Another Patrones for DD

Thank you for all your compliments and tips on wearing for the pants. DD wore them today, and thinks they're fine. I'm pretty sure your comments helped in her positive attitude.

Before going back to sewing for myself I'm making DD a blouse from the same Patrones issue as the pants. It's her birthday next Sunday, and though I don't make her new birthday clothes each year, I've done it regularly. This year I promised to make her this blouse.

 

It is a blouse with back yoke, collar with stand, darts in front and back and a special ruche at the front. I made the ruche first with the pattern part, but it was too wide. Then I just cut a 4 cm wide bias strip of fabric, made a rolled hem with my new serger (I bought a Bernina again, I'll write a post about it another time) and gathered that strip to the front. We both think this is much better, certainly with the plaid, which looks strange in the first version, on the left.

The fabric is cotton with a metallic thread, and when you press it using steam, there are threads in it that shrink, making the overall appearance a little wrinkled.

Summerset, I took another look at your posts of the Easter suit, I love the jacket even more. I hadn't realized that you had made it already, as at the time you made it, I didn't have the Patrones issue myself. Same for the pants. I'm going to read your posts in detail once I get to this pattern. And Matrosehase, I'll make a muslin for sure, so that I can check fit and the size of the collar. Thank you for the warning, I'll pay extra attention to that.

Vicky: Patrones does have line drawings, and a cutting layout with each pattern. Finding the pattern pieces is just as easy (or difficult as you like) as with BWOF. But BWOF has instructions in different languages, depending on the country you live, while Patrones is only available in Spanish.

Patrones pants DD finished

The pants are finished. DD is not sure about the style on her. Not very surprising, she usually wears jeans, and this is much wider than jeans. But I like the pants, and in the end they were very easy to construct. As I mention in my review too, the size was pretty close, which adds to my liking of this magazine. It's good to know that you can rely on a size chart. The only change after the first fitting was letting out waist and hip a little bit (but not so much as needing a larger size) and make the crotch depth a bit deeper.

 

 

The waistband is a separate piece, I don't know if I've done this correct, but it at least looks like the magazine.

This issue of Patrones (264) is certainly a keeper, there are a lot of patterns I like in it.

A few pictures, the yellow jacket en the top are high on my "to sew" list. The pictures sometimes are the same as in BWOF: the details are hidden, and with Patrones no website with pictures to see them in more detail.

I bought a dressform

On a Dutch site I found this second-hand dressform for sale,there already was someone who bid on it, but I was lucky my bid was accepted. I was near the seller today, and could pick it up in combination with a business trip.

The dressform is a size 40. On seeing the picture on the internet I already saw that she is too small in general, but that is not so important. I compared the sizes with the BWOF size chart and in bust and hips she is the same as the BWOF size 40. But the waist is 8 cm (more than 3 inches) smaller! My waist is certainly not that small!

But as my back is narrow it's correct in that area and I think I can adapt her to my bust size by putting on a bra. I've seen that done before on several sites. This means that I can use the dressform for blouses and jackets while working on it. The dressform will not be the main fitting instrument for me, just a helpful tool.

Speaking of tools: my serger crashed again! And I've decided to replace it. Too much irritation and time loss because of a badly behaving serger that is 16 years old. I'll be visiting one or two dealers tomorrow, and hopefully have a new serger in the weekend.

Patrones 264 - 41

Yes! I started sewing again, and that feels so good. Carolyn asked whether I had a good holiday, and the answer is yes, I had a good, relaxing holiday. But I would have loved to take my sewing machine. Not this time though.

I promised myself another quiet week from work (hope this will come true), and this afternoon started the pants I promised my daughter. It's number 41 from the Patrones spring/summer issue. Till now I only made one other Patrones pattern, a pair of pants for myself. And I don't speak Spanish so I have to work from pictures and line drawings. That's not a real problem, you just have to solve a few things for yourself. In these pants that will be the way the waistband is constructed, as that is not straightforward.

Main question for me is the sizing, for my daughter we concluded that it would have to be size 44 (which she found awful, in BWOF she's a 38, and this sounded so big). To be sure I cut the pattern with really wide seams, but as you can see from the pictures below, it's really very close. The construction of the seams is only done with the longest straight stitch on my machine, and I did not yet press the sides. All this will be taken out and constructed properly.

I will sew the center back seam as last seam, as I do for my own pants too, which will give me some flexibility for the waist.

What will fall bring?

I'm back from a two week holiday in France. This is a picture from the view we had from the house we rented in the second week. A lovely place, the owners did all to make it a comfortable holiday home. Wish I had a view so lovely from my own house.

Before the holidays started there was no time to sew, and I really hope to be sewing again very soon. Just now there are just a few plans in my head. As an advertisement campaign on the internet seems to pay off with quite a few new prospects for my business, I need a bit more working clothes to visit potential customers. It will all be not very formal, as the general clothing style in the Netherlands is rather casual. So no black or blue suits, but a pair of pants with a pretty blouse/top and (depending on the weather) a jacket is the style I'm thinking of.

I'm doubting to write about the plans I have, for the reason that a) there won't be enough time to make all that I plan anyhow, and b) I tend to change my plans very often. Thus I'll just write about the projects I'm actually starting. The next project will be a pair of Patrones pants I promised my daughter.

But first I'm going to scan through the pattern reviews and some of the blog posts that were published during the past weeks on the blogs that I subscribe to. There were over 350 new posts in Google reader, so I won't have time to read them all, what a writing lot we all are, it's fun.

Hope you all are well and making your fall plans (or spring if you're on the other side of the globe).