Man and skirt

Can you think of a more awkward pairing of words in a blog title? 
If you have any inclination to dress the average bloke in a non-bifurcated garment, you had better avoid the s-word. 
In association, skirts are for women and girls. And even though there's no problem with women wearing trousers in this day and age, men willing to try out skirts are very few and far between. Especially if you keep talking about skirts...

Every now and then, some fashion designer has a go at the man-skirt. Vivianne Westwood and Jean-Paul Gaultier were the best-known trailblazers here but they weren't alone (this article on Modemuze, in English this time, tells more on that topic). This year (in the collections for A/W 2015/2016 to be precise) it's Givenchy and Dries van Noten who try it (images from vogue.co.uk).

And are they even really trying? Both collections exclusively layer their "skirts" over trousers. Givenchy's narrow buttoned skirts end up looking more like insanely long and fitting shirt tails and Van Noten's wrap looks aren't trying much harder. Surely a true skirt is a garment in its own right and negates the need for trousers? 

There were and are, of course, many skirt-like or skirted garments for men in the traditional costume of countries all over the world. Garments which have long traditions and are often only worn in just that way by men (even when the garments for men and women are basically similar in shape, there will be clearly defined differences. For example in the proportions and belting of kimono's for men and women or the material, colour and style of wrapping of sarongs). You'd have to be a very stupid tourist to call items like that skirts or dresses...
For me, in the Netherlands, the best known and geographically closest example of such a garment is the kilt. And I would guess that might be the best-known example for most of you. 

The kilt is an unquestionably masculine garment with many devotees, not just in Scotland. Any quick google search will give you lots of pictures and lots of instructions for sewing a kilt (for general information on the subject, this site is a great starting point). 
If you've seen the episode in the last season of Great British Sewing Bee in which they had to make kilts, you may remember how the very nature of the kilt (made, as it is, from an uncut piece of, usually tartan, cloth) makes it nearly impossible to a woman's body. In fact, although you can buy lots of kilt-inspired women's skirts they are never constructed like true kilts. 

I think we all know kilts are not skirts. This traditional Scottish garment is, at least in common romantic fantasy, imbued with the raw masculine power of Europe's last noble savages: The Highlanders. 
And it is interesting to see how versatile it can be. It can be worn in a very civilized way by male members of the British royal family to show their connection with Scotland but is equally at home as a symbol of non-conformism in the punk scene...
But of course, the real home of the kilt is in Scotland. I've spent enough time there to know that kilts are no longer every-day wear for the vast majority of men. However, lots of real Scots do still own a kilt and wear it for special occasions. And, based on what I've seen, they get to wear them enough to know how to move in such a garment.

Last year, when E and I were on holiday in Scotland, I insisted he would at least try on a kilt. Of course, I knew there's a vast difference between a real made-to-measure 100% wool kilt and the kilt-derived items sold to tourists. 
But E had never tried anything of the sort. And he never gets cold and easily feels overheated. So, lots of wool didn't sound appealing to him.
Towards the end of our time in Scotland, he relented and tried on a better quality tourist version in Edinburgh. That taught us a few things: 1. A waistband at the natural waist really doesn't suit him 2. You really can't just get a kilt. The accessories, sporran, long socks, are an essential part of the look 3. Proportions vary, in men too. This is why proper kilts are made-to-measure and we couldn't get this one to sit right on E 4. E is really not used to the dynamics of a vaguely skirt-like garment.

And yet, he came to the conclusion that it might be nice to have a casual kilt-inspired garment in a light fabric. Just something to wear at home in summer instead of bermuda length shorts. 
And that's what I've made for him this weekend.

I started out by drafting a normal straight skirt sloper and made a toile of that to determine the waistline for the eh... kilt-inspired garment. 
Fitting it was kind funny. E immediately complained about the restrictive nature of the straight skirt shape. In fact, he said it was too tight at the lower hip. It wasn't. He's just used to being able to do things like squatting down or standing with his legs further apart than hip width ;)

Based on the sloper and the result of the fitting, I made a very simple garment, meeting his requirements and loosely inspired on the kilt. 
The rise is much lower than on the waist-high traditional kilts (not a unique feature, there are modern kilt makers who go for a fit like that and so do makers of casual kilt-like garments). To suit E's body shape, I even made to rise higher at the back than at the front. 
The main thing that really makes this not a kilt is that it doesn't have pleats. At all. It wraps pretty much like a kilt, with an overlap of most of the entire front but the room for movement comes from a modest A-line shape. All I did was take the slight curve from the "waist"line down and draw lengthen it in a straight line. Of course this won't make the thing move like a real kilt but it did deal with all of the issues E had with the sloper while still giving a masculine silhouette. 

For the closure, I used three buttons: one on the edge of underlying part of the wrap and two which meet the edge of the overlapping part. 
And to reinforce the kilt effect, I cut, folded at sewed the fabric on the edge of the overlapping front part to show off the selvedge (of course I know the frayed edge a real kilt would have there is not the selvedge but a purpose-made bit of frayed fabric but this cotton-linen material can't really be frayed in such an appealing way and the selvedge does sort-of look the part). 

All in all, we are both happy with the result. I don't expect E will ever wear this outside but he was OK with me taking pictures and blogging about it. As long as I don't call it a skirt ;)
I kind of want to make him a more sophisticated version, maybe with pleats. And/or pockets. Just in case he might ever consider wearing a kilt-inspired garment out of the comfort of our own home...

The intermezzo thing

Because I've learned to be afraid of bias-issues with full skirts (some even stretch out again after the first time the garment was washed), I decided to finish E's cardigan first. I had time to go to the market on Friday morning and luckily, the market stall I usually go to for notion had exactly the kind of zipper I wanted. Which was basically the same as the one I already had, separating zipper, black tape, 'blackened' brass teeth, just 10 cm longer. And the new one even has a more fancy pull.

So, now I could finish the cardigan: Inserting the zipper, applying the rest of the bottom band and hand-stitching the facing in place.

I was pleased with the outcome, but of course, I didn't really know anything until E had tried it on. 

I made this thing based on the standard knit sloper from Winifred Aldrich's Metric Pattern Cutting for Menswear. I made that for him a while ago and both the t-shirt I made from it were a bit on the wide side (although in one case, the fabric was very thin and had little recovery and the other case included a failed attempt at raglan sleeves. Don't ask me why, because I can make those properly). Which was why I thought it might work well for a cardigan. I just made a long sleeve pattern piece and cut the front in two halves with seam allowance at center front, rather than on the fold.
I kept sleeves and body a little bit shorter to allow for the bands (I cut 4 cm off the body pieces and added a 7 cm band) but because this fabric has no vertical stretch whatsoever, both could have done with a bit more length. Fortunately, the cardigan is still quite wearable. 

I used rib knit for the collar, cuffs, bottom band and pocket edges. This is the synthetic stuff that is used most for this purpose and it's interesting. Very stretchy, obviously but it can be 'set' by heat and/or steam. This was quite useful for the pocket edges, which were distorting the whole fronts of the cardigan before I pressed them.

For a first try at a garment like this (for him, that is), I think E's new cardigan is quite successful. He rarely gets cold so the demand for items like this in his wardrobe is very limited. I may still make him more though. A more loosely fitted and longer one which can be worn over a shirt for example, or a sweater using the same basic shape. But I want to see him really wear this thing first.

For him

Although a lot of my sewing is rather selfish, I have been making shirts, thinner trousers (for jeans, he's a Levi's 501 kind of guy) and coats for E for years.

And I've just finished a new one.

This coat, which I made back in the autumn of 2010, has served as his every-day wintercoat for all that time. And by the end of last winter, it was decidedly worse for wear. I have changed the lining at least once, maybe twice. And I've made some repairs to those nice but not always practical button tabs. But now, the fabric itself had started to pill in some places and shine in others. And the lining needed replacing again. 

To put it quite simply: It was time for a new coat.

The were two fabrics in my stash which I though would qualify for this project: This one and a densely woven beige coating. Either would make a nice change from the plain black we have used for his coats so far. 

E picked this one. It is a peculiar kind of fabric: It's a thick, off-white wool knit with the checks printed on. The printing is not equally dark over the whole fabric. There is only a tiny bit of stretch and only really in the width of the fabric, so I thought it might serve fine for a coat. 

I decided to use the selvedge of the fabric, with the white side facing out, as a piping.

For the pattern, I kept all the functional details which had made the previous coat such a winner: A fairly roomy fit which allows for a range of movement yet is fitted enough to eh... show off his good looks ;), the length which is practical both when driving and cycling, the collar which folds down a bit lower than the standard because that is more comfortable for him, the simple zipper closure.

The design details are new and I adapted them a bit to the nature of this fabric. The slanted welt pockets from the old coat didn't seem like such a good idea now. This fabric, although hardly stretchy, doesn't have the stability of that dense wool coating. And fusible interfacings (used to stabilize the yoke and the zipper edge) didn't really like sticking to it. 

And of course, I wanted to use those selvedges as a design detail. So, where the old coat had raglan sleeves, I went with normal ones this time but made a sort-of cuff to add the piping. I made a shoulder yoke with a point at the back. The collar is edged in the selvedges and so are the openings of the kangaroo pockets.

I tried to match the checks. I even cut out everything in a single layer to do so and it was not easy. It's a knit and the check is printed on... The lines were going everywhere! I think I mostly managed it though.

The zipper is a thick black plastic one. I usually prefer metal zippers but in this case, I didn't want to add another colour in the mix. 

I quite like the way the coat looks on him (even though he didn't really feel like posing when we took these pictures, too many people we passing by... But that's what we get for deciding to take pictures near the climbing hall again) and he got compliments on it from to colleagues. Both other men, who know his girlfriend sews (also for him) and think that's really cool. :D

History and sewing!

Despite the fact that our route didn't take us to any of the historical weaving mills (another thing for my 'next time in Scotland'-list), I did come across something sewing-related. And purely by accident.

I already mentioned the "meet the Redcoats" event at Corgarff castle previously. What I didn't tell yet, was that we wouldn't even have known about it if the steward at Balvenie castle (which we visited the day before) hadn't mentioned it to us (this small, recently added event wasn't on the event calander. She also recommended the app, which did announce it).

Although the history of Corgarff castle goes back further, it now shows visitors how it would have looked in the 18th century when it housed a small garrison of Redcoats, English soldiers. They had been posted at strategically placed locations throughout the Highlands to keep the population under control after the Battle of Culloden.
One floor of the tower house has been furnished as a barracks, which it was at the time. But last week, on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, there were also three soldiers, an officer and his wife (there was joking about how the arrival of Redcoats might influence the referendum...). Members of Pulteney's Regiment (13th foot). (Which is part of a larger society of reenactors called Lace Wars. They also have a group of Jacobite reenactors, in case you were wondering.)

They all really looked the part and were very knowledgable about their era. Both about the overall situation and about the details of the everyday lives of their characters.
And there was sewing. Downstairs, in the officer's room, the lady was making him a casual coat. Unfortunately, I didn't take pictures but we did have a nice chat about period silhouettes and the start of uniform regulations.

Then, we went upstairs and met the soldiers in the barracks room. They were happy to show the various tools of their trade and even to let visitors (it wasn't busy, we were the first visitors that day and while we were there, two other couple arrived) handle them.

And then I saw one of them sewing. Finishing pocket edges with a blanket stitch, to be precise. So, I wanted to know everything about the uniforms.
As it turns out, soldiers in the 18th century would be given uniforms but they had to care for them themselves. To save a bit on the cleaning and mending, they would only wear the full uniform for parades and battle. The outfit worn by the soldier in the picture with E and the musket was the normal look at the barracks.
These modern reenactors however make their own uniforms (not everyone has all the skills necessary of course, so people may make things for each other). This particular gentleman couldn't only sew, he'd also learned leather working and metalworking. 

These uniform coats are made from thick wool and lined with the material in yellow. Only the part of the bodice which doesn't show when it's worn is lined in a thinner, cheaper wool serge. The sleeves were lined with muslin but he explained it isn't known whether or not sleeves were lined at all. The coat was carefully tailored to fit him, which is why, as you can see, it doesn't fit E at all.
What I found very interesting is the way the coat functions: There are no separate summer and winter uniforms. These wool coats would be worn all year.  However, the yellow contrast bits on the bodice can be overlapped and closed for warmth in winter. The same goes for the tails which are normally connected at the corners (with a hook and eye) displaying the contrast lining but cover more when they are allowed to hang loose. 
I suspect one might sew such the seams which don't show on the outside by machine but this one was entirely sewn by had (he mentioned he had to because his sewing machine broke down).
The whole thing is trimmed in distinctive white and yellow tape. Which would always have to be applied by hand anyway.

So just imagine how much work must have gone into this coat. Part of the outfit of the regiment's drummer, the only soldier to wear the regiment's colours the other way round. 

And here is the soldier's coat, worn by its owner and maker, in action. The musket, by the way, is a modern reproduction and they are shooting blanks.

The meeting was quite interesting and a lot of fun. We'll definitely try and catch another event next time we travel to the UK.

His new jacket

E's jacket is finished! And I'll mention it straight away: I ended up going against the advice of the majority of you when it came to the buttons.
I had asked E about buttons before I realized I had both options in stash. When I found them, he wasn't at home. I blogged about the buttons and showed them to him later. When he saw both options, he picked the silver buttons straight away. And because he will be the one wearing the jacket, his vote is the most important. So, silver buttons it is.

I thought it would be nice to take pictures on the little balcony at the street side of our apartment. It is, but unfortunately, the contrast with the (overcast) sky meant that it became really difficult to show any of the details of the dark coloured jacket. 

Fortunately, I showed you the back and the pockets earlier.

I am really happy with the fit at the neckline, shoulder and armscye. I finally found the reason for the issues I've had there before: Not only does E have a much larger neck circumference than 'average' for his size (I've known about that since before I started sewing for him and I've always tried my best to accommodate for that), the big muscles in his shoulders also mean that those shoulders are sloping down a bit. Which caused fit issues in his earlier summer jackets. 

All in all, I think it suits him and I hope he will enjoy wearing this jacket.

Buttons...

That jacket for E is almost done. All that remains to be done are hems, buttons and buttonholes.
Which brings me to the question: What kind of buttons?
I asked E what he wanted but, typically, he told me to do what I thought best because, and I quote: "You know about fashion".

These are the options available (both from my stash):

Simple black buttons. The exact same black buttons as I used for his old jacket and for the trousers I made him in this fabric. Un-obstrusive and there's nothing wrong with them.
However, those silver coloured zippers at the top pockets also suggest another option:

Silver coloured buttons. These draw a lot more attention to themselves and increase the uniform-like look of the jacket. They might be a bit much. But it would make the new jacket a bit more different from the old ones, it's not a strange look in menswear at all and might be kind of cool...

I took these pictures to help myself decide and then I realized that with them, I could ask for a second, third etc. opinion... Yours. So what do you think: Black buttons or silver ones?

His pockets

So, I'm finally really sewing again: making that jacket for E. It was about time too, the fabric of his old jackets is pretty much worn out (those were both made from a cotton twill which, in retrospect wasn't such good quality).
I stuck with the design idea I had earlier.

This is my sketch. Pockets at the front, convertible collar, fitted back with a pleat. Vaguely inspired by those 1930's and 1940's sporty men's blazers.

Last weekend, I worked on the pattern. I started out with the casual jacket sloper which I have used for most of E's coats and jackets. I think the thicker wool coats I made from it were great but it was always a bit baggy for a thin summer jacket. This time, I wanted to make it a bit more fitted and yet still give E enough room to move. It should be a jacket he can wear every day.

I'm using the same cotton/linen blend I used for my jumpsuit and I decided not to line this jacket (which kind of means I'll have to make one for in-between weather later on). Because it's going to be unlined, I'm taking care about a neat finish on the inside. I make flat-felled seams wherever possible and use bias tape for seam binding everywhere else. 

This is the back of jacket. Outside...

and in. You clearly can see the wide pleat at center back.
And I don't normally do this, but on this jacket, I've topstitched all the folds in each pleat.

You can see it here, in the bottom pockets. It should keep them from getting too much out of shape.

And I thought I would share the construction of those bottom pockets in a bit more detail.
It's basically a cross between a regular patch pocket and a cargo pocket but less work than the latter.

You start out normally: Finish the top of the pocket and press in the sides. My pockets have pleats in the middle, both for looks and to allow them to expand a bit width-wise.

The position of the finished pocket should be marked on the wrong side of the front piece. 

Put pins through the bottom corners to make them visible on the right side and position the bottom edge of the pocket between them.

Pin down and stitch.

Put pins through the marks for the top corners and turn the pocket up, positioning the top corners at the pins.
You should now have some excess length in the pocket (for this type of pocket, you need the pocket pieces to be about 3 cm longer than for a patch pocket).

Pin the pocket sides from the top down.

When you almost reach seam allowance at the bottom, fold the excess fabric harmonica-like.

Stitch the sides.

And there is the pocket. Just a bit more three-dimensional and spacious than a patch pocket without being much more work.  

At the moment, I really enjoy making this jacket. I may be able to finish it tomorrow and I hope I can persuade E to model it in the weekend.

Vintage inspiration for him?

Two years ago, I made this spring/summer jacket for E. Since then, he has worn it about every day when the weather was right for this kind of garment. The buttons holding the long epaulettes came off a couple of times, it faded a bit in the laundry but otherwise, it performed admirably. Until last week, when he got a big tear on one of the sleeves. 

Serious damage to the fabric which compromises the integrity of garment is kind of a damning thing, in my opinion. It's time I made him a new jacket. 

It will be in cotton again but I'll be using the thinner and sturdier stuff which I've used for trousers as well, rather than this twill. It will be black(ish) again. And, knowing how and when he'll wear this jacket, I think I will base the design, again, on the casual jacket block, rather than the more confining (especially at the shoulders and upper arms) formal blazer block.

I used that same block for this winter coat for him, which I made to be sort of semi-fitted.
I've tried a blazer block in the past but I have never been completely satisfied with its fit and I've noticed E prefers the more casual shape for every day wear.

So those are my practical considerations. Now, it's just a question of style. How do I want my man to look? Keeping his usual dress sense in mind, of course.

As you know, I love looking at vintage fashion images for inspiration. And thinking about a jacket for E, I remembered something I thought I had seen in 1930's magazines.
The following images all come from the book "Every day fashions of the thirties, as pictured in Sears Catalogs".

I like the trench coats. I was kind of considering a look like that. I'm not sure about it though. Ironically, considering the background of the garment (the original versions were worn by British army officers in the Great War), I think E might not see it as a contemporary garment for a young(ish) man. After all, we've seen random trench coat interpretations for women all our lives. For men, we only see the occasional, very traditional version. Often in beige and worn by an older gentleman. 
I still think it's a true classic that may be in for another revival soon, but is this something E would wear?

Then, there are the sporty jackets of the 1930's. They're fun, and the back treatment with the pleat is what I was looking for. However, the overall look is clearly not for E. Wearing one of these requires an entire vintage style wardrobe.

These jackets on the right come closest to what I thought I remembered: A fitted blazer with an 'action back', a back pleat to provide ease of movement. I'm sure I've seen more of these on coats and jackets for sports and hunting. This is the most common version, with a center back pleat and a waist seam. Two single pleats further towards the sides is also possible and in classic British hunting attire, you will also see carefully tailored tweed jackets with a pleat in the armscye.
The jackets in this image don't quite have the outdoorsy vintage sportswear look I remembered though. From the front, they look like any other jacket.
Maybe I should search my actual vintage magazines...

And, as I mentioned, I know I shouldn't use a fitted blazer block with high sleeve heads.

So far, I think I will fit the casual jacket block a bit closer at the back, make the single pleat action back and style the front of the thing a bit like this:

To be honest, I don't like making cargo pockets or any other style of patch pocket with flap. It's just a lot of work for something so simple. However, for E and for the kind of jacket I'm imagining, it just seems right.
It will be another week or so until I will have the time to start drafting anything like this, so I'll have plenty of time to consider my options. What do you think: Use vintage inspiration, or don't? 1930's or some other era? 

The shirt

And this is the shirt I made for E.

As you can see, he immediately felt comfortable in it.

I used my usual sloper: the 'tailored shirt block' from Winifred Aldrich's Metric Pattern Cutting for Menswear.

And here you can see the shirt properly. It's very simple: no pockets, short sleeves and a camp collar. I think I've told this before, but E has a fairly short neck and really doesn't like tight, high collars. So, when I started sewing for him, I tried to find a solution. Camp collars are where that ended up.
The fabric is the same white and black cotton plaid I used for his robe last year. For this shirt, I made the front facings and the under collar in thin black cotton and stitched everything in black. 
Of course, I made an effort to match the plaid, at least at the horizontal lines in the body. I made it work pretty well.

And here's a little detail I didn't show in my previous post: how to cut the back yoke.
I can't take any credit for this neat little trick. It's from David Page Coffin's Shirtmaking.
The idea is simple: When you're wearing a shirt, people are going to pay more attention to its fit and design from the front than from the back. If you choose a fabric with stripes or checks and you cut the back yoke on the fold (as usual in most patterns), you'll end up with angled, broken lines at the front edge of the yoke. Which is where people will see them. Quite often, you'll also get some odd line action at the back because most shirt yokes are slightly curved at the bottom.
So, instead, you cut the yoke in two pieces and aline each front edge with the lines in the fabric. Of course, this will result in a center back seam and a slight 'A' shape at the back but I think that's a small price to pay for the nice look at the front. Certainly with E's hairstyle.
If the fabric you are using changes shape easily when use off grain, it's important to make a double yoke with the inside cut on the fold. In this fabric, that wasn't needed.
And I don't know if you can tell from this picture, but I went one step further yet and also cut the front edges of the collar along the stripes of the plaid.

And of course, I used the two tricks I showed you in the previous post, to get a nice finish at those hems.