Endless Combinations Item #2 - Ascona Cropped Pant

Earlier this season I purchased several fabrics from Casual Elegance in hopes of making a spring wardrobe.  Well, I'm starting to see it come together!  This is item #2 in the PR Endless Combinations Contest.  Item 2 must go with item 1.  Item 3 must go with item 2, etc.  So my first piece was the sweater knit top in my last post, and this is item #2.  I've made Loes Hinse's Ascona Pant several times and really like it.  The fabric is super nice looking and drapes beautifully.  It is a poly-rayon blend, but I don't know the percentages.  It must be more rayon than poly though, because it seems to wrinkle/crease fairly easily.  I'm also loving the carmel color on these.

I tried to hem these pants using steam a seam.  Then I noticed that one of the legs wasn't falling smoothly, so I pulled it apart.  When I tried to re-adhere it, it wouldn't stick, so I used stitch witchery to fix it.  by the time I got home from church, my other pant leg was falling down.  I've never had a problem with steam a seam before, but this time it was just not sticking.  I will probably go back and hem them by hand.

I've mentioned this before, but Loes Hinse taught me a cool trick for sewing on elastic when your hips are much larger than your waist.  I use 1/5" elastic and serge it to the wrong side of the pant.  I then fold the right side in and down to bring the elastic up to the fold (This part is all the same as her standard waist finish, except that she uses 1" elastic.

 Now, this is what is different.  Instead of stitching 1 and a half inches down, only stitch down 1"  This gives the look of a 1" waist casing but the added elastic flares out to the hips, but is not stitched to the top layer of the pants.  I'm not sure why this works better, but it seems to work for me.  Also, this time, I used Louise Cutting's stitch through elastic and did the same thing.  BUT, I stitched 1/2" down and 1" down.  I'm liking how this waist band turned out and it's not to gather-y around the waist when worn.

Out With The Old...

In with the new!  Today is Sunday, so I took a break from Closet Bootcamp, but believe me, I'll be back at it tomorrow.  Now that I have really whittled down my tops and dresses, I realize that I don't have much to wear to church!  I wore a dress today that I made for Uganda, but I like to wear Maxi dresses in the summer, so I'm sure I'll be wearing it a lot in the next few months.

So, in with the new.  A couple of months ago (I think) I planned a spring and summer wardrobe and pulled all the fabrics and patterns.  That's about as far as I got except for one top, The Madagascar Tank.   Well, today I have another Loes Hinse pattern to present - The Bianca Sweater.  I actually did use a sweater knit, too!  This fabric is really light weight and a challenge to work with, but it looks and feels lovely.




My sewing machine did a really nice job on this fabric, but I knew I would have to serge all the seams.  Most knits do not ravel, but this one just falls apart because the stitches are so loose.  So, I took a few practice runs at what I wanted to do.  Here's what I came up with

Side seams - used 4 thread serger only
Setting in sleeves - basted first, then used 4 thread serger
Hems - I just double serged them with four threads.


My serger is really old and does not have a differential feed.  I probably wouldn't know what to do with it if I had it.  But, I LOVE my serger and it has been a workhorse for me for almost 30 years!  I did not like the look of the double serged hem at the neckline, so after double serging it, I just turned it under and stitched it with a narrow zig zag.  This was a quick and easy top!  I really like the (sort of) deconstructed look of it, yet it still has a good shape and I think will hold up well.

This is the first piece I am making for the Endless Combinations Contest over on PR.  I need to sew the clothes anyway, I have everything ready that fits the contest guidelines, so why not?  Next up - another LH pattern - Ascona pants.

Gray on Gray

This weekend I got to get a little sewing done.  Yay!  First I made the Hot Patterns Fast and Fabulous LaStrada T-Shirt.  Once again, I was wooed by Hot Patterns!  Actually I bought this pattern and the Blouse Back T awhile ago.  Unfortunately, I cut them both right away, and now I wish I would have waited.  This shirt is really big on me.  I think that HP must be cut fairly large in the upper chest/neck area.  I actually tapered out to a larger size at the hip, but there is still a lot of extra room in the upper chest and shoulder area.

In fact, I will not be able to wear this top without a cami or other top underneath.  The armholes are seriously large, and I went up 2" farther than what the pattern recommends!  I would like to make this again, but I think I will have to go down 2 sizes in the neck.

Also, the directions were sparse on this pattern.  For example instead of telling you to start at the curve and sew up to the notch, (the side seam and sleeve are all the same) it just says "Sew the side seam."  A new sewist would not know to stop at the notch.  As it is, the notch is way too low, but I was afraid to go to much higher because it would restrict movement.  Also, it was very confusing to tell how to sew the upper body to the lower body.  The curves are unusual and either there aren't sufficient markings, or I neglected to put them in somehow.    All in all, it is a cute shirt, but it needs to go with different pants.

I absolutely love the fabric that this shirt is made of.  It is a rayon jersey and is super comfortable.  It is very clingy though, and since it is so long in the back, It gets caught on jeans.  This top needs to be worn with slippery pants or leggings.  I guess if you are slim in the hips (which I most definitely am not) then it wouldn't matter what you wore it with.

The pants are Loes Hinse Ascona Pant.  This is the capri.  Interestingly enough, there is a totally different cut on these than the longer version.  She did the same thing when the Cruise pant was in print.  The capri and the longer pant both used different pattern pieces, including a different crotch curve.  Not sure why that is, but I like the way these fit.  I made these pretty much as is (no muslin) but I will tweak them a bit for next time.  I'd love to make these in a linen blend.  I'm really looking for comfortable fabrics that do not wrinkle much for travel.  I was so inspired by some of these pics from the Louise Cutting fashion show, that I want to add some color to my wardrobe this spring. I have some green linen about the same color as the picture on the right, but linen is so wrinkly that it's not great for travel.  I think the Ascona pant would work well, and I have the cowl vest pattern (CLD Light and Shadow) and top shown with it.

I think I'm going to give this top another shot.  I know I will make the pants again - super quick and comfortable.  But the top.  Well, we'll see.  

 I see that Cidell has recently made a couple of the HP Blouse back Ts.  Apparently she is having much more success with Hot Patterns than I am!

Me Made May Continues

May is a super busy month for any teacher.  But for a teacher who is retiring, it also means "Better get this room cleaned out - stat!"  I do not want to have to go back in after school ends just to clean out all of my stuff!  Of course, there is still Open House (tomorrow night - yikes!), the school carnival, other school events, and all the end of the year testing!  No wonder I haven't had time to post every day on my blog!  I've been pretty good about taking pictures each day of what I've been wearing, but I couldn't tell you what I wore on which day.  So, here's what else I've worn for #mmmay15 this month, in no particular order!

This picture was taken this morning.  I am not a T-shirt kind of girl, and never really have been.  They just don't fit me right and they're not flattering.  But, today was our last testing day, and we have these school spirit Tshirts that say "Turn up the Heat" that we're supposed to wear for testing.  It was a little chilly this morning, so I have on this light weight linen-look jacket.  I think it's an older Simplicity pattern that I recently gave away.  It's an easy to throw on jacket.  I think I made 2 or 3 of these a few years ago.  Still a favorite.  Why did I give away that pattern?  Oh well, there are many jacket patterns out there in my stash that I need to try.
 Oh, and BTW, I love, love, love these shoes.  I will be so sad when they get old and fall apart!







This picture was taken after I got home from work and changed my shirt.  I had bible study here tonight, so I wanted to change and still be comfy.  This is a Cutting Line Designs pattern called Simplify Your Life.
The linen is from my favorite linen source, fabrics-store.com












On right is a New Look top that I made a few summers ago.  Again with the linen.  And the wrinkles.  I do Iron my clothes, but this one was taken at the end of the day.  The pattern is NL A6104.  I like the fit on this one, the pintucks, and the button front.  I really must make this again!  The skirt was self drafted using the book Sew what!  Skirts.  You can't really see it, but I love the orange band at the bottom that was made from a remnant of Amy Butler fabric.  The green in that matches the green in the skirt perfectly.

This dress, for not being one of my favorites, sure gets worn a lot!  The pattern is from the Japanese sewing book Basic Black  I made it again in black and just a few tweaks made the fit much better and the look too.  I like the look of this fabric, but for being linen, it is a bit scratchy.  Obviously, I did NOT get it from my favorite linen supplier (I got it at JoAnns.)  I will probably wear the black one some time next week, so I'll post that too.

Now, this shirt I tried and tried to get a good photograph of it, but I could not capture the beauty of the fabric.  It is a light weight laminated linen.  It looks like it has a gold thread running through it, but you only see it on the right side of the fabric.  I love this shirt, BUT, the fabric is too lightweight for the style and it wrinkles terribly.  This shirt is from an old (2009) Burdastyle magazine.  I'm not sure which issue, but maybe February.  Funny, I remember that it is style #105, but not the month!    Anyway, great basic shirt.  Another one that I should do again.

I think I might have worn this yesterday.  Geez, you'd think I could remember what I wore yesterday!  This is a Loes Hinse skirt. It's the Swing Skirt without the flounce.  I made it from a rayon crinkle fabric and just serged the hem with a bit of a lettuce edge.  Super comfortable and I get lots of compliments on it.
As I got dressed that morning, I realized that I definitely have a shortage of me-made white tops!  I wear white tops a lot, but need to make a lot of them since I only have one that I can think of that I've made!!

OK, this is what I'm probably going to wear tomorrow.  I got all dressed this morning and took my picture before I realized that I had to wear the T shirt so I had to change my outfit.  So, I'm thinking I will probably wear it tomorrow.  The pants are Loes Hinse's newest pant pattern called Ascona.  This shirt is the woven version of the LH Cap Sleeve dress and top pattern.  I will definitely make this again, but I will make it larger in the hips that this one is.  I have another pair of the Asconas in capri length on my cutting table right now.

Loes Hinse Ascona Pant take 2

On this version, I made a size smaller, took a dart at the butt, and adjusted the waist line.  Well, I think I should have added a LOT more to the back.  Let's just say, these pants aren't going out in public if there's even the smallest chance that I may sit down!!
Other than that, the fit is much better.












This time I used 1.5" elastic using a waistband trick taught to me by Loes Hinse in her shop one day.  Use 1.25 - 1.5" elastic and serge the end as usual.  After turning, only stitch at the 1" line, leaving 1/2" free.  This gives a flatter waist for those with a bigger difference between waist and hip.  It works for me.


The problem with these pants is that once I decided to use wider elastic and take a 1/2" dart at the CB, this lowered the waist too much and I did not compensate for it.  I'll have to donate these to a lady plumber!  They say the third time is a charm, so I hope so!  I like using the 1.5" elastic as opposed to the 1" elastic.  And a word about doing the elastic.  I love Loes's way of serging the elastic to the waistband, turning, and stitiching.  The PROBLEM with doing it this way is that you have no way to adjust the waist band after you try it on!!   Also, depending on your elastic, serging the end may stretch the elastic to a bigger size that does not retract!!   I DO have a solution.

1. First, try the elastic on at the height you want to wear the pants.  Pin it with a safety pin.  Leave it on
2. Put the pants on and and pull them up under the elastic and then fold over so that the waist edge of the pants now meets the bottom edge of the elastic.  Check the fit.
3. Change your serger to a longer stitch length.  I have an old serger, so I used the longest stitch length I could get.  This helps prevent the elastic from stretching out on the stitched edge.
4. Do NOT use non-roll elastic.  This seems to stretch out the worst.  Use a good quality elastic.  I buy mine from Peggy Sagers.  You have to buy a lot, but the great thing is that you can cut it to any width you like.  
5. Turn your waist over and stitch as per pattern directions or as above.  If you have not much difference between waist and hip, then use the directions in the pattern.  If you have bigger hips and a smaller waist, you may want to try the method I described above.

Another thing I did differently from the pattern is that I added a piece of twill tape to the rear seam to keep it from bagging out.

This pair of Asconas is a little tighter than the last because there is not much stretch as compared to the RPL I used last time.    As you can see, the fit in the butt is a lot better than the first pair.  It would be even better if I had on different underwear!!

Because there is little crosswise stretch in this fabric, these are a little too tight in the legs. 

 Now I'm anxious to try pair # 3!

Bianca top

I've been working on this Bianca top. I love the fabric which is a rayon jersey. I made this without prewashing, allowing for a little shrinking in length. I did prewash a test 4X4 inch square, and it only shrank in length. Let me tell you, it was SO much easier working with this knit without it being prewashed. The edges didn't curl and it had more body, so it was easy to work with.

I was not happy with the neckline on this. You can't really see it in the picture, but I feel like it did not fit right for some reason. It fit better today than it did last night. Must have been the different bra haha! I decided last night that I would cut off the neck and do it over. I wanted to get a picture first so I could ask your opinions on the before and after. since I cut off the already hemmed neckline, this was a total removal of about 3/4 inch. I think I like the way it looks better now, but I've looked at it so much now that I'm not sure if I can tell if there is a difference or not. I'd like to make it again, so I'd like to know what you think about the neckline and which is more flattering. Also, next time I will widen the arm a bit and lengthen it about 2 inches

A New Garbo

Last weekend when I was in Loes Hinse's shop, I noticed that all of her jackets were what she calls "cardiganized". In other words, no lining, no separate facings in the back, and the front is extended 1-1/2 " and turned under for a self facing. She is using a lot of knits and loose wovens for a super light feel. She feels the facings cause pulling and give an unflattering look for her flowy style. (even though the patterns include facings.)
Tonight, I cut out a pattern for the Garbo jacket using her fit tips and cardiganizing the pattern. Wow! What could be simpler? Only 3 pieces, no facings, no darts. Normally I do an FBA, forward shoulder, wider at the hips, and narrow shoulder. I would normally have added a dart and/or lowered the front hem. This time I cut a straight small with the only adjustment being adding 1/2" inch at the neckline on the front shoulder.

The fabric I am using is a very loose weave rayon acetate blend. It may be too unstable for this, but we will see. It is an ivory/oatmeal color with a "linen" weave. I really like it and it is soft and silky feeling.

I also purchased an online "seminar" from the Casual Elegance Website called "Sewing with Loes 2000" She recommended this one to me because it has all of the information she gave me on pants fitting. It also has information on stabilizing, her philosophy, fabric choice, sewing processes and laying out the pattern and cutting. Even though I am an experienced sewer, I found it good information and worth the price, which was $35.00.

Loes Hinse Cruise Pants

OK, this is a cruddy, frumpy picture, but let's focus on the pants.

These were quick and easy to make. I bought this pattern at the same time as I got the Oxford Pants pattern. The two are basically the same except for the width of the legs. Both patterns have

1. the "Hollywood waist" style elasticized waist
2. in seam pockets
3. edge stitching on the side seams which make the pants legs hang nicely
4. darts in the back
5. easy and simple instructions
   

I love that these are so quick and easy to make, and are comfortable to wear.

I made these out of a navy blue linen/rayon blend. I intend to wear these on my trip to Uganda. 30 hours in flight - I will need COMFORTABLE pants.

I actually made these pants for spring and summer, so I will be wearing them with sandals. I wore them this evening to "test drive" them, but it's a bit cold here for sandals right now!





(Last year I wore another pair of navy pants on the flight. I had made them from a Marcy Tilton pattern. The elastic was in a casing, and wouldn't you know, my elastic broke on the plane! Now those pants were SUPER full and there was NO WAY that they would stay up without some immediate repair. Fortunately for me, one of the flight attendants had a large safety pin. Lesson learned: never go ANYWHERE in elastic waist pants unless you have a safety pin in your purse!!)

Interesting side note - when I looked back at the pictures of these pants, I noticed that I had a migraine the day I took those pictures. (If you want to see proof, take a look at this picture and look at my face.) Interestingly enough, I also have a migraine in today's pictures. Fortunately, not as bad as the one in the prior pictures!






The elastic in these pants is stitched all the way around, so even if the elastic did break, they would only loosen up a very little bit.


Next up will be another skirt. I will be wearing nothing but skirts in Uganda. The main reason is that that is what the women there wear. Another reason is that they are cooler than pants. Of course, the most important reason is that out in the villages they only have "squatty potties" Much easier to manage in a skirt!

The Oxford Pant

Lately I have been having a facination with Loes Hinse patterns. I've made a few things like the Capri Jacket, Bergman Blouse, Marseilles shirt, New York Dress, and a couple of others. These were all made a couple of years ago, so it's been awhile since I've made a LH pattern.






I've been wanting some elastic waist pants that do not look like pajama bottoms. My rheumatoid arthritis has been acting up lately, and when it does, snaps and buttons are almost impossible to deal with.

I've been looking at the Loes Hinse patterns lately (including Textile Studio patterns). These are the Oxford Pant. I still wasn't sure that I would like these pants, but decided to give them a try anyway. When I finally put them on I fell in love with them. I had tried on a pair of pants at Cold Water Creek a couple of years ago that had this same cut. I loved those pants, but they didn't have them in the color I wanted in my size. I've looked for a pattern with this same cut - and now I've found it. At first, I was a little apprehensive, thinking that these might look dated or just plain unflattering. I'm so glad I tried them, because these are my new favorite pants. I have another pair in black on the cutting table right now!





One of the things I like about these pants are the pockets. Also, the sides are top stitched, and that looks nice. There are darts in the back, which help alleviate the "baggy butt" look.
All in all, I'm really pleased with these pants and think you'll be seeing a lot more of these! I also got the Cruise Pant pattern, and will be trying that soon.