one pattern, 3 pants

This month I attended a baptism in London. My idea was to make a pair of pants for the event, knowing that the weather could be cold, maybe too cold to wear a dress. I really don't like being cold!

This is what I made. The fabric is a wool bouclette. At first I thought I would make a coat out of it. But, hey, I can change my mind no? It is really soft, I mean it feels like I am in my pyjamas, elegant pyjamas!

Maybe I should have stuck to my first idea because the fabric is a bit heavy. I have worn it a few time already, but not an entire day's work. Will see if it holds itself  when I 'll go back to work.

Contrary to normal I reused a pattern. I almost never do that.

Excuse the poor quality of the pictures, I took them in a hurry for the blog. Those pants are my favourite. The colour is really bold, a very nice green, and the fabric doesn't winkle or poach at the knees. They are sailor's pants.

sailor's pants

Hum, sailor's pants, it could be the subject of another post. But today I am talking about my beige pants, stay focused Kate!

 

As you can see I changed the front of the pants. No more sailing stuff, just a plain front with no darts (I know I said I would stop this non sense, and I have! I just made the pants before this life changing decision).

Instead I opted for pockets.

In my mind, I was making Chanel pants. The fabric, the colour. I screamed Chanel to me.

There are four pockets. The ones on the front are bigger then those on the back. I had problems figuring out the size of the front pockets. And the placement was not easy either.

I fixed them by hand. I didn't want any top stitching.  These are not sportswear.

Ha, the buttons. Gold seamed to be a good idea. But what golden buttons? I made a first selection from my personal collection :-)

I finally picked some elegant black and gold buttons. I think they are maybe a tiny bit small. I might try and find them in a bigger size this summer. The shop where I buy them has really a huge stock, I might be lucky!

After trying them on, I decided I needed a lining. I know, bad idea to decide that after finishing the last details... But I think it is quite compulsory with this kind of fabric. The weaving is so loose, I am sure that after only one hour of wearing them, the pants would have looked terrible.

And the lining is so comfortable, I smile of pleasure each time I put on the pants, it's divine!!

I added some bias to fancy up the inside. The bias is hand sewed to the waist band on the side where you can see it. Same for the hem.

bias at the hem

This is what I really like about home sewing. I can make myself fancy outfits I would never be able to buy, or maybe just one every once in a while. But never enough to make an entire wardrobe.

And also, I don't know if you have this problem, but in Brittany the weather can be cold in Winter, and our Summers are not the most warm either. But it is really hard to find wool clothes, or pants with a lining at moderate prices. It is sometimes hard to find sweater with sleeves, I am not kidding !

Here in Germany you can buy all sorts of gear for winter. I have to say it's really nice, but I am not staying in Germany, so a round of applause for home sewing and the ability to make clothes that fits us and the weather we leave in!

The pants were fast to make, just long straight seams. But I didn't wear them to the baptism.

Why? They look so good!

Instead I chose to wear my purple dress. Just because.

I thought it would be better for the trip to have pants who resist a long day of walking and who can be worn with flat shoes. Witch is not the case of my beige pants. The hem is for high hells.

That's all there is to say I think. I might call them my Chanel pants. They may not be worn again before Autumn, it seems that spring is already here this year. No complaints from me.

I have two winter related outfits to show you and I am of to spring sewing! Glorious dresses! I can't wait for it !

DIY: a fake bow

Bonjour tout le monde !

Today I have decided to share with you a little tutorial on how to add a cute bow to your garment.

I have a trip planned ahead, and of course I need new clothes. I had a nice stretch wool in my stash and some viscose. Those fabrics are comfortable and make a nice ensemble for a diner out after a day visiting.

    

Actually the pants are a copy of an old favourite from ZARA. I was able to find almost the same fabric, but in another colour of course!

For the pictures I wore heels, but until I get back to work I will wear my pants with flats more probably, it's why the pants appear a bit too short in the pictures. Didn't realise that before...

Man, the weather was really crappy for taking pictures, sorry!

Let's get to the bow now:

This is a nice feature, romantic and most important: it's fun to make!

I also made bows on my sleeves, so cute!

See why I call them fake bows? It's technically a dart.

As usual you need to take your basic pattern.

For my top I decided to move the bust dart to the side. For that, trace on your pattern the new bust dart (in red). Close the "old" dart  by folding the line on top of one another and pin them in place.

Then slash the new dart.

Draw your bow, slash those darts open. Then the tricky part: you have to decide the depf of your darts, mine are 4 cm wide. It's just a question of taste, there is no way of knowing how many centimetres you need. You can play around with you fabric to estimate the final look of you bow.

When you have decided of the size of your darts take a piece of paper to tape under to maintain your darts in position, like below.

 

This is my final paper pattern. I used a ruler to  show you that your center front should be placed en the fold. Mark precisely your darts and then stitch the sort of V created buy the creation of your darts. Do you follow?

Then to create the illusion of a bow, take a small piece of fabric that you have prepared before ( fold it in 2, stitch the big side, turn it around). Then place it in the crease of one of the darts (above). Fold your dart, stitch it (blue line). Repeat on your second dart.

 

 Then you should stitch buy and on three centimetres your darts so that you bust dart isn’t too low. It happened to me, I was quite surprised because I thought my pattern was perfect.

 

There you go, you should have a nice and fake bow!!

Picture of the inside because I know you love it, I know I do.

 I used self made bias to finish the collar and sleeves. Stitched the first side with my machine and the second by hand so that it would be invisible.

The rest of the seams are French seams because the fabric is rather light, and I find it give a nice finish.

Oh and look, it even goes with my Chanel jacket that I made a few months ago, isn't it perfect? what you don't see my top, well yeah! It's the point, it goes perfectly with it's neck line.

This is what is really cool when you are drawn to certain colour, you find yourself having a real wardrobe with pieces that go well together (or a least I hope they go well together :-)).

That's all for today. See you in few weeks, when I get back from my trip.

Cheers!

The not so black little jacket and holiday break

Hi everyone!

just a heads up to say that I will probably not be able to post anything for a month I think.

Want to know what I'll be doing all this time?

Oh, yeah!!! Patisseries, Easter chocolates, I'm going back to France for a few days and I intend to eat as much of this babies as possible!!

And then well,

 And after that:

Do you know Beatrix Potter's stories? This is where she lived.

On the subject of the little black jacket, it's going on nicely but slowly,

I have begun to attach the lining, I will have to do quite a lot of hand stitching, I might put to use my time in the train (more than 6 hours!). I put the pockets and a bit of my hand made trimmings to give you an idea of the final result. What got into me, when I decided I would be the next queen of Chanel's trimmings?

I have a lot of things to says on this jacket, can't wait to tell you everything I learned (and failed of course :-)).

Have a good time everyone, summer sewing is coming along, we should discuss that when I come back!

Cheers!

The little black jacket, done !

Yes! It's finally done! This jacket seemed to have no end, maybe because I tried to make it between two travels!

Anyway, I like it, it fits well, and I might even have a chance to wear it in the following weeks, the weather is so hectic, in the same week I can wear shorts and the day after a wool sweater, go figure...

gnaa, happy!

Here it is: four pockets, trim (not everywhere :-), fancy buttons. Yeah, in my mind it really looks like a Chanel jacket.
I used the video realised buy Chanel that I put in my previous post to figure out the details of construction.

They don't use fancy techniques, I have to admit this is what attracted me first. It is not a hard jacket to make, I made one big mistake though: this kind of fabric is very strechy. Big fail below!!

The first picture is a pocket before sewing, and the second after :-(

Epic fail haha!

Fortunaltely the solution is simple, just lower the tension of the thread, and you should be fine.

I also had a BIG problem with the shoulders, they were many centimeters too long because I didn't used interfusible on them, I thought it was only used to give structure to the jacket, and I was so wrong. It prevents the fabric from stretching, my advise is to put some everywhere there is a seam, it is really infuriating to pick out seams and cutting the fabric again while you have already begun assembling your garment.

I attached the lining to the jacket buy hand, it was OK until my sewing book told me to attach the lining of the sleeve to the rest of the lining buy hand, while I had attached all the others parts together on my machine. What?? Why?? I did it because I like my book and it is usually right, but I don't like to do something when I don't understand why, anyone has an answer? 

I also had to sew the button holes by hand! My machine couldn't manage the fabric, maybe it was a little bit too thick, or maybe it needs to go to the store. Anyway, took me a bit of time, this is how I begun to look at project runway!! This show really makes me want to sew and just sit and watch at the same time! And also: what's with the attitude? Some people really need to take a humbling  pill!

For the trimmings I couldn't find something I liked is the store so I did it myself using sailor's knot (because I'm from Brittany) that I found on this site, it was really funny to make:

I basically removed all treads from the fabric, assembled them together by colors to make longer treads and then plaited them.

self made trimming

I'm just a bit embarrassed, that I didn't have enough to put everywhere, but I might be able to buy some more fabric in two months, then I'll make some more.

 

See, no fancy trimmings on the writs, this is what you get when you're too cheap when you buy fabric! No one will notice but you :-)

Soooo, tell me, who looks like she earns the big bucks in her fancy Chanel jacket?

I have some white tweed  in my stach, I'm seriously thinking about making another one, whith some slight ajustments to the pattern.

But at the same time: spring!! I have ideas for two dresses ,one inspired buy a dress I saw at the Victoria and Albert museum in London (maybe my favourite museum so far, and I have visited a few), and the other one should have a bra top, very sexy, very Dolce Gabbana!
For the moment I am trying to master the art of pattern drafting for lingerie, man, this is not easy, and I haven't try to sew a bra yet...

Cheers!

The little black jacket, la petite veste noire

A few months ago, Karl Lagarfeld and Carine Roitfled realised a book and organized an exposition on the little black jacket, Chanel's classic vest revisited.

Many sewist make the trip to tailoring land in hope to make their own true Chanel vest. One could says it's the holly grall of sewist (for some of them anyway).

I never dreamed of owning one, but this new jacket is really attractive. It's really modern, not too old lady like. And I had a lovely piece of tweed, so why not? 

Me wants it!

Of course the tweed is not black... It as a nice Briton color: green, pink and orange, exactly like the Moore in October.

I spent many hours trying to figure out the pattern. It's very lucky that a video on the making of the vest was realised. Thanks you dear Karl!!

It's awesome, when you look at it frame by frame (you understand why it was so long) you can see how the pattern was drafted as well as the sewing techniques.

Today I am concentrating on the pattern. So here we go:

 First I copied my block pattern for light vests. Then kept referring to my notes and playing again and again the video.

I also found an very revealing interview saying the vest is: straight, structured, closed "bord à bord".

The pockets are placed so that you can put your hand in them (which apparently was so far reserved to the men...), there are no underlining nor epaulets. The vest is not in the bias (thank you!!) with no bust dart, WHAT???

And with a simple straight seam in the back.

the length

 The length is pretty easy to figure out,because of the tape marking the hips, I chose 7 cm above the hips.

 

Despite what is said to the media the vest has some shaping, look at the sides, it is slightly curved.

This is my pattern during the process, you can see in black the lines of the vest (black vest, black lines, original no?)
It was really fun to make. You can see that I shaped the pattern, but I only kept a fraction of the original darts.

For the bust dart I could not really believe it. How is it possible to omit the bust dart???

Well, turns out it's not!! I knew it!! I almost tried without it, but gave a last chance to the video and saw this:

See the side? Oh yes, this is a bust dart! I win!!

It is small and on the side because it's the best place to hide it, completely under the arm.

You might not need to have one if you have a small bust, but if you are like me, you need a dart for a good fitting. I saw that some people didn't use a darts for this vest, but formed some small gathers instead, not a bad idea.

This is how I moved the dart.
On the fist picture, I slashed the paper at the  new place of the dart, and closed it with tape, the direct effect of the closure is to open the new placement.Then I reduced the dart of 3 cm and drew it again properly.

I also changed the neck line, making it a little bit wider than on the block pattern. And omitted the neck dart, because, well, they say there is not one, so...

the pockets

 I draw in red all the important placements, and things to remember, I try to be nice to myself, because I know I always forget something, it's normal I think when you don't sew your garment in one day. I am a slow sewist.

I am actually sewing it, I am looking forward to the result, it's never easy to tell before it's finished. For the moment it as no sleeves, no pockets and no lining.

I really enjoyed the pattern making process, I think I even prefer it to the actual sewing! Next month I'll present you my trusty pattern making book, even thought it was probably written before the 70's  it's has everything you need and it's really cheap.

What about you, have you ever made a Chanel vest? Do you make you own patterns?