Jalie 3243

20 years ago (give or take), a friend of ours called and said "Are you sitting down? I  bought a bass."

Well readers, are you sitting down? I made casual summer bottoms that could also have dressier applications!!!!  I sewed them as drafted with no alterations except for cropping the hems by around 4." Should I go up another inch? I'm not sure. I kind of like the length as is. 

With newly-shortened Jalie 3880

This pair is in Brussels washer but I think they'd be lovely in silk noil, although that would require extra extra care with the salad dressing. I plan to make at least one more pair, and possibly a shorts version too.... 

I'm super happy with them, even if they do fall towards the man-repeller-y end of the sartorial spectrum. (Sometimes I'm flattered that my husband's solution to all of my fitting woes is tighter and shorter, sometimes I just can't even.)

Mom Jeans

Yeah, I know what I am. This is *yet another* pair of Jalie Eleonores, this time in a dark, heavy-ish denim from Robert Kaufman. I'll be rinsing the excess dye out of this stuff forever.

They're also the best-fitting of my Eleonores, not that you can tell because indigo denim is soooo hard to photograph.

Just trust me.

Jalie 3880

It's been a while. I've been sewing but not blogging, mostly because I really do not enjoy posing in front of a tripod.

So it's back to selfies, this time at work and with a fancy-to-me phone.

This is Jalie 3880, one of their new patterns. It looks vaguely Japonesque or vaguely medical, depending on pose and choice of fabric. This is a drapey knit from Marcy Tilton. (The pattern specifies a "fluid knit with nice drape" but I think that it could look Jil Sander-y and sculptural in a ponte.)

The deep armholes are flattering and a nifty facing covers what needs to be covered. I'm tempted to take this silhouette up a notch and try A Verb for Keeping Warm's Uptown Top.

And speaking of Verb, tomorrow it's supposed to be 100 here so I'll be breaking out (and photographing) the Endless Summer Tunic I made last month.

Stay cool, people. And I mean literally.

Presto-Chango!

No but seriously Muffy. 

Happy Me-Made May, peeps!

It's a dress! Or is it.....

Readers, it's actually a skirt and top combo! My recent Jalie 2806 paired with view E of Jalie 2681, the eight-gored skirt, in the same calligraphic print. (Or Cali-graphic. Nothing but straight fire on this blog.)

 I'd still like to add an actual dress to my wardrobe, though.

In other news, the teen wore a t-shirt that I made! On her body, in public:

When your kid has a nicer phone than you do, with a better camera.
I'll catch up next month. 

10,000 Waves

This is yet another view of Jalie 2806, this time with gathered foldover and banded hem.

The material is sproing-y ITY knit from Cali Fabrics; the waves are deep blue. On a wardrobing note, this will replace the colorful printed top in my work module.

Years ago I read an interview with sewist Nancy Murakami where she says she's a "person in black, or PIB." It was probably back in 2010 or 2011, and  wish I could find it to share. I try to remember it whenever I feel pressured to add more color to my wardrobe.

My house is full of color, and I enjoy it. But when it comes to clothing I'm happiest as a Person in Mostly Neutrals.

Ann Shayne's color wheel from Mason Dixon Knitting

Cocooned

Mothra attacks!

This is Jalie's Cocoon Cardigan (#3353), sewn up in a dark gray cotton blend sweater knit from Cali Fabrics.

Still figuring out the tripod. I had a choice between dignity and a level photo and you can see what won out.

This was the first time I that wished I had a serger; maybe for the upcoming 5-0. I used Jalie's suggested method of zigzagging the very edges of the fabric and then sewing the .25 seam, which definitely looks more polished. Good thing, because the band flaps open now and then. Still love it though.

Zigzag + Straight Stitch

Topstitching the bands makes a big difference in how the final garment looks, and I'm surprised the instructions didn't include that step when they took the trouble to specify "pin[ning] generously."

But that's a pretty minor niggle for a great pattern. I could see a cold-weather version in merino knit.

Cropped head, funhouse angle outtake.

Speckles

Dayliiiight!!!!!

This is view A of Jalie 3245, sewn up in a spongilicious  knit  that Emma One Sock categorized under "Sweater Knits." (It seems super light and drapey for a sweater knit, unless we're talking about one of those sweaters that my mother disses whenever she laments the decline in quality at Talbots.)

But I digress...it was a great choice for this pattern, and the speckles and ribbing prevent vastwhitemonolithia. Unlike other Jalie patterns the neck is finished with binding instead of a band. I had my doubts, but my #10 edgestitch foot....took the edge off!

Bias neckline finish.
Necklace belonged to my husband's grandmother.
It's from the 1950s.

Hyar hyar. I'll be here all week--remember to tip your waitress.

Make Nine & Jalie 2806

When I organized my wardrobe into capsules I noticed that I could use some solid-colored tops for work. So I'm counting this as one of my Make Nine projects, even though it wasn't in my Official Grid.

Who's got two thumbs and a tripod coming in the mail?

This girl!

The fabric is a drapey lyocell jersey from Emma One Sock.

At this point I'm mostly making things as I notice the need. Here's a loosey-goosey revision of my sorta-plans*.

*I'm not making a "PicLab." But I am too cheap to pay to make the app's logo go away. :)

Fish-Eyed Eleonores

On my last pair of Eleonores I gathered the back waistband by stretching a shortened length of elastic along the piece as I sewed. The whole time (like 1.33 minutes, but still) I was petrified that I'd compromise the timing mechanism on my vintage machine (again). So for this pair I drew a 2" fish eye dart in the center of the back waistband and clipped the excess fabric.

Center waistband seam is actually a dart. 

Attaching it required easing with ALL THE PINS and a bamboo skewer to nudge the bulk into the seam allowance. In the end I still have a couple of puckers that I couldn't pin out. So when I discovered that I accidentally sewed the waistband elastic side out, I wasn't exactly keen to rip and re-sew. Thankfully I wear my shirts tucked out. (I would joke about not wanting to get into a car accident wearing these pants but my daughter just got her permit.)

Puckers!

This version is also slightly transformé en skinny, to quote the French version of the instructions. I narrowed the leg to be something between skinny and straight. This tutorial is super-clear, but it took me about 3 tries to finally get it right. Thankful for the tip about using your scraps to trace and modify your pattern.

Before and After: "skinny" leg on the right. 

The fabric is a burgundy version of the gray sateen that I used for my first pair. The gray pair has stretched incredibly after a few wearings, and I'm wondering whether this is a reflection of poor fabric quality or if stretch wovens just don't keep their shape over the long haul.

Have you found that stretch fabrics sag a lot? 

Eleonore Version 1.a

No hands!

More gray pants--now with a lot less crotch radiation (there's just no delicate way to say that, is there?) and moderately less gap-osis.

I made a 2" swayback adjustment using Dawn's method and there's *still* a little gap. I'm thinking this fabric isn't snappy enough to stand up to stretching and gathering.

Saintly pose.
Top is 100 Acts of Sewing Shirt No. 1, btw.

Just whatever, man! I'm still pleased with how these turned out and I plan to make more, possibly with darts in the back waistband. Maybe an invisible hem too, to dress them up a bit. And a skinny pair...

Ahem. So that's one 2018 make nine done! Fingers crossed that my 5" size 5 dpns arrive today so that I can finish my Indicum sweater.

In the meantime, must. Resist. Eleonore. Rabbit. Hole.

Jalie Eleonore

Yesterday I staggered off of the roller coaster known as Sewing Pants. And I don't think I'm going to throw up!

Here is my un-hemmed Jalie Eleonore muslin, the first of my 2018 Make Nine projects:

They're a size X, even though the much-touted "wisdom of the table" recommends a size V based on my full hip measurement. (I traced and sewed a size V waistband and it felt small to me.)

The "cat whiskers" radiating across the front are the result of swayback:

Gap-osis, with hip wrinkles that disappear
 when I yank them up.

I'm hoping they'll look like this after I perform Dawn's swayback adjustment. I also plan to take some fullness out of the back of the knees.

Because I can't walk around holding
the back of my pants all day. 

Now that I'm over the delusion of creating a wearable pants muslin, I don't think I'll top stitch version 2. Although it's probably worth practicing the faux-fly detail again.

I can't wait to get started!