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.  

Bustier Hibernation and a Quick Project

Here it is, unfinished.  I know I said it would be done at the end of March, but I just can't take any more bustier sewing.  Therefor this project is going in to hibernation.  I want to get things for Me Made May 2012 squared away before I wrestle this project into submission.

My frustration lies in the fact that my lining and garment aren't lining up and the hook and eye tape is pulling funny.  I need a break and so I'm taking one.

On Sunday I worked on the bustier for about an hour and it felt like I was banging my head against a brick wall.  I put the bustier away and I pulled out this lovely purple cotton blend jersey that I purchased a while back.  Then I looked up this awesome dolman sleeve top tutorial  from Merricks Art.  In about an hour I had completed a great top.  I love an instant gratification project.

It's super comfy and I can add it to my me made tops.  Yes three tops! I am going to make at least one if not two more of these as they will be great to wear to work.

I am looking to maybe stencil something fun on this top.  I found this great freezer paper stencil tutorial on Freshly Picked.  I was thinking an easy old heart or maybe something more me, maybe a unicorn?  I don't know the possibilities are endless.