Time to shine corgi legs

I'm not putting myself down when I say I've got the legs of a corgi. I mean, it has it's advantages. Budget airline travel, for example, is less squashy than it is for, say, long limbed Giselle types. And I can stretch my pins out in the bath tub with ease.  But when it comes to rocking a pair of comfy, yet cool, woven pants? Aye Carumba. 

So when I scored a copy of the Hudson Pants sewing pattern from my new sewing buddy, Liz, I had me some serious doubts. I'd already recently donated a freshly sewn pair of Guise pants to the op-shop because they looked absolutely hideous and left me feeling rather lacklustre: stumpy and large of hip. 

Then one day the Spotlight catalogue arrived in the post letting me know that not only did they have a tonne of Tencel (the eco-wonder-fabric!) in stock, but that it was on sale for VIPs. Hello 5 metres. Hello Hudsons.

Maybe I'm stuck in 1995, but I've had a major craving for Tencel pants lately. The ladies at Rathdowne Fabrics told me that hadn't seen Tencel for years, so I went a little crazy when it popped up in Spotlight. I'm glad I did, actually, because it drapes beautifully and is so soft and pretty much goes with everything. As the Hudson pattern is designed for stretch fabric I sized up three sizes and the fit is spot on. 

I didn't add any length to the legs because I thought that I wouldn't need to. Mistake. Take it from me: even if you are short, you will probably need to lengthen these pants by at least two inches if you are going to make a woven pair without the cuff. To remedy my error I cut a pair of cuffs, adding width to fit and sewed them onto the bottom as a subtle design feature. I'll probably just lengthen the pattern for future makes, but this technique worked out fine in a pinch.

The top, by the way, is the super popular Simplicity 1366. It's a great one if you've only got a little bit of fabric to work with. I made it up with some Nani Iro double gauze I had left over from my beloved Sewaholic Yaletown.

All in all, this corgi-legged lass is one happy seamstress.

Could've been so beautiful, could've been so right...

This here's a knit version of the Sewaholic Belcarra blouse. I had to make a few modifications because I only had 1 metre of this lovely and soft Nani Iro double knit.

First off I shortened it by about 7cms and I had to omit the cuffs. I'm not super happy with the sleeves  - they are a bit short and overall and I wouldn't sat this top is my most flattering make. It looks a little out of proportion to me.

Ah well, It is very comfortable and that's the life of a home sewer, right? Things don't always turn out how you want them to. I think this pattern has the potential to be great as a knit - I will definitely try it again some time. I have some grey jersey crying out to be let out of the stash and into the big wide world.

Nani Iro and the placket of doom

This Nani Iro sateen is amazing

This looks like the kind of dress a somewhat experienced sewer could whip up in an afternoon. And if it weren't for my last-minute plan to include a fancy-pants placket then that would have been the case.

Instead, I unpicked, resewed, unpicked, resewed and unpicked and resewed a million and one times until I got it looking reasonable and not just like some dodgy home made job. Luckily the fabric is such great quality you can't even tell I sewed it way too many times. As a result I have received many compliments on this dress.

Not perfect, but OK I think

Whoohoo!

This is a Frankenpattern if ever there was one. The bodice is from the April Rhodes party dress, the skirt from the Christina Hayes Emery and the placket is from Megan Nielsen's Briar Banksia top. I really should do a pattern drafting course so I could learn how to do these things properly rather than just mixing up a bunch of patterns and hoping for the best.

Still. I think it worked out pretty good in the end.

I also gathered the skirt on my overlocker, which is something I have been meaning to try for a while now. I have a Janome MyLock 644D and whenever I have followed the instructions in the manual gathering has never worked too well. After a bit of Google searching I discovered that the trick is to  to adjust the 2 needles to a tension of 8. I must say, the gathering worked out to be much more even using this method than my usual baste and pull technique and I'll be doing it this way again.

A simple make, but I learned a few new techniques and am glad I pushed myself to try something new. Now I want to make more.

These pants are pretty much a shameless copy of these ones made by Lizzy House. I loved them so much I went straight to my new-found Nani Iro dealer, Miss Matatabi and bought myself some fabric.

Look you can even see my needy rescue Greyhound, George.

But back to more important matters. I used a different pattern to Lizzy, who went went for this new Simplicity which wasn't available in Australia yet.  Being a bit behind down here in Oz I used Simplicity 1887 instead. I've seen it on a few blogs with mixed results and I wouldn't say I am enamoured with the pattern. I made a wearable muslin that turned out huge - though I must admit, they have become pj favourites. When I made my beloved Nani Iro version I took the sides in by about 5cm and I'm still not sure.

They are super comfy and I love the print and I have got tonnes of compliments, so maybe they are OK.

And the pockets are awesome. You can fit a lot in them.

I also made the t-shirt out of Cleg's best-knit-fabric-ever bamboo/spandex. It's Megan Nielsen's briar and it's my go-to t-shirt pattern. I love it.

Yaletown meets Nani Iro

Back in the early years of high school I had an English teacher called Ms. Rosser. She was smart, funny and just enough eccentric to be a breath of fresh air in the conservative country town I lived in. Her statement shoe of choice was always a brightly coloured Mary Jane in magenta, cobalt, even orange. This dress kind of reminds me of her.

Here I have combined two of my great sewing loves: Nani Iro double gauze with a Sewaholic pattern. For a pear shaped lady like myself Sewaholic patterns are amazing. They fit right out of the envelope and I never have to make any adjustments. I cut a size 8 at the shoulders and tapered down to a 10 for the rest. It was such an enjoyable pattern to sew up and even if you are new to sewing, the instructions are super clear and easy to follow. Thanks Tasia.

The fabric is a beautifully soft Nani Iro double gauze that I bought from Miss Matatabi. I bought four yards assuming that this pattern would be a massive fabric sucker. Turns out I was wrong and I now have enough left over to squeeze out a woven tee. Whoohoo! It’s not the cheapest fabric in the world but now that I’ve been sewing for a few years I’ve decided life’s too short to sew with crappy polyester.  

And look! The gaping isn’t too indecent, even with the faux wrap bodice. 

At first I was worried this dress was going to turn out a bit ‘primary school teacher from the 80s.’ But I love it. It’s flattering and comfortable and drapes like a dream. In fact, I don’t think it’s going too far to say that this is my favourite make. Ever.