On fewer patterns, more sewing

The more I go to New York to see my son and his girlfriend the more I am acquiring good fabric of the kind that I don't want to mess up by cutting into it with an experimental pattern.

This is elevating the importance of the tried and true pattern for me.

Of course I am and will be using new patterns but I am getting choosier about them. When I have something I really like I am going back to the patterns I know will work.

In the last little while I have made a few things from old patterns and liked them, in fact they are part of my wear a lot roster in way that my "on trend" garments, after a short while, are not.

Here they are. 

The first was this plain T shirt made in a cotton single knit. Nothing exciting and if I make it again I might bring in the sleeve seam for an update, but easy to wear. I used this old but still available Burda pattern:

In addition to attached dog, note rumpled sewing shorts and jewelled flip flops from Florida (can't buy anything like that here) the old legs need no introduction or explanation

My point here is that sometimes a good old plain pattern is pretty handy.

Which brings me to my most useful garment of the season, particularly now back in the province where fall passes for summer.

The fabric came from Elliot Berman in NYC and is sort of a knit quilted cotton/poly. A sharp eyed blog reader sent me good advice on how to sew this and that really helped.

I used an old pattern Loes Hinse's Sweater Coat that like many of her patterns is somewhat dated now, bringing up the shoulder/armhole seam and bringing in the sides so it had a more current fit. Next time I will also draft a back neck facing or apply tape over the collar seam - Loes always has you just serge this but that shows when the jacket is open.

For closures I used big snaps I got at M&J Trimming and they turned out to be a really good idea because the weight of them helps the knit front hang better, sort of a vertical version of a Chanel chain at the bottom of a jacket.

My favourite part of this pattern is the shape of the collar, which is flattering but not too high around the neck so it lies nicely, and the patch pockets set into the side seam.

Such a nice pattern, now it has been updated, why not use it again and again?

A wormy jacket

Another high fashion shot showing exactly how my hair looks when I come home from the pool as well as my much amended version of this pattern.

Before I go to NYC on Thursday I thought it would be a good gesture to actually sew up next to last piece I bought on my last trip.

I got a beautiful wool knit there last winter and meant to do a cardigan jacket thing for day-to-day wear. It occurred to me as I rolled up only black knit clothes (works for the big city - don't think I pack on monochromatic and definitely not black thing when I go to Florida) that this would be a good time to own a packable cardigan so I make one up.

I used a pattern that has been around a long time - Loes Hinse's Sweater Coat based on the fact that pattern has acquired cult-like status at my local sewing guild. One of the sewers, who teaches hugely popular classes in embellishing this pattern, has made over 30 versions all of them beautiful.

I can't say I have had a lot of luck with this pattern line in the past. I miss the shaping, I miss the facings, I miss the interfacing and all those things.

But I always loved the neckline of this coat and the collar and the rest of the sewing guild has made one and let's face it I am easily influenced.

If everyone jumped off a cliff would you do it too?

Well probably. If there was sewing involved.

Here is my sweater coat on the dress form - it looks like it pulls a bit at the back, that is partially angle but I solved that totally by doing this:

   

Yes that is a chain sewn into the hem - works well to counter-act the old sweater bunched up above the shelf of your bum look- I am quite sure that neither Coco Chanel or Loes Hinse had this in mind for sweaters.

Giant snaps for closures - I couldn't see messing with buttons and buttonholes in this stuff.

I really can't say that this is in anyway a review or accurate rendition of the pattern. This really drooped on me during fitting and I thought the shoulder/sleeves were dated, much like myself but that's beside the point. So this is what I did in addition to adding the chain in the hem:

• I added a centre back seam to shape in at my neck and at my waist.
• I took a slight curve in at the waist in the side seams
• I lifted the shoulder seam and cut it into the front chest about 3/4" to get a slimmer fit across my chest.
• I interfaced the sleeve and bottom hems as well as the pocket hems with a fusible knit
• I interfaced the collar

I transferred all of this to the pattern pieces, in case I ever use this pattern again, and if I do sew it again I will add some kind of a neckline facing or binding. I am not nuts about the way the collar is just serged on right to the band - in another fabric in particular you might see some of that serging at the neckline.

In short of sort of de-Loesed the whole jacket.

I do like it though. 

It weighs about 2 ounces and I think is going to jazz up my otherwise very black wardrobe, I am afraid I am going to look more like a yia-yia than a hipster otherwise, and it does allow me to get a bit of Florida randomness into the mix.

I showed it to Miss Scarlett, I was so pleased with it. 

She is usually a big fan of anything that comes out of the sewing room and I have taught her to say "Babs you're a genius" (actually I called her a genius because she, well she is, and she now says "We are two genius girls" when we are alone which I pretty much like).

However she took one look at this and said "Babs I don't like that sweater. It's got worms all over it."

She even turned down remnants, which she never does, because she "didn't want to touch it, it's got yucky worms on it."

I am writing this opinion off to her being three and not quite as sophisticated as I am, and certainly unaware of how much I paid for this stuff a yard.

Only two more sleeps and I am in the garment district and I am not taking my marking with me.