Being a fangirl

Sometimes I feel like this blog is basically becoming the place where I express my love for Sew Over It patterns.  Some days I feel like I should mix it up but, I warn you, today is not going to be one of those days!

I've had the silk cami pattern pretty much since it came out.  I even got round to printing at the time and then it sat in a my pattern drawer for ever, not being made up.  When I caught the end of the Liberty sale and picked up a couple of single metre offcuts, I knew it was time to break out this pattern. I cut out a size 14 overall even though at the bust the sizing showed that I would be a 12. However, I have had problems with the arm scye on a number of patterns so I decided to make the 14 overall. Turns out this was a mistake. At the top there's too much fabric. I love this top but need to decide if I can be bothered to remake the top, taking it in a bit so there's not quite so much excess fabric. 

Last month was the monthly stitch's fourth birthday and as I'm a sporadic contributor, I thought I'd like to enter something.  As the theme was 'four' so my cami with it's four pattern pieces seemed like it fit the bill perfectly.  However, in my current late to the party style, I missed the deadline so I'll have to post it as an amnesty make at some point.

I made my first pair of Mia jeans  back in April and while I love them and have been wearing them pretty consistently, there are some fitting changes I wanted to make for the next version.  There's lots of chat in the sewing world about how sewing helps with body confidence and while I love being able to make clothes that fit me properly and suit my shape, I would argue that actually sewing has made me more aware of how my body differs from others.  For example, i now know that while I have a long torso, it's the length from my neck to my waist that's longer, whereas the length from my waist to my crotch is actually proportionally short!  Hence the first alteration that I made to the jeans, which was to remove some of the length from crotch to waist.  The other alteration that I made was to make the trouser legs considerably longer as my last pair came up seriously short on me.

While I'm pleased with the alterations that I made, I did make some errors which I will need to rectify on the next version. I forgot to move the marking for the zip end so I have one very short opening to my jeans which means that they require more shimmying than is elegant to get them on and off. I forgot that my sizeable rear end needs quite a bit of fabric to cover it so I think I took a bit much out of the pattern at the back when adjusting. Also I think maybe the pocket placement could do with being moved down a smidge. 

These items have pretty much been on me or in the laundry since I made them. These photos were taken on a trip to the Isle of Wight and stood me in good stead and I'm heading off to Japan in October and I think these are going to be the base of my holiday wardrobe!

Jeans!!!!

Hi All.  It's been a little while but I've been completing my doctoral thesis and when I needed a break, the last thing that I wanted to do was to stay at my computer writing more words.  Also, trust me, none of you wanted to see pictures of me during this period!  However, I was doing a fair amount of sewing in my breaks, so have a bit of a backlog of stuff to show you.

First up are the Mia jeans from the Sew Over It capsule wardrobe ebook. I bought this as soon as it was released and any of you who follow me on Instagram may have seen that I made the Alex shirt, but found it way too oversized, although I like the concept so I may make another one in a smaller size.  I've just spotted that the petite passions has had the same issues with this shirt and they have been resolved by making a smaller size so I think my plan is made. However, one of the main reasons that I bought the ebook was because I wanted a fairly easy intro to making jeans.

The pattern really didn't disappoint.  While most of the instructions are really clear, Lisa's video for the fly front really aids with this step, although I still didn't get it spot on.  These came together really quickly and easily and I couldn't recommend the pattern enough.  I'm made up with having made my own jeans.  I'm particularly happy since I went shopping this weekend and when trying on trousers had my regular issues with them not even remotely fitting me.  It was so nice to put my properly fitting jeans back on again afterwards.

The denim that I used was this one from Sew Crafty and it was perfect for the job.  In fact since this version is perfectly wearable but far from perfect, I'm going to order some more to make a better version.  They have it in jade and pink too which are tempting, maybe I need jeans in all the colours! I love the red topstitching on this version and I think I'll repeat on a future version.  The topstitching was no where near as difficult as I thought it would be but it's not totally straight everywhere and I had this irritating mismatch where all the legs seams meet.

I made a size 14, grading to a 12 at the waist and essentially it fit me perfectly with very few adjustments.  I had to let it out slightly at the calves (clearly my running and heel wearing has built up some hefty calf muscles) but the generous seam allowances make this really easy to do.  I should have lengthened these jeans as they've come up too short, while they're fine worn with boots, I'm going to get chilly ankles if I wear them with shoes and I have very strong feelings that no part of me should ever be chilly.  I'm trying to decide if they are just a smidge too high waisted and there's some excess fabric which I think would be removed if I cut out cm or 2 from the length between crotch and waist.  Feel free to chip in with your thoughts.  I'm going to wear them a bit more to decide before the next version.

Anyway, it's good to be back chatting about sewing again. See you soon!