Tri-Climate Oilskin Parka

 Well, well, well... I am proud of this one, because I used three pieces of fabric I had in my stash with no purpose and ended up in a gorgeous parka that I longed for years. 

Some years ago, I bought a TheNorhtFace tri-climate parka, but after some wear, I ended up selling it, because it was too big on me, and it was made of down, which provokes allergies, and respiratory issues. Since then, I have been wanting to replace it with a memade one, but not buying anything polyester as a rule, this was a tough one... how can we make waterproof clothes that are not made of plastic?

Oilskin, of course! I bought some of it to make Carlos's summer rain jacket, from Merchant and Mills. I ordered three different pieces of fabric, because I did not know which one would be best. I used the thinnest for Carlos' jacket, and kept the medium and the thick one for future projects.

Then, one day I had this inspiration of using the medium one to make a raincoat, and using some insulating fabric I kept in my stash for more than ten years as the inner layer, attached to the raincoat with zippers all along the front. Thus, I had a warm jacket, a long summer raincoat and a winter parka for very cold weather. 

I used a Burdastyle pattern of a thick quilted anorak, but I did not keep it because it was too big a size ad I had to perform too many modifications, taking fabric off every seam, and then giving some, changing the armscyes, adding a hood and adapting the neck cut to accommodate it, etc. At the end of the process I had to undo these two, neck cut and hood, because I had made it too high, and it did not work.

I am very happy with the final result. It is very, very warm, and cosy to wear, and it is very becoming, even being quite thick, all in all. I am now really curious about the water resistance properties of the oilskin. Sometimes, specially in summer festivals outdoors, I must stand in the rain. I will put it to the test then. It would not be the first time I get soaked in a memade rain jacket!

UPDATE: It is waterproof! I wear it always in the rain, and I have stood twice under a downpour, with only the outer shell, because it was summer. I was completely dry inside, and the jacket was also dry in a short time after the rain stopped, it was amazing. 

Dark Blue Viscose Midi Shirt Dress

This is another chapter in my eternal quest for the perfect shirt dress. Not bad, but not perfect nor definite. 

I got inspired in my local shop, a lady was wearing this gorgeous black and green shirt dress and I decided to copy it. I found this Églantine and Zoe viscose print perfect, although now I see it wrinkles too much with wear. 

For the pattern, I used an old commercial dress of mine. I cut all the pieces separate and use them as pattern, elongating the skirt panels, and giving them some evasée lines, about 2 cm at the bottom of each 8 of them. I also made longer sleeves. 

I self-enclosed all seams and made the centre front button and buttonhole plackets, folding the central panel in itself. 

The result is quite nice, but not as good as I projected. The fabric was really tight, and now I have doubts about mores flared skirt at the bottom would have been better.

In my mind, a princess-lined shirt dress with a shaped waist and a flared skirt should be perfect. I have made many attempts at it, but I still have not found what I am looking for in terms of pattern and fabric. 

I will keep trying. 

Mitchell Trousers in Black Wool Crêpe

Gorgeous pattern in a gorgeous fabric... not resulting into a gorgeous piece of clothing, because this is not the best becoming pattern to my figure, go figure. But I do not care, and I will wear them, cause if I do not take pictures of myself and I do not look in the mirror, I love to wear them and the feel of them. 

I decided to purchase this pattern for this black wool crêpe I bought in Bacci Tessutti, in Firenze, last summer. 

I decided to make a smaller size, since the Ginger jeans became too big for me. At the end I had to give some more room to the waist, but they were perfect in the hips. 

Apart from the same old issues I have with commercial individual patterns (aka, pricing, arduous job of printing, cutting, assembling, never properly assemble, retrace without seam allowances) and all that, it is a good pattern. Instructions are pretty good, except for the zip opening, which I did not completely grasp and made wrong somehow, although it proved right, because I needed the extra room in the tummy area after all.

I also added self encased seams everywhere, as I always do, and bias binding around the silk pocket bags and waist facings. 

I absolutely love wool crêpe fabric, and I would love to make a black blazer with it, but it does not iron well, and that in a tailored jacket could be bad. 

I have yet to make some upper piece to wear with them, like a thick short-waisted knit. 

Red Leather Mini Skirt and Tweed Channel Jacket

This is my winter holidays start outfit. 

I had this skin in my stash since my last but one visit to London, I bought it in MaCulloch and Wallis. I planned to make a handbag with it, but I got this inspiration of making an eight piece mini skirt using my A long skirt pattern, after making my midi denim skirt. So, after some more pattern hacking, I checked that it fitted the skin and went ahead and cut it. I even had the red lining ready.

It was a nice construction process, with no problems or drawbacks, but after finishing it and wearing to a concert, I realized it was too big, and I had to modify the central back seam, taking a total of 4 cm off. All in all, it is a great skirt, comfortable and becoming. 

The jacket was totally inspired by the fabric. There is this new fabric online shop in Madrid that has great material, and they have remains from big designers. I have been looking for a red, white and black checked fabric to make a tight channel jacket, but since I try to use only natural fibres, I cannot find anything in cotton. This being cotton (with some elastan too- and it is annoying not to know the percentage)  a similar palette, and beautiful, it tempted me. 

I used a Burda Style pattern I had used before, in a jacket that I love. I took the neck tie off and made a closer neckline. I also made narrower sleeves and used pressure buttons to close it is the middle front. 

The result is quite nice and it will be worn,  I guess, specially at work. I do not like the cheap lining, though. Such a nice jacket, quilted and assembled by hand, as with a couture piece, deserves a good bemberg cupro lining, but I cannot find it in my neck of the goods, regretfully. 

Here I am wearing a recent unposted make, a cotton-licra bodysuit with a crossed front and a V-neck. 

Bengaline Tartan Skinny Trousers

Here I present you a winner! Becoming, comfortable,cool, practical, wearable in any weather and suitable for any of my numerous styles, these are perfect! 

My only regret is that they contain a 25%  of polyester, and that does not agree with my sustainable fabric choices... But if you want some skinny woven trousers, this is the way to go, I am afraid... and at least, the rest 75% of it is cotton, and that is rare for a Bengaline, which tend to be all polyester! 

I choose a BurdaStyle pattern that I love for its high rise and perfect fit with 0 ease. I simply took the bell-bottoms off and about 1 cm off the side seams as well. 

Bengaline is a curious fabric. It has the stretch along it instead of across, so, after some deliberation and queries online, I decided to cut it on the cross-grain to have the stretch around my legs.

It was a wise choice, but I feel it should be stated clearly in the fabric shop, as it can lead to disaster if you simply cut it as always lengthwise. 

This is the perfect fabric for this kind of trousers, and I love them!

Pink Cotton Pullover and Denim Midi Skirt

I finished this pullover in Wool and the Gang Cotton in June, but I have not been able to wear it until now, when is a little cold in my neck of the woods. I wanted to try a cabled pullover, and after some trial and error I decided to make three cables in the middle front and back, with some reverse stitch around them, and stocking stitch for the rest. I also made one cable along each of the sleeves. 

I decided to use again Ann Budd's book and free style my design over there, adding the cables and adapting the neckline shaping, sleeve caps and the width in general to the cables. To do that, I made two 20 cm samples, one without cables  and the other one with three cables, and being them the same stitches, measured them and calculated the shrinking caused by the cables. 

I am very happy with the result, and it wears wonderfully with jeans or the jumpsuit bellow. As for the skirt, I used my old self pattern for a long A skirt, which is wonderful and sooooo fruitful, I've made a lot of variations. Wait to see the short red leather one I made just before this denim midi one. I panelled the skirt pattern into eight parts and cut it along the middle front to incorporate the button and buttonhole closing. 

The skirt was toooooo wide at first trial, so I took a progressive amount of fabric off every panel, from the hips to 5 cm at the bottom. At the 2nd fitting, there was some weird shaping and I had to readjust it with a ruler, undo the eight freaking panels and sew them again. 

And finally, Perfection. It is comfortable, and very becoming to my figure, I really love it. It is a pity I will not wear it and wash it often again for the denim to age properly. It is lovely, but too stiff now. I bought the denim in Denimlab website, with three more pieces to make jeans. This denim is 100% cotton, with pink selvage, and no elastic at all, perfect for this skirt. 

Here I am in Sitges Fantastic Cinema Festival with my Liberty Jumpsuit, which has the same tone of dust pink, and it is just perfect. The neck opening was too closed, and I undid it when we came back, making it again with bigger needles, the same 5.5 that I used for the rest of it, except for the bodice and sleeves' bottom 2x2 ribbing.

Here is my Raverly entry. 

 

Masculine Rain Jacket in Oilskin

Last summer we went to a Bad Religion and Suicidal Tendencies concert in Barcelona. It was an open air venue and, as we knew later, packed with pickpockets. My love had a light rain jacket hung in his jeans' waist, and when the music stopped, he realized it was gone. It was a cheap jacket we bought 15 years ago, but he loved it because it was light and practical, perfect for summer nights. I promised him I'd made an exact replica, and here it is. The only thing, this one is better fitted, even lighter and nicer to wear. 

It took a lot of time and research to find the perfect fabric. The obvious solution for a waterproof jacket -polyester- was out of the question. I discovered oilskin, and a good source of it in Merchant and Mills website. Having never seen any in real life, I ordered three different black oilskins. Service was excellent, and when they arrived, I clearly saw the thinnest, softest one was the only possible option for this project. It was called "Soot Soft Oilskin", and I see now it is not longer there. What a pity, it is gorgeous. Light, soft, crisp, and wonderful to work with. 

I used a Burdastyle jacket pattern I had used before. Three main modifications:

• I closed the neck opening 2 cm all around, and finally I adjusted the front to my liking.
• I used black organic 1x1 ribbing both for neck and cuffs. The front zip and jersey neck combination was tricky and required some planing and expertise. I finally decided to apply some facing all along the front opening and around the neck. I machine stitched it all around the neck, and then baste it and topstitched along the centre fronts, with the zip between the folded facing and front bodices.
• I made the pocket bags rectangular and stitched them to the front bodice, making them as minimalistic as possible. I closed them with a zip. 
  

The result is just perfect. I cannot be prouder of this jacket. My love wears it everywhere and feels so comfortable, he does not even take it off in a concert. Great!