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Thurlow Sew-Along: Muslin Party!

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: 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

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

Completed: Gingham Thurlow Trouser Shorts

23 Jul

Fair warning: I am way WAY excited about pattern. Words cannot express.

When Tasia announced that she was releasing a Trouser pattern specifically for those of us with a generous lower half, I was already pretty excited. As with, well, *everyone* who sews pants, there are always mounds of alterations that need to be done before you can even cut into your fabric. For me especially, it’s the kind of stuff that requires a muslin & flat pattern adjusting – the adjustments don’t fare well with pinching & letting out seams. So naturally, I’ve kept my eye out for pattern companies that cater to my body shape so I can deal with less alterations. I already knew this pattern was going to be a go, regardless of the style – but wait, have you actually seen these trousers??? OMG WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE.

I think Sewaholic might be my new favorite pattern company. I’ve made up a handful of her patterns, and the more I see/work with, the more I’m just incredibly impressed. This pattern is no exception – it is wonderful. Thanks to the extra ease allowed for curvy hips & full thighs (and a narrow waist!), these fit almost perfectly straight out of the envelope. There are a million little pieces, but everything goes together supremely well & the instructions are clear & straightforward without being dumbed down. These shorts weren’t just sewn – they were practically engineered.

So anyway, let’s talk about my shorts!

This gingham was one of the few pieces I allowed myself to buy during the biannual 50% off sale at my local fabric store (I’m saving my pennies for Chicago, eep!). I REALLY wanted giant gingham shorts, although a few people gave me the side-eye when I showed them the fabric lol. Whatever, I love them! The fabric is quite sheer, so almost every single piece (save for a couple facings) is underlined with cotton batiste. Cutting out all those pieces, plus making sure the gingham matched up, plus underlining – I think I spent close to 3 hours just prepping everything for sewing! Totally worth it, though. And as an encouragement to anyone who fears plaids – cutting it out kinda sucks. A lot. But once it’s cut, everything goes together with very little drama.

Like I said, the muslin fit pretty well straight out of the envelope. I usually have to make a few drastic changes to my pattern (adding room for a full butt, reducing the waistband circumference & shortening the crotch), so this was a relief! I did pinch out the tiniest bit of length from the front crotch – about 1/4″ maybe, tapering to nothing at the side seams. I also added another small wedge extension – again, about 1/4″ – to the back crotch for a tiny bit of extra room. These are a size 0, btw. Haven’t fit into that size in a few years haha 🙂

The only design change I made to the pattern was cutting the waistbands & welt pockets on the bias – I didn’t want to deal with matching those stripes. I do have a little bit of rippling at the waistband, which I also had with my Clover jeans (which, come to think of it, that waistband was also cut on the bias. Hmmmmm). But it’s no big deal – I just pressed the shit outta it. Ironing solves everything!

I also took about 2″ off the hem – the original length is a smidge too long for my frame. And anyway, I like wearing short shorts. Deal with it.

Don’t my welt pockets look gooood? I think those & all the action going on with those fly facings (patience, grasshopper, we’ll be looking at that in a minute!) make these pants look super nice. I may make the pockets a little deeper next time, however – these are only about 2″ deep! No room for the wallet!

Here are some close-ups (I told you! I’ve gone craaaazy!)

(I am very sorry, I have no idea why this is so blurry!)

As you can see, I couldn’t get the pocket area to line up perfectly, gingham-wise. The lines on the leg are straight, though, so I guess it’s ok!

Isn’t the facing fabric so pretty?! It was a (handmade)pillowcase I found at the Goodwill Outlet. I barely had enough to cut all my facing pieces. I just love the colors against the black & white gingham.

You know, in retrospect, I should have checked that the bobbin thread was white when I was stitching on the waistband – that black thread on the waistband facing looks kinda dumb.

Close-up of welt-y goodness 🙂
Oh, and just for the record – I used ONLY the instructions to assemble these. No additional help via books or blog posts for that fly/facing or the welt pockets (these are the first welt pockets I have ever sewn, btw). The instructions were great & I am pleased with the results!

Oh, and not only do the pockets have these fun insides, but they are also faced with the gingham so it doesn’t show when you’re just walking around or whatever. I’m telling you – this pattern is legit!

I’m so so thrilled with my first pair of these – I can’t wait to make more! I want to make some corduroy shorts for winter (I’ve never been one for shorts with tights but I think this style of short would actually look really good!), and of course trousers. Trousers in every color, wheee!