Summer Pants!! Border print rayon pants.

These pants are like wearing secret pajamas!! So soft, light and airy plus they make me feel like I am 6 feet tall.

Obviously I'm not 6 feet tall, nor do I have 'sky high' legs, but I really like the look of these pants!

The concept of these pants were born out of the need for having and sharing border print garments and fabric at our upcoming June Sew Chicago ASG neighborhood group meeting. Of course, I didn't update my calendar and ended up with a conflict for book club on the same date. Book club won out since it is my turn to host.

My fabric with 2 selections of reds from my stash. I was thinking of making a red tank top to pair with these pants for a second look. But which red??? They both go well!

Back to my border print. I had several yards of this border print and just wasn't sure exactly what to do with it. I had several ideas including a shirt dress or a kimono type garment with the border as the banded edge. I pinned the fabric on my dress form in several different directions and left it for a couple days each time. I really like how it looked when the border was all the way to the floor! I didn't want to make a full skirt, those can sometimes make me feel dowdy and I currently have a couple summer maxi skirts in my wardrobe. So the light bulb went off and I saw a pair of wide legged soft, flowy, long pants in my mind that made my legs look 6 feet long! Like a supermodel!LOL!!

Fabric in various drapes on the dressform. I really liked the center pants idea! However, I do have enough leftover to give the kimono look  a try... I'll add it to my list of ever growing ideas to be accomplished!

First thing I had to do was check that I could cut these on the cross grain to put that border at my lower leg and have enough fabric to actually accomplish this. Well... it was so close!! I had to lower my waist by up to 3/4 of an inch at the sides and back to make it work. Since I wear my pants pretty close to my natural waist this worked out just fine.

Once I determined that I could logistically do what I wanted I laid out my master Eureka Pants that Fit pattern on the fabric and carefully marked where the border print started and transferred this to both the fronts and backs so they would line up perfectly. I also wanted these to be wide legged pants so I changed the leg shape by widening to the hemline. To do this I pinned the front and back pattern pieces to the fabric, determined where the widest point was on the side seam, at my lower hip and drew with a chakoner chalk wheel straight down to the hemline. On the inseam I chose a point several inches below the crotch point and did the same thing. This worked great!! Only bad thing about doing it this way is that I do not have a hard copy of the pattern to duplicate if I want the exact same pants. I may have made a paper pattern and muslin If i had a limited amount of fabric to work with. I had 4 or five yards of this fabric so I figured if it did not work out I still had plenty of additional fabric to play with!

I really love having a master pants pattern that I can change up and make many designs off of! No having to re-fit pants every time I want a new design :)

back, front, side views

I have also been wanting to try out using a petersham waist finish instead of a waistband or facing. A techniques that has been on my mind to try for a while. I even had enough 1.5 inch wide petersham ribbon that I purchased from Soutache sitting in my arsenal and ready to be used. To use the petersham I sewed it right sides together using a 3/8 " SA to the fashion fabric, turned it to the inside, steamed it into shape over a pressing ham and slip stitched it into place. Worked like a charm and is very comfortable. Certainly would not do this for a garment that needed more support. However, the Petersham waist finish paired quite well with the lightweight drapey rayon fabric and I was happy that I got to try it out.

1 1/2" wide petersham 

Petersham waist facing 

My normal go to for pants zippers is a lapped application but for these the fabric and the lightness of the entire design called out for an invisible zip. I don't use these too often for center back pants zippers because I like a more secure closure, but in this case it worked out perfect'y!

Invisible zipper at center back

I hemmed these pants long to specifically be worn with a higher pair of black platform wedge sandals that I have in my shoe closet. I normally hem things to be worn with flats but having these hemmed long for a higher pair of shoes makes them feel special and adds to the length illusion of my legs!
I have several black tops in my wardrobe that these pair well with for a fun summer ensemble. My favorite is this black sleeveless knit top with ruffles that my daughter gave to me a couple years ago as a gift. I have already worn these several times! Out to dinner with friends, at design class in Baltimore and for a day of airline travel for work and they have been fantastic. A winner of a garment!

Hopefully the neighbors weren't watching me bust out a move while taking selfies!

Happy Sewing!

Happiness is playing ball on the lawn with Princess Victoria :)

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iART Jacket, Silk Culottes and matching Tank: a work of Collaboration!

iART Jacket and Silk Culottes and tank on the runway

My Inspiration for this jacket came from some of my sisters art work. We have often talked about doing some sort of collaboration together, we just hadn't been able to solidify any ideas. Earlier in the year there was a Haute Couture club of Chicago meeting that was all about designing your own fabric and various fabric printing services that were available. The lightbulb in my head went off immediately! Here was something my sister and I could do together. When my sister came up for the Christmas holidays she brought with her a slew of her favorite drawings that she had done. Some were just line drawings and some had been colored in. Together we went through about 40 small drawings and I picked the ones I liked best and scanned them into my computer so that I could have them to play with. I was instantly attracted to the bright colors and knew that for this project I wanted something big, bold and bright!

my sister and artist, Jennifer Torres

Cloud series- works in progress

Cloud Series at Installation

After scanning and playing  with the images on the computer for a while I decided to use Spoonflower to have my fabric printed. I uploaded several of my images and using their software I played with the scale and the repeat of the design. As you can see on my jacket, I really went for big and bold! I used a half drop vertical repeat, this looked most pleasing to my eye. I took a deep breath and ordered 3 yards of the linen/cotton canvas. I was so excited when it arrived!!! My husband had this part comical, part skeptical look on his face like 'what the heck are you going to do with that??' Well, I did something fantastic with it! 

The fabric was quite stiff. Stiffer than I had expected. However I washed and dried it in the dryer about 4 times and it finally softened up. On the down side it also shrank right up as well! I lost about a third of a yard in length from 3 yards. Yikes!!!

Drawings done by Jennifer Torres- Bottom left was used for designing of this fabric

I had 2 contenders for the jacket pattern. A OOP Vogue Marcy Tilton Jacket and the Counterpoints jacket pattern by Gail Yellen of Gail Patrice Designs. I decided, with some valuable feedback, to use the counter points jacket. I already had made both previously so I was able to put them on and see how they would affect the overall silhouette. Counterpoints was the better option for this garment. 

With the limited fabric and the large scale print I really had to be careful in my pattern matching.  If I use this fabric from Spoonflower again in the future I will make sure to purchase extra fabric. I think part of it was also that seeing the pattern on the screen versus in person was slightly different. Not a bad different at all, just different. 

Matched pattern as carefully as possible across the front and back.

I very carefully matched the pattern across the front upper chest where the neckline meets as well as the center back across the pleat. I did limited matching at the side seams. This was mostly to make sure the repeats were inline with each other. I also did a lot of testing and playing with several different ideas and print placements. I knew for sure that I did not want one of those big bold prints right on a boob. I mean how bad would that look!?

I also knew that I wanted the print placed down the center of each sleeve for symmetry purposes. I am really happy with the outcome. Reminds me that it just takes a few minutes to step back and really think about the fabric and the print that you are using to come up with a pleasing and effective arrangement. 

decisions, decisions... long or 3/4 length sleeves?
I went with 3/4 length

in-seam pocket

matching print across front

back pleat detail

back pleat detail

inside out!

The lining is an orange silk lightweight twill that had been in my fabric collection for many, many years. It matched perfectly and I was happy to use it on a great project. For the inside top of the pleat I used a little piece of embroidered ribbon with dogs on it that I purchased from Soutache in Chicago. Having just lost my best furry pal ever it made me feel good to have it there. 

Several changes were made to the pattern so that it would suit my vision perfectly! The first was that I rounded off the points. The print on the jacket is full of soft and undulating curves and to have these sharp front jacket points seemed out of place. I used a teacup and just drew around the base and rounded off the corners quite nicely.

The second was that I shortened and slightly narrowed the sleeves. I wanted this to be a fun, fresh spring jacket and the shorter 3/4 length sleeves fit the bill exactly.

rounded off the points

The third change I made was to use a hidden snap for the closure. The fabric and the print is the real star of this jacket and I did not want anything to take away from it. I had auditioned several vintage buttons but in the end the snap just won out. I think it may also have to do with where this single closure falls on my body and I just don't like it. It's right exactly between my boobs. I tried moving it up but then the V was too high and lower just didn't look right either! So hidden snap it was. This darn snap took me several try's to get it in the right place correctly. The first time I somehow lined it up wrong and my matching was off about half an inch. The second time was matching perfectly BUT I sewed the damn thing on upside down so no snapping was happening! Double ugh. Third time was the charm and it lined up great.

used a hidden snap

The last change I made was to eliminate the bias binding. I tested several out but each time I thought ugh it's just breaking up that print across my chest too much! And darn it, I worked really hard on matching that up perfectly. So I trimmed all along the lining edges a quarter of an inch and sewed the lining to the edge right sides together leaving a 4 inch opening at the side bottom. Trimming the quarter of an inch allowed for the favoring of the print fabric when turned right side out. I then slipped stitched the opening closed and slipped stitched the sleeve hems as well.

lined to edge

Now for the rest of the outfit! I made green silk 4-ply culottes and matching Tank from silk that I also had in my fabric collection. Not quite as old as the orange silk, but still a couple years old.

I used two pants patterns, Eureka! pants that fit by Fit for Art patterns and Butterick 6178. For the pants I basically used the crotch, hips, waist from my my Eureka! Pants pattern and then Butterick 6178 for the legs. I would have drafted the legs myself but I happened to have this pattern in my collection so I just used it. Saved me a bit of time! These legs are really, really wide. More like a split skirt then traditional culottes. I made these up in a poly crepe first as a muslin and decided to add more width to the legs to make it more skirt like. I loved the effect it has when walking and they do feel very dreamlike when wearing. So light and airy. The lining is a lime green China silk that I ordered from Mood on sale.

I used a lapped zipper application for the center back zipper. I was planning to do an invisible zipper but just could not find a good enough color match for what I wanted. Lapped zippers in the center back of pants always make me feel more secure anyway ;-)

top and pants

back zipper detail

lining in a lime green china silk

The Tank is self designed from my own master top pattern. I think this top may have originally started as  Silhouette pattern many, many years ago. It has since gone through many fitting and design alterations to make it all me.  This time I made a wide scoop. I started by drawing out a square neckline but rounded it off because I wanted it softer looking for this project. Same reason why I rounded the points on the jacket. Out of all three pieces this gave me the biggest trouble!! I took the time to make self faced facings but when I applied them it was just too bulky and showed right through to the right side. So ugly that I could not even take a picture! I very carefully took those out and decided instead to do a wide bias facing out of the lime green China silk with multiple rows of top stitching. Let me tell you, multiple rows of top stitching on a spongy 4-ply silk crepe is a bitch to do! Especially around curving necklines and armholes. It got done, it's not perfect but oh well! You don't even see the tank when worn with the jacket anyway! 

topstitching detail on tank

bias binding in lime green china silk

This was my first of three garments worn at the Haute Couture Club of Chicago 2016 Fashion Show. The photographer did an excellent job in capturing how great I feel in this outfit. It makes me feel alive and happy! 

garments tagged and hanging in the model staging room

action shot on the runway!

Professional photos done by Peter Thompson

I love this look!

Happy Sewing!!

Summer Eureka! Linen crop pants and review of my go to pants patterns.

I have made two pairs of Eureka! Pants that fit pants for work. I have been super pleased with them! Of course it helps that I have perfected the fit of the pants through several muslins and with help from Sarah Veblen.  

Since my first 2 pairs worked out so great I decided to make another pair but this time as a casual summer pair. 

The fabric is a blue linen with white flower print from my stash. I wanted to be able to wash these at home so I washed and dried the linen a couple of times to shrink it up and to soften it as well. The linen was not sturdy enough for the style of pants I wanted so I underlined the entire thing with Imperial batiste in white. I did this by cutting the pattern pieces in batiste and hand basting them to the linen. This helps with keeping the knees and seat from bagging and cuts down on the wrinkles and the batiste feels so nice against my skin.

I did not line these since I felt the underlining was plenty for this casual pant.

So, how did I decide what changes to make to the original pattern? I put on a pair of the original pants that I made and first I rolled up the hem to a spot above my ankle that I liked and looked flattering. Then I worked on pinning the inseam and outer seam to get a silhouette that I liked. 90% of the width changes are done from the knee down and they are done almost evenly from both sides to maintain the correct grain line and hang of the fabric. 

Once I had pinned and measured my pants I traced off the pants from my master pattern and made the changes to the lower legs. I was carefull to mark the new pattern pieces as cropped/slim so that I can return to those pieces to be used again and know exactly what I have! 

The only difference between these and the first 2 work pair that I made is that I tried a different waistband treatment. The waistband is cut exactly the same only instead of using an interfacing I used elastic. The back lapped zipper and pants hook and eye are exactly the same. The elastic was cut 6 inches shorter than your waist measurement (per the directions). Honestly, I was a little dubious about doing it this way.... Thoughts of kids pants, old lady pants, yoga pants and all sort of this like that were swirling through my head. I am so GLAD I tried it! On my shape with a larger tush and relatively smaller waist it made the waist very comfortable. 

I am very happy with my pants progress! I now have 3 styles of pants down pat! A darted trousers/slacks type of pant. Fitted at the waist and skimming over my lower abdomen and hips to create a smooth silhouette. A casual type of pant with a yoke back and much more fitted, these would be my denim and corduroy jeans. The last is a knit pants, think yoga pants. 

I do need to work on my patterning. I have very precise patterns for my Eureka! Pants that fit. I have what I am calling my 'work' pants and then the variation shown here, 'cropped/slim'. 

For my Jeans pattern I have 2 versions, a straigh leg and a skinny leg. Each is marked with a different seam allowance for stretch versus non-stretch wovens. I am toying with the idea of redoing these and making totally separate patterns for stretch vs non-stretch and having a uniform seam allowance. This will keep things more uniform. 

The knit pants are more fluid. It all depends on the type of knit and the amount of stretch. I use a very scientific method of wrapping the uncut yardage around my hips (my widest part) to where I like it and then taking and using that measurement to base my pants off of. This does mean that I have several sizes cut out and use one that is closest to the measurement. This keeps me from having to make changes after construction because a fabric has more stretch than the original. What I would REALLY like to do is to correlate amount of stretch to a specific pattern size. For example a stable double knit or ponte versus stretchier knits and knits with lycra. I think if I had 3 pattern sizes determined then it would be easier to select the correct one from the outset without having to make changes on the fly.

I think I see a winter project on my list!!

Happy Sewing!!

I am off from work this week and enjoying a week of grandma camp. Helping out while my daughter and her hubby move apartments. I do have to tell you that I forgot how exhausting a 14 month old can be!!! And I am loving every minute of it :)