First up? Pants for Big LIttle Guy. He is growing like a weed and we needed to replace some floodsy pants in a big way!
It was a bit of a challenge but not too difficult. First off the directions and measurements are all in centimeters. Kind of a funny story right off the bat - as I'm tracing the pattern I'm thinking I need to add 10" to the length. I go to trace and I'm looking at what I'm doing and in my brain I'm thinking "What?" he's a bean pole for sure but these will fit a professional basketball player LOL Then I have the ah-ha moment! 10 cm NOT 10 inches! We had a really fun afternoon transferring all the children's measurements into centimeters. They love to be measured. Of course in the hopes of something new being sewn by mama!
All the patterns come all jumbled all over 3 or 4 big sheets of paper, front and back. So the next challenge is to figure out which pattern pieces need to be traced. Once I figured out the maze of pattern lines it was fairly easy to sew. The directions have no pictures along the way to guide you so I would say that the patterns are designed for at least intermediate sewers. I've been sewing for 25 years so I did okay. Still... each pattern company is a bit different. ie: the zipper insertion was not like I've done with Kwik Sew before. It wasn't bad, just different.
From the 1/2013 issue - relaxed cotton pants #19. I sewed size 110 and lengthened the legs by 10 cm. But ended up cutting off 4 cm at the end. I did it exactly as the directions specified but I left the belt loops off. The welt pockets went fairly well but next time I will not insert the flaps as far into the welt as the directions suggest. They would have been smoother and better looking if I had attached them a bit lower in the pocket opening. Also, I put 26 cm of elastic in the back waistband and I could have brought that down to 24 and it would have fit better in the back. And last but not least, I will definitely replace my broken double needle before I sew them again!! Maybe with these fun new patterns I'll pick up a few sizes of doubles. I'm finding them wonderful to put ribbing on T-shirts in a new way too. Gotta love continuing to learn!!
Over all - I enjoyed sewing the pattern and I am excited to try more Ottobre!! The kids are having a ball looking through the catalog/magazine that came. They love the styles!! When I finished the pants two of the littles commented "Hey mom those look the most like store bought of anything you've ever sewn!!" LOL I guess if they look RTW then it's a success!
Oh, and he NEEDED to do his Super hero pose (he's so 7!)... so here ya go.... And again a barefoot kid in the middle of winter LOL Hey... it's 72 inside and a balmy 34 outside. But yes, I made him put socks on when he went out to build the snowman!
I am in awe of your sewing talent! No way could anyone tell these from "store bought" which, in my opinion, would not be made nearly as well.
ReplyDeleteI've never given that much thought to being able to make all our clothes as it relates to self-sufficiency. I do have the sewing ability to do it, though certainly not that of your caliber (!), but I don't have the patterns or proper fabrics in my stash. Hmmmm . . . .
Thank you. I'm not nearly as good as I wish to be but each garment I improve just a little bit.
ReplyDeleteIt's not really that hard. It's just like bread, cheese, or soap making - it's an art that can be learned by trial and error :-)