Against Trend on the Toaster

The Toaster Sweaters pattern from Sew House Seven is a Best Pattern of the Year (2017) over on Pattern Review with 98 reviews! It's been simmering in my stash for a while, so in keeping with my semi-New-Years-Resolution to use what I have, I sewed it up. I kept pulling the pattern out, thinking about all the people who love it on Instagram. And I have had a French terry in stash for a while too. Check. Check.

About that French terry. I think I bought it from the Sewing Workshop a few years ago. It is a beautiful clear royal blue, a color that makes me happy. 

As you may know, terry refers to the fact that it is knitted so that there is a smooth side and a looped side, like you see in a standard sweatshirt. I had not sewn with it, except to fix my sweat shirts. 

Lucky for me, Gini, of the Big Sew Along on Youtube, did an episode, "Everything I know about French Terry." Gini does lots of pattern reviews on her Youtube channel and occasionally fabric reviews. I learned that the loops on the back function to wick away moisture, making a garment comfy in various kinds of weather. That function, though, is limited to cotton and cotton blend French terry. A burn test revealed that mine is rayon. Dang. At least it's not polyester.

It's not like I don't ever buy rayon. This morning I'm wearing a kimono I made with rayon challis. I enjoy wearing it over my PJs and feeling a tiny bit dressed.  And I already owned this rayon French terry, so...

All of this to say that my first experiment with the Sew House Seven (view 1) was not successful. The envelope lists Sweatshirt fleece first and French terry second. And it has a helpful stretch diagram to make sure you choose a knit with enough stretch. And this rayon French terry has plenty of stretch.

But it is too clingy. Well, that's rayon knit in a nutshell, I think. It is good for me to note that. My bad.

Based on my measurements, which admittedly I took after-the-fact, I fit comfortably into size L. So I traced and made a size L - view 1. I chose view 1 for my first try with this incredibly popular pattern*.

O.M.G. I just read their description of view 1 - it is described as *close fitting* !!! Oh, the things I learn when I compose these blog entries. Well, totally my fault, y'all.

I chose view 1 due to the ragland sleeves which I find easy to fit. But now I realize I got exactly what I ordered - a close fitting top in a clingy knit.

I did make some changes to the pattern. I lengthened it by 4 inches in order to omit the lower band. I took a 2" hem. It's too short. I also omitted the cuffs on the sleeves, figuring I could add those later. After my first try-on, I reduced the side seams from 5/8" to 1/4". It is still not a particularly good look for me.

It shall be worn under other things.

Next time I will measure the tissue in key areas, like the tummy area. I will test the stretch of the knit. And I will tissue fit through the shoulders.

I've just discovered some Black French terry in stash. Luckily it's cotton. Maybe it will become view 2 of the Toaster Sweaters pattern.

* You should see all those happy Sew House Seven Toaster sewists over on Pattern Review, as well as Instagram. People love this pattern, I'm telling you. I shall not give up!

Remember the Plaza Jacket?

Do you remember the Plaza pattern from the Sewing Workshop? I made the pants over and over again, with and without the front pleat. They are essentially the same as One Seam Pants from Cutting Line Designs.

I made the jacket just once. I have kept it all these years and worn only occasionally. But I do love the fabric which is a tapestry-type weave, probably cotton, something I bought in the fashion district of NYC back in the early 90's. 

Stash was expanded when I visited Charleston SC recently. There is a sweet fabric shop called Five Eighth Seams there. If you are ever looking for an amazing supply of 100% cotton gingham, go there - every imaginable color and light weight corduroy to match. I want more of that!

But I also found this glorious piece of rayon challis (and a yummy Marcia Derse cotton you'll see on my blog soon). These contain so many colors that make my heart sing. I could not wait to sew the rayon challis up. 

The Plaza jacket is charming, I think. Very, very wide. Short chunky sleeves. Almost a shrug length. I'm thinking it would make a practical throw for summer air conditioning as is, right out of the pattern envelope.

For this one, I lengthened it 15" and created deep hems to add some weight. I also reduced the width of it by about 4 inches total. The pattern pieces are essentially rectangular so it was easy to make these two changes.

Rayon challis is icky to sew. I just have to be honest here. I do love the drape and the airy feel but it takes patience, I think. As you probably know, it is man-made but not synthetic since it comes from wood and other plants. Invented in the late 19th century, it was initially marketed as synthetic silk. The chemical process was improved in the mid-twentieth century. Processes for creating rayon include viscose, lyocell, and modal, as I understand it. And all are nasty for the environment.

Back to icky. I love to iron with lots of steam. Rayon becomes very unstable when steamed. Heck, it's pretty unstable just sitting on the cutting table. So a simple garment is essential, I think.

I used some flat-felled seams but mostly I serged it. I probably should have stayed with the flat-felled seams, to be honest. I became enamored of the selvedge and so used it for one front band and the sleeve hems. That too caused me a bit of grief.

I'll enjoy this little topper. I'll use it as a swimsuit cover up should the occasion arise. It will be great for air-conditioned restaurants. I love these rich colors. 

 

Look at it with this icy pink silk noil! Ah, on the next project.

Red Noto Tee and White Jeans

  

When spring rolls around, I feel like I need white pants. And the previous versions of white pants just won't do. It's a fiction that I allow myself, imagining I'll look better this year!

Fiction aside, I have been wanting some white jeans. A jeans fit is of course quite different from other pants styles. These are extra comfortable due to the elastic across the back. Otherwise they are classic jeans with a couple of odd darts near the front inseam. You can barely see them in the line drawing.

It is tricky to get the proper fit through the stride and I'm still working on it with this pattern. 

Somehow a couple of yards of white stretch denim came to be in stash. I know that I do not like stretch wovens, so I'm not sure why I made that mistake. Again.

But I was optimistic making these Getaway Jeans from the Sewing Workshop. For one thing, I have a pair of black Getaways in 100% cotton denim and I think they fit great.

So I cut out and constructed a pair with this part-lycra stuff. All was well until I reached the buttonhole. The jeans call for lots of lovely topstitching and I really like that. Inserting the fly zipper was smooth sailing. In my previous pair, I somehow got the right and left waistbands reversed, so I was extra careful this time.

Boy, do I wish I had cut the waistband so that the length-wise grain would run around my waist. The pattern calls for it to be cut on the cross-grain. No problem with nice stable 100% denim. But with this stretch, the buttonhole was difficult. After a number of samples, I determined that a buttonhole made with my automatic feature on my Bernina was never going to work. So I made one using the manual settings. 

I tried them on. They feel great. And they look good from the front, I think. Here I'm wearing them with last year's bias cut Emerald top published by Made By Rae in red linen. I do love that shade of red.

And here I'm wearing them with my recent Berwick Street tunic (the Sewing Workshop) hack. I rather like the navy contrast with the white.

Now the back needs some tweaking. I'm not going to show a picture, but I sure do hope I remember to extend the horizontal crotch a bit next time. Also I will avoid stretch wovens like this one. I feel like I'm pulling the pants up constantly. It might be my imagination, but the black version in 100% cotton denim feels much more secure.

Here with the Bristol top in Alabama Chanin organic cotton knit

I also finished my first and last Noto tee from the Sewing Workshop. It is a simple t-shirt with an inverted V shape to it. I hesitated to make one before losing some weight. Now my measurements fit into a size M so I gave it a try.

Super easy-to-make Tee Shirt, the Noto

I used a luscious red rayon jersey with nice drape. It was relatively easy to sew, not much rolling. And I so love this shade of red. 

I did struggle some on the neckline. Initially I tried navy and white striped rayon jersey, thinking the stripe would be pretty. I cut it on the lengthwise grain so that the stripe would have the desired effect. This failed. By the time I made it large enough in circumference, it simply flopped around looking sloppy.

So I used the standard signature t-shirt neckline suggested by the Sewing Workshop. It does not look great flat, but the puckers disappear when I wear it. And doesn't it look fun with this Fillmore Duster in the same shade of red?

My first try-on made it clear that this length, combined with this shape is not that great for me. I cut off about 2" and like it much better. Here is the BEFORE:

And here is the AFTER:

This is not the best shape for me. The color makes it feel successful but I'm not loving the shape. My hips are just slightly larger than my bust measurement and I think this silhouette highlights it some. Maybe I'll wear it and learn to love it. 

It is RED, after all.

Tahoe Pants

The out-of-print Tahoe Pants (from the Sewing Workshop) looks like a skirt but is really pants - sort of culottes, but way more interesting. The pattern was first published in the early 2000's. I made it once from light gray linen and was not impressed. It looked great hanging in my closet but I felt huge wearing it. I doubt I ever wore it outside my house. It's long gone from the closet.

Then Linda Lee, the sewing sorcerer, wore another oldie but goodie on her regular FB live program a month or so ago. Hers was the origami skirt, similar shape but an entirely different garment. This origami skirt was made in a drapey, brightly colored rayon. And she rolled the waistline up, shortening it considerably. These two changes made all the difference in the success of the pattern!

There is a new fabric store in town, called Melanated Fabrics. Yay! Sewing buddies and I visited and I found the perfect piece of flowy rayon for the Tahoe pants. And it matches an eTee I finished a month ago.

The Fabric: I have a love-hate relationship with rayon.  It is slippery and unstable. It hates steam. Top-stitching is nearly impossible. It is not easy to wash as it holds so much more water than the other things in the wash and throws off the balance. I hope that I won't need to wash it often since it's a loose bottom piece.

The back looks pretty much like the front, mirrored.

I think recent versions of rayon are more colorfast than older ones and the colors are rich. It is less expensive than silk with some of the same qualities. It feels nice against the skin and it has beautiful flow.

The Pattern: There is a mistake I failed to notice or document on my first time with the Tahoe pants. The pocket dots are marked too low on the side seams of the pant legs. So there is a raw edge of pocket at the top when the waistband is finished. I added a patch and it is not that pretty. But it will not fray.

At 5'5" I am glad to have removed 3" in length. I also deepened the hem a bit to give it more weight. I'm happy with the finished length.

The instructions are great and it's important to follow them in the order presented. I thought I might baste the pleats before sewing side seams. This led to much confusion, but I sorted it out finally.

One leg of the pants is much more narrow than the other. Both are wide but one is about twice as wide. It is a super interesting design, I think. The Sewing Workshop produced some wonderful puzzle patterns back in the day and this is one of them. There is no zipper - the waistband is large and is snugged up by overlapping and creating a final deep pleat. 

These feel great on. Now I'm trying to figure out what exactly will look best with them. I think the top needs to be short. I've tried on some tops and determined that short and wide looks good, as does short and fitted.

I was wearing this dark green eTee (also TSW) the day I bought the fabric. I hoped it would work with this fabric. When I tried them on together, the overall shape was not right. I felt quite dumpy. So I shortened the tee and I'm now quite happy with the result.

My white Odette tee shirt looks OK with it, too, but doesn't do anything for it. Now I want to make the Origami skirt. The older TSW patterns are wonderful!