Baggy Trousers

Sing a long with me....

No? Not a Madness fan then?

This post isn't really about songs by Madness, although I do like to relive the 80's and listen to the best of every now and again. It's more about the start to 2021; how we are coping with Lockdown and the most recent of my makes - yes you guessed it - baggy trousers.

2021 didn't start off quite as I envisioned it. I knew before Christmas that it would be strange at work as the goverment here announced, the day before we broke up for the holidays, that schools would be carrying out lateral flow tests in January. This caused a lot of stress for the senior leaders. However by the time new year had passed it was clear that things were going to change rapidly.

 

My school had a training day on the first day of term and it was virtual. This was a blessing, but before the end of that day we knew that the schools would be closed for at least half a term. Thus started the madness of planning and scheduling lessons for children to complete at home. As an art teacher, this is a bit tricky as many students don't have art materials at home. Some of my students were midway through a ceramics project (which I am now dyring and firing on the days when I'm in school). I have had to rething my curriculum, prepare resources, answer questions online, run live lessons and teach face to face on the days when I'm in school. I have struggled to switch off from work and have found hours in front of a computer draining and more than a bit soul destroying - those of you who work like this all the time - I don't know how you do it.

 

However, I have tried to get out for a brisk walk early on the days I work from home and try to watch the sunrise over the bay. It sets me up well and helps keep my spirits up. I am turning off my computer at a set time and I haven't put work emails on my phone. I need to switch off!!!!

To keep my mental wellbeing good I need to get outside and excercise and have also started doing some short (30 mins) fitness classes. It's really helping. Having the dog to walk is a positive too. During my weekends I try to do a bit of sewing, but I've decided to keep this slow and steady. In the last month I have completed 3 items. and that's only because of the christmas holidays.

First up is a long sleeved asymmetric t shirt, which I first made several years ago and promised myself another one. The fabric was from Minerva (in exchange for a review, which you can read here) and is navy and white striped. this was a super quick make and I sewed it up on Boxing Day afternoon. It's already been worn quite a few times.

 

 

I've also made the TAL Apron dress, but have only just finished it and have no photos as yet, so more on that in a future post. 

 

My slow sewing make has been these Burda 6856 trousers. These are also a Minerva Makers project and you can find all the details here.

I planned to make these well over a year ago, I'd bought the pattern and some lovely heavy wool fabric with the intention of making the high waisted version. However after an unsuccessful toile I opted for the wide leg version, which you can read about here. I knew I wanted to try this version, but also knew it would need some serious alterations.

Before beginning I reduced the width of the fron darts by 2 inches - taking out a whopping 4 inches of ease, that I don't really need around my upper thigh. This was a good call and I think the fullness of the resulting trousers is about right.

I basted the waistband together. It fitted perfectly, but didn't have any lining and I would have struggled to wear anything tucked in. So I decided to let the seams out just a mm or two and just at the upper edge - these trousers hit my ribcage, which is quite broad compared with my waist. However, I over did it and they are now a touch too loose. I think in future I will look for a fabric with a hint of stretch to create a snug but comfortable waistband.

 

The legs are quite long, but I kept them at the original length and just rolled the up - I have a habit of shortening trousers by too much. I actually like these far more than I thought I would, they care comfy and cool and take me back to that 80's vibe, they are also slightly punky, especially when teamed with my vivienne westwood t-shirt and red docs.

A Touch of Colour

WARNING: PHOTO HEAVY POST - this may take time to load!!!

Some of my long time readers will know that I delve into the world of all things creative - it's just who I am. As well as my love for making clothes I am a passionate artist. I love colour and I love to create. I can get lost in art work creation, far more than I do in any other media. However, it takes up a massive amount of space. I don't have my own studio and the dining table and back yard are more often my pop-up studio spaces. This means that I tend to have short bursts of art making as the family like to be able to eat their dinner and the washing needs to dry somewhere too (I use the airer for my prints and paintings).

In those quiet days between Christmas and new year, while the weather was poor and everyone had eaten far too much to worry about what was on the table, I made art. I was prolific. I worked on over 20 pieces!!!!

Don't misunderstand, I did not create this many pieces from scratch. I began by experimenting im my sketchbook with some abstract forms. I haven't done this type of work for some time and it shows - I used to work in a purely abstract way some years ago and I'm drawn to shape, colour, line and texture. I used a few small tubes of acrylic, posca pens and oil pastel. I had forgotten how much I love working with oil pastel. It must be one of my favourite drawing media.

The next day I raided my portfolio of unfinished work. Some of this stuff had been in their for 4 or more years and was begging for a new lease of life. Some of this work I cut up.

I wasn't really happy with the collages so stopped and instead pulled out the paint, pastels and paint pens again. I limited the paints to just a few colours and instead tried to focus on my use of the pastel.

When I work like this, I don't feel precious about the work. These are pieces that I feel are not working or lack some form direction. As I start to work, 

I look for the shapes that the original suggests to me. As I work on them some are successful, some aren't. Some I love, some I don't. Although I often find other people love the ones that I don't like.

Many of the original pieces were monotypes. some were abstract in nature as I had experiemented with using a Gelli plate - I still haven't quite got into using this thechnique. Others were more traditional oil based monotypes created on perspex. I love the long working times of this technique, but that means drying times are long too. Many of these had a more landscpae feel about them, as they had been created during my Seaspace project. The original surface really did determine the materials I used on top. The oil pastels work well on the oil based monotypes, and the paint pens are better on the Gelli printed work.

I let the shapes and colours of the original dictate the form and shapes of the layers that I added. Often sitting for a few minutes before adding anything. Letting one piece dry while I added to another. Some had only a few marks added, others had several layers. Many ended up feeling like abstracted landscapes.

I have shared just a few of them here (When work settles a little I'll actually try to get some of this stuff posted as an online gallery). I wonder which is your favourite?

2020: The year of Coats and knickers

I don't know about 'Fur coat and no knickers' - more like 5 coats and lots of knickers (well underwear anyway).

Just the other day I looked back at my plans for this year You can read this here, I actually did quite well with the sewing plans, but then had lots of unplanned makes too. 

I planned to make:

• Burnside bibs

• Sew Over it Pussy bow blouse
• My friends wedding dress
  
• Burdastyle trousers

• The Assembly Line Hoodie Parka

• A Hobbs style dress

• A wool coat

• Upcycle some scraps
• Mend my pink Seamed dress.
  

To some degree I did all of these. My upcycling was a bit lacklustre and I ended up getting rid of a bin bag full of scraps as I couldn't store them. I started making the SOI pussy bow blouse, but didn't feel the love and ended up using a different shirt pattern instead. I also mended the dress, but the fabric has faded quite a lot and it needs to be retired - the fabric may well find itself part of a quilt sometime soon.

The wedding dress was finished, but the wedding has been postponed until 2021 - so I won't be sharing any photos any time soon.

The big headlines for this year are coats and underwear. I began the year by making the Hoodie Parka. I opted to line this and adapted the construction to accomodate this. I didn't wear this much during the spring and summer, but it is a perfect transition coat. I've worn it most days since September for work, but it's starting to get a bit cold for it. It's a great beginners pattern for coat making.

Next up was the Goldstream peacoat for my Hubby. This was a massive learning curve as there was quite a bit of tailoring in this. I'm not sure how well it will stand up to extensive wear, but it's certainly been work quite a bit over the last few months.

In April I made a coat for my friend Judy. She asked me to copy the style of a coat she already owned and I traced it and created a new coat for her.

Once my eldest came back from Uni, he decided he wanted a 'Coach' jacket, but not really a coach jacket. So I ended up drafting a block from scratch to fit him. It's fairly basic and I've made the block available free - It's just one size and doesn't have any of the details included, just the basic shape. He loves it and wears it plenty.

Finally, over the last couple of months I made a wool coat, which included a lot more hand tailoring and was seriously worth it!

On the underwear front I became disheartened with the RTW bras that I had. The fit wasn't too good and I'd struggled to get the right size. I came accross the Boob or Bust Facebook page and after remeasuring myself, went for a wholly different size. I haven't yet tried this size in RTW as I can't try on instore yet. But I have made some bras. I'm still new to this and learning lots about fitting and making as I go along. 

The Watson Bra by Cloth habit has become my go to pattern, I have tried a Madalynne Simplicity 8436 underwired pattern with less than perfect results, and I'm still learning a lot about wire size and shape. I have some self drafted boy short style knickers and have adapted the Watson briefs to suite me and I love the fit of the Noelle High waisted panties.

So 2020 Makes  - This year I made 37 items. Most of them have been successful and lots have used up scraps and small pieces from my stash. Next year I hope to use more from the stash and plan to make/do at least some of the following:

• Activewear - leggings that actually fit at the waist
• Swimsuit
• underwire bra
• more knickers
• sew up some of my stash
• make a quilt from leftover fabrics
• learn how to weave
• A dress for my daughter
• make more art and try some new techniques
• do some crocheting
  

Sewing Top 5: Goals

Last up in my sewcialist inspired posts - My sewing goals for the coming year. I've already written about the hits and misses, if you want to check those out and I have a post brewing all about the two main things I've been sewing this year.

During the summer months I sewed and created quite a bit, but as the night's have drawn in. I've been less productive. I've done a couple of refashions. but the light in my sewing room is poor and it's much better to work with natural daylight. This has put a hold on bigger projects and art work as I really need good light. I need to invest in a good daylight lamp for the room.

I have a few things that I'd like to try and challenge myself to next year, but not many specific plans in regards to patterns -As it stands these are my top 5 goals for 2021.

Underwired bra

I want to nail a well fitting underwire bra. I have the Cloth habit Watson Bra pretty much sorted now and I think it's time to get an underwire bra to fit well too. I'd like to try the Black Beauty Bra by Emeral Erin as it has some great reviews and I like the style. I'm also not adverse to drafting my own and I have the Bare Essentials Bra drafting course book to have a go at too. I love the challenge of drafting!

Swimwear

I bought a swimwear pattern back in the summer, but when our holiday was cancelled I decided to leave sewing it until next year. I've never made a swimsuit and would love to have a go. I have this pattern - If you've made it do let me know how you got on?

A quilt

Despite getting rid of a binbag full of scraps i still have loads of cotton offcuts that would be perfect for a quilt. My hubby would like a king size one for our bed and I think I'll get started on it - I might not finish it though, my last two took ages!!!!

The Kalle Shirt

I must be the only person in the sewing blogosphere to have not yet made this. This will be rectified this year - not sure if I'll make the shirt or dress version yet. The Kalle pattern is from Closet Core patterns

A Velvet Dress

Many years ago I bought a cotton stretch velvet dress on ebay. It's a Monsoon dress and is fit and flare, empire line and midi length. It's well past it's best and starting to develop holes, so I am on the look out for some suitable fabric to make a replacement. I'm sure it's form the 90's. I could buy another on etsy, which is where this image is from, but I think I'd rather make one. Mine is like this:-

Sewing top 5: Misses

 

Second post inspired by the Sewcialists sewing tops hashtag -  #sewingtop5. This one is the misses, those items that weren't quite right. Thankfully there have not been too many of these this year.

First up.

Gathered back tank

This was a free pattern and I tried it twice, it was just huge and gapey and I didn't like it.

 

Simplicity 8436

This is a Madalynne underwired bra. I love the design. I managed to get these to fit, but there is just something about it that is off. I made 3 versions. first up a cream lace version. I think my wires were too short here and they really dig into the chest wall. I think it's the poor qulaity channeling. I also had issues with the underarm edge. The second version I tried in a stretch woven and it was just horrific and went in the scrap pile. For verion 3 I tried a bigger wire size and invested in better underwire chanelling. It's better, but now I think I want to widen the back band as it's very narrow and not supportive.

 

Cleo Dungaree dress

There is nothing wrong with this. I'm just not going to wear it. I'm not sure the fabric choice is really me. It's modelled here by my daughter. I just don't find myself choosing this, which is a shame.

Faux Jumpsuit

This is a hit and a miss. I really thought I wanted a wrap style jumpsuit. I really loved this fabric. I made this in two pieces, both free patterns from peppermint magazine. I love the wide leg pants. I'm not 100% sure about the top, but it's quite nice, but together it's just way off!!!!

Denim Wrap skirt

I didn't lose anything with this one. It's ok, the fabric was a scrap I had in my stash and the pattern was one I recieved from a lady on Freecycle. Again, nothing wrong with it, but I think it needs a bit of tweaking to make it a really good option. I might make this again. I might wear it again, but again, I'm just not choosing to wear it.

So What are your misses for 2020? 

Next Up: goals for 2021

Sewing top 5 - Hits

Well it's certainly been an interesting year, but in search of some normality I decided to take part in the Sewcialists sewing top 5's of 2020 and today it's the hits!!!!

These are the sewing wins of 2020. Those Items that have recieved a lot of love or I feel have challenged my sewing skills in a good way, (Links will take you to the original post), so here goes...

First up

Hoodie Parka

This is a great pattern from The Assembly Line. It's an unlined coat, but I added a lining and despite not wearing it much when I first made it (thanks Lockdown) I have worn it almost daily since September and haven't yet swiched into true winterwear as this is perfect for work.

Solina Dress 

This is from the Breaking the Pattern book from Named clothing. I'd seen a few of these made up last year and loved the midi length and the slight fullness - not going complete wilder gown over here as I know it won't suit me, but this dress has been a firm favourite and worn weekly since it was made in the spring. It's been a great addition to my work wardrobe.

Lago Tank

This freebie from Itch to stitch patterns was a scrap buster and got a boat load of wear over the summer. I didn't expect it to be great, but I've loved wearing it - yes I know the back neckline puckers a bit, but it's been perfect for pairing with my tatty refashioned jean shorts and hanging around in the garden.

Layered Shirt

This was my first ambitious project of the year. I'd had this design pinned for ages and the instructions/ pattern layout are from Studio Faro. I drafted it using the Saraste shirt as a basic block and was incredibly happy that it turned out so well. I wore it until the weather cooled and sleeveless cotton tops are just a bit unseasonal - but I'm sure it will be worn next year.

Finally, my most recent make

Wool coat

I used proper tailoring techniques and really took my time with this. I really love it, but haven't had cause to wear it yet. Maybe when Covid restrictions ease it will get some wear. its way too good for tramping around in the rain and mud - which is all I seem to do at the moment!!!

What are your top 5 things of 2020?

Next Up: Sewing Misses - I'll be hard pressed to keep it to 5!!!!