Black Cashmere Knitted Jumper and Grey Wool Smart Pants

 Well, this is an 18 months work project! And it ended up great! I bought this cashmere yarn in Helsinki, back in the 2023 summer. It is lace thin, black and very expensive (80 € total). I decided to knit the Sunday Tee pattern, which I found in the same shop, Snurre. 

I started knitting that same august, using 3.5 mm needles to make it nearer the gauge in the pattern. At the beginning, I used circular needles, but the yarn kept breaking, since it was so thin and soft, so I had to make all the yoke and sleeves with double pointed needles. It has been tiresome and tiring for my eyes, but finally I have a wonderful cashmere light, soft and warm jumper. 

I made some ladders in the yoke, and then in the sleeves I was taking one more stitch each round to prevent them, so I got spiralling lines instead, but everything looked fantastic after I steam blocked it. 

When I was in the final stages of knitting it, I bought this grey wool in Barcelona and I made these great smart pants to wear them with my cashmere jersey. I used the same pattern from Cadwallader and Mckinnon book again, and this is my fifth rendition of it. This time, I made the wide leg version, leaving the pockets as open are they originally are. I have made a definitive modification of pockets for next time closing them 2 cm at the top, leaving the bottom as it is and drawing the line connecting bottom and new top. 

I decided to line the back of the waistband, and also the upper part of the  trousers, till the knee, with a soft satin lining. They feel great to the skin. I also used a hidden metal big, flat hook instead of a button, it makes them smarter. I love wearing them, I feel smart and comfortable. They also look great with my black satin silk shirt. 

RAVELRY

Black Interlock Cotton Twisted Dress

This black cotton interlock comes from Guthrie & Ghani shop in Birmingham. They have a great fabric selection, and although they are quite expensive, it is kid of OK if one saves the shipping costs. We had a gig in the very same street, so I could not go! And I spent too much money there, of course.

 

Well, among other fabrics, I bought this interlock. I love interlock, I think it is the coolest fabric, specially black. I can always imagine new interlock designs, like this twisted dress. I saw it online, somewhere. The first place to look for a pattern is BurdaStyle website. If I find it there, and it is a relatively recent number, I can order it from my library for free, as was the case with this dress. It is in the July 2024 number. 

The engineering is quite clever. The fronts are cut in the bust dart area and one runs into the other, producing this twisted effect. I simply made it a bit longer, since midi dresses are popular nowadays. Also, I sewed the neck cut higher, which is a pity, because it was gorgeous with the deep cut, but I intended to wear it to school, so...

Well, all in all, it is really nice, comfortable, and becoming, but the skirt gets a little stuck around my legs if I wear it with cotton tights. It would be better with nylon ones, probably, but I do not wear them so often these days... 

Black Sill Blouse and Golden Pants

This was a planned outfit since the beginning, and the inspiration was the fabric for the pants. It is a polyester remnant given to me by a retiring seamstress (and thus, I feel not guilty for the polyester) and it is a gorgeous golden, patterned jersey with a great glow not captured by the camera.

 

I found the perfect pattern in a BurdaStyle magazine, and I made it straight away with no modifications, in size 40. It is perfect. As I've commented before, my local library (bibliobus) has BurdaStyle magazine, so it was a free pattern for me. 

I imagined the perfect match for the pants would be a silk blouse, so I bought 1,5 m of saten silk online at 45€/m. Not a bad price. 

For the blouse, I used an old pattern of mine that I love. At first fit I saw that it was somehow tight in my big boobs area, but I wanted to make French seams, so I made it 1 cm bigger in each side and no turning back. At 2nd fit, I saw it was still tight, so I made the (wrong) decision of making it 3 cm bigger in the centre button placket. I was very naïve of me not to consider the neck opening would result too big as a consequence, and I almost ruined it with this amateur mistake. In the end, I will always wear it with the neck unbuttoned and no one will notice it is too big, but it is a pity, because I know, and this is the last time I use this pattern. I do not understand how could it be small in the bust area, when I've made it 3 previous times, and it was great (and I have not put on weight), but I will not risk it any more. And I have a couple of blouse patterns I want to try. 

All in all, a great outfit, and I love it. 

Sports Outfit

 I always choose (organic) cotton to make sporty outfits, like leggings, shorts, tank tops and t-shirts, but cotton, let us be honest, is fragile. It breaks, gives, gets out of form. I love it anyway, but sometimes one has to be fancy, for example, when exercising with other people.

For those social sporty outings, I made an exception and bought some recycled polyester in Guthrie & Ghani shop in Birmingham, when we travelled last November. 

For the pattern, I used the rub-off method to copy some old leggings and a tank top. 

The result is great.

Black Cotton Dress Pants

 I wanted some pants to go with my black wool blazer and when I found this beautiful cotton in Portugal I thought it was perfect. Because I wanted them to be in the tight side, to make them in wool would not have been a good idea. This cotton has a similar shine and hang than wool, but it is softer to the skin, and it does not itch. 

I used again the pattern from the book Sewing Your Perfect Wardrobe, which has proven perfect again. I think that to find the perfect fit for a trousers pattern is difficult to find, at least for my body. It took me many many years and a lot of trial and error to find a good trouser patterns, I've been using commercial patterns, making them myself. Finally, it has been this book, which I discovered in a library in Birmingham, that has delivered it, the perfect pants pattern. 

The only modification I have mad, is to close the pockets, because I thought they were too open. In this rendition, I closed the 1 cm all along, but not they are slightly too closed, so in the next trousers, I will try other variations. 

An advantage about this pattern is that we can have three (or more) different widths in legs. These are the medium ones, but we can make them wide-legged or skinnier. 

I will surely use this pattern often, and it has made the book very valuable. 

Red Bamboo Jersey Dress

 I found this bamboo jersey in Chu Shing Textiles shop in Toronto, where we travelled last May for our honeymoon. It is soft and with a great drape and hang, and just the perfect thickness and deep red colour. When I bought it I was thinking about a wrap top, but having enough fabric, I could not help to make a dress. This happens often. I buy i.5m of fabric to make a top piece, and then I squeeze a dress out of it, because I consider a dress a whole outfit, although at the end you need thighs and shoes and a jacket...

Well, I made some serious (and successful) hacking for this one. I used the Joni Dress Pattern, from Tilly's, but instead of the twisted front, I made a wrap front out of the back piece. Clever, eh... Then, I took 100 cm of flare off the skirt and made it midi. I inserted some natural rubber along both sides of the crossed fronts to prevent any gaping. For future versions, I'd rather make the fronts higher and then make some pleats under the armpits, like in this bodice. 

Well, all in all, a good make. 

Blue Stripped Cotton Pants

Now that I have found THE PERFECT TROUSER PATTERN, I will not tire of repeating it in different widths, lengths, fabrics... It is unbelievable that of all the trouser patterns I have tried along more than 30 years of sewing, I have only now found one that feels right. Amazing. 

I followed the instructions for making the zip of the same book where the pattern comes from, which are thought for woven fabrics, but not jeans, and it is pretty good. 

I bought the fabric in Ray and Stitch. I was disappointed when it arrives, because I thought it would be thicker than it actually was, but anyway, I decided to make some pants. 

The result is very good, although I have yet to add some belt loops, because they've become baggy with wear, specially in the waist. 

Now I think that I possibly distorted them with too much ironing (dragging the iron along and across the fabric instead of just taping it), because I have recently made the exact same pattern in cotton, being really careful to press the iron without dragging it, and these pants are far more tight. My doubt now is, if I wash this blue cotton pants, and carefully press them, would they recover their shape? We will see... Anyway, the bagginess is not much, probably nobody notices it but me. 

Pink Silk Jumpsuit and Black Wool Blazer

 Wonderful silk velvet fabric I bought in Chu Shing Textiles, a great shop in Toronto Chinatown. They made me a discount at 68 $/m, which with a 1,5m is a total cost of 70 €. The seller assured it was pure silk, but I believe velvet is made of silk (wrong side) and viscose (right side)... I guess I'll never know. 

I bought it with the idea of making a dress, but I kept wondering about the tights I would wear... Finally, I found a woven jumpsuit pattern in an old Patrones magazine, and I thought it would be perfect if I could squeeze it into 1,5 m of fabric. With the old trick of making an addition to the back crotch area, I could make it. I had doubts about the quality of the pattern, and I previously made a toile, Then, I realized it was very short in the crotch area. I elongated the back crotch 5 cm! And I also cut both back and front crotch lines 2 cm lower. Such huge mistakes in a pattern, what a disaster. Patrones magazine is not reliable in pattern construction, as I've experienced many times. I will throw them all away. Regarding the pattern magazines I have available here, BurdaStyle is to be trusted, and they have it in my local library.  

Well, I am not sure about the result. I could wear it in the school Christmas festival (some extravaganza is expected there...) with this great black blazer, but I cannot imagine any more situations where I can wear it. The result did not meet my high expectations.

In only two weeks time, and me being very busy in general, I had to manage to make this black wool blazer to dignify the Pink Panther Jumpsuit.

I found a great pattern in Burda's website, and I bought it for 5€, because I plan to use it again. I like it because it is quite fitted, and it has vertical underbust darts, going up from the pockets. Revers and collar are small and elegant, and as usual with Burda patterns, has a superb sleeve. I tried to make all the steps as carefully as possible, but the short deadline and the fact that I do not completely master the tailoring techniques might have caused this blazer not to be perfect. Very nice, yes, but I have way to learn and to improve as a seamstress, specially when sewing with wool. Wool is difficult because it is usually difficult to press, and that complicates tailoring. In this case, though, this fabric from Ribes i Casals behaved handsomely under the iron. 

Regarding that, I bought a book about tailoring that I am reading now, it is very interesting. Apparently, one of the mistakes I made was to move the iron up and down the fabric instead of just pressing it. That silly mistake completely misshaped some cotton pants I made some time ago, (more in future posts). 

I was not happy with the lining, neither. It was beautiful, but too bulky on hems. I hope it will improve with wear. Also, the neck roll moves, and I have to set it every time I put on the jacket, it does not settle on its own. And sleeves are 2 or 3cm too long. 

I will be more careful with all those issues in my next rendition of the pattern, for which I have a gorgeous blue wool. 

Black Denim Pants and Jacket

 I bought this fabric in Ray Stitch, online, last April. This same year, in December, I decided to make some wide jeans and a short jacket.

For the jeans, I used this Burda pattern that I have made twice previously. It's a little too wide in the waist, but that is easy to solve. It is tricky to find the perfect ease for jeans, since the fabric gives, and some more than others. 

The pattern for the jacket is mine, and that makes me proud, I admit. I used Aldrich's book to create it; it's the "Fitted Casual Jacket" in p. 128, but cut at the waist. And it fits like a glove.