New shirt and trousers including short video

I follow a lot of Vlogging sewists and I've enjoyed their videos but not been tempted to enter this media as a general rule as I think blogging is good enough. Also I feel that at 70 I'm a lot older than the experts I follow and don't have the equipment, lights and quality camera etc. So that's my excuse, however I did do a quick video as the fabric was so lovely and drapey and a flat photo didn't seem to do it justice. There is no sound on this video so don't expect to hear me talking as well.

 

As you can tell I'm not an expert film maker but I hope you get a flavour of the garments which is what it's all about anyway.

The shirt is a lovely silky feel fabric with a good drape and suited this shirt beautifully. The colours include my favourite teal / turquiose and a soft caramel that is a little outside my usual choice. This is apparently close to the new trending colour for 2018 so at least I'm current and now it's finished I actually love the colour.

I had a tussle with it which I really shouldn't have. I've made this shirt many times before based on my SFD blueprint but I wanted to make it slightly different so in an attempt to make a seperate front button band using the grain crosswise I somehow manged to add too many seam allowances and ended up with the centre front being way off. I had to undo the bands and reposition them in the correct place.

That was the first bit of unpicking. The next was the collar. I had decided to use the fabric from the trousers to make the under collar and inside collar stand but that fabric was too weighty and didn't look good. It was perfect for the trousers but not as an accent colour. So the collar had to come off and luckily I had enough scraps to make another. On the finished garment you'll notice I changed the grain on the collar for the remake and I like it better so a good result in the end.

Original collar design that was discarded

Underside of original collar

I must admit my sewing has come a long way that I'm prepared to go to these lengths to get it right. A few years ago when I started making my own clothes I would have carried on and then hated the finished result. Now it's about being happy wearing my own makes and increasing my level of acceptable standards.

The cuffs are designed to be worn straight down or turned back and again the grain was changed to add interest.

The trousers were very straightforward again using my well tried SFD body blueprint so no surprises there, just a good fit and lovely fabric. I bought this linen type from a lovely shop in Bath when a friend and I visited a couple of months ago. I didn't line these trousers as the fabric is has a good quality which looks and feels right without.

It was my husband's big birthday yesterday and I'm pleased that despite the setbacks I got both pieces finished in time for his celebration dinner at our favourite restaurant.

Not a Happy Burda Jacket sew but a Happier Tunic Bible sew

We all make mistakes and sewing is no different. I am not proud of this jacket and can't see me wearing it at all. It's such a disappointment from the vision I'd had in mind.

Buttons are just pinned in place at the moment

The design I chose was from the Burda Style magazine and the fabric was a wool I'd bought from the Cloth Warehouse sale a few weeks ago now.

I'd had such high hopes but the result looks awful.

I'm not sure what went wrong but when I put it on I feel like I'm wearing a Chinese Manadrin jacket from the workers revolution. OK, the mandarin collar doesn't help but it was based on a Safari type jacket and the pockets reflect this but the overall result just doesn't do it for me.

I'm upset because it wasn't an easy make. I struggled with the front pockets and with Burda's infamous ability to confuse the reader with unintelligable instructions at times.
I loved the back yoke detail and I was pleased to master the back pleat as well as all the lining.

I took a lot of care over the construction and lined the jacket using the bagging method so a lot of new learning techniques.

The problem when your garment doesn't turn out as you'd hoped is that you lose a bit of sewing enthusiasm.

I find the best thing is to get straight back but with something easier and simpler that you've made before so it's well tried and guaranteed to give a good result. So that's what I did. Instant gratification.

I hapened to be in Redhill on market day and the fabric stall had a medium weight border print fabric that caught my eye. At £2.00 a metre, I couldn't really go wrong. When the lady was cutting the 2 metres I asked for she noticed a couple of grubby marks so decided to give me the whole lot for just £2.00 instead of £4.00. I didn't argue and washed the fabric as soon as I got home. The result was pristine, not a mark anywhere.

I decided to make best use of the border prnt by making a tunic from The Tunic Bible with the pattern I'd made a couple of times before. It took me only 4 hours to cut out and make and I'd got that lovely feeling of having made a striking, unique top to wear for very little money. Sewing mojo is back.

I teamed it with my grey trousers but it will also go with black and in the summer I will pair it with my white trousers.

Here is a close up of the front facing.

I'm glad I've moved on and I'm back in the sewing room.
Thanks to Pat for taking the outdoor photos.