Turkey Pants

Yes. Turkey pants.

You know ... pants with an expanding waist to wear on Thanksgiving so you don't have to unbutton the regular jeans after The Big Meal. ;-)

The pattern is my TNT capris pattern, Simplicity 4605, lengthened to full length. I just wanted easy-wear jeans, nothing fancy. These sewed up in about 2 hours and I was comfortable all day. Besides, since I don't wear tops tucked in, no one but us knows they're pull-on jeans anyway. And you won't tell, right? ;-)

They look boring laying here on the cutting table, and I guess they *are* boring. But I'm boring. So these are perfect for most of my days. Nicer than sweats and PJ pants too.



Nothing fancy back here either. But I did use one of my machine's deco stitches just to do *something* on the pockets. I was all about speed this morning and this is a fast stitch.



Parting Shot

I hope my American readers had a great Thanksgiving! Ours was pretty quiet and relaxing. A few friends, classic T-day food, and football all day long. (Too bad NONE of the games were really worth watching!)

The aftermath:



Hmmm. Time for a turkey sandwich. ;-)

Another Jalie Winner

As I mentioned, we've had a bit of cool snap here in West Central Florida, and after living here for 20 years, I'm a wimp with anything that falls below 70 degrees. Pitiful, I know, especially for an ex-New Englander who grew up with two-foot snowfalls regularly. So as the thermometer plunged to the 50s and even 40s, my need for longer sleeves rose. (As did my need for thick socks and another blanket for my bed!) Enter another Jalie 2806.



Nothing technically new to add since my first post on this pattern, but it's definitely become one of my favorite patterns of 2008. I did get a little creative with the bindings. I could've gone for solid brown, or even self-fabric, but I really wanted a bit of color contrast too.





Both fabrics are from Fabric.com. This, below, is the print used for the binding. A little fussy cutting and the yellow/brown print takes on a whole new look.



I'm pretty darn happy with this one. I love the splash of yellow, and the browns of both fabrics are a near-perfect match.

Test Pattern

Don't stare at it too long or your eyes will bug out. ;-)

Just because I haven't been posting doesn't mean I haven't been adding to the stash. What am I working for after all? Fabric.com recently had a bunch of geometric knit prints and this one had DS#2's name all over it. I liked it even more in person. For him, that is.

So he got another make of Simplicity 4287. But this time, I overlapped the seamed front sections before cutting for 1-piece fronts. Easy to do since there's no bust shaping in those seams.

(Shame on Simplicity for taking this one out of the catalog. I really think they could've lost one of the myriad scoop-neck tunic clones instead and no one would've been the wiser.)



And the result … ignore the goofy smile. The print is moire-like, it almost moves on its own. Very cool to a 16-year old. He's worn it every week since I finished it. I think it's a hit. And I love using knits for this pattern. He looks a little nicer with a collared shirt but there's nothing added to the ironing pile after it goes through the laundry.



Back:

Two Years Later

No, it hasn't been THAT long since I last posted. ;-)

I've been wanting to make View A of this jacket (Kwik Sew 3369) for at least two years now, but I never seemed to get started. Well the planets somehow aligned and slowly but surely I've finally got the jacket out of the fabric stage and into the closet. And not a moment too soon as the temps plummeted a couple of weeks ago.

Of course, I couldn't just make it as is. No, that would be too easy and too fast, right? Instead, I decided I needed to add a lining and also a pocket to one of the front panel seams. The problem with adding a lining is that the front placket/facing for this jacket is supposed to be one piece, folded over. That meant tracing the original pattern and making new pattern pieces because, of course, I wanted to make it still more difficult and use a contrast fabric, which meant it couldn't fold over.

It took me more than a week to trace this pattern and make those changes, working in stolen bits of time. (Remind me again that I like my paycheck because I really miss sewing all day long and I'm so behind on life in general.) But I finally finished tracing and editing the pattern and was able to cut a muslin. I had first traced the pattern pretty much as-is — just a little blending between sizes at bust level and the seaming changes already mentioned — because KS Plus patterns are already cut for fuller busts and I didn't think this jacket would be extremely fitted, judging by the photo and other KS patterns I've made.

I was right. The muslin was hanging off me. Except at my butt, of course. ;-) All these months sitting on it while working hasn't improved that situation. Out came the pins to hold in the tucks and this is what I ended up with:



I tucked a full inch out of the front and back yokes (faster than tucking the panels and it will make the pocket flaps not hit right at bust level) and across the sleeve. KS patterns are always too low in the armhole on me and their Plus patterns are twice as bad. I also tucked 1/4" out of the center front edge so the jacket will hang vertical when open instead of swinging outward and I narrowed the shoulders about an inch. Here are all the tucks close-up:



I transferred those changes to the pattern pieces, plus added to the back seams at butt level, and cut the real fabric, which is a canvas-like home dec fabric (from Joann's of all places!). The piece of white muslin sticking out in the pic below shows where I added the pocket to the front panel seam. I can't possibly have a jacket without pockets and the upper pockets are faux on my jacket since I don't need a pocket bag in that location, both utility-wise and flattery-wise. The poor jacket sat like this for a week, taunting me, until I could steal some more sewing time.



But I finally did manage to finish it and I've been wearing it like crazy. And I think I need another one!

Front view (see the pocket?):



Back view:



Close up (with more of Carolyn's buttons):



Lining (wonderful solid rayon bargain from Fabric.com):



Modeled: