Monday, December 20, 2010

More Burda 09-2010-121 Turtlenecks

Yes, just like everyone else I couldn’t resist making more tops with this pattern!! They’re so simple to make and the top is great as a layer. It’s just the damn fabric I’m always drawn to, it’s *very* slinky cotton jersey (or rayon, I forget!), and handling the stuff is a pain in the neck. To make matters even harder for myself, I only bought 1.0 m of each colour, which is way not enough according to the pattern, but I managed to **squeeze** the top out of it by placing each pattern piece separately, including each sleeve. I think it took more time to cut out then to sew together!!

2011-01-20_Burda_Turtleneck_Tops

The colours are vivid, but they’re fun to wear. I’ll probably make more some time, but I did these to take a break from sewing the jeans I started with the PatternReview Jeans course with Jennifer Stern. More on that later.

Monday, November 15, 2010

Abacadabra No.14 Trousers for Boys

I bought this pattern about a year and a half ago, but when I looked at the instructions I just stuffed them back in the envelope! (I was so disappointed at the time, I just love this style.) I hadn’t started sewing Burda Style magazine patterns back then and so was really put off by not having the typical details and diagrams of the big pattern makers.

2010-11-15 003 2010-11-16 23.22.31

After making several Burda magazine patterns this year I thought I’d be able to tackle this one. So I traced it out last month and decided to do a muslin with some of C’s (my husband’s) old jeans that had ripped out in various places. The pattern is actually a great idea if you’re going to be making pants from various fabrics as it consists of 3 and 4 pieces for both the back and front. I used some cute yellow cotton print for the zipper fly and the loops at the back. Here’s a couple of pics; I haven’t put a waistband on yet as I’ve run out of denim!

2010-11-15 004 2010-11-15 005

The pattern actually has 2 large pockets on the back that line up at the side seams with the front pocket top and bottom seams. Since I didn’t have enough fabric pieces, and this is basically a muslin, I thought I’d leave them off. When I make the next pair I’ll definitely put them on, it’s a really nice design detail.

 2010-11-15 0022010-11-15 001

The pattern was actually pretty straight forward, despite the english translation and lack of diagrams. And this was the first fly I’ve sewn in over 15 years! Next time I’ll construct the pieces a little differently: assemble all the front and back pieces using the 5-Thread overlock stitch on my serger and then top-stitch everything with a thick thread in my sewing machine. That way you don’t need to keep switching the thread between seaming and top-stitching.

I’m really looking forward to finishing these pants, I hope O likes them!