Tag Archives: 2016 makes

It’s finally Fall in Portland! When I left for a business trip to Texas last week it was still warm and sunny and when I got back it was cool and rainy! At least I can finally wear my Kelly Anorak! This is the latest pattern from Closet Case Files and I was a pattern tester. So my version may have a few differences from the final pattern.

This was my first time sewing a jacket and Heather made it easy! Definitely having made button down shirts before like a Grainline Archer will help. The hardest part was probably figuring out the plackets and the zippers. I was in hurry to get this done so I didn’t pay as much attention as I should have and ended up ripping things out a few times. Oopsie. Luckily this a nice sturdy fabric!

Speaking of which, I got this Organic Cotton Ripstop from Fabric.com. It was $8/yd and its’ 60″ so very economical for a project where you need a bit of fabric. It was lovely to work with too! I decided to go for some red accents so I used red snaps from Snap Source, which I got at Mill End Store. I also got a red zipper and cord, but red grommets are hard to find! So I bought silver grommets and painted them with nail polish. We’ll see how well they hold up!

I made one deviation from that pattern and that was to line my hood. I don’t mind the interior being unlined, but I wanted my hood seams to be covered. This was pretty easy to do using the hood pattern and the hood facing to draw a new hood lining piece.

The pattern instructions call for a bit of hand sewing but I am far too lazy for that. So I did a lot of stitch in the ditch sewing

The biggest issue I had with the pattern is that the placement of the drawstring is too high for me. If you are bigger busted, you may run into this too! Since I had put the grommet in before discovering this I had a big whole to cover up. I put some iron on interfacing from the back and then I sewed on a rectangle to cover the hole. I made it bigger so it looked more intentional. Hopefully no one guesses why that’s there!

I love the details on this jacket like the back vent and the felled seams. I did mine by serging and topstitching.

Springfield Tank

posted by lorene

on 07.26.2016

Cashmerette has a new pattern out – the Springfield Top. It’s a woven tank pattern with options for a closer fitting princess seamed back or a looser back version. I’ve been wanting some sleeveless tops to wear to work so I bought it as soon as I got the email. This pattern got printed and assembled right away – I love trimless patterns! Then I just had to find some fabric.

This pattern requires 2 yards + of fabric if you’re using 44″. That seems like a lot for a tank top. Most of my stashed fabrics for tops are 1.5 yards and the rest are 3 yards for dresses. I ended up biting the bullet and pulling this Moda lawn I had purchased in January 2015. I figured if I was really going to make a dress out of it I would have done it by now!

I opted not to cut the bias binding for the neckline and armholes and use premade bias tape. Luckily earlier that day I had scored a massive bag of bias tape and seam binding at an estate sale for $4. By not using my fabric for the bias tape, I managed to get this cut out of around 1.5 yards of fabric! So there is hope for using this for some of my stashed top fabrics.

I opted for the looser version and it went together very quickly. I had some issues with my neckline sticking out but judicious ironing and clapper application got it to settle down. The only issue I had with the pattern is some gaping in the back neckline. I asked Jenny if this was intentional since I noticed the same thing in some of her own Springfield photos. She replied back that this pattern includes a forward shoulder adjustment and if you didn’t need it then your back might gape. Bingo! If I slouch my shoulders forward then it sits flat. So I just need to remember to make this adjustment to the pattern. Who knew having good posture would cause such problems! 🙂

My gripe is that $14 seems a little pricey for such a basic digital pattern. The version I made was literally 3 pattern pieces and could have been 2. I get that Big 4 companies charge the same for every pattern, but that doesn’t matter when I can get them for $2. I would really like to see independent pattern makers adjust their pricing models to reflect the effort that went into creating a pattern.

Morgan Boyfriend Jeans

posted by lorene

on 04.25.2016

Closet Case Files has just launched the Morgan Boyfriend Jean pattern so now I can finally talk about them! I was a pattern tester and since this pattern went through three rounds of testing I have a lot to say! These photos are of the first pair that I made, which was the second round of testing. I was on a deadline to finish them, so instead of using a contrasting thread for the topstitching I just used the same thread as I was using for the seaming. The result is a rather fancy looking boyfriend jean, which I really like! It’s fun to have something other than skinnies to wear going out and the rolled up legs work well with heels.

As in almost every pair of pants I make, the legs are huge because they are graded up with the rest of the pattern and I have skinny legs. So I slimmed down the legs quite a bit from the hip down. I think as you get into the larger sizes you need a narrower leg otherwise they look baggy. I also added an inch to the rise which I almost always do for pants to accommodate my curvy bum.

I did make a quickie pair of the final version that was basted together and some day I will take them apart and sew up them up properly with top stitching! I used a plain blue denim from Joann that will require a bit of distressing so they don’t look like dad jeans instead of boyfriend jeans.

If you’ve made the Ginger jeans then assembly will be quite familiar to you! The only big change here is the button fly and to be honest I will probably just do a zipper in any future pairs I like. I find button flys rather annoying and I’d rather insert a zipper than have to do 3 extra button holes. 🙂

I bought this fabric on Amazon – it’s 12-Ounce Indigo Pure Denim Fabric, 2 Yards by 68-Inch Wide, by Kaltex America. It’s made by a Mexican denim mill and it’s a nice heavy weight. It’s pretty dark. I got it when it was under $22 but now it’s nearly $30.