LLADYBIRD

Thurlow Sew-Along: Choosing Your Fabric

I just love this part of the sewing process – choosing fabric! If there’s anything that gets me super pumped about my upcoming project, it’s after I’ve found ~the fabric~ (and possibly rolled myself up in it like a burrito). What I like about this pattern is that it can be made in a multitude of fabrics to cover every season – not to mention that every pair has the potential to look completely different.

The back of the Thurlow envelope gives some suggestions for fabric choices – woolens, suitings, cotton twill, etc. You will want to stick with something light to medium weight. Be careful that you don’t go too thick, as the welt pockets can get a little bulky if you’re not careful. This is a great pattern for playing with wooly textures & saturated colors (my favorite!). We will be doing a lot of pressing, so I definitely recommend sticking with natural fibers to make this easier.

Still overwhelmed? Here are some LT-approved choices-

Black/Grey Herringbone Suiting
I LOVE herringbone! This is actually pretty similar to the suiting my pants will be made with, except mine is brown 🙂

Camel/Chocolate Plaid Suiting
This is another fairly “safe” option, but there is plenty of texture in the fabric to keep it from being too boring.

Black/White Plaid Suiting
Or, if you want to go all out & have some loud pants – try a balanced plaid! This one is pretty small-scale, so it wouldn’t be too hard to match up.

Plum Wool Crepe
Wool crepe is another great choice if you are looking for something with a bit more drape. I love the spongey, slightly stretchy texture – and all the saturated colors! Ahh!

Dark Emerald Wool Crepe
I mean… really. Wool crepe totally has the best colors.

Mustard Boiled Wool
I think we all need a pair of mustard pants.

Solid Navy Stretch Denim
Denim works quite well with this pattern, so fancy trouser jeans are absolutely doable! A few things I should point out: stick with a medium weight – too light won’t have enough body, and too heavy will give you hell when you try to sew those pockets & belt loops – and try to get a denim that doesn’t have more than a subtle amount of stretch (otherwise, you may end up needing to size down to get it to fit!). Also, take note when you’re prewashing this stuff – I wash & dry my denim at least 3 times before I cut it. It shrinks up a LOT and this is not something you want to discover in the form of high-waters, ok.

Chili Petter Cotton Twill
If wool makes you feel inexplicably itchy & denim bores you to tears, there is always a cotton twill option.

Mink Solid Rich Italian Velvet
Fancy velvet shorts? This velvet is totally luxe & only costs $10 a yard!

Of course, if you’re on the other side of the world, all these nubby tweeds & deep jewel tones are probably causing you to break out into a sweat. Don’t worry – there’s a fabric for that 😉

White/Blue Striped Seersucker
Seersucker is a summer staple as far as I’m concerned – why not embrace your inner Southern Gentleman with a pair of seersucker shorts?

Dark Blue Solid Linen
Or, if shorts aren’t your bag, linen makes a base for a summery pair or trousers *or* shorts. If you are super concerned about the natural wrinkles that come with the linen territory, get one that has a bit of poly blended in.

In addition to the fashion fabric, you will also need to buy lining for the inside waistband, pockets & fly facing. This is the fun part! We won’t actually be using “lining” fabric – so nothing slippery & devilish, yay! Lightweight cottons are perfect for this. Voiles, batistes, poplins, even light weight quilting cottons if you want the inside to be real cray.

Aqua and Brown Plaid Cotton
I love this! An easy way to inject some plaid into your pants, without the hassle of agonizing over matching up all those little lines 🙂

Yellow/White Polka Dot Cotton Poplin
You can play it safe with a subtle print or even a solid color

Floral Double Sided Cotton
… or go all out with some mega crazy granny print because holy shit.

If you made it this far, I’ve got a little consolation prize for ya 🙂 Mood Fabrics is offering a 10% discount for all online fashion fabric purchases between now and 10/22/12! Enter the code LLADYBIRD at checkout to get your discount! Note that this does not apply to home decor stuff, dressforms, or any code that starts with PV. Mood is one of my favorite places to shop fabric, so I’m pretty excited about this! Thank you, Mood!! ♥

As a side note, a few people mentioned that they do not have their pattern yet or aren’t quite at the point of making the muslin. That’s ok! We aren’t starting our actual pant-sewing until the week of 10/29, I just wanted to make sure everyone has enough time to get their fit situation figured out 🙂

Tags: amazing fabric, fabric hoarding, Thurlow Sewalong

Comments 24 Comments
Categories sewalong

Thurlow Sew-Along: Muslin Party!

4 Oct

It’s time to get crackin’ on some muslins! Whoooohooo… who’s excited!? Anyone? Anyone?

I will admit – making a muslin isn’t exactly the most exciting way to spend your precious sewing time. However, it is pretty necessary to ensure that you get a good fit, especially with something like trousers or shorts where you can’t just sew a wider seam allowance to get rid of the problem. Lots of pattern alterations involve the flat pattern before the fabric is cut, and it is crucial that you figure this out before you cut into your real fabric & then despair that the crotch is too long. Long crotches are pretty tragic, imo. So let’s get muslinin’, y’all.

First, figure out what size you are going to be sewing up. Here is the back of the Thurlow envelope. These pants don’t have too much ease in them, but it IS there. If you like that, that’s totally fine – just cut the size recommended. If you want something a little more form-fitting, I recommend checking out the finished measurements & basing your size off of those. PROTIP: the finished waist measurement doesn’t actually hit your high waist, as in the smallest part of your torso. These actually hit right at the belly button, so that would be where you need to measure if you are going by the finished dimensions. My measurements put me between a 4 and a 6, but I cut a 0 (since right at my belly button is 29″) and added some room at the butt and I got a great fit. Trace your pattern if you are unsure what size to cut, you can always make another muslin!

The Thurlow has a lot of pattern pieces, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves – we only need a few for a proper muslin! I have circled the ones you’ll need to cut out. The pocket lining pieces ARE necessary (since they fill the void where the pocket slash is on the front pieces), but don’t worry about the facings. If you are making trousers, you can go all out & muslin the full lengths, or you can be lazy like me & just make shorts 😉

It is a good idea to mark on your muslin where the welt pockets will sit – you don’t have to sew the actual pockets, unless you are just REALLY feeling it – in case you determine you need to move them. Don’t worry about the zipper, you can just pin the front closed.

I was going to compile a list of pants-fitting resources, but it looks like Tasia beat me to it. So, just to reiterate (and mostly because I don’t feel like I’m doing anything if I just direct you to her blog), here are some of my personal faves:
Pants fitting basics, via the Coletterie
Pants fitting cheat-sheet, via the Coletterie
Common pants alterations, via Sunni of A Fashionable Stitch
Crotch depth via Sunni of A Fashionable Stitch
Crotch length via Sunni of A Fashionable Stitch
Knee & hem adjustments via Sunni of A Fashionable Stitch
Fullness & waistlines via Sunni of A Fashionable Stitch
Special alterations for pants via Texas A&Ms Extension program
The Anatomy of a camel toe via the Fashion Incubator
Colette Clover pants via meeee. Haha! The comments in this post are actually quite great, lots of helpful info & resources.

Books:
The Perfect Fit (actually, I think all of y’all should buy this book – regardless of whether or not you are making pants)
Pants for Real People

WHEW that’s a lot of links! Don’t tell me you don’t suddenly feel armed & prepared!

So here’s the fun part… I’m going to show you *my* Thurlow muslin! This is actually the muslin I made in the ‘way beginning, and no, I have no idea why I still had it stashed (I even moved across town during this time!). But, whatever, I guess it came in handy :B Also, fair warning: these are pretty unflattering.

Here you can see I’ve got some weird excess fabric in the front of my shorts. This is the crotch depth, and it clearly needs to be shortened (I’m petite, so it makes sense that I have a short crotch, I guess haha).

Side view is ok, apart from that itty bitty FUPA the shorts give me.

Oh god, what is going ON in the back!?

As my ass appears to be eating directly into my shorts, it would seem I need to add some room back there.

To fix the crotch depth, I simply pinned out the excess fabric & tapered it to the sides. Doesn’t it look much better?

Here’s a side view

To fix my butt issue, I extended the back crotch length on my pattern piece to a size 4, tapering down the leg.

And here’s the finished result of that. No more perma-wedgie, yay!

Well, that turned into a super heavy post! Do let me know if you have any questions & I’ll do my best to answer. Feel free to post your muslins in the Flickr Group and let’s help each other!

Next week, we are gonna talk fabric. FUCK YES.

Tags: fitting and alterations, muslin, Thurlow, Thurlow Sewalong

Comments 51 Comments
Categories sewalong

Completed: Another Alma Blouse

28 Sep

I’m still wearing those damn Thurlow jeans, btw. SORRY FOR NOT BEING SORRY.

But, hey, look, new blouse!

This blouse is extra-special to me because the fabric actually came from Liz – can you believe she dumped this in the swap pile!? I certainly couldn’t! I snatched it up with visions of an Alma floating in my head. I almost felt like I needed to save the fabric for something more, I dunno, substantial – like a dress. But I’m pretty happy with the end result & I think it will get a lot more wear in it’s blouse-form. So there!

This fabric is pretty amazing, at any rate. It’s actually a double fabric (I’m guessing double-gauze? Maybe? Help me out here.), fused together. Which mean it’s super warm and actually kind of heavy when sewn up into a blouse. Almost like a lil’ non-knit sweater! So obviously, long sleeves were in order. And a peter pan collar because, c’mon.

I knew I wanted the collar & cuffs to contrast (although I love the look of a solid print on everything, I think this fabric was just a little too much!), but I couldn’t find a suitable match in my stash and I REALLY didn’t want to tromp back to the fabric store after spending so much at Vogue while I was in Chicago. Then I had a no-shit-Sherlock moment when I realized I could just flip the fabric over for the perfect orangy contrast! That’s right – all the orange accents you see here are actually the wrong side of the fabric. I’m so brilliant, durrp.

There is totally an invisible zipper right in that side seam. Oh, you can’t see it? Neither can I!

I just think this pattern is drafted so beautifully. The collar pieces include separate under collar pieces, so there is no fug seam ruining my beautiful collar line.

Really sorry these pictures are so cruddy, by the way. It’s overcast today and I guess my camera is on strike or some shit.

Since this fabric is so thick, I separated the two pieces for the collar & facing, then interfaced the single layers.

I actually ran out of interfacing while I was cutting out the pattern, and rather than wait for more to arrive in the post, I kept the cuffs at their double-layer status & just sewed as normal without interfacing. I’m not sure if I’m totally thrilled with the end result, they don’t exactly sit right. Oh well – they have leaf buttons! LEAVES, you guys!

The fit on this guy is a little different than my previous Alma blouse – I wanted it to be a little more loose-fitting, like a cozy sweater. I did have to shorten the sleeves about an inch, and take about 1/4″ out of the sleeve seams.

I love the little leaf buttons, as impractical as they are.

Thought I’d have a little fun with the different fabrics – surprise undercollar!

The inside of the shirt is actually quite orange, just the facing matches the outside fabric 🙂 Since this is a double-layer, I was able to catch-stitch the facing down so it doesn’t pop out.

And here is proof that there actually is an invisible zipper in that side seam. Haha! I’m quite proud of this zipper insertion – it’s a metal invisible zipper, which is probably one of the most wtf sewing notions ever. Seriously, these things suck! They don’t fit in my invisible zipper foot, so I have to use a regular zipper foot & push the needle waaaay over. The teeth don’t press down, so sewing it in is a matter of pushing the teeth down with your fingers & praying that the needle doesn’t sew through something it shouldn’t. And apparently there’s a really fine line between “invisible” and “this shit won’t zip up.” I bought these stupid things at the flea market, and I can’t say I’m surprised that they don’t appear to be manufactured anymore.

The end result is pretty good, though, and yes I’m tootin’ my own horn 😉 Deal with it.

Tags: Alma blouse, completed, shirt, swap, top

Comments 40 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

Completed: The Mustard Renfrew (plus some announcements!)

26 Sep

Let’s get down to business, shall we?

First of all, you guys definitely want a sew-along. And I aim to please! So let me introduce my first sew-along (ahhh!!), for the Thurlow trousers:

Feel free to snag this button for your blog, so everyone will know how cool you are BECAUSE YOU ARE MAKING PANTS.

As it is, I am a bit swamped right now, and I know a lot of you guys are working on jackets & coats with other sew-alongs, so we won’t actually start sewing until the end of October. I am aiming for a start date of Monday 10/29, so there will be plenty of time for everyone to work on their muslins, choose fabric (but maybe hold up a week or two, I’ve got a fabric post cooking right now :)) and of course finish your coat if you’re working on one!

I also opened a Thurlow Sew-Along Flickr Group, so please join so we can all share pictures 😀 We will be posting our muslins for advice on fit, and since I’m not a muslin-master, I’m really hoping y’all can pitch in and help when you see something you know the answer to. Open discussion!

A few people asked if they could join with a different trouser pattern – and the answer is OF COURSE! We will be focusing on the Thurlow pattern specifically, but these techniques should work with any ol’ pants pattern, including the gorgeous new Juniper. However, you may need to draft pieces if your pattern doesn’t have all the cool welts & fly facings & shit.

Also, this specific pattern includes an option for shorts, so if you’d rather make shorts… make shorts! All the construction techniques will still be the same 🙂

Ok, for those of you who dgaf about a sew-along… I have something for you too. But you still have to look at my Thurlows. HEH HEH HEH.

Thought I’d whip up a little tshirt last night 🙂

This is the Renfrew top by Sewaholic patterns. I know what you’re thinking – and I promise I’m not getting paid to wax poetic about Tasia’s patterns every day lol. I just really love them and I want everyone to get excited about them too!

Anyway, I wanted to try the cowl in view C, but I was holding off for the right fabric (and weather conditions). This fabric actually came from the flea market last week – this lady was trying to dump off the remainder of her late mother’s fabric stash and this was in it. It was actually really scratchy & smelled awful, like a moldy basement in the 60s, but I took a chance. Especially since I got a big stack of fabrics for $1 lolz. Anyway, it softened up quite nicely with a wash – and the smell is gone. I just think the color is so perfect!

Here’s a back view. BACK FAT ALERT, BRO.

I feel like it also bears mentioning that this is a perfect every day wardrobe ensemble. Sure, it’s a boring concept – jeans & a tshirt. Who the fuck makes jeans & a tshirt? Actually – I think that’s the beauty of it. Instead of focusing all my sewing power on stuff that rarely gets worn, this is some straight-up cake. I am going to snuggle into this outfit all the time – I would be wearing it right now, if I didn’t work in an office with a dress code 🙂 – and it just tickles me that the entire thing is handmade by meeeee.

Oh, speaking of cake – StephC of 3hourspast just kicked off a presale for her new pattern line, Cake! And it’s a casual knit dress – designed to be worn as every day wear, or, the aforementioned cake. Mmmm, cake.

One thing I hear people mention when they discuss not wanting to sew “every day” items is that they are boring to sew. Boring fabrics (not as many pretty prints!), boring patterns, boring boring. And I get that – I really love digging my teeth into something deliciously challenging. But there are ways to make your plain garments more fun – like making the inside a party:

GOD, what a happy shirt!

At any rate, stick around for Thurlow Extravaganza! I’ll be back next week to start muslin’ing, and we also need to talk FABRIC!!

Tags: completed, delicious cake, renfrew, Thurlow, Thurlow Sewalong

Comments 58 Comments
Categories completed projects - new, sewalong

Completed: Thurlow Jeans

24 Sep

Well. I have some good news and I have some bad news.

The good news is that the trouser portion of the Thurlow pattern is just as good as the shorts portion. One would think that goes without saying, but occasionally I do see patterns that focus all their attention on one component and add the second as a “bonus” without properly testing it (see McCall’s 5971 – the cap sleeves are perfect, but the long sleeves were not properly drafted & cause some funky problems when you try to, you know, move your arms & shit). Anyway, that’s not the problem here. These parts are perfect.

Which brings me to the bad news… uhhh… I hope you like looking at pictures of me wearing Thurlows, because you are about to see a LOT of them. I have fabric picked for 2 more pairs of trousers & one more pair of shorts. And I have ideas for more. Lord help us.

At any rate, I guess I found my new TNT, desert-island pattern! Woohoo!

So, without further ado… let me introduce you to my newest pair of jeans (and also a deliciously trashy part of my back yard):

Don’t you luurve them!? Omgah, so comfy & flattering.

Check out the rear view!

A few fitting notes – these are a size 0, aka the smallest size. FWIW, my waist is 26.5″ & my hips are 37″. These are a PERFECT fit on me. I did pull the back crotch out to a size 4, because I noticed my shorts didn’t have as much butt room as I prefer (and occasionally hovered near the zones of Wedgie City, eeeew). I did not shorten the front crotch of these, there are a few wrinkles but that’s mostly because of the way I’m standing. LOVE the fit of these. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

Oh, they are a little long. What you see in the pictures is the natural length, with a shitty cuff job (sidenote: I have no idea how pants cuffs work, nor do I own any pants with cuffs that I can compare to. I am pretty sure I cuffed these wrong because they fall out often. Help?). I’m 5’3″ sooo take that as you will. Next time I will shorten these before cutting.

I mean, LOOK AT THEM.

LOOK AT THOSE WELTS.

I did minimal topstitching with these (just around the welt pockets, top of the slash pockets, and the zipper – all in navy) as I wanted them to be very sleek and, er, trouser-like. Also, these are one hundred thousand times better than my previous denim trousers, fyi.

The insides are the best part! I had plans on using a piece of floral cotton I had floating around my stash, but the lining for these pants actually take a fair amount of fabric. So I went to the flea market on Saturday morning in hopes of finding something suitable… and welllll, look what I found! Had exactly enough, too!

I mean, are these like the happiest jeans or what.

Another rear view. These are probably my best welt pockets yet.

On a slightly frustrating note, it would seem that I’m not capable of keeping pants hooks & eyes in my possession. I lost my first pack in the move, somehow. So when I found them at Vogue Fabrics while I was in Chicago, I rejoiced & bought the biggest pack they sold. Come Saturday evening (*ahem*, yeah, I sewed these up in a day…), they were nowhere to be found! I KNOW I bought some because they are in my gloat picture of all the goodies I brought home. I’m fairly certain I threw them away with the plastic bags. Along with the sweet marking wax stuff that I also bought… ::sob::. So these hooks & eyes come from Walmart. And they are just as terrible as you would guess, but hey at least they were cheap!

But, whatever, I have new jeans so I guess it all evens out…

In closing, a few questions for y’all:
1. Since I’m planning on making a few more of these anyway, is anyone interested in a little sew-along? Might be closer to the end of the October before I can start, but I’d be happy to take pictures of the more confusing steps & hand-hold if necessary! C’mon! It’ll be FUN! And the pattern includes both pants & shorts, so those of you in warmer climates don’t have an excuse to back out, nyah nyah nyah.
2. What is your TNT pattern? Is it a Sewaholic pattern? Is this some kind of conspiracy?

Tags: completed, jeans, pants, Thurlow, trousers

Comments 90 Comments
Categories completed projects - new

The Chicago Meet-Up!

20 Sep

Chicago meet-up: definitely a success! Chicago itself: definitely one of my new favorite cities. You guys. The public transportation. I can’t even.

I CAN KNIT ON THE BUS WTF.

Anyway, I’m sure you’ve already read about the meet-up experience – it lasted two days (you jelly?) – but I wanted to add my two cents as well 🙂 I met up with Liz, Tasha, Meg & Nancy this past Saturday, bright & early. We started out at Bite Cafe, for a meet & eat and a swap that turned out to be of massive proportions. I should point out right now that Liz bent the fuck over backwards in arranging this whole meet-up – she planned the locales, drove our asses around, brought champagne to brunch, even made macarons for us to snack on. Seriously, Liz basically made the day. MADE IT. And I love her for that, and also because she is just awesome 🙂

Anyway, our swap turned out so big that the poor waitress didn’t have anywhere to put our food. Wah!

I swiped this picture from Liz, this was after we cleared out about half of it lol.
I even came home with a clown sewing pattern. You will all see that later, I promise.

After brunch, Nancy had to go home but the rest of us got to go fabric shopping!

Our first stop was Fishman’s. Doesn’t the store look kind of terrifying? It is, a little. Everyone warned me that it was super expensive, but honestly the prices aren’t that different than how they are here in Nashville. Ouch! We have a low cost of living, but I guess fabric isn’t considered part of that 😉 Anyway, lots of oohing & awing to be had – and much fabric petting. I touched so many beautiful pieces of cashmere that I actually did lose feeling in my fingertips for a minute there. No one bought anything – I was saving up all my energy for Vogue. And Vogue, you crazy bitch – you did not disappoint.

Also, pretty much everything was on sale! Aieee!!!

AND BEMBERG RAYON AMBIANCE LINING WAS LIKE $7 YARD.

I am not even ashamed for all my yelling, grunting while pulling logs of fabric out from under other logs of fabric, and using said logs of fabric as a third leg to hobble around the store. I am also not ashamed of the towering pile of fabric we all contributed to, which took up a significant part of the cutting counter.

I LOVE VOGUE FABRICS.

We took a short break in the parking lot, in which Liz took the opportunity to reveal the very best part of the day:

THE MACARONS.
Don’t they look like tiny, delicious hamburgers?!

I love this picture that Tasha took, of us taking pictures of them first hahaha.

After that, we went to Loopy Yarns, where I picked up some harlot red yarn to make my next sweater. They were *also* having a storewide sale, so my total came to under $25 FUCK YES.

Finally, we ended our shopper’s high at Hackney’s, for beers & ciders. I made our waiter take a picture of all of us:

This was the second attempt; my eyes were closed in the first one! I may or may not have upset the waiter by demanding a retake haha.

And thus ends the tale of the first day: The Day That We Filled The Trunk Of Liz’s Car With Fabric And Yarn And Macarons.

The second day, Liz & Felix picked us (us being me & Landon!) up for some vintage shopping with Tasha & Mel at the Vintage Garage. I confess I did not actually go with the expectation of buying anything – the flea market here has me really spoiled when it comes to prices – but I did manage to come home with 3 pieces of clothing, the whole lot for under $50 🙂 I met Leilani of Thriftaholic and she snapped pictures of me with two of the pieces, so hopefully I’ll see them on her website later! And ooh, even Landon found some cool vintage prints to take home. Which means now I get to shop for vintage frames woohoo.

All in all, a fabulously perfect meet-up. I had a WONDERFUL time & I will definitely be back in Chicago – especially after getting a look at their fabric prices. Liz seriously deserves a gold medal in hostessery for all that she pulled together to make everything special. Also, I can’t remember the last time I laughed so hard for so long but I’d like that to be a daily event in my life, please & thank you.

Now, for some more not-sewing-related-but-still-Chicago-related pictures:

Riding the bus into the city. FUCK this place is huge!

City skyline

The other half of the skyline. Again: huge.

This geyser was just way too excited I think.

The park that we were strolling around had these massive gardens – some full of flowers, some full of vegetables (!!). I couldn’t get over the sunflowers, personally. They were as big as our heads!

This is the Millennium Park Amphitheater – isn’t it insane looking?!

Me & Landon in front of the Bean. I hated that Bean, it’s so weird & creepy. SORRY FOR NOT BEING SORRY.

I snapped this on the way to the Vintage Garage. So many dirty jokes come to mind.

This was where we stayed – obviously not a hotel. We booked a room through Airbnb, since even the cheap hotels outside the city are terribly expensive. It was a great experience & I’d do it again in a heartbeat – our host was really freaking cool (I mean, you have to be cool to live in an adorable apartment like that, amirite) and we paid less than half of what we would have paid with a traditional hotel. And coffee was on the house 🙂

Oh, wait, I guess you wanted to see what I came home with:

Fabric & yarn – this does not even count all the goodies I came home with post-swap!

Vintage duds 🙂

Oh, and for the lurkers in all of us – check out everyone else’s meet-up posts!
Liz’s post, day 1!
Liz’s post, day 2!
Tasha’s post!
Meg’s post!

Now, if you’ll excuse me… I have beautiful fabrics that I must turn into beautiful garments 🙂

Tags: Chicago, fabric hoarding, hot damn this is my jam, meet-up

Comments 46 Comments
Categories misc

Planning Ahead: Fall/Winter 2012

13 Sep

Ugh, guys, I miss sewing so so much. And by “sewing,” I mean, “making stuff that I want to make that is going to be worn by me.” Boo! I’m still slogging through THAT pile of stuff, but in the meantime, I thought I’d get my fall/winter planning a little under control. Plus, I really like making these little collages. Don’t stare too hard at my ‘shooping, though – it’s pretty bad. I’m sure all my web design friends are cringing right now lol.

Anyway, I made myself a big ol’ shopping list to take to the fabric store(s); most of this is procured from my stash, although there are a couple pieces that I’m currently on the hunt for. Won’t you take a walk with me?

Here is one of the fabrics I don’t actually have yet – I’m hoping to score big and find something EXACTLY like that delicious tweedy brown wool, though. I want old man pants and I want to wear them all winter. I had a really wonderful pair when I was 16-20, but unfortunately for me they were a size 10 in little boy’s & I grew an ass so they definitely don’t fit anymore. Good thing I can sew!

In addition to trousers, I’d love to make some winter-appropriate shorts. I know that sounds like a total oxymoron, but I have a vision & it involves velvet & tights. It’ll be totally ace, promise.

Who else has Gertie’s new book? Who else wants to make EVERYTHING in it?? Me me me! I actually picked this fabric up at the flea before I got the book – and I think this pattern is perfect match. Fingers crossed that I have enough!

Also courtesy of Gertie – a circle skirt with a scalloped waist. Yes, please!

A sexah classic – the red wool pencil skirt.

A sweet little collared dress, made up in grey wool with white accents. This will likely end up with long sleeves.

Another grey/white (I know, the color is really off in this picture) dress, this time with a scarf neck. This fabric is totally luscious, btw – it’s a linen & silk blend that I’ve been hoarding for like 2 years now.

Some fun tshirts in some wacky prints!

As much as I love my original Minoru, I really want to make an improved version with the hood. This is also fabric I’m currently trying to hunt down, I think the mustard will be visible enough at night without washing me out like most yellows tend to do. Plus, dots!

And, finally, what’s a winter sewing plan without a coat? I know, this is not the coat I was originally planning… but then this fabric came to me, and I could not say no. I love the idea of taking a beautiful feminine pattern like the Lady Grey & toughing it up with some fugly plaid. What color lining should I seek out? Mustard? Brown? Black? SOMETHING RANDUMB?

There are so many other patterns I want to make, and so much more fabric that hasn’t found it’s pattern-match yet. I want to make a set of classic flannel pajamas. I also want to make hats and gloves because, well, why not?

A few things worth mentioning:
– Colette Patterns is releasing two new fall patterns TODAY at noon (!!!). I’ve already had the sneakiest sneak peek that ever was at the both of them, and believe me when I say they are AMAZING. You will want to drop by and check them out. Trust me like you’ve never trusted me before.
– Need some new patterns to up your fall wardrobe? Sunni just took 30% off all patterns in her shop – so start stocking up!
– Andi just released a new sweater pattern and it is AMAZING. And perfect timing, too – since I’m ready to invest in some more yarn. I can’t wait to knit this one up!

All right then, I’m off to Chicago! We are having a small meet-up on Saturday morning – if you missed the first post about this, it’s not too late to come out! Send me an email (lladybirdlauren at gmail dot com) and I’ll pass on the deets 🙂

Have a good weekend, everyone!

Tags: fabric hoarding, Fall/Winter 2012, patterns, planning

Comments 47 Comments
Categories misc

Completed: The Blagatha

4 Sep

Hey look, I finished another sweater! That makes 3 sweaters now – not bad for someone who’s only been knitting 9 months, eh? Instead of a baby, I made sweaters trolololol

I still don’t think I look nearly as gorgeous as Andi + her sweater in the Agatha pattern photos, but hey, I’ll take this!

For those of you who are new, this is my second Agatha sweater – I loved it so much, I wanted a second version. I am calling this one the “Blagatha” because, well, it’s black & saying Blagatha is kind of fun (another word I really enjoy saying is “goo.” I’m sure you are just fascinated with this). Anywhoodoo, this is pretty much the same as my first one – I knit the size small, using heathered black Cascade 220 & size 5 needles. My gauge must have loosened quite a bit since the first sweater because this one barely needed any blocking to get it to fit – I mostly just blocked to even out the stitches. On the mustard sweater, I really had to stretch the sleeves because they were soooo tight. Not with this one! With that in mind, it is also a bit longer than the mustard one. The sleeves are super long. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

I’m sorry these pictures are so crappy. It’s rainy, grey, overcast, and black just does NOT like being photographed! Meh!

This is my back/side porch, by the way. I promise my entire backyard isn’t a mud pit – just that section. Fine with me! I hate mowing haha.

These are really awful. Here are some flash-photos, so you can see the lacy details!

I just love all the side & waist shaping – it really makes the sweater extra-awesome.

Oh, and of course – it looks good unbuttoned too 🙂

Aren’t the buttons cute? I actually found them at Joann’s, although they definitely have a sweet vintage vibe to them

The button bands are backed with petersham ribbon for stability. I used my sewing machine to sew the button holes on first, then hand stitched everything to the sweater. It took 3 episodes of Arrested Development, whoop.

And for those of you who want to know how I get all this knitting done – I knit on my lunch break at work 🙂 I get a full hour, so it’s perfect for squeezing in some tv or music & just chilling out for a bit. I don’t really knit much at home, home time is sewing time! Unfortunately for me, my sewing time right now is completely wrapped up in draperies. BORING. At least now I can *see* the light at the end of the tunnel!

Oh, I also embroidered this:

It’s old-ish – I was working on it during that hellish week when everything was packed but we hadn’t actually moved yet. I’m not sure what I want to do with it, though. Maybe a pillow? Eh.

For my next project, I’m taking it easy with a hat. Well, it has cables.

How exciting! I’ve never worked with cables before 😀

I’ll be starting another sweater as soon as I can afford the yarn 🙂 Buying all that yarn at once is such a debbie downer, btw – yarn stores should have some kind of yarn layaway where you can set aside all the yarn you want in your preferred dye lot, but you can pick it up a ball at a time. Actually, I’m not really sure how that would work. Someone make it happen!!

Now let’s see some cold fronts so I can start parading this new wool baby around!

Tags: Agatha sweater, blagatha, completed, knitting

Comments 51 Comments
Categories completed projects - new, crafty things that are not sewing

Completed: Thurlow Shorts (the sequel)

27 Aug

Y’ALL. I am still having trouble getting over these Thurlow Shorts – I wear them all the time. Seriously! I actually worry that my friends are starting to think I only own one pair of shorts :B They are such a great fit, so comfortable, and look fantastic. Could this be love? Could this be TNT??

As a christening to my new sewing room – I made a second pair! Those gingham babes definitely need a break 🙂

I made these using leftover chambray from my last pair of trousers – at 60″, I only needed about a yard of material. Nice! The gingham insides are from a piece of fabric I found at the Goodwill Outlet. Overall, cheap cheap. And fast – I cannot believe how quickly these basically flew together.

There’s not much to say about the construction of these, since they are essentially the exact same as my previous pair. There are a couple of things I would like to point out, however.
– I forgot to interface the fly facing. DERP. I am quite sure that normally, this would not be a problem… however, my fabric is very lightweight. Which means there is wrinkling all over the fly since it’s not stablized. By the time I realized my error, I had already sewn on the waistband. Oh well! They’re chambray – they wrinkle everywhere else, so hopefully the fly doesn’t look too bad 🙂
– Instead of shortening the length, I just made the cuffs extra wide. Me likey!
– I couldn’t find a pants hook & eye – and trust me, I ripped my entire sewing room apart looking for them (which bums me out because I KNOW I recently bought some! Where are they!?) So these are closed with regular hooks & eyes. It works for now, although I’m still looking for my lost babies.
– The pockets as drafted are pretty shallow – you can’t really put anything in them. I slashed & taped mine so they would accommodate my phone and/or wallet:

Since this piece has to be folded at the line, I slashed both above & below the fold line & added 3″. I can still insert the pocket as instructed – and it will hold all my junk. Win!

I actually wore these out last night for a bike ride/dinner meet up with these awesome ladies. These definitely pass the cycling test – especially with my new rear pockets 🙂 This will also explain why they are super wrinkly. And also why there is a giant grease stain on my cuff & my leg. lol

I forgot to get a picture of the back! I’m sure you can imagine what it looks like.

Here I am yawning instead. I got up extra early to shoot these photos 🙂

Oh, and while I have your attention – check out all these crazy patterns I found at the flea market this past weekend! All $1 each!

McCall’s 1391
I am DYING to make some gloves, but this pattern is Large & I have child-sized hands… so I may be learning how to grade down a glove pattern haha.

Simplicity 1390
Would you guys still be my friend if I started channeling my inner Pilgrim?

Vogue 9993
This style of hat would look terrible on me. I couldn’t resist, though – the artwork is beautiful!

Vogue 9992
This style of hat, however, has been proven to look awesome on me 🙂

Advance 9046
Sleeves!

Butterick 7206
Because, why not?

Butterick 9945
I almost did not buy this one, but changed my mine at the last minute. I love the scallops with the peter pan collar – so sweet!

Vogue ?614 (sorry, I forgot to make sure the # was in the picture!)
Another sweet blouse.

Advance 8511
I really love the neckline darts on this thing.

And one piece of fabric:

I have enough to make a simple dress… but what pattern? Hmmmm.

I may be quiet for the next couple of weeks while I knock out some commissioned sewing. It sucks, but mama’s got bills to pay! And by “bills,” I mean “fabric.” Haha!

Tags: completed, flea market, patterns, shorts, Thurlow

Comments 42 Comments
Categories completed projects - new, misc

Introducing – My New Sewing Room!

24 Aug

I should really call this a sewing studio – it’s a HUGE room! Huge, I tell you!

Let’s back up a little. When I last left off – three freakin’ weeks ago, eeeewww! – I was still living in a sorry state of moving purgatory. You know what I’m talking about – everything is packed except one of each dish, getting anywhere requires maneuvering around piles of boxes & there are weird outlines on the wall where artwork used to hang. Pretty depressing living situation, if you ask me! We actually did not move until the end of that week, on the 10th. And lucky me – the power company refused to turn our power & water on until the following Monday, so we spent a couple of nights sleeping on the mattress in the middle of the old bedroom (I can handle living a couple of days without one or the other, but not both!). Then there was a full week of unpacking – and I refused to let myself do anything fun until the house was put together (mostly because I know me, and I know it’ll never get done otherwise. Hey, at least I’m honest haha).

Then my old landlord called & said the paint colors in the house were all wrong, and I needed to paint them back. Not wanting to spend $200+ on neutral paint, Landon & I went to Lowe’s & bought out all their OOPS paint, mixed it all together in a 5 gallon bucket & crossed our fingers. The end result was something that closely matches my flesh haha. So I had a painting party with a few awesome friends, PBR, pizza & 90s jams. We knocked out 3 rooms in about 2 hours and told ghost stories and yes, it was as fun as it sounds. And I just found out yesterday that I’m getting my full deposit back! Yay! Money!

So now let me show you my new sewing room!

Standing in the doorway – aren’t the hardwoods gorgeous?! Unfortunately, this room doesn’t get as good natural light as the bedroom does. Pretty sure I’ll manage 😉

Turning just a bit, my sewing & ironing stations.

There is actually a closet & more wall that I’m not showing; Landon still hasn’t unpacked all his clothes so I’m not going to show that section because it’s a MESS. Instead – cabinet! Patterns & books & yarn, yay!

I edited down my stash a bit before I moved, but I still have a metric shit ton of patterns. They are organized by garment type, fyi.

Speaking of things I have a metric shit-ton of – fabric!!

I forgot to take detail shots, sorrrry! Here are a couple of close-ups:

Hanging space for rulers & scissors & things that strike my fancy.

Have I posted this yet? I made this using an old frame (25¢, painted mint green), a fabric remnant & a sewing machine charm. It makes me so happy haha 🙂

Some notes on the sewing room, if anyone is curious.
– The cutting table is the Norden Gateleg (Ikea). It is on wood blocks because it’s a tad short for cutting. Eventually I’d like to buy castors, but those fuckers are expensive!
– The fabric shelf is the 4×4 Expedit (Ikea)
– Pretty much everything else (glass cabinet, sewing table, shelves, chairs, even the ironing board) was either thrifted, dumpstered, or a hand-me-down.
– The wall color is Behr Mint Majesty – my landlords painted it for me, but I got to pick the color woohooo!

Here are some other bits & pieces of my house, for those of you who want to be nosy without actually admitting to it (hey, no shame, I’m the same way :B)

This is the living room (I’m standing by the front door). I am looooooving these hardwood floors, even if they do make my feet filthy at the end of the day.

Here is an Instagram pic of the other side of the plant:

Someone asked me the other day if the dude bust was Jesus with his hair blowing – I WISH!

His name is Saul, actually.

This is an ugly picture (I need to hang that mirror, haaa), but I’m including it so you can see the layout of the house. The turquoise doorway is my sewing room (!!), that’s the dining room straight through, and then the kitchen is farther back. The bedroom door is on the other side of the wall.

Here is the dining room! The table/chairs (their matching hutch is in the previous picture) & the curtains are from the flea market. There is a pile of stuff in the floor because Landon’s desk is out of the frame; he’s still organizing that mess so I cropped it out of the picture. Oh, and the lady on the wall is not Marilyn Monroe 🙂
I don’t really care for that wall color, but it does go well with my curtains.
Sorry about all the bandannas everywhere. Wtf is up with me & bandannas?

So that’s it! I’m really loving my new house – and new neighborhood!! – and I’m looking forward to actually being able to start sewing again. It’s been too long! I just started a new project last night, actually-

Good stuff!