Thursday, June 26, 2014

Annie's Edna


One of the Boyfriend's good friends had an adorable baby girl and he wanted to do something special for her.  We decided to make a teddy bear.  The Boyfriend helped select the fabrics and I pretty much did the rest. :-P  Oh, The Boyfriend also helped stuff the various bear parts.


We used the Purl Bee Teddy Bear pattern and tutorial.  The pattern was drafted well and the instructions were good.  I think a beginner could make this. Certain sections were quite difficult like the muzzle area and lower leg paws, but doable if done slowly.

 I wasn't happy with how the paws turned out initially.  They are uneven and a little wonky.  To fix camouflage the problem (or make it stand out more?) I did some purposefully uneven, but charming hand embroidery.  Well, I say charming; others may say shitty. Hehehe.  The arms were stitched to force them forward as they kept flailing backward.

Here are few views of the hand stitching:


Overall, I'm pleased with how the bear turned out and named her Edna.  She's a little weird and I thought she needed an odd, old-fashioned name.  Annie can re-name her when she's old enough to talk.

Edna's Tail!


For scale, here's Pearl modeling with Edna.  Pearl is 3.5 lbs.







Thursday, June 19, 2014

Hi Everyone!  If you are so inclined, vote for my trousers on PR!

VOTE HERE!

Sunday, June 15, 2014

Colette Juniper Trousers!

I'm back.  I've been sewing some and crafting some, but just not blogging.  Sorry :-/

I busted my butt this morning and into the afternoon to finish this pair of pants to enter into the Pattern Review Pants Contest.  I started them because of the contest and of course waited until the last possible moment to finish them.  



 Here's my official Pattern Review:

Pattern Description: 

Classic wide-leg trousers, perfectly fitted through the hips and falling gently to a moderately wide hem. Has front slash pockets and fly front.
Pattern Sizing:

0-18. I made a 4 with lots of fit modifications.

Did it look like the photo/drawing on the pattern envelope once you were done sewing with it?

Yes! It did!

Were the instructions easy to follow?

I thought they were pretty easy to follow. I sewed the pocket in a different order than the instructions called out, which made more sense to me. I thought the instructions were a little too wordy. They are too conversational and could be easily simplified and still make sense.

What did you particularly like or dislike about the pattern?

I really like the style of these pants. Something I always want to buy, but have a hard time finding in stores.

The fit was not great for my body type. I do not have hips so I had to make some modifications. That was a little annoying because being an indie pattern (not a Big 4) I was hoping the body measurements listed on the back of the pattern would be more accurate. I measure 27.5" at natural waist, and 36.75" at hip and I had to take in this pattern a lot! See below.

I also did not like that there wasn't a top pocket facing. I ended up adding one.

Fabric Used:

A vintage med. weight denim I bought at a church sale for a few dollars years ago and a vintage floral sheet for the pocketing I got for free when I first started to sew. Yay for stashbusting!

Pattern alterations or any design changes you made:

Okay...here we go...

Like I said above I made a size 4. I was a big-ol-idiot and thought that I would make the pants straight from the envelope and not have to make fit adjustments. I even overlocked and topstitched the sides and back rise before checking fit. Derrrr. So I had to unpick a lot and make as many adjustments as I could without recutting and redoing the entire pant. I ended up taking in the side seams from about low hip to waistseam 1/4" (1" total circumference). i also took in the CB seam 1/4" (1/2" total). Of course then my facings were the wrong size! My seam allowances for the CB facing pieces ended up being about 1 3/8" and I left my front facing pieces seam allowance 5/8." This was my quick and dirty fix. I hate recutting pieces.

Also, I drafted a little top pocket facing because it is one if my pet peeves to see pocketing fabric exposed inside the pocket.

I still need to address a little bit of "hungry butt" but overall, the fit is pretty good for my first real pair of pants.

Would you sew it again? Would you recommend it to others?

I might make this again, but I would have to transfer all my fit changes to the pattern and I'm not up for that right now. Plus there are so many other patterns I want to try.

Conclusion: 

Overall, its a pretty good pattern, just not great for the hipless.




 Here are a few detail shots of the pocket and the trouser closure.


 If you made it down this far, VOTE FOR ME :)

Pants Contest 2014