Some pattern making

Today, I finally had a chance to work on that jacket pattern. In your comments to my previous post, some people asked about the pattern so I thought I would show it to you.

When working on the alterations I had described, I also kept thinking about making a real raglan sleeve version. That might make the acute angle between the lower edge and the bottom of the sleeve a bit more natural. I ended up drafting both. I will make a muslin of each and see which one I like best. 

This is the old pattern piece for the front (all pattern pieces are without seam allowances or anything like that). See that narrow, straight collar piece? That was my problem. I can't show you the old back-and-sleeve piece because I re-used it to make the new version.

This is the new half-kimono-sleeve version. I you look closely, you can even see where I added width to the sleeve. I also added so width to the bottom of the side seam to compensate for what I took away on the front pattern piece (where I needed to remove some material at chest height but wanted to keep that curved line). To the right is the new front piece, with above it the under collar. At far right is the collar and front edge facing and the back neck facing is that little C-shaped piece at the top.
This collar was drafted using the full instructions for a tailored shawl collar. And obviously, it was drafted on a much wider neck ring than before.

And this is the raglan sleeve version. I used the same collar pieces but completely re-designed the body around it. This variation has a very small back piece (which, unfortunately, refused to stay flat on the floor), a front piece which does extend under the arm and a huge one-piece raglan sleeve. Pattern makers among you will know that a traditional raglan sleeve for a woven fabric is normally cut in two pieces or has a shoulder dart. In this case, with the odd shape of the jacket and the tiny sliver of material at the front shoulder, I thought I could get away with some creative messing around. I turned it into this: A one-piece sleeve without shoulder shaping. We'll see how it works in the muslin.  

I had hoped to also finish the muslins today but, as so often, time was passing faster than I thought. At this moment, I really don't know which option I will prefer but both are fairly approximations of the design in the photograph. 

An odd pattern

There's nothing like listing your sewing plans to remember other plans... I won't tire you with additions to the list. My mental to-sew list could stretch on forever. 
I'm now working on something which was and wasn't on my summer sewing list. These will be sort-of summer weight trousers but not the wide legged ones I mentioned (I still want to make those as well).

Here's the sketch/technical drawing. wrap-over trousers with tapered legs.

I used a similar style in this jumpsuit I made last year and thought it would also be nice to have separates in this shape.

I know there have been patterns for wrap-over styles in sewing magazines but those are usually 'fake'. That is, the wrap-over is real enough but it's just a styling feature not a functional one. Those designs usually have a zipper at the side. Because I'm a bit of a purist, I like mine to use the wrap-over in a functional way, as the actual means to get in and out of these trousers.
And I thought it might be nice to try and explain how to make such an odd thing out of a normal trouser pattern.

For a style like this, you will need a basic pattern which is loose fitting in the seat and thigh areas. I'm using the same adaptation of my sloper as I would for pleated trousers. This version of the sloper has a slightly lowered crotch and a bit of added ease at the hip and thigh.
I'll show you the alterations to the front leg pattern piece. The back leg doesn't have to be changed at all.

If you are using a sloper, it will probably have a small waist dart. Remove that by taking out its width at the side and/or center front. 

Draw a line from where you want your overlap to end (I usually put it at the point where the dart used to be) to the knee point on the inner leg seam. Trace the top edge from the beginning of the line to center front on a new piece of paper connected to the rest of the pattern and then cut along the line.

Now, to create the wrap-over fold, mirror that front piece and connect the tops of the center front line and the point at the knee. Trace the top line again.

After that, put the center front piece back on, connecting it two the pleat you've created. 

Make sure you mark the beginning and end of the pleat (the black notches) and its center (the red one). The straight grain remains in its original position running along the length of the leg.  
Add pockets if desired (and who doesn't want pockets...)

This pattern piece will be used for both the left and right leg and needs to be finished with a waistband which either connects to the entire drape/pleat or only to from the side to the notch closest to CF (which I prefer because it doesn't create as much bulk at the waistline).

I will take pictures while I am sewing to show how this thing should come together. 

Pattern pieces and bits of planning

In the comments to my previous post, some of you asked for a picture of the pattern pieces for my top. 

With a not-really-logical design like this, that is of course a perfectly reasonable request. So here they are:

I don't think you need any help with the back and sleeve, which are perfectly normal. The Studio Faro top is made in one piece but because my twist is at the neckline, I found it much easier to separate the underlying top piece. 
My top also includes a partial neckline binding which tapers down to nothing in the seams which connect the upper bust pieces to the 'shoulder straps'. 
I hope this makes it a bit clearer, and as mentioned before, I just winged this with the help of this tutorial. 

I didn't get round to taking more and nicer pictures of the top but I am convinced I will enjoy wearing it. 
I also have a yet-un-blogged sweater I made on the knitting machine and right now, I'm working on a pair of trousers to go with a jacket I made two years ago. I'm actually feeling a bit embarrassed it took me so long to do so. Especially since this fabric is a joy to work with and my idea about the general shape for these hasn't changed in the past year or so... Better late than never, I guess.

I find this a bit of an awkward time of year to plan sewing anyway: Obviously, it will be spring soon and I know lots of people have already started sewing for it but I still have so many nice ideas for warm clothes. Wool fabrics are my favorite to work with and my favorite looks are sort of dressy and tailored... And all of that is much more appropriate for winter-wear.
Maybe I should just go and make the corduroy or flannel dress I was thinking about before... At least those could be worn well into spring. But I'm also very temped to try and make a 1950's style suit...
And of course it's time to get started on my Vintage Sewing Pattern Pledge. I suppose in that case, the obstacle is my plan to explore some new-to-me fashion eras. Those things are harder to plan because I still have to get used to the looks and I don't really think I have a lot of 1930's and 1940's appropriate fabric in my stash.
To be honest, I think I will just go on sewing until the weather really warms up.

Experimenting

You know I draft most of the patterns for just about anything I make. And you know I'm fond of special pattern making tricks, like those in the Pattern Magic books. And of 'object' garments (like this Burdastyle cardigan, these retro designs from Studio Faro and several of my own creations, some of which I made tutorials for which are in the list on the right of this page).

Well, I often combine all those likes and loves and experiment. Especially if I have just found a lot of appropriate fabric, cheaply. In this case, I was already eyeing up the tweed-y knit I used for E's cardigan. I could make something like a knitted 1950's suit from that stuff. Or a dress.

And then, I suddenly decided to make this:

I've always loved the neckline/collar thing you get in Pattern Magic's "Wearing a square" and in the those 'object' retro tops... What if I tried to combine that with normal pattern making for jersey fabrics? I had considered a design like this before but at that time, I didn't want to risk it because I couldn't figure out how to make sure it wouldn't be too confining for arm movement. 

This time, I decided to just go for it and worry about practicality later.

These are the bodice pattern pieces (none of these drawings are to scale).

And this is the dress. It came out looking (even) more 1950's than I had expected. Not that I'm complaining though.

These are not the prettiest pictures. Most days are pretty glum and cloudy these past weeks and I had been wearing the dress for more than a day before it was light enough for photographs (that and the high heels are why the back looks so folded). However, they're good enough to do what I really needed from them: Just show the dress. 

And of course, arm room is an issue. This is as far as it will go without seriously pulling the whole dress up.
It doesn't make the dress completely unwearable but it leaves considerable room for improvement.

There are several options for change, depending on where I want to go with the design.

- It would be possible to cut an armscye in the one-piece bodice and use a more normal sleeve. In that case, it would make sense to also adapt the bodice under the sleeve and make it more of a normal bodice and less of an object there. I've drawn this particular sleeve with a point because I think that would work well with the shape of the collar. All this would make the whole look more 1950's and less Japanese.

- Another option would be to make the 'object' bodice larger on all sides and mount it over a fitted lining of a thinner fabric (lycra, for example). In that way it would blouse over the sleeves and skirt which should allow for a wider range of movement. This would emphasize the free-form look.

- Related to the previous option, I could also treat the entire 'object' bodice as a capelet instead of a bodice. Again, over a thin and smooth lining, probably connected at the shoulders. Depending on the proportions and the styling of the skirt, this could look either Pattern Magic-esk or almost 1930's.

- Going back to the basic shape the dress has now, the least invasive thing to do to it would be to insert underarm gussets. This would work and it would still look fairly 1950's. I just really don't like the mess of seams you'd get at the sides.

- Of course, with this shape of the bodice, the arm-room issue could also be solved by adding room at the top of the arm and shifting the sleeve up. That would mean making a shoulder seam and flaring it up from the shoulder point (the long red line in the picture would be the seam, the small wedge would have to be added to each side, but I thought adding two might make the drawing more confusing). It would work but these seams would meet in a single point at the back of the neck. Which doesn't work with the cut-on facing I've been using and I don't really like that look anyway.

- Building on the idea of adding room at the top of the arm, I could consider adding a gusset there. 

- And because that would mean attaching the sleeve to the area where the gusset is, wouldn't it be better to integrate those two?

- And because the sleeve is closely fitted, it might be better to shape both pieces so they can be made to properly encircle the arm.

I had some other ideas somewhere along the line, like one involving a side panel for the the bodice which would extend into the underarm gusset, but I think these were the main ones. I think I like the first and last idea best, depending on how vintage or modern I want the end result to look. 

Oh, and there is one other, important alteration which I am considering for those styles which should not look very 1950's: In the design sketch, the diamond shape of the 'object' bodice is much more pronounced than in the actual dress. I would like to be able to make my creation look like that.
It doesn't because I've mixed pattern shapes for loose, free-hanging shapes with pieces of a fitted design.

If I want the dress to look like the drawing, I should make an alteration like this, which will add extra material to follow the skirt to my sides. And of course, any alteration I make to the shoulder (apart from those where I also want to change the bodice under the arm) can than be applied to this shape.

I haven't made any of these alterations yet, but I'm sure I'll try my favorites. And I thought you might like this little look into how my mind works with these things. 

Freeform retro top

And this is the other project I made using instructions from Studio Faro's blog. It's called 'retro shrug' there, even though it is always pictured as a wrap top. 
Now, this is a design I have certainly seen on the internet before. I've seen pictures of it before (I believe it's out there as repro pattern or something like that) and I've looked at them and tried to figure out how this would work. I didn't manage so I was quite happy to try this tutorial and see how it should be done.

To be honest, this green top is my second version.

This is the first one. When worn tucked in, as suggested in the tutorial, it looks fine. It isn't easy to get it in position though and it doesn't really like to stay in place. 

In its untucked state, the issue is revealed.

Some of the pictures I've seen of tops like this didn't show it tucked in. Instead, it was pinned down at waistline with a brooch and the points fell to the front like those of a vest. 
In my top/shrug, the points fall to the sides (I know it's hard to see. E helped me to re-take the pictures of these tops and even though he did a great job overall, he didn't really mind the light with these). The fit is pretty similar to what you see on Studio Faro's dummy, I followed pattern and instruction exactly and I don't usually think of myself as having a large waist circumference. 

So, I decided to make another version with one crucial change:

I know my sketch isn't easy to read but just consider it an addition to the tutorial: In the original pattern the 'center back seam' was 24 cm. In my new version, it's only 19 cm.

The larger amount of fabric from the back which is now used for the waistline means that the points will fold to the front without trouble and you don't have to tuck the top in. It has a tendency to gape at the neckline, so I've pinned it there with a hidden safety pin.

When I asked E which top he preferred, he said he thought the first one was a nice shrug and the second one a nice top. He didn't even really consider the two as being the same kind of garment. And, in the role they will get in my wardrobe, he's absolutely right. 

P.S. I know styles like this add a lot of bulk around the upper body. I don't mind that. I think it can provide really nice looks when properly styled but I realize it won't be everybody's cup of tea. 
If you're kind of interested in the look but not sure about it, make sure you pick a really soft drapey jersey for it and remember that the look is less overwhelming when you wear this thing as a shrug than as a top. That may also make it a lot easier to give it a place in a wardrobe with less vintage influence than mine.
And if you are unsure about the look and/or fit you want to go for (It's a two seam garment, so the length of that back seam really makes a difference. I actually really like my first try as a shrug, the second one, not so much), start with the shorter back seam. It's easy to close it up further later on if you decide you prefer that than to have to unpick that serged seam.

That odd pattern

That dress I told you about in the previous post... Ehm... I haven't had a chance to do anything else about it yet. 
To be honest, that was also because I was still working on something else which hasn't even made it to the blog yet. But still...
Hopefully, I'll get started tomorrow.

In the mean time, I thought I could talk a bit more about the pattern. 

I posted this picture before, showing the bodice pieces laid out on the fabric. Those pieces may need some de-mystifying, so here it is.

Without the gathers (which will be in every piece except the sleeves) drawn in, the design for the dress looks like this. The front is at the left, the back on the right.
To draft it, you obviously have to mirror both the front and back pattern pieces at their center lines and then draw in the design lines. I tried to pay attention to the placement of those: Not right over the bust point and not too low at the hip.

And then, I made sure the lines wouldn't form those awkward points at the side seams. Of course, you can do that either by making sure they are at a right angle to the side seam or by lining up the sides and continuing the line at the angle it was at. I also wanted to eliminate the side seams in some places.

In the end, this is what I went with. The coloured sections all belong to the same piece. The waist/hip pieces are separate and have normal side seams. 

At this is how those pieces were combined. No shoulder seams! 
After making these pieces, I slashed them at a right angle to the neckline and spread them to about double size. 
Gathered designs like this are always fabric-hungry and I knew I only had a limited amount of fabric. To deal with that, I decided to spread the bodice pieces in such a way that the neckline became a straight line and cut that along the straight grain. Which is how you get the odd pieces which I placed along the selvedges. 
Then, it was just an issue of paying A LOT of attention to the placement of each piece because all of them are asymmetrical.
I will make lining pieces without gathers, to avoid issues but for the outside, this should do it.

Working on it...

Has this ever happened to you? 
You think up a project which seems like a bit of fun, nothing too complicated. However, when you get started it increases in complexity, growing and growing until it has taken over all of your day and every available surface in your house...

In fact, it happens to me fairly regularly. I suppose it comes with pattern making. I pick my next project based on an idea in my head and/or a quick sketch rather and then start with my slopers and some blank paper. I start drafting once I have thought the thing out but that doesn't mean I've calculated whether or not it's worth all the steps needed.
On the up side, I usually start thinking of construction and pattern at the same time, so I rarely get surprised while sewing.

Today was one of those days. I had been thinking for a while about what to do with a particular piece of fabric from my stash. Cotton jersey, in a sort of warm brown which looks really good on me. Sounds like a great fabric, doesn't it? Well, it is also a bit thin and hardly stretchy. I made a top from this stuff last year. I've worn it a lot but I always think it would have been better if the fabric were just a bit softer or had a bit more give.
So, I knew I had to deal with those issues when making something from the rest of the fabric. And that made it attractive to think up one slightly more involved and fabric-consuming item rather than several tops.

So, I was thinking dresses. These three were the latest considerations. I started with the bottom two: One with a twist at the waist and a fairly common design with gathers. I wasn't particular keen on either one though. I knew gathers were ideal for this fabric but I wanted something a little more original. Which is why I came up with the third design. Which is what I started drafting today. 

It's not that it's particularly difficult design. It's just asymmetrical and has a lot of gathers. Which means a lot of tracing. And I wanted the back to be interesting too. And the seams to match up at the sides and run smoothly where they join and, if possible, to eliminate some now irrelevant usual seams (like side seams and shoulder seams...)

So, this all started on the table in my sewing room but as soon as I came to slashing and spreading pattern pieces for the gathered bits, I ran out of space there. 

Which is when I moved the work to the floor of the living room. Making large, odd looking pattern pieces. When I was done with the bodice pieces, I seriously doubted I would be able to cut this whole thing out of my fabric.

So, I tried it out. Fortunately, all was fine. I guess I'm just so used to seeing my paper pattern pieces as half of what I need to cut in fabric... 
So, I went on to draft the skirt pieces and the sleeves (without gathers!) and I cut the fabric. And then it was high time to start cooking...

Tomorrow, I still have (inter)lining pieces to cut and I want to create a kind of piping between the gathered sections. And not a lot of time.
I guess it's one of those projects... 

Those cuffs

This post may seem a bit redundant to some of you (the pattern makers and those who are used to changing and manipulating patterns) but I hope it will be useful to others.
Several people, both here and on Burdastyle and on We Sew Retro, expressed an interest in those sleeves. And a desire to copy that particular detail of full sleeves with cuffs.
Which I understand. I made them like that for a reason and after wearing the robe more than once, I'm very happy with how they turned out. These sleeves are even safe when cooking.

So, I thought I'd give you a bit of technical information about those sleeves and their cuffs.

I don't think I have to go into a lot of detail about the sleeves themselves. Most normal robe patterns have sort of medium width sleeves, to which you could also attach a cuff. To get a shape like mine, you have to slash and spread the sleeve (slash in three places: at the top of the sleeve and left and right to it, straight down the sleeve, along the straight of grain line and spread them out at the bottom, keeping the original length of the seam at the sleeve head. And then flare out the sides for half the amount of space between the pieces as well. Of course, a sleeve head will change shape because of this treatment, and that's fine).
Whatever you are doing with your sleeve, if you're going to add a cuff, you have to make the sleeve shorter. Don't make the mistake of shortening it by the cuff length. That would make it pull and be uncomfortable. 
I would recommend removing half the length of your cuff. In my case, that was 6. I wanted a 12 cm cuff, so I made the sleeves 6 cm shorter.

It's those cuffs I wanted to talk about. I used jersey for them, which I think is quite practical. A stretchy material for the cuff means it can be fitted yet comfortable and most of us have jersey scraps in our stash. And you can usually get jersey in a much wider range of colours than rib knit (which would be the alternative). When using rib knit, you could get away with using a straight piece of material because it's very stretchy and has a lot of recovery.
I've made straight cuffs in jersey in the past but I was never quite happy with them. And the longer they get, the worse the fit becomes.
The solution is very simple. You just make this shape:

The height of this pattern piece is two times the desired cuff length. The width in the middle is your wrist measurement, the width on the top and bottom of the piece is the measurement of your arm at the top of the cuff. Just take these measurements with the tape measure wrapped smoothly around your arm. The stretch of the jersey will allow you to put your hand through the cuff. I wouldn't go for negative ease in this case. The cuffs have to stay in place, you don't need them to be skintight.
Start by measuring out the black lines, than adjust the corners as you can see in by the red lines. The diagonal sides should be the same length as the center, with a 90 degree angle to the top and bottom line. It doesn't have to be absolutely precise but doing this will mean you won't have a strange little point on you cuff.

Add seam allowance, cut two of these cuff pieces out of the jersey with the straight grain running vertically.
Fold the pieces in half vertically, right sides together, and sew the side seams. Press the seams open.
Fold the them horizontally, with the right sides out, forming the finished cuffs.

If you are using fairly narrow sleeves, you can attach the cuffs by stretching them to fit, without gathering. If your sleeves are wide, you have to gather them first.
Gather them using your preferred method but don't gather them to the exact size of the tops of the cuffs. Keep them about 10 % bigger so you won't get a tight line on your arm in the finished garment. Stabilize your gathers before pinning the cuffs. You will have to stretch those so you don't want to have to deal with managing the gathers at the same time.

With your sleeves ready, pin your cuffs into the sleeves with the raw edges together and the right sides facing (of course, the cuffs are folded right sides out and you are treating them as one layer, so there's no in or out about those). 
Distribute the excess material of the sleeve carefully when pinning. 

Stretch the jersey to fit the sleeve when sewing. 
Finish the seam allowance using your preferred method. 

I hope this is useful to you. Have fun creating your own lovely comfy full sleeves with stretchy cuffs!

And back to knitting...

I've finished my jeans and I'd love to do a bit of show-and-tell but it's been one of those very cloudy days on which there's just no normal amount of daylight to be had.
Instead, I thought I'd show you another thing I've just started on. I'm knitting on the machine again. 
This time round, I decided to try and make my own design, using what little experience I have by now and the instructions in this book:

I bought it cheaply a discount book store years ago (when I had just started to knit by hand) but it's still in print and this Dutch version is translated from English. The book may not look particularly attractive, I bought it for one very important reason: In it, the authors explain (among other things) how you can make a knitting pattern by starting with a sewn jersey sloper… Which, obviously is perfect for me!

I decided to start simple a made this pattern which is basically a simplified (not quite as many flowing curves) and slightly straightened out version of my jersey sloper. I've drawn it on grid paper to make all the measuring and calculating a bit easier.

First, I made that jersey muslin to check that the garment still worked with those changes and to decide on things like the neckline.

Then, I started drawing in the stripes I wanted on the paper pattern. 
After that, it was time to knit a test square and find out how many stitches and rows went into a centimeter (of course you count them for 10 cm, just to be safe). With that knowledge, it was time to convert the patterns' centimeters and write knitting instructions in rows and stitches.

I've already knitted one of the body pieces. It was supposed to be the front but I found one little flaw in my pattern: Something was not quite right in the description for the neckline. This has made it a bit narrower. It was supposed to be a bit boatneck-like so it's not a huge problem.

I also tried the knitting machine manual's instruction for making a knitted-on binding to the neckline. It looks quite good (at least, I'm sure it will after pressing) but it's not very stretchy. 
In order to make a sweater which I can pull over my head, I think I had better call this body piece the back and make a different, deeper neckline at the front. What do you think: V or scoop?