Speckled Linen Tarawi Shirt

To me, fall means shirts and cozy sweaters. 

Batik Glebe Pants and a Pocket Tutorial

More Muna and Broad pants! With a fit like this, I just can't quit them...

Rayon Chambray Arenite Pants

Another pair of Arenite pants for me... what? They have giant pockets and I have things to put in those giant pockets.

Testing, testing: Sew Liberated Arenite Pants

Today I've got a fun new pair of pants to share with you: the Sew Liberated Arenite Pants!

Basketweave Alexandria Peg Trousers

My friend Colleen is an avid supporter of my crafty endeavors... when she requested that I make her something, I jumped at the opportunity!

Testing, testing: Closet Case Patterns Kelly Anorak

Woop, woop! Sound the alarms: the latest from Heather Lou is here!

Brussels Washer Lottie Dress

Today I've got a post over at Imagine Gnats about my awesome green Lottie dress. Have a look!

Chambray Tamarack Jacket

I've made a Grainline Studio Tamarack Jacket!

Sally + Batik Minnie

I think I may have jinxed myself with this project. I made a comment upon cutting it out that I really disliked the fabric, but that I knew Zoe would love it... after that, nothing but trouble with this dress, some of my own making, some just bad luck. Oops!

This is the Sally Dress from Very Shannon. I've had this pattern for a while now; I bought it back as part of the Sew Fab pattern bundle back almost a year ago... I love the giant pockets (and imagine Zoe will, too), the cute sleeve length, and the interesting triangle-shaped shoulders, which I understand help the bodice stay on even though the square neck is wide.

 The fabric is some cotton/poly Disney "batik" from Batik Keris (you might remember I made the girls some Mickey Mouse batik outfits last year.)  I bought it back before I moved to Thailand from Indonesia, knowing Zoe was a fiend for Minnie Mouse. Hopefully she still is!  I really don't love the fabric... it's just machine-printed fabric, not true wax-resist batik, and I don't love the yellowy/tannish/gold accent color. But it was the only one with Minnie.

I tried to place Minnie carefully on the bodice, sleeves and pockets (although it appears Minnie ended up on the back of both sleeves... oh well). I also made sure the border print formed the hem. Unfortunately, since the skirt is so full, the Minnies on the purple strip on the skirt get a bit lost in the gathers.  

This was just one of those dresses that had to be unpicked and resewn approximately a million times. No fault of the pattern at all, but definitely a result of sewing while a little tired, blatantly not following directions and other shenanigans. In the end it came out fine, but it's definitely not my best work. Don't look too close at the top-stitching! 

Can't wait to see it on Miss Z!  Hopefully she receives it in time for her birthday (3???!!!!!) and likes it!

Hudson Pant: Pattern Testing

I was quite excited to be chosen as a pattern tester for the brand spankin' new Hudson Pant pattern just released by Kelli at True Bias.  I admire Kelli's casual chic style and envy her Botticelli-esque hair, thus I was totally pumped to hear she was coming out with her own sewing pattern...  plus, stylish sweatpants?  Yes, please!  My overworked yoga pants breathed a sigh of relief upon being replaced in my weekend line-up by the Hudson pant.

I sewed up the cropped/calf-length version of the Hudson pant, figuring I would get more wear out of the shorter ones here in Bangkok where rainy season is ramping up, necessitating short pants.

For fabric, I went with a fairly stable jersey knit (the same nubby grey I used for Tim's Strathcona tee) for the main part of the pants and a black french terry (same as my Mabel skirt) for the waistband, pocket detail and calf bands.  Perhaps, in retrospect, I should have used something with better recovery for the calf bands, as they get a bit saggy after wearing...  

I found the pattern to be really easy to put together: the instructions were great, the pieces seemed to come together easily and as described, the fit was spot on based on my measurements as compared to the chart...  

When testing, I only had a few things that I found could be improved, the main two being that the numbers and circles used to line up the pattern pieces could be darkened to make it easier to tape together and that the pockets were a bit bunchy/sticky-outy (I realize that is not a word, but for the life of me could not come up with a better way to describe it!).  Kelli has made updates to the final pattern to address both of these things, which is great, so I plan to make another pair in the near future!

Kid Pants with Piped Edge Pockets

Ermagerd, I love these pants!  And I am pretty proud of them, too.

These are the Kid Pants from Dana Made It, a free (and pretty awesome!) downloadable wide leg pants pattern (size 2-3T).  I had also used the pattern earlier this summer to make Z some Retro Racer Shorts.

This time I used a pretty pink, fine wale corduroy from Joann's that is covered in little button flowers (which kinda reminded me of my old employer's logo, which may have prompted me to buy it.  also it was on clearance.).  The fabric is super soft.  I used store-bought piping, which is not a perfect match to the fabric, but close enough for government work ;-)

I used Dana's pocket pattern (the larger size) and sewed some piping along the edges of the pockets as Dana did in this tutorial, to make them stand out:

I placed the pockets such that they continued over the top of the waistband (which I made flat-front, per Dana's instructions here).  The back waistband is still elasticized:

 

I top-stitched all of the seams for strength and some contrasting color, although the top-stitching sank into the nap of the corduroy a bit.

Love these pants!  Can't wait to see Z in them!