The 80s Called, and They're Back

Every time I look back at my old elementary school photos, I swear I'll never wear 80s styles again. After all, if you were old enough the first time (I was, just barely), then you shouldn't the second time, right? And everyone is pretty unanimous about how awful 80s styles were. Those huge, oversized tunic tops with leggings, all the drop waists and linebacker shoulders, the crazy big hair...I'd find a picture of young me to show you, except that I'd really rather not.

I found Simplicity 7822 in my recently inherited seven box stash addition.
I swear I had a top that looked exactly like that purple one on the right when I was eight or so.

I was going through my closet, trying to put away all the clothes that don't fit anymore, and I came across this top from very early on in my sewing journey. I haven't worn it in at least two years; I didn't like how boxy it was in the torso, and since I made it from less than a yard of fabric, it was way too short to wear untucked. Even tucked in, it was always working itself loose. Of course, now that I'm in a family way, the loose fit is perfect! It was still too short, though, so I had to figure out how to lengthen it when I didn't have any of the fabric left. Well, it's a good thing the 80s are back, because looking through the Anthropologie website revealed a quick and easy fix: just add a ruffled peplum in a different fabric! Those last two were the most inspirational; I combined the idea of lace + gray + peplum to come up with this combination:

It took less than half an hour to gather a 10" strip of light grey rayon knit at a 1:1.5 ratio and attach it to the bottom of this shirt. 

I was so pleased with myself for saving an unwearable top and even making it maternity-appropriate. And then when I really looked at myself in the mirror, I realized that I had just put on the exact outfit from Simplicity 7822, complete with the leggings. I even wore it with ballet flats today. Oh well, at least my hair is a normal size?

Next thing you know, I'll be succumbing to overalls. (Actually, I really hope not. If I do, you have permission to stage an intervention.)

The Quest for Perfect Pants: Achievement Unlocked!

As you may know, I've been taking classes at Canada College's fashion department this semester, including Pants Drafting with Lynda Maynard. I also had a short one-month Pants Construction class with her, and both of those classes finished up last week. I figured that by learning to draft a pants pattern to perfectly fit me, and then learning the techniques to make those pants, I would finally be able to make a pair of skinny trousers or jeans to my satisfaction. Well, the final project for both classes was supposed to be a pair of pants, which would make sense, but here's the catch: if I were just in the Pants Drafting class, my final garment would need to be perfectly fitted, but not made perfectly; if I were just in the Pants Construction class, my final garment would need to be made perfectly, but not perfectly fitted. Aaaaannnd of course I'm in both, so my final garment needed to be both perfectly fitted and perfectly constructed. Challenge accepted!

I wanted to make a pair of basic black skinny pants that would be nice enough to wear to work. I already have one secondhand pair that I wear every laundry rotation, so I figured I could use another, me-made pair. I made up a skinny pants draft, sewed it up in regular cotton muslin, and was pretty excited...until I sewed it up in a fabric with spandex in it. They were huge!!! As one lady in class said (of her own attempts to sew stretch fabric), it was like a tent meeting the saggy baggy elephant. Lesson learned: sew up your muslin in a comparable fabric. As Lynda later told us in class, "If you're going to make a paper garment, then go ahead and fit it in paper. But if you're planning to make a fabric garment, fit it in fabric!" Thankfully, the fabric I had used was a cheap poly that I had thrifted last year for the express purpose of making a (hopefully) wearable muslin, so it wasn't a huge loss, even if it was a nice emerald color. I pinned and marked it up, transferred my changes to the paper pattern, then went out and bought a different stretch denim for my final project. I may go back and fix the emerald pants at some point, but honestly, it's a pretty nasty poly. 

By the time I buckled down for the actual pants-sewing, it was already 4 p.m. on Sunday afternoon; the last class was Monday evening, but I had work all day Monday. Because of that, I opted not to do a yoke, back pockets, or flat-felling on the inseam...in fact, if it weren't required, I probably wouldn't have done front pockets or a fly front either! Cutting all the pieces went fairly quickly, but for some reason the fly front gave me lots of trouble. Lynda had had us do fly front samples earlier in the class, but they all opened to the left, and I like mine to open from the right, so when I referred back to my samples I kept stitching things on backward or to the wrong side. I probably wasted an hour at least in fiddling with the fly front. I think I'm going to go back and redo a set of samples that open to the right, just so that this doesn't happen again. I never want to have to pick bar tacks out again!

Thankfully, the multiple re-dos don't show on the finished pants. Also, a better look at the flocked brocade pattern.

Pretty insides!

After the fly front fiasco, though, everything else went smoothly. It's amazing how fast sewing pants can go when you don't have to stop and fit with every seam you sew. I did have to stop when I was almost done so that I could draft a contour waistband, and by the time I sewed that on it was past 1 a.m. and I was pretty sure that if I kept going, I would've ended up seam ripping a gash in the pants or some other such nonsense. I went to sleep, woke up early and hemmed the pants before work, then hurriedly sewed on the hooks and eyes in between leaving work and getting to class. It was worth the effort, though, as Lynda pronounced them gorgeous. Even my mom, who's got really high standards for fit and construction because of her seamstress background, conceded that they were impressive when I showed them to her. While I'm usually pretty critical of my own makes, this time I'm inclined to agree with them both!

I cannot emphasize enough how difficult it is to photograph black flocked fabric. All the wrinkles from sitting show, none of the details of the brocade do. I promise you they look a lot better in real life!

Doesn't help that it was also broad daylight...but that was the only time Mr. Cation was available to take photos.

It looks like I somehow photoshopped the brocade out, but it just doesn't want to be photographed!

Slightly better look: the brocade pattern reminds me of BBC Sherlock's wallpaper in 221B.

I was getting all hung up on the wrinkles in the back, but Lynda wisely pointed out that wrinkles under the butt meant sitting ease, and wouldn't you like to be able to sit down? Also, apparently they photoshop out normal wrinkles in ads, making us think that our clothes should all fit with no wrinkles whatsoever. 

Summary:

Fabric: I have to say, Joann's has really beefed up their trendy stretch denims section...this was made from 2 yards of black flocked fabric, 70% cotton, 28% polyester, and 2% Spandex. The pockets were lined with the same stretch fuchsia satin fabric as my pirate coat for a little bit of extra luxury.

I love that there's this secret pop of color!

Notions: Two hooks and bars, a dark gray 7" zipper (I didn't have black and didn't want to drive out to find one), and lots of seam binding. 

Hours: Nine...not bad, right? Of course, that's not counting the innumerable hours of drafting, muslining, fitting, and redrafting over the course of the semester. And if you're looking at my account of Sunday, I took an hour off in there to eat dinner and such.

Will you make it again? Yes! I finally have the perfect pattern for my body, because it was actually drafted and fitted to me! I want to make a pair of bootcut dark wash denim trousers next. 

Total cost: $18. The fabric was 50% off with a coupon, and the hooks and bars and seam binding were pennies because I bought in bulk, and the zipper was probably $0.50. 

Final thoughts: I'm so excited by how real these pants look! I know I was pretty excited about my previous pairs of pants, but there were still issues with each of them. These actually look like something I would buy at say, Banana Republic or Anthropologie. AND OH HEY would you look at these flocked Charlie trousers at Anthropologie?! I just saved $100 yo...as long as you ignore the cost of my time and the class. 

Hahaha I couldn't resist trying to turn this into a fake catalog cover. I mean, it's got all the requirements for an Anthro shoot: random pallet, some succulents, quirky neighborhood with a vaguely rustic feel...

Once again,  I attempt the disinterested model face.

Although I'm too cool (hah!) to show it, I actually seriously love these pants.

Feminine Wardrobe Book Review

At last, a Japanese sewing book pattern that I can get behind! Then again, that's mostly because I made a bunch of changes...

The Feminine Wardrobe, by Jinko Matsumoto, is another book that Laurence King Publishing sent for me to review. Like the Stylish Dress Book, it's just been translated into English and is coming out sometime this month. I don't know if it's because I've been staring at too many of these books, or if this one is actually more wearable, but I actually liked quite a few of the designs in here!

These dresses look normal! Actually, better than normal. I really like the bow detail on that shift. 

Of course, they're still into the photography in front of a white wall, this time with a stack of vintage books and a tiny lamp on the floor. 

I chose to make the "peasant blouse," because of its superficial similarity to this recent Anthropologie top:

Lemonbloom Peasant Blouse

It's got the floral pattern, the gathered-into-a-wide-neckline look, and the loose sleeves. I only realized later that the Anthro top is an actual button-down; I'd overlooked the buttons because of the busyness of the print. If anything, though, I like the FW version better because there are no buttonholes to deal with!

This being the fourth Japanese sewing book make I've attempted, I'd like to think I got a little wiser about the sizing and the roominess that tends to result: not only did I start with the XS, I preemptively removed four inches from the center of the front and back pieces! This ended up being the right call, I think, producing a lightly gathered, loose-but-not-sacklike comfortable top. The other problem I tried to head off was the excessive poufiness issue; the book only gives "cotton" as the recommended fabric, but last time I used cotton voile, which had too much body and resulted in some unattractive bulge when gathered. This time, I used a very thin rayon challis, which is so drapey that it almost classifies as a liquid. Unfortunately, this meant that attaching the collar of the blouse was very, very tricky, and mine still isn't perfect, despite using almost all of my pins in prepping it for sewing. If I were to make this again, I would use some lightweight interfacing to stabilize it (which the instructions actually call for, but I cleverly didn't bother looking at them), and possibly employ some of Andrea's tips for working with chiffon.

Besides the sizing and fabric change, I also lengthened the sleeves by a few inches and added elastic to gather it in, similar to the look of the Anthro top (yes, I know it's actually just rolled up in the picture, but I really like the three-quarter sleeve look with the puff of sleeve right above the hem). At this point, I was ready put in the elastic waistband (the instructions, which I ignored, call for you to do this before you even attach the sleeves, but I figured that I couldn't trust their placement, so I opted to do this at the end when I could try on the whole thing first), but some experimentation with a thin elastic belt made me think twice about the gathers all...gathered...about my waist. It just didn't look right. But I still needed a way to bring it all in and make the top less swingy.

Surprise! These sleeves are the puffed wonders of Anne's dreams. And if you're thinking that the top looks amazingly sleek...

Thanks to extensive browsing of Anthro's newest tops, I had a brilliant idea for reducing the width in the torso without the use of elastic (can it still be an idea if you're pretty much just straight up copying?). The Lace Yoke Tee looks deceptively slim, but if you look at the back, it's actually brought in with the the use of some buttons. I made a couple of button loops and sewed them onto the back of my top, then sewed buttons onto a little matching topstitched rectangle of fabric.

Worn with my McCall's 6610 skinny pants. 

And with that, this top goes from voluminous (and not even as voluminous as it was originally drafted!) to slenderizing while still being comfortable.

Summary:
Fabric: 1.5 yards of rayon challis from SAS Fabrics...it was barely enough!
Notions: 2 pearly-looking plastic buttons, seam binding
Hours: 5 hours, mostly due to the finickiness of the rayon. It was a fairly calm five hours, though, with hardly any moments of frustration or threats of this turning into a UFO. I love it when you just get on a roll with sewing and you know what you need to do, and it's engaging without being mentally taxing.
Will you make it again? You know, I actually might! I really like the look of this top. I would just replace the collar with a strip of self-fabric bias tape next time, though...less fussing, more or less the same result.
Total cost: $5...between my two inspiration tops, I saved somewhere between $50-70!
Final thoughts: I really like tunic tops because they cover the butt, which means that I don't need to worry about wearing underwear that doesn't make lines in my pants. I'm sorry, was that TMI? Well, now you know. My McCalls 6610 pants are fabulous, but they're also a little on the thin side, so I need to choose underwear carefully if I wear them...but now I don't need to if I'm wearing this top! Unmentionables aside, though, I'm seriously in love with this top and I'm so glad that I finally made a Japanese sewing book pattern work for me!

Incidentally, if you're interested in making your own garments from these kinds of books, I just discovered this French group blog that's specifically dedicated to showing the finished garments made from various Japanese sewing books. It's interesting to see that everyone else has the same issues with the silhouettes looking boxy and shapeless (although that might actually be their desired look, I don't know), and that most people end up adding belts or sashes for waist definition.

Sadly, I actually found this book to be surprisingly devoid of poses to mimic. Aside from the random stack of books, most of the pictures have the models just standing and holding purses, so that's not too weird. Darn!

DIY Anthropologie Fail!

I've been wanting to join in the Spring Top Sewalong over at Made by Rae, so I started looking for some inspiration. I spotted Anthropologie's Spotted Peasant Blouse (ha! see what I did there?) while browsing Pinterest, and got all excited because I had a similar-ish spotted chiffon in my stash. I set out to whip up a top for myself, although I should have known that poly-chiffon does not lend itself to whipping. More like swearing, gnashing of teeth, rending of clothing, etc. Although, compared to the beaded and crinkled chiffon, this perfectly smooth stuff was a breeze. Of course, I had to complicate matters by deciding that I wanted to change the neckline and do a half-placket instead of fussing with binding that little keyhole detail and turning a tiny tube. I quickly sketched up a blouse shape, cut out my pieces, and went about French seaming everything. I was so confident, I went ahead and sewed everything without 1) making sure the top would fit based on my measurements, 2) trying it on as I sewed, or 3) stepping back to give myself some perspective.

You don't look particularly happy there. 

Yes, I was addressing my photo self in the previous caption. 

Okay fine, I'll fake a smile. 

And like I said, chiffon tops do not whip up. After I'd more or less finished, I realized that my placket did not come out as neatly and professionally as I somehow imagined it was coming out while I was caught up in the sewing spree. Even starched within an inch of its life, it still came out looking decidedly Becky Home-Ecky. Even worse, when I tried the top on, I realized that it was way too tight in the shoulders. That's what I get for slapdash patterning.

Up close, the placket is messy, and it wants to flop open to accommodate my wide shoulders. 

The only thing I could think of to widen the top was to cut a slit in the back and guess what -- bind that opening and make a tiny tube. I'm pretty sure that's a situation that belongs in Alanis Morisette's "Ironic" song, although possibly "it's like having to make 1/4" self-fabric bias binding and turn a narrow tube out of non-creasing poly-chiffon when you specifically set out to avoid such a situation" doesn't have quite the same ring as "it's like ten thousand spoons when all you need is a knife."

Even when I sewed the tiny tube on, I made it too long, so I had to tie a tiny knot in it. *sigh* This top is just full of fail.

And worst part is, after all that fussing, I still don't like the blouse. It hangs funny even with all the modifications, I'm constantly readjusting it every time I raise my arms, it's an awkward color to match, and it's non-breathing polyester in a summer top. I know it looks okay to the casual observer, but I just feel uncomfortable in it. So, off to the donation pile it is! I guess that's one way to bust a stash...

Awkward face to go with the awkward arm-raising. See all the weird pulling? Yuck. 

DIY Anthropologie: Edisto Wide-Leg Trousers

When I first started sewing, one of my big motivators was wanting to make my own versions of Anthropologie clothes for much, much cheaper. In fact, that was a big theme of many of my earlier makes, but it's been over a year since I was inspired by anything in their catalogs. I don't know why they got so Bohemian for a while, but I was thrilled to pieces when their latest catalog was suddenly full of things I wanted to make. I love being inspired by their colors and prints, so even though my sewing queue has just doubled in length, I'm (not so) secretly pleased.

In the past, I've only tried to copy their dresses and skirts, so I decided that I should take on the challenge of pants. I mean, now that I've more or less successfully sewn pants and shorts, a whole new world is open to me and I should take advantage of it. Enter the Edisto Linen Wide-Legs in red, gloriously vibrant and with big contrasting buttons on the side. I've been cautiously entertaining the idea of brightly colored pants ever since seeing Erica B's gorgeous coral pair and Sunni's season opener, but wasn't sure if I could pull it off. There's nothing like a hey-look-at-me color on bottom to bring doubt into the mind of a pear-shaped lady, but I had the perfect fabric in my stash, and, well, it's the year of magical doings. If pulling off orange pants isn't magical, then I don't know what is. Also, it's only fabric -- if I don't like the final result, it's not like I was making pants out of baby penguins. So...how did they turn out?

ZOMG red-orange is a ridiculously difficult color to photograph.

I'm in love with these buttons. 

My best attempt to mimic the Anthro picture. Not nearly as fun as the Japanese sewing books. 

Boom! Butt! 

If you look closely at the enlarged picture of the Edisto pants, you can see that besides the side-button feature, they also don't have a waistband or darts at the front -- there's only a line of stitching that gives the suggestion of a waistband, but is more likely just to tack down the facing on the inside. With that in mind, I used OOP Simplicity 4099 as my base pattern, which I won in Leah of Struggle Sews a Straight Seam's giveaway last summer. It has very similar features (no front dart or waistband, wide leg), minus the side buttons, but I figured it would be easy enough to make that part up. 

To make the side-button placket, I cut two placketish-looking pieces, finished the edges, and sewed one to each side of the left side opening. On the front pants piece, I pressed the placket under and topstitched it down, then put in five buttonholes. On the back pants piece, I left the placket piece flopping out towards the front, understitched it, tacked on a piece of twill tape to act as a button stand (I recently read this blog post about button stands in historical tailoring, and it made so much sense that I elected to jury-rig one for these pants. It works marvelously and I don't have to worry about my fabric distorting or ripping, and the closure feels deliciously secure), then added my five lovely nautical buttons. I am seriously in love with how this closure looks, plus it puzzled Mr. Cation because he couldn't figure out how the pants came off.

Yaaaay I look eleven feet tall!

Summary: 

Fabric: 2 yards of 60" wide, suiting-weight orange wool-blend twill, part of my stashbusting pledge pile. The lady who was cutting it for me at F&S said it had some polyester in it, and it certainly presses that way, and I suspect it's got a bit of Lycra in it as well, since it's slightly stretchy. While the original Anthro pants are a linen-tencel blend, I opted not to use a similar fabric because 1) reviews said that it got really wrinkly, and 2) who am I kidding, I didn't want to go out and buy new fabric. Hopefully the polyester means that these won't get too wrinkly!

Notions: 5 brass anchor buttons from Fabrix in SF, lots of seam binding, thrifted twill tape and 2" hem facing 

Techniques used: My first time trying hem weights, thanks to the tip on Erica B's blog post! Seriously, best twenty cents I've ever spent...my pants looked ridiculous and horrible and I was ready to cry about all my wasted time, but then I tried adding in those four nickels and seriously guys, it was like magic. Suddenly everything was hanging a lot better, and these pants were saved from the UFO pile. If your wide leg swingy pants aren't hanging right, TRY IT. 

Hours: Eight or so over this past weekend...because right after making and sending off a corset, I felt the need to start (and miraculously, finish) an untried pattern. 

Will you make it again? Probably not. I don't think I need any more wide-leg trousers, although these are awfully comfy and swooshily fun in a way that I thought only skirts and dresses could be. I credit the hem weights for adding a certain gravitas when I stalk about purposefully.

Total cost: You're not going to believe this -- less than $4!!! I got the fabric for $1/yard when F&S was cleaning out old inventory, and the buttons were $0.10 each. Add in some seam binding and of course, my four nickels, and I've saved myself $94 off the original price of the Anthro pants. Sewing FTW!!

Final thoughts: When I first walked out of the sewing room to show my husband, he was speechless. I was already afraid that I looked like some negligent prison escapee who'd forgotten to change pants, but then he pronounced them interesting, and that the cut/style was fine, but the color was a little shocking. Finally we decided that I looked like a very stylish member of the Rogue Squadron. I do like them, though, resemblance to various jumpsuits aside, and even though the fit isn't perfect, I'm glad I gave it a try! I still need to work up the courage to wear them out for more than just pictures, though.

See, if I just stand normally, the back is all wrinkly. Not any worse than my RTW work pants, but still...it feels more egregious when it's orange. Also, I opted not to include welt pockets because let's face it, I'm still not mentally ready yet.

That's okay, though, because I'll just stand like this all the time. 

I think these actually look pretty similar to 1930s trousers, so these could *almost* be a HSF entry too...I mean, check out these pictures:

Wide legs: check! Side buttons: check! No front darts or waistband: check! Darts on the back with no pockets, check!  [source]

Oh hey, these are even orange! [source]

Pretty similar, right? I do find it interesting that the historical versions both end at about ankle-length, which I feel looks pretty weird. I hemmed these to just skim the ground, reasoning that my legs look longer that way. Since most of my height is from my long torso, I feel like the length of the pants + the high waist helps visually even out my proportions a bit. 

On that note, it's time to close out Vibrant Color month in the Stashbusting Sewalong! I vowed to use the brightest fabric in my stash this month, and I did...what about you? Let's see your brightly-colored makes from April -- just add your link to the party below. 

Also, in case you forgot, April was also a challenge month, which means that we'll be voting for our favorite project, and the lucky winner gets a small surprise in the mail! You've got until the end of the week to add your project, and then voting will start on Saturday, May 4, and end on Tuesday, May 7. 

DIY BHLDN Yarrow-In-Flower "Dress"

I'm sorry, is that too many capital letters in the title? Hey, at least I didn't abbreviate it as the YIF dress.

When Anthropologie announced that it was starting a bridal line, I was simultaneously 1) psyched, because I was sure whatever they put out would be amazing, 2) disappointed, because my wedding was already over, and 3) meh, because anything they had would be waaaay too expensive. Well, as it turns out, I'm pretty sure I could pin the entirety of the BHLDN catalog to my Pinterest boards. I love their shoes, jewelry, gowns, and even their waste-of-money drink stirrers. Their bridesmaids dresses, though, are probably the most dangerous for me, as they're things that I might actually wear. Thankfully (?), they're too expensive to tempt me. Instead, I'm using them as sewing inspiration; after all, I have four weddings and almost as many bridal showers to attend in the next two months! I've had the Yarrow-In-Flower dress pinned for ages, and finally found the right yellow sheet at the thrift store for DIY-ing my own cheaper, more casual version. But just to make mine more practical, I decided to make it into separates: a lace top and a gathered yellow skirt. Also, for ultimate practicality, my materials are NOT dry-clean only!

I had to darken this photo significantly to get the lace to show up.
I think I'm looking particularly smug here because I just saved $343.

This is closer to the actual color of the skirt. Also, check out that ridiculousness going on on the window behind me on the left. Apparently some parents just let their kids go wild on the windows with markers and stickers. I will never understand.

I still had about two-thirds of a yard of the stretch lace that I used for my DIY Dulcie Dress; in its un-dyed state, it was the perfect bright white contrast for the yellow skirt. I simply cut out two pieces using my cap-sleeve knit top block, sewed up the shoulders and sides, and did a simple single-turn hem on the sleeves and neckline. I'll confess that I didn't bother hemming the bottom, since it won't fray or show anyway. Now I have a nice top that will go will with many of my me-made and thrifted skirts. Yay for not making orphans!

The skirt was just a 22"x80" rectangle (to save myself the bother of hemming, I used the edge of the sheet, which already had a nice, deep, 2.5" hem) sewn into a tube and gathered, then attached to a rectangular, interfaced waistband piece. I didn't have a yellow zipper in my stash, but in the interest of not buying anything new (and also because it was 9 PM and I'd already been to Joann's the day before), I just used a white 7" zipper. The zipper pull is slightly distracting, though, so I might try coloring it in with a yellow Sharpie. I finished it off by adding three hooks and eyes on the waistband. I cut the waistband just a little bit on the tight side, but I guess that just means I'll be reminded not to eat too much if there's a buffet...

Oops...looks like I forgot to hook one of the hooks.

Summary:
Fabric: 50/50 poly-cotton blend bedsheet, thrifted; nylon stretch lace
Notions: 7" white zipper, three hooks and eyes, fusible interfacing
Hours: 3.5...I'm getting a lot better at doing hooks and eyes!
"Netflix" queue: Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, and Commentary! The Musical on DVD
Will you make this again? A two piece knit top that requires no seam finishing and a straightforward gathered skirt? Indubitably.
Total cost: $5 for the remaining lace (yay, totally used it up with no remnants!), $1 worth of the sheet (I still have enough for a very full-skirted dress!), $0.25 for the zipper; let's say $7 total with the hooks and eyes. I saved $343, along with an unknown number of dry-cleaning bills!
Final thoughts: I love how wearing yellow automatically makes me happier! This skirt is also deliciously full, but the softness of the sheet means that it's not bulky. The top is nothing special, but still accomplishes its purpose. Also, I love it when I don't need to deal with fussy patterns, but still get exactly the result I wanted. It's not as expensive-looking as the BHLDN dress, but it's much cheaper and more practical for my life (not to mention not as scandalously short).

It was an extremely sunny day, but very windy. It showed off the skirt's fullness nicely, though...check out the huge shadow it cast! Okay, okay, I know that's not all due to the skirt, but still.