PJs for my Grandpa

I miss my Grandpa--living clear across the country from my entire family, I don't get many opportunities to head back east to visit him.  So while watching the episode of the Great British Sewing Bee where they made men's pajamas (which, incidentally has been removed from YouTube and now I can't watch any of the episodes---waaaah!), I decided to sew up a pair for my Papa.  The prospect was a little daunting, though, given that his wife (my Grandmother Lucille, who passed when I was 8) was an exceptional and prolific seamstress.  I knew I was going to have a serious bar set for my work!

I used Vogue pattern V8964 and my sweet Aunt Claire provided the sizing information.  I made View D, with the only change to replace the hem pockets with a single chest pocket, giving the PJs a more traditional look.  I love that the bottoms have a functional fly front (open, with a single, hidden button to close), elastic waist AND drawstring.  I didn't take photos of the inside, but the seams are just finished with simple serging.

For the fabric, I spent some serious time on Mood, looking for a suitable color and pattern for my Grandfather and ended up with this grey and blue striped shirting from Theory.  It's just right for pajamas, nice and lightweight, but not see-through.  He said the pajamas were really soft, so that made me happy!

My Grandfather graciously agreed to having his photo taken and posted ("If you think I look alright", he said), so here he is:

Doesn't he look seriously dapper?  There were definitely some happy tears seeing my Papa, from almost 3000 miles away, in some jammies I made :)

Comox Trunks, pattern review

Huge fan of Thread Theory that I am (their recent and incredible pea coat pattern here), I was super excited that they've designed and provided us lady sewists with a quick, useful, and (dare I say) sexy item of clothing to make for our men: the Comox Trunks.  Thank you!   And they've made it uber easy by offering a kit, complete with lovely bamboo fabric, elastic waistband, and cute little tag label.  Love their beautiful packaging!

The pattern is a tad confusing with all the overlapping and non-mirrored pieces (guess I haven't thoroughly studied how boxer briefs are constructed...), but multiple readings of the directions and laying out the pieces clarified it.  I also had a bit of a problem sewing the bias along the front opening, but after trying everything (double needle, coverstitch machine, regular zigzag, multi-stitch zigzag), I pulled out the one tool I should have started with: my walking foot.  Gets the job done, yet again.

I sewed the waistband on slightly differently than in the directions, to make it easier to line up and create a cleaner finish on the inside.  I placed the elastic inside the shorts, wrong side to wrong side, matching up the edges.  I used a small zigzag to sew them together, trimmed overhanging fabric, and then flipped the waistband up.  I probably should have secured the edge with another round of stitching from the right side, but it stays in place just fine.

I may have ordered the Comox Trunk kit the day Thread Theory announced their release of the pattern, sewed them up probably the day after they arrived and yet it has taken me until mere days before the drawing deadline to photo them.  Mostly, I was trying to convince my husband (my very attractive, cyclist husband, I might add :) to model them. So finally, here's my Comox Trunks avec hot model!

And the back view:

The trunks are awesome and I'm looking forward to trying them out in some performance knit fabrics! A huge thank you to my incredible husband for agreeing to be my underwear model :)

Pattern testing: Goldstream Peacoat by Thread Theory

When I first "discovered" Thread Theory and their solid line-up of patterns, I was impressed and excited: stylish menswear!  What a concept!  So when they had a call for pattern testers for their newest pattern, the Goldstream Peacoat, I just had to respond, and was fortunate enough to be chosen to do it. Lucky me!  Never mind, of course, that I was (am!) overwhelmed with "real" work and other sewing projects (including the Britex tie/ pocket square)!

The pattern itself produces a stylish and modern coat, with many options (some of which I didn't add to my husband's jacket, such as epaulets).  The pockets on the front are super clever; they are actually two pockets together, one with top entry (with a flap) and the other side entry.

The details of the jacket make it exciting and interesting to sew.  Button tabs on the sleeves?  How professional does that look??

I love all the topstitching around the front, lapels and collar.  Sure, I broke 5 topstitching needles in the process of sewing the jacket (not just this topstitching, don't worry!), but I was sewing through some serious layers in some spots!

I used shoulder pads!  And they make such a huge difference: especially on a man, a jacket just hangs better with shoulder pads.  And check out that hood, with the small leather buttons.  LOVE.

The arms are constructed of two pieces, and are beautifully contoured to the arm shape.

The pattern is great, as is, but I made some slight changes to suit my own preferences.  First, I underlined the main body (not the arms) with flannel to support the fabric a bit better, and second, I actually made all 6 buttons functional.  It makes it a bit of a pain to button them all up, but after making my own jacket with several non-functional buttons, I felt like it looks better.

For fabric, I used a chocolate brown wool melton, purchased locally and for a steal at $20/yard, with moss green Bemberg lining from Mood.  

The lining looks messy at the hem in the photo, but it's actually really nice and straight (and hand sewn!) in real life.

One of my favorite tiny details of the jacket is the back neck facing: it was designed to encourage the sewist to add their own little design touch for the label.  

I used a little scrap of some wool-silk upholstery fabric and my little "z as in zebra" label.  

I am in love with the results of this pattern and I can seriously recommend it (once it's released, of course!).  Another hurray to Thread Theory for helping us sewists clothe the males in our lives in stylish handmade wares!

Project in the works (Hint: more menswear!)

I'm not quite ready to reveal my most recent (big!) project, but here're a sneak peeks and some thoughts about it...

• This project marked the first time I've used shoulder pads (!).  I sewed during the late 80s and 90s, so that's kind of impressive.
• My own blood, sweat, and tears (well, maybe not tears) went into this endeavor.  Here's the forensic evidence to prove it.  Thankfully, the garment is for my very own husband!

• I've been working on making nice, crisp corners and I think it's coming along!  And I'll write up a tutorial soon so your corners can be awesome too :)  Check out this little bit of lovely (that's brown wool melton and forest green Bemberg lining):

  Oh, I can't help it...one more photo!  I love this little leather button:

Many more photos and a full post will follow shortly!

Holiday tie and pocket square for your man

With the holidays quickly approaching, the season of get-togethers and parties with family, friends, and co-workers is nearly upon us!  Whether it's as a gift for your sweetie or a unique statement to be worn yourself (you budding tailors out there!) sewing a special tie and coordinating pocket square is actually surprisingly easy.

While silk is the classic material for menswear ties, exciting trends using a vast array of fabrics have been popping up (think wool suiting).  I'm no style maven, but it appears a though the only hard and fast rule regarding ties and pocket squares, interestingly, is that they shouldn't match.   And in my opinion, the combination you put together, both in color and texture, can really make a statement.  For my tutorial today, I'll be using an eye-catching silk print from Britex  for the tie, with a lovely silk-linen blend for the tie lining and pocket square.

Slow start to the Jedediah

With a new teaching quarter to prepare for, I have slowed down a bit, but despite the inactivity on my blog, I actually have been sewing!  Some of my work has been boring (wet bags) or housekeeping (hemming), but I do have an big project as well: the new Jedediah pants pattern (Thread Theory) has been on my work table for a few weeks now.

Had to move to the dining room floor for this operation!

This time around, printing the file at the print shop was a serious cost ($19!) because the file was a few inches too wide to print on a single 36" wide sheet.   So as not to destroy my expensive paper pattern, I copied it onto Swedish tracing paper and then made up a muslin.  All that takes time, and isn't very exciting, I'm afraid.

Muslin version of Jedediah pants

The muslin version looks like hospital pants (if hospital pants had an actual waistband and fly), but they did their job and now I have a better idea of how to improve the pattern to fit my guy.  Some changes to make:

• decrease the waist (maybe by creating a two-part, slightly contoured band instead of a single, straight one) 
• increase the hip area a bit
• increase the width of the legs   
• adjust the slash pockets so they lay more flatly against the body

My husband and I have been laughing at the "easy-access" ring tab zipper and really exciting fly shield that I worked into this muslin.  I'm *so* tempted to use that fabric for the fly on the the final version...no one sees that, right? :)

Fancy fly shield and zipper pull

For the real deal, I purchased some amazing fabric from Hart's a few weeks back.  It's charcoal gray cotton/ hemp blend in a ripstop weave.   I'm excited to see the final product!

Top: organic voile (pocketing) Bottom: organic cotton/hemp ripstop

With the fit issues I've encountered, I find my feet dragging a bit, but I'm trying to persevere!

Man's button-up: Matching plaids

When I discovered the beautiful and vintage-y modern plaid at Britex, I knew I had found the fabric for which I had been searching.  I had in mind a short sleeve button-up shirt for my husband, but wanted something different than classic dress shirting.  This fab plaid completely fit the bill!   However, once I laid out the fabric and went to cut out my pattern, I realized I had a big challenge ahead of me.  Plaid.  Matching plaid is one issue; deciding in which direction the plaid should be arranged and the overall layout was the other.  Should the plaid on the yoke be diagonal?  If the yoke is on the straight grain, could the pockets be diagonal?  What about the placket??  I was completely paralyzed by indecision for a while, but after looking at some ready-to-wear men's tops, I opted to go for a straight-laced version with no diagonally arranged plaid pieces.  Really working the 70s vibe of the fabric might look great, but I wanted to be sure my husband would actually wear the shirt!

Working with plaid is definitely a challenge, but there are certainly tips to make it easier.  First up, buy more fabric than needed.   I can't stress this enough!  Ask a professional for recommendations for how much (like the nice folks at Britex!).  Tasia from Sewaholic has a great piece on plaid matching.  Her suggestions for carefully pinning your fabric to ensure that the plaids are lined up and drawing plaid lines onto your pattern pieces are invaluable.

This post will help you tackle matching plaids and keeping the pattern continuous across the front of a button-up shirt, with or without button placket.

To keep the plaid continuous across the front, the first order of business is to identify the center front on each of the three main pieces: left and right front pieces, and button placket.  If your pattern does not have separate left and right pieces (the Negroni pattern does not), trace the piece so you have two separate pattern pieces.

Since I drafted the button placket for this shirt, it helped me visualize the process by drawing in the sewing and topstitching lines for the placket on the left piece. 

I decided that I wanted the center of the shirt and button placket to fall between the dominant plaid lines, so the center front of the right side was centered accordingly.  Then, the left side front piece was overlapped onto the other side, carefully lining up the center front lines and pinned everything in place. 

With the pieces overlapping, this is how the plaid pattern will appear on your final garment.  However, the fabric can't be cut with the pieces overlapping, so the plaid lines must be transferred onto the pattern pieces.

Using a straight edge, trace the plaid lines onto your pattern pieces, in both the horizontal and vertical directions. Do not unpin the pieces, just draw straight across the overlapping sections.  You may want to label the plaid lines, particularly if there are multiple designs in the plaid pattern.

The button placket piece could be lapped on top of the other two pieces, but I placed it separately, using the front pieces to guide the location of the horizontal plaid lines.

Once the plaid lines are drawn on the pattern pieces, the pattern can be moved around on the fabric, pinned and cut. 

Collar, yoke and back all match up

With the fabric all cut, you are ready to sew!  Here are a couple of tips for keeping plaid lines together while sewing:

• be sure to mind the width of your seam allowance.  If your sewing machine doesn't have the right seam allowance guideline, measure and draw the guideline on a piece of clear tape.
• use plenty of pins, but don't sew over them (the lump created by the pin may move your fabric).  
• a walking foot can really help keep plaid lines together, particularly for thick fabrics. 

A follow up post on creating the notched pocket (an option from Colette Patterns) and coordinating notched sleeve hem (below) will be coming soon!

Man's button-up

After sewing up the last button-up for my husband, I got really excited to make another.  The process just wasn't as hard as I had envisioned and the final product actually got worn--a lot!  So, using what I had learned making the "wearable muslin", I got started on a plaid version, with this beautiful and perfect fabric from Britex.  However, even with a tested pattern in hand, new challenges awaited with loads and loads of plaid to manage (my tutorial is here at the Britex Fabrics blog, and will be posted here soon) and in the end, this version proved to be much more time consuming than the first.

As described in the previous post, this shirt has the bones of the Negroni pattern by Colette, with some modifications.  Instead of a camp collar, I went with a collar stand/ regular collar and a button placket.  The arms were reduced in width and length to make it slightly less informal and fit my skinny bicyclist husband better.

For the pockets, I used one of the free options provided by Colette Patterns and carried the notched design to the sleeve hem (a second tutorial is coming for those, too!).   See, he's pointing out the notches, so you don't miss them :)

Even though I wasn't brave enough to go all urban cowboy with diagonal plaids and whatnot, I just had to use pearl snaps, as a nod to the vintage-y feel of the fabric.  Snaps vs. buttons are almost a wash in terms of time spent and ease of application, but I felt a little more nervous with the first whack of the hammer than if I were sewing a button hole, since there's no going back after the snaps embed in the fabric.

I'm not convinced that they are the sturdiest things around, so of course at the instruction that he's not to rip his shirt off like a male stripper, my husband, of course, pretended to do so.  Thanks, babe!

Look at that all that plaid matching--so satisfying!

There are flat-felled seams throughout, even the armholes (possibly the most finicky bit of the whole shirt), so it's pretty on the inside, too. Honestly, I am so enamored with this shirt and my husband even wears it!  Win!

Upcoming: tutorials on plaid matching across a button placket and creating the notched pocket & sleeve details!