View

Back view showing the waistband.  I used a 1x1 rib knit with elastic inside of it.  If you had a knit with good recovery you could skip the elastic step. Mine did not have enough lycra content for that.

But what I really like to do in my lounge pants is read my comics.  Oh Gambit, what trouble have you gotten into this time?