Sewing My Me Made Wardrobe: Week 2

I did it I finished my shorts and my trouser jeans.  It was much easier this time around and I learned a few new tricks.  These garments fit me even better than the first pair of pants I made.  I did go down two sizes and it made a huge different in the fit.  The Janina pattern is not true to size, or maybe I'm not true to size.  Either way both of my new skills and fitting the pattern better has resulted in me loving this patter and the garments that I have made from it.

I love these pants.  They sit high on my hips and fit great.  I will have more pics of me wearing these very soon.

The tricks I learned for these two projects were single welt pockets and how to sew a zipper fly flat.  First off the pockets.

The Janina has fuax pocket flaps.   I was not impressed with how they looked on my first pair of Janina Trousers and they didn't lay right.  (After this project I will be taking a seam ripper to those first trousers and resewing them.)  It was time to learn a new and functional skill, single welt pockets.  I found a pretty good tutorial on Burda Style with step by step instructions and photos on how to sew a single welt pocket.  They little buggers are pretty easy to accomplish.

My next gripe about sewing pants was the fly front.  The instructions in the pattern made no sense.  Except maybe if you had sewn a fly front before.  My knitting comrade Claire suggested sewing in the fly flat.  She swore that it was easier and looked better.  I searched for a tutorial and I found a great one on Threads website.  It was a video tutorial on sewing an easy flat fly-front zipper.  The steps were laid out well and demonstrated for you.  It made so much more sense.  From here on out I will always be sewing my fly front zippers flat.

I also made my third dolman sleeve top.  I can't wait to wear it with my new purple shorts.  

For next week I plan to sew my Sorbetto top as well as alter the tees I got at the thrift store.  I am making great progress.  Maybe I can squeeze in altering those old jeans into shorts this week too. After the tops are completed I will be sewing one more sundress and altering that stripped sweater I found at the thrift store.  So far so good.  I'm thinking my last week of sewing will be something more complicated or maybe just more involved.  

Trousers: The Waist Band

I am in the home stretch of my latest sewing project.  All the major elements are complete and so far they look like the picture.  I spent the last few days sewing in the zipper and attaching the waist band.  Here's what that looked like:

Sewing the pieces together was easy peasy.

This is where is got a bit harder mostly because there was a slight curve to the edge of the pattern pieces.

All sewn on, now it was time to attach the lining piece.

I am not sold on the way the pattern has you construct the waist band.  Next time I make this patter (and oh yes, there is going to be a next time, I've already purchased the fabric) I'm going to do this very differently.

Top pinned together ready for top stitching.  This was the part of the directions I would have done differently.  I would change how you start and end sewing the waist band to the pants, but I think the way I want to do it will be easier and create a cleaner line.  Mostly I would sew the top of the outer pieces and the lining together and then stitch the top piece to the pants.  Then I would attach the lining to the pants either by hand or with a top stitch.

There it is all top stitched, and pressed, now all I have to do is the finishing bits.
Here's that list:
-sew button holes in waist band
-sew buttons on waist band
-sew buttons on back flaps
-hem

Not too shabby I think these are going to be completed right on schedule.

Trousers: Sewing the Easy Bits

I've made head way on my Janina trousers and so far they are pretty simple to put together.  I say this knowing that the dreaded zipper is coming up in the next session of sewing.  Here is my progress in a series of photos.

Laying out all the pieces to be cut out.  There is just under a yard of fabric left after all the pattern pieces were cut out. 

All my pieces ready to go. 

Back darts sewn and faux pocket flap, top stitched, button holed, and sewn to the back pieces. 

I picked these buttons from my notion stash for the flaps.  I'll sew them on last. 

Pocket top stitches and hip yoke pinned in place.  These pockets were very easy to sew.  

Wrong side of the trouser with all the basting stitching done.  Soon it will be time to sew the zipper in, ack!

One of the inside seams, this is where I left off.  The next steps are to finish the seam allowances, sew the inside seam, and the crotch seam and then it's on to the zipper.  I will take detailed photos and notes when it comes to sewing that zipper in.  So far so good, this pattern is coming together nicely and is pretty easy. 

Trousers: The Fabric

I found the fabric for my Janina trousers.  I found this great wool suiting at the Pennsylvania Fabric Outlet.  It was originally $15 a yarn, but they were selling it for half that price so I got two yards.  I am really in love with this fabric it has a great drape and is going to make stellar pants.

It's hard to tell in my photo's, but the fabric is a subtle plaid.  It's woven with white, gray and light lavender threads.  It was a great find at the fabric store.  Now I just have to cut out the pattern and get sewing. I'm hoping to have these completed by the end of February.