Thursday, November 22, 2012

Kwik Sew 3807 Leggings


Here is my daughter wearing the Kwik Sew leggings. She wanted this legging pattern because of the cute zip on the leg.  The ones I made here are sans zip.  Yes, those are a magazine print in cotton lycra from Fabric Fairy. I thought, cool, when she is bored she can just read her legs.  You can tell I am almost 50 and she is almost 17. This is a a one pattern piece pattern.  It is super easy and absolutely no problems with any of the construction. She is wearing it with black shorts in the pic and a tunic top from Aritzia (her fav store), Modcloth jacket and her itsy bitsy Coach purse. She is 5 foot 2 inches and about 108 pounds.  I made the extra small for her.
If you need a legging pattern that is super easy and great fit, then this is a good choice.
Happy Sewing



Claire

Sunday, November 11, 2012

Vogue 8565 and Simplicity 2181




This was my attempt to mesh two patterns together. I like the outcome, but I will be doing this differently on my next one.
The Vogue is out of print and I believe Style Arc has a similar tee. I can tell you how I think you can make this without those two patterns, because I am going to try this again without either of these patterns.  On this top, I used the sleeves from S2181 and traced the front portion of the armhole to the front pattern piece and the same for the back.  After I sewed this up, the shoulders were to wide. I fixed the cap by sewing it deeper into the body which gave medium results. This is the reason the next version will be with a TNT like Jalie, Kwik Sew or Ottobre's basic tee.  ( more on my hypothesis later)

Changes besides the sleeves,
 Lowered the neckline by 2 inches
Neckline with self fabric:  See my video on how to put on a knit neckline without measuring.
Lengthened top by 2 inches

What I will do next time, or if you do not have this OOP Vogue:

I will take a portion of my knit fabric designated for the top and sew down the pleats.  These pleats are marked 1 inch apart and 9 inches long. They are sewn down with 1/4 inch seams. The pattern has 12 pleats going to the center, mine are all going to the left and 11 pleats.  Then I will lay my front pattern on top of this and cut it out. That way the sleeves will match the pattern used.  I guess you could also spread your TNT top pattern 12 inches out for the pleats if you are using a one layer pattern front.

If anyone has done this similar to my above hypothesis, let me know if it worked out or should I do something different.

Happy Sewing!

Claire



Friday, November 2, 2012

Simplicity 2181







This is a great little tee pattern. I made a size 14 and straightened the side seam a little.  My waist is not too little anymore.  Anyhoo, my daughter said that it was slimming, therefore it is my new favorite top.  I am wearing it with some Jalie jeans that I made.  I won't show you the waist of these jeans because I had to put some elastic in them so they would stay up.  The tee has a large front facing that I accidentally omitted. Once I had the front twist done, I skipped the instructions. This pattern needs a facing for the neck so I just copied the back neckline and added 2 1/2 inches in width. I cut the front facing 2 1/2 inches wide and joined it to my back facing at the shoulders then attached it to the neck hole. I understitched the facing and then coverstitched it down about 1/2 inch from the edge.  The next one is going to have an inch in length added.  I am 5' 2" and it just seems short to me.  No other fitting adjustments were done.  I wish I had done a little more matching work on the stripes, but I'm not sure I am too bothered by that.  It was fun, easy and flattering!
Have a nice weekend!!
Claire