On a TNT mission

Every once in a while there comes a time when you really need a few patterns that can be made up mindlessly in multiples.

I have decided golf outfits fall into that category.

The golf clothes you buy, at great expense considering what they are made of, are not grabbing me. I have some "breathable" polyester athletic fabric I picked up at the amazing Northwest Fabrics when I was last in Winnipeg, but I seriously doubt if it is as breathable as natural fibres. However once I have the pattern side nailed down I am going to try it out. We will see. I have been around the fibre content block a few times in my sewing career and I am a polyester skeptic when it comes to hot weather comfort.

However since golf fashions appear to be updated only about every 80 years (although I note that Augusta will allow some women only if they have skirts that cover their knees - not that this matters to me as I believe I remember I am boycotting them for political reasons anyway-they don't have a good attitude to my people- and they are boycotting me for the reason I can't really play golf) it seems like a good investment to figure out some basic golf patterns that I can trust and churn out - since I am married to Arnold Palmer.

So I decided to start somewhere.

To begin with I used Jalie's older pattern for a polo shirt. Jalie has a nice fit on me always and this is a traditional tab front without buttons, a stand collar (to get around the taped neckline you usually see in facingless tab fronts), and a fairly pointy collar. 

Since this was a purely wearable muslin for me, and since it has been atypically hot here this summer, I used a a thin rayon knit I had that obviously would have been better served in a less structured design. Even though I interfaced both the collar and tabs the neckline is too floppy for me and I think the stand and collar are a bit dated and not quite the golfy look I was going for. 

Also this neckline is too low on me. As you can see my genetics are showing through in my chicken neck and boney chest - this is the neckline of my Prairie farm ancestry - this is the neck of generations of women who cut the lawn at 90 and canned vegetables when they were using walkers. But all good sewers.

You know exactly what I mean:

The patch is a terrible fail but at this point I just wanted to finish the pattern and wear it to test the fit. 

I have to say however that this shirt was super comfortable in the heat yesterday, and as long as I kept moving and didn't run into anyone who sewed I figured I was OK wearing it on the course. But of course am on the hunt for a better pattern to use for my purposes. I have downloaded another version from Burdastyle and will try that next. I might even have to go vintage pattern hunting to find what I need.

For the golf skirt I used Jalie's new Loulouex skort. I made it up once with just adding 1 1/2 " but really it was way too short - you have to remember that there is a lot of bending over in golf - so this version is lengthened by a full 4 1/2". 

The thing is of course that there is a panel in the front that is straight and the sides and back are essentially a circle. In a short skirt this is cute, but I think when lengthened this is maybe a bit much. However since this is a knit garment and so fast and easy to sew it is worth some pattern adaption.

I am thinking of maybe slashing and overlapping that back piece to reduce the circle to something more A line. I am also not sure if it needs to be a little shorter too.

The pattern also has an attached set of boxer short things with a band around the legs and an interesting and very comfortable square crotch insert.

63 year old legs I know, purely shared for educational content

The pattern also suggests the whole unit be made out of a stretchy bathing suit knit but I figured right away if I did that I would expire in the heat. So as a compromise I made the shirt in a nylon knit, sort of a leggings, heavy swimwear with a matte finish, and the shorts in the same rayon knit as the top. Test wearing this was very cool and comfortable.

BTW since I was deep into just testing in this outfit I used the opportunity to play around with my new Juki cover hem machine. There are double and triple needle cover hems all over both pieces with both the needle side right side up and the looper side up in various places. Bit random but good practice.

So where this golf outfit quest stands is at the beginning.

I need to try new patterns and find some decent sources for the right fabrics.

I also am in desperate need for a good hat pattern. Sort of a visor but one what covers the crown of my head.

I have a large collection of hats but none of them are right. I have a big head, probably stuffed with too many project intentions, and I need a hat that doesn't hurt and shades my face well too.

Any suggestions of a hat, or golf outfit patterns, that I can make for myself would be most appreciated.