I was so pleased when the fabric importer Loom & Stars asked me to participate in their event "shirtfest". If you don't know of them, you should definitely be giving their shirtings a look. They're woven in India and come in a wide range of stripes and checks. Perfect for Summer shirts (and PJs, I [...]
OK. Work continues on my "Covid 19 Blazer". When I left off I was talking about fitting issues. Namely, my curved upper back, and how I address that. This happens with just about every pattern. The center back seam is quite straight, which makes the collar pull away from my neck. It looks bad, and [...]
After weeks of procrastinating I jumped into the muslin phase, and it didn't take long to figure out that I've got my hands full with this pattern. There were some pretty glaring problems right out of the envelope. So I decided to do some "preemptive" adjustments. First off, the center back seam is ramrod straight [...]
Readers, I've completed the adjustments to my muslin. It's not pretty, but at least I have the satisfaction of knowing that what I thought would work ... will! So here's muslin #2 I added an additional 1/2" to each side of the neck opening as planned. Gone is the gap between the edge of my [...]
Readers, yesterday we turned our clocks back to standard time so I took advantage of the extra hour and got started on the pea coat. My English "sew-alonger" is well along on the muslin. In fact, she may be on muslin #2. Yikes! Time to get moving. This is the coat. A double breasted pea [...]
Things are progressing on the frock coat front. I altered most of the pattern pieces. Here they are all spread out. I shortened and narrowed the sleeves, lowered the lapel and increased the back by 1.5 inches. Again, if you haven't tried the Swedish tracing paper I encourage you to try it. I'm a true [...]
Ok. Getting back on track here. I've decided to make the cover trench coat from the Japanese coat book. It's been while, and I have to admit that it's been easy to drift into pre-printed patterns. It's been a treat to open up an envelope and, VOILA.... a pattern and instructions in English. But I [...]
I'm following my usual procedures and transferring my pattern pieces to Swedish tracing paper. If you've never used it, I highly recommend it. Armed with a roll of scotch tape and some scraps one can adjust and alter with abandon! I'm also using the book Classic Tailoring Techniques by Roberto Cabrera. The book deserves an [...]
After months of just looking at the pretty pictures it was time to pull out the pattern. Thanks to many web sites I was pretty well prepared for what it would look like. Still, that initial once over is pretty shocking. All the pattern pieces, in all 4 sizes, overlap each other in random directions. [...]
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