Vogue 1517 and wool and the gang sweater

I have an entire outfit this time.  The pattern is Vogue 1517 "Fitted, lined jacket has side-front and side-back seams, in-seam pockets, exposed front zipper, front and back peplum, and four-piece sleeve. No provisions provided for above waist adjustment. Close-fitting pants have elasticized waistband, seam detail, and stitched hem."  This is a great pattern and as you can see I made both items.
 

The jacket is made in pleather.  I fell in love with the floral pleather from Fabric Godmother
https://www.fabricgodmother.co.uk/winter-rose-faux-leather-black/  It's still available and it is gorgeous.  Love the blush coloured roses.  I paired it with some plain black.

The jacket pattern is fairly straightforward but it is made much more difficult if you sew it in pleather.  I used a leather needle and invested in a Teflon foot
https://www.sewingmachinesales.co.uk/sewingmachineparts/feet/pfaff-teflon-foot.htm.  I also used clips and not pins.  You can't make holes in this fabric as they will show.

As you can't really press pleather I top-stitiched all the seams and the collar etc.

I'm also wearing the trousers/leggings from the pattern, and I love these.   I made them from ponte and they have a two inch wide elastic in the waist.  I added 1" to the crotch length and also an inch to the leg length (even though I'm only 5'4").  I just find these trousers so useful and will make them again and again.  The seams are top-stiched and this gives a much better finish.  I made a size 12, but have lost a bit of weight since then and they could do with being a little tighter.

Also wearing a sweater I've just knitted.  This is Wool and the Gang's Relax Knit through It Sweater
https://www.woolandthegang.com/en/products/relax-knit-through-it-sweater?taxon_id=673.  Now this is  a great beginners sweater.  It's basically four squares.  I knitted the smallest size, and strangely has a whole ball of wool left.

I decided not to sew the neck right up to the top, preferring to create an asymmetric collar.

If you can do basic stocking stitch, you should be able to knit this one.  Love the blush colour.

It's been a long time since my last post and there is a reason for this.  About a month ago I was made redundant after working for my College for 23 years, it was a real shock and threw me so I didn't feel a lot like sewing or blogging.  I also lost quite a bit of weight, which does mean most of my clothes are a bit on the loose size..  It's been a time of reflecting and thinking about how I approach this and what to do next.  I'm unlikely to get a similar job at my age.  I am thinking positively though; after 43 years of working at an incredible pace and in my last job with a lot of pressure, it is something of a release and having more time, which eventually will mean more sewing is great!

#burdachallenge2018 the drape top

Firstly welcome new readers and I am very excited to now have over 400 followers on Bloglovin and I will shortly be having a give-away. 


I'm a little late posting my latest make which is part of the Burda Style Challenge organized by Hila.  I posted on my dressform in time on Instagram but didn't get any photos of me wearing it ... so here it is!  The drape top from the January 2018 issue.

This is a sort of hit/miss make.  I do like a garment where the front is quite plain and the drama is in the back, but in this case I'm just not sure how wearable it is.  You wouldn't wear it to exercise in as the drape would flop about!  It was much more complicated to make than it looks.  I used some lovely bamboo jersey from Ray Stitch, which is lovely though expensive at £15 a metre.  But I'm really not sure what is the right fabric for this top because the weight of the drape means it is pulling at the back.  I cut a size 40 and thought it might be a little tight so added a tiny bit at the fold, and in retrospect that was a mistake as it had added a bit too much fabric around the waist.  I shortened the sleeves because I didn't want the thumb holes.

Making the key-hole and drape was a bit of a nightmare.  Burda have you make the drape as a closed-ended piece and there is just no reason for this as it adds an extra 2 layers of thickness at the side seam (which makes 6 layers), so I just cut that seam off.  You can probably imagine the weight at the bottom here (and the bamboo is quite weighty).

On the left hand piece here there are multiple thicknesses to cope with and there was a problem with the size of the facings and key-hole,which may have been my mistake or the pattern.  Also the bit of interfacing at the bottom of the key-hole still shows which I don't like.  Here are the insides.

You can see the problem I had below  .... definitely a dog's dinner.  So not an entire success, but I can still wear it, though in retrospect there were better choices to have made from January's issue.

I am much happier with my progress on making leggings though using Vogue 1517.  I have had a Marks and Spencer pair and have worn them to death, and they don't seem to make them anymore, so I am desperate to be able to whip up replacements. My first version was above my ankles and unwearable.  This is the second and almost there, if I can just sort out the lines at the crotch (any ideas?), but I'm pretty pleased and wouldn't wear them with tops tucked in.  When I make my next pair I'll give more details.  Just to say they come up big, I'm usually a size 14 in Vogue, these ended up around a 12- and there is still a little more to take out.    These are made in Croft Mill ponte roma at only £7 a metre and its lovely, really soft, though for leggings something less soft (and thus showing lumps and bumps) is probably better.