Miss Celie's Pants

More pull on pants, Burdastyle 4-2011 #139

Posted on December 5, 2018December 5, 2018 by Miss Celie

*Worn with Cashmerette Springfield Top (cropped).

Last summer I put on my big girl panties and finally made some pants. I have successfully made pants in the past. But, the last few years my changing body and expanding bottom made sewing pants REALLY unappealing to me. But, I couldn’t get through summer (or life really) without a single pair of non jeans in my closet.

The result were these tobacco linen pants from Burdastyle (Plus) that I wore twice a week. When I made that version, I left off the bottom leg band detail as I wanted to just focus on getting the fit right. And now after having worn those to pilling inner thigh, and an upcoming American Thanksgiving to be spent in Key West with my inlaws, I knew it was time to make another pair and take a stab at the tab.

Let me just say that my Burdastyle language skills are SLIPPING. The first time I read the bottom band / tab directions they made ZERO sense to me. The magazine may as well have been explaining Fortnite. Nine hours later I looked at the instructions again and saw a glimmer of what they were asking me to do. The next morning when I decided to *try* the instructions, it became crystal clear. There is a tab *inside* the band attached to elastic. The tab comes out through the band from a vertical buttonhole. Two buttons on the band allow you to adjust the width of the leg opening. I believe the leg opening is 22″ wide and the elastic I cut was about 16″. It’s a really cute detail that is totally lost in this red linen.

You’re welcome.

Other pattern changes from the first time? I found that the crotch on the tobacco pair hung a littler lower than I wanted. I think this is a bit of personal choice for me. I don’t want my thighs to touch AT ALL. And, I’m really used to the fit of snug jeans. So, on this pair I reduced the rise by 1/2. Previously in making this pair, I also lowered the waistband and lowered the pockets plus some other tweaks for fit. I still prefer a 2″ wide waistband on elastic wasit pants too.

Finishing wise, I decided to do a flat fell seam at the crotch and inside leg. As I mentioned before, my pants get a lot of wear and tear. I’m hoping that this treatment stabilizes the seam and will be more durable.

I legitimately could wear these pants all summer. So, don’t be susprised when it starts warming up on the east coast to see me wearing a rainbow of linen.

sewing

Warm, waterproof, hooded and pockets: Jalie 2680, Stretch City Coat

Posted on November 28, 2018November 28, 2018 by Miss Celie

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There have been a thousand and one reviews of this pattern gem. It’s about to be a thousand and twoooo. You see, I finally got around to making the Jalie City Coat and I am 120% in love with it.

I really needed a jacket for travel and to casually throw on in the fall season. Something waterproof and with a hood ideally for walking the dog or running to the store. The Jalie City Coat does all those things AND had extremely flattering and easy to adjust princess seams.

First, the pattern does call for a low stretch fabric. My soft-shell with merino wool backing from Fabricmart has stretch. But, I managed to cut it with the stretch going lengthwise vs horizontal. After a few panicked messages on the Jalie Facebook group, I was assured from others it would fit. And, it does!

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My other error made a longer lasting impact. My iron was WAY too hot when I applied interfacing to the front facing. It melted the facing, which caused it to shrink. I had to get ‘creative’ (read, made a mess) with the hem. Which caused some not so great pulling at the front and wonky hem. THIS DOES NOT ABATE MY LOVE OF THE JACKET.

Now, on to the good parts!

ALTERATIONS:

Made a Size Z grading to a BB at the thigh.
1″ FBA on the princess seams
1″ swayback adjustment (I think I could do without or it was too much for the pattern)
I did not make a full bicep adjustment and I wish I had. There is about 2″ of ease of me in the jacket. So, when I wear a sweatshirt, there’s no excess ease. A coat needs 4″ of ease. An unlined jacket 3″ of ease. But, I cut out the pattern before I thought about the arms. I don’t think the sleeves are slim. I have larger arms.

You’ll notice there’s some fabric drag around the pocket areas. I believe this is because I accidentally cut the fabric with the stretch going vertically instead of horizontally. So, it’s not as stable as it should be.

The jacket is drafted unlined. Which I welcomed because I wanted an easier project with less finishing. It also gave me a chance to use my new Brother CV3550 coverstitch machine. In fact, this project was basically my unboxing as it sat in storage while we moved for several months.

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For this jacket, I finished most of the seams with the coverstitch. It provided the topstitching a seam finish in one pass. Using the written directions I wasn’t able to finish the front princess seams in a way that made me happiest.

If I were to do it again I would:

Increase the SA on front and pocket seams to 5/8″ . Then, I’d be able to sew it as directed and go back and coverstitch for the topstitching. OR serge the front panels first and then topstitch. You could also add 1/4″ to the pocket seam and french seam them for a neater finish.
Make the side seams 1″ SA to allow letting out later on.

When I make this again I will:

add reflective tape at the yokes and lower arm seams
I’d add a little walking ease.
Serge the pockets or sew them as french seams, maybe bind the pockets?
Speaking of binding, I used my binder attachment on my coverstitch to finish the facings.

Interfacing is optional in the facings and I used it. I’m glad I did as I think it helps provide support for the buttonholes.

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Finally, hemming was also done on the coverstitch.

This whole project took a little longer than I’m used to with sewing. For those who aren’t on Instagram, we moved about two months ago. We haven’t sold our old house yet (more stressful than I anticipated) and I have unpacked the bare minimum for my current sewing room. There’s a lot of work that needs to be done in my sewing room starting with hardwired lights. But, that’s a big financial project and we haven’t sold our other house yet, lol.

I also started this project a few days before I had an easy, outpatient surgery to remove endometrial tissue from my abdomen/navel area. I’d been extremely uncomfortable for six months (trouble standing upright, not being able to sleep on my side or my stomach, waking up from cramps and weird pains I can’t even describe, no waistband touching my midsection) and finally went to my doctor for an endometriosis diagnosis and scheduled surgery. I was told the recovery would be brief, “back on your feet in hours”. And I was in fact home and in bed for a week. I’m also off of strenuous, core exercises and weightlfitng until the new year for fear of causing a hernia. The point I wanted to make on endometrios is listen to your body and go to a doctor when something doesn’t feel right. I shouldn’t have waited five months. I had no clue it was that or that there were some treatment options available to me. I feel much much better now and am working to keep it under control. Whew. I wrote a lot more there than planned. Next post: just sewing 😉. I made some red linen pants for our warm Thanksgiving mini break that I want to show you.

sewing

Updating Blog / Republishing Posts

Posted on October 29, 2018 by Miss Celie

Hi! I’ll be republishing my last year’s worth of blog posts. They were deleted when I changed from a business WordPress plan to a regular free plan. Thanks to the Feedly, I can pull all my old posts — minus photos. And will be reposting them here.

Sorry for all the updates you’re about to receive!

sewing

Unfancy Tobacco Linen Pull On Pants: Burdastyle 4-2011-139

Posted on July 3, 2018December 5, 2018 by Miss Celie

****This post is a repost of my original entry. Due to some technical difficulties, I lost a year’s worth of blog posts.

While I’ve made my fair share of pants and jeans in the past, I can’t say they are my favorite to put together. I have a bit of a struggle fitting pants so I tend to avoid them. But, I get extremely desperate for pants each year, try to buy some RTW, get totally demoralized and ignore my need for pants for another 12 mos.

Well, with a vacation looming last month (it was mah-velous), I knew I needed pants. My thighs touch and in the summer in can be terribly uncomfortable. We were going to be doing plenty of walking and flying. Shorts won’t cut it so pants it is. I settled on making a pull on pair because I didn’t want to invest a lot of time constructing pants that might not fit well. And, if I’m being honest, I hope to lose some winter weight I picked up and won’t have to worry as much about the fit later on.

For this pair I chose the #139 from the April 2011 Burdastyle. This is a plus size pattern. I’m a 42 at the waist and a solid 50 through my lower thighs. My first two muslins were TERRIBLE.

At the front I could see it straining across my jutting thighs. There was also not enough clearance for my stomach and the crotch was rightupinthere.

On the reverse, not enough room for my protruding seat, a serious need for a swayback adjustment and also, not enough length in the crotch (you can see it pulling it up at the center thigh) By the third muslin on the far right, I was much happier with the fit.

For the waist, I used a 2″ elastic vs the 1.25″ it’s drafted for. I just love wide elastic waistband. I think it looks more finished — especially with topstitching. This is a knit heavy stretch elastic so I cut it just 2″ smaller than my waist measurement and it grew a little less than 1″ after application and topstitching (making it the 1″ smaller than my waist measurement a heavy stretch should be).

You’ll note I skipped the hem band treatment on these pants. I decided I really liked this color and plan to wear them to work this summer. By keeping the bottom of the leg simple I think they are a hair more professional and less likely to be noticed when I wear them several times a week.

I am thinking about reducing by a 1/4″ the length in the back crotch and shortening the rise another 1/2″. I’d like them to fit around my crotch a hair snugger. But, overall I am REALLY happy and plan to make several more over the summer.

sewing

Sleeveless Season: Cashmerette Webster Top

Posted on May 22, 2018October 29, 2018 by Miss Celie

Oh, wovens… how I miss you! I spent last year making jeans, tee shirts and outerwear. But, this year I needed something light for our summer vacation to California and cuuuttte. I picked up the Webster when I was in Boston few months ago at Cashmerette HQ. So, while I technically didn’t pay for this pattern, all opinions are my own. And, my opinion is YASSS, Queen, slay!

I love love love the neckline. The V is deep but doesn’t show cleavage. It’s beautifully flattering. The back is equally interesting. In fact, my friend who took photos exclaimed, “CUTE!!” when she saw the back.

My Webster top is made up in a long stashed Marc by Marc Jacobs embroidered star voile. It’s lightweight with body and most of all is a solid that isn’t. I did make some alterations for fit for my body that I’ll try and capture here. There is some video of it all (for the time being) on my Instagram page. If you go to my profile, under my name there’s a bubble that says “Webster Fit”.

1. The front shoulder seam were rolling forward on me. So, I lengthened the front between the shoulder and bust by 1″ and shortened the back the same amount.

1/2″ swayback adjustment. These patterns have a sway back. I just need more

Protruding seat adjustment. This added some length over my bum at center back and some width at the back side seam only.

1/4″ sloping shoulder adjustment (for a total of 1/2″)

This pattern is a very loose casual fit. So, I used the 14 E/F which matches my full bust measurement of 43 and graded to a 12 in the waist / hip area even though I measure into a 16/18 in the hip.

I like that this pattern has an all-in-one-facing. That means no flipping out.

I finished the insides with French seams to keep it neat.

And, I loved this so much I immediately made a dress version which I’ll share soon! ** worn here with my Jalie stretch jeans in a cropped length