Birthday Pants

It's been a few weeks. I have been sewing, but haven't been photographing. But now I have a new make to show.

Today's my birthday, so these are my new cosy birthday pants. It's a very sewist thing to do, isn't it, to have a new creation as a present for yourself? Although these weren't really made to be such, they were just made this week because I needed them.

I made them over the last two nights so that I had something warm to wear in the Antarctic blast Sydney and much of southeastern Australia has experienced these last couple of days. In fact, this morning when I photographed these it was 3C, with an apparent temperature of freezing. But luckily these pants and the (not yet blogged) merino jersey top I had on were warm enough while I took pictures.

The pattern is from the late 1950s or early 1960s. It's Simplicity 4290, and is a highwaisted pant or short pattern with a side zip closure. I've used it before for my casual cotton summer pants. That time I made them looser and lowered the waistband, this time I kept the pattern almost as-is apart from lengthening the legs just slightly so the hem sits at the top of my feet rather than grazing the ankle. I wondered a bit about the high waist at first because it is very high - I'm longwaisted and the waistband sits above my belly button - but apart from it being a silhouette I'm not used to I am liking them.

The fabric was originally bought for a colour blocked dress I was planning to make with some remnant wool I have, but it turned out to be the wrong weight. It's a poly wool blend from My Hung in Hurstville. It's a slightly odd fabric, medium weight but with an almost fleecy underside. It's less scratchy than most medium and heavier weight wools and wool blends are, which makes it nice and comfortable. And it glided through my machine beautifully, which is always a plus.

It's an incredibly simple pattern to make, being just two front and two back pieces, two darts on each, a waistband, with trouser bar and zip to close. It's all very straightforward construction, and generally pretty quick. This pattern is vintage, but a modern pattern with a similar construction would be perfect for a beginner to making pants.

Although I have to admit I did have a little trouble with the waistband the first time around. My first go of stitching it looked terrible. The problem was I sewed it looking at the inside rather than the outside, and when I turned them right way around I discovered my stitching line wandered all over the place. And the one drawback of this fabric was it is terrible to unpick stitching from - the fleeciness makes it so that you basically have to undo each individual stitch, so it takes a bit of time. But once I undid it I was able to sew on the outside of the waistband and it was much better.

I'm not sure how much wear they'll get because they are warm fabric and Sydney generally doesn't get a lot of really cold days. But in today's cold I was very glad I'd made these.

The Circle of Top

So in one of Papercut Patterns' sales a few months back I bought a few patterns. I had planned to get some of their most recent collection, but ended up going with older patterns instead. This is the first one I've sewn, the Circle Top.

I love cardigans and jumpers. Honestly, it's a good thing I can't knit because I'd be wanting to make so many cardis. Overflowing piles of fabric and patterns are enough to deal with without adding a yarn stash in. So I'm going to make what I can with sewing instead. I haven't yet made much in the way of cardigans because I haven't found patterns I like, but this one is really good.

What appealed to me about the Circle Top is how cosy it looked. I do like fit and some level of structure in my other clothes, but I'm a big fan of cardigans and jumpers that can be pulled around oneself, sleeves that I can pull down over my hands, and generally having cardis that are as blanket-like as possible. This pattern being a giant circle with long sleeves basically is a wearable round blanket, so it's great. It can be worn with the top half of the circle up like a hood or down like a cape collar, so it's nice and versatile.

The fabric is just a basic dove grey ponte from Spotlight which I bought for this pattern. I wasn't entirely sure on how the size of this pattern would affect the drape, and I also wanted something that was still solid enough to definitely be durable. I thought a ponte would fit the bill well. And it didn't hurt that it was on sale. I chose a plain fabric because I wasn't sure how a print would turn out with this top, and the dove grey because it's nice and neutral but not drab. Although it does look a little like the killer in I Know What You Did Last Summer when viewed from behind with the hood up.

The pattern is rated rookie, and it really is. It'd be a great choice of pattern for a newbie sewist looking to learn how to use knits. Honestly, it took longer to cut out the pattern than it did to sew it. And half of the sewing time is attaching the binding to the enormous circular hem. Even setting in the sleeves, often really frustrating to do, was very simple. The stretch of the ponte definitely helped with that. but the sizing and shape of the sleeve piece was just right.

This was also my first time sewing with a ponte, and it was a good experience. I had previously sewn lycra and double knit, so it wasn't entirely new. And just like those fabrics, it flowed through my machine with pretty much no problems. The only slight issue was on the hem binding, which is made of three pieces then sewn onto the top. That means that at the seams there are quite a few payers of fabric. My Janome handles those sorts of things, but it does let me know they aren't it's favourite thing to do. But, as long as I slow down and pay attention, it works fine.

I really enjoyed this. It's a quick make, comfortable and easy to throw on with anything.I most likely will make this again, and probably experiment with something other than a ponte. I also might move the sleeves up an inch so that when I put it up on my head as a hood it doesn't fall all the way in front of my eyes. If I make a summery lightweight version I'll also move the sleeves in a teeny bit so that the seams sit on my shoulders, rather than just off as they do on this one.