Just more Jutlands

Those camouflage cargo pants I made for P with the stretch drill from Drapers Fabrics and the Thread Theory Jutland pattern went down a treat!

He was very happy for me to suggest an immediate repeat using the other colourway of the fabric.

It's the same size 30 pattern with elastic added to the waistband from the under the front belt loops.

Only this time we raised the cargo pockets up the leg by 2" - they do seem quite knee high even on the pattern model. Although this kid can pretty much touch his knees without bending (monkey arms!) that seemed awkwardly low even for him.

The other change was just to add 1" length at the hem. Not because the others are short on him, but just because it would be nice to have trousers fit for more than a month or two before they come ankle grazers.

The zipper was from my stash via Jimmy's Buttons and a navy button of the right size was easily found. They're not a quick sew with all the pockets and finishing, but they're super satisfying and look so great when finished.

With two new pairs of long pants that fit, I lopped the legs of these, older camo pants to turn them into shorts for summer. But he was still short on shorts. Ha!

Why not use this pattern that was fitting so well and just make some shorts with it?!

I decided shorts should be a bit roomier than the pants, so I split the front pattern piece vertically and added 1" width. Then, at the waist line, near the front pocket I took that width up in a 1/2" pleat.

I eyeballed the length and folded the pattern tissue up to where the knee patch reinforcing is usually placed and cut there. But I didn't get it very square and my inner front leg and inner back leg were not the same length. Once the shorts were constructed I just squared off the hem and so I'm not sure exactly where the length ended up, but it's perfect.

The fabric is a light to midweight stretch cotton drill from the stash and I was given free rein to do whatever I liked, so I chose a light, mustard yellow for the topstitching.

Both of us are really delighted with how well these shorts turned out.

Details:

Pattern: Thread Theory Jutland pants (View B)

Fabrics: Drapers Fabrics stretch drill camouflage and stashed cotton drill 9supercheap?)

Size: 30

Alterations: Added waistband elastic, raised cargo pockets and added length. Shorted and added front pleats width for shorts.

New camo cargos

I was going to share my Melbourne Frocktails outfit on the blog next, but I really didn't get good photos, and completely forgot to photograph the jacket at all. I'll have to iron the skirt, do my hair and start again. Don't hold your breath :)

Meanwhile, I made a new pair of cargo pants for the ever growing teenager.

I'd just measured him for another project that was a fit-fail, so I figured I'd launch straight in with this pattern. the Jutland Pants by Thread Theory. I'd made view A for Flipper back here, but for the kid is was to be the full view B cargo style

The smallest size, size 30, was for a 30" waist and 37" hip. He measured at a 28.5" waist at narrowest point, about 31" at the low waist undie level, and a 36" hip. I just made the straight size 30.

His all-time favourite pants have been the Oliver + S Field trip Cargo pants (shall we count the pairs?), and so he wanted the elastic waist of those, but also the zipper fly and button closure of these Jutland pants. Easy peasy, cause that saves me fitting the waist, I can just throw some elastic in. I used the Field Trip technique of running the elastic from under the front pocket belt loops and around the back, leaving a small flat section at centre front.

Going through those old blog posts had me discovering his first pair of mum-made cargo pants was April 2013 - we're only 6 months away from a ten year anniversary!

The fabric for these ones was a great find at Drapers fabric online store. Last year's printed camo drill from Spotlight has faded in the wash and is so thin, it's really very ordinary. This couldn't be more different. It's a cotton elastane so a bit of stretch, nice mid weight, not a real denim, but hefty enough for pants. It has quite a soft, almost brushed feel and none of the stinky printed smell of the previous fabric. I bought both this green and a blue colourway and have used about 1.5m for these pants.

I'll get stuck in and cut the blue pair shortly. I might add a bit of leg length just so they don't get outgrown in an instant, and he's requested the cargo pockets get moved up the leg by about 2' as they're a bit knee-low.

Nine and a half years of cargo pants and about all that's changed is adding zipper flies and making pockets large enough to hold a mobile phone.

I still have to empty all the pockets of LEGO pieces before they go in the wash....

Immediate repeat

 Back to back. The same again.

I took him with me to Spotlight and we chose these combinations of flannelette bottoms and knit tops to make two more pairs of pyjamas.

The flannelette is quite narrow and of the 2m cuts that I bought I could only add length by adding so cuffs cut on the cross grain. They're the same XS Thread Theory Eastwood pyjama pants but with about an inch and half of extra length due to the addition of cuffs.

The T-shirt is the Style Arc Hayden Tee in size 14 again.

the new favourite...

I feel like whenever I make pyjamas they're declared to be the new favourites and better than any pyjamas that came before.

It's nice to be able to make something that's always appreciated and that I know will get worn to the point of being either teeny tiny or completely worn out.

It was the combination of the teeny-tiny and worn out state of the old pyjamas that necessitated these ones being sewn up for camp next week.

At his direction they were to be long, flannelette bottoms with a T-shirt top, and a veto on any character or novelty prints.

Both fabrics came from Spotlight. The grey flannelette for the pants is not the best quality fabric, but the yarn dyed knit stripe for the T-shirt is lovely. I'll have to go back and try and find another colourway of both fabrics for a second pair.

The pants are the Thread Theory Eastwood pyjamas in size XS. They were a lovely pattern to sew. I chose the mock fly option (you could have no fly, mock fly, or functioning button fly), one back pocket and no side pockets. I used a little strip of the curly edge of the t-shirt knit to make the drawstring

My only alteration was to sew two channels for 1/2" elastic with the drawstring channel between them as I didn't have any 1&1/2" elastic. The fit is perfect, but in the course of a week or two since they were finished I already feel like I should have added length!

I had planned to trace a smaller size of the Liesl + Co Men's metro t-shirt but the idea of dealing with a PDF pattern seemed like too much work. Instead I reached for the unisex teen Hayden tee from Style Arc which I'd recently bought as part of a teen paper pattern bundle.

It's a nice boxy shape with dropped shoulder and split hem. I added a pocket to make it more like a pyjama set. I really like the T-shirt on him. Straight size 14.

As I was tracing the pattern I found an error with the printed pattern neckband sizes (reversed order) and emailed Style Arc who responded promptly and beyond that, it was a nice sew. With this fabric I could have shortened the neckband a little further for a flatter finish.

Easy and super satisfying pyjama sewing.

A major project, and a peacoat...

The beginning is always a good place to start, right?

It's 2018 and we've finally decided that our dark, cold, double fronted Victorian house with the concrete slab-bathroom-kitchen at the back is ready for a renovation.... How to choose an architect? Why not with a recommendation and that good vibes feeling at the first meeting. It worked for us.

Three years later, and we've been in our renovated house for 12 months now. Needless to say we love it. 

This afternoon we invited our architect over to play (yes there was champagne and card games, cause you know, it's been a long lockdown and we may have forgotten how grown ups are meant to socialise...) and I gave him this gift I'd made:

It's our house, in the form of a peacoat:

During the long winter lockdown of 2020 there were plenty of site meetings, on a concrete slab, under a frame, and we were freezing. The idea of a nice wool coat had already come to mind. I just needed to find the perfect materials.

If you were inclined towards stereotypes, you could imagine what "colours" a Melbourne architect wears: There's only one, and it's black. I pushed the boundaries a bit with this very dark grey. It's a pretty close match for the dark grey external trim of our house...

I got lucky with the main fabric. It's from SuperCheap and is one of their wool/cashmere fabrics. It's a  great feeling wool, a lovely coating weight without being as stiff as some wool melton, and instead of being a solid, flat grey it has that tiny check look to it.

Cause they really are super cheap fabrics I bought two wool cashmere coatings sight unseen. One, the charcoal grey was perfect for the coat. The other, called Thunder, was perfect for the hood lining. No-one wants a slippery satin lined hood right? There's enough of that left over for another coat another day.

The thunder wool is a much lighter grey with quite a greenish tone and was really just a light version of the green colour that's used for a large part of our house. It also had a slightly brushed face which made  it ideal for a snuggly hood lining.

The pattern is the Thread Theory Goldstream Peacoat. A pattern that I've had in my stash since it was first released. My husband's never wanted one, and until recently my son had still fit in the Oliver + S School Days Coat (if you need me to link that one you've not been paying attention!).

I was itching to make it, and this seemed the ideal project. I gave away a bit of a clue in asking for my architect's measurements which he provided, in true style as a list titled "Anthony's dimensions". He fit squarely in the size M, but while I'd had him measure sleeve length, inseam, neck etc all as per the Thread Theory how to Measure a Man chart; the pattern only asked for chest and hip. I decided to be brave and just go with a straight medium and keep it a surprise

The coat is a combination of the two views throwing all the elements in the mix. I wanted pocket flaps and sleeve and shoulder tabs and the hood. Maybe this is where the project veered somewhat from the restrained you-can't-have-it-all-Shelley nature of the house renovation .

The lining was the real treat. With Lisa's help we digitised our house plans and turned them into a tileable repeat and then had Next State Print print them onto their satin polyester fabric in exactly that shade of green.

You'll have to take my word for the colour match as the sheen to the satin fabric means that if I hold it up to the green walls of the house there is no way a camera will happily photograph the two colours as the same. They look the same to the eye. Anyways, I've learned that building tolerances allow you to say that anything viewed from 1.5m with a bit of a squint is good enough!

To make the coat really warm I used wool quilt batting from Spotlight and quilted along the 10x10cm lines of the print tiles before cutting out the lining pieces for the body. The sleeves are just the wool coating and the satin polyester lining without quilting.

All of this was made much more fun by that birthday present to myself: My new sewing machine. Look at all that sewing space in the picture above. bliss!

The dining table has always been my sewing space. I can carry out my craft addiction but still feel like I'm part of my family. A sliding door means that the overlocker can come out and make a ton of noise and I can shut the dining room off from the living room. That's all the sewing space I need.

We were in and out of lockdowns throughout the year and sometimes I could have had the houseguest but not the ready made gift and then the gift was ready but the visitors were banned. Eventually we were getting close and I realised that, like every good building, I need my construction date to be recorded. Thankfully Kylie (of Kylie and the Machine) still had a spare Circa 2020 label in her personal stash that she could part with.

Earlier in the year when I had the wool in my hands and shops were open I'd zoomed over to Jimmy's Buttons where I'd found the perfect buttons. They were exactly the dark, marled grey I was after and even came in two sizes: large ones for the coat front and smaller one for the hood attachment and sleeve and shoulder tabs.

The pattern was great to sew: If you're so inclined there's a full sew along on the Thread Theory blog where it gets a tailoring treatment. This one is the fusible interfacing easy route. The only minor gripes were the minimal measurements (especialy compared to the detailed man measuring chart) on the pattern envelope and the lack of any extra lining length for the sleeves. I feel they should have a 1cm overhang at least, similar to the coat hem,

Otherwise I think it's a great pattern that can be a fairly simple sew as this one was, or it can be used as the base for a full on tailored affair.

It was a real struggle to photograph the coat. I needed a human shape to make it hang nicely. I had one that was too small and one that was too big, but it was neither of theirs to model. I think the kids were frankly surprised when I didn't insist on Anthony modelling it for me for a photograph - after all it's been the rule for them since birth!

Ever since finishing it I've been terribly nervous that the sleeve length would be too short. Just before wrapping it up to gift I got monkey-boy to try it on and when his arms fit the sleeves I relaxed! :)

I'm happy to say it looked absolutely perfect on Anthony!

Details:
Pattern: Thread Theory Goldstream peacoat
Size: M
Fabrics: Wool cashmere main and hood lining both from Supercheap fabrics.
Lining: Satin printed fabric from Next State Print
Buttons: Jimmy's Buttons
Shoulder pads from Spotlight
Label: Kylie and the Machine (out of print)
Amazing house design: Bloxas

Melbourne Frocktails 2019 - The String Edition

Melbourne Frocktails. That annual event where clever people from all walks of life outfit themselves in something they've made themselves and then turn up for cocktails, canapes and chat.

It always seems the perfect excuse to go all out and try something a bit different. And so I did....

With my "experience" of a couple of baskets, one hat and one scarf, I decided I could crochet a dress.

I never would have though to do that, except that I found a giant cone of Italian viscose tubular knit yarn for sale on String Harvest's Instagram outlet site. It seemed too good to pass up and once it arrived it was obviously way more than I'd ever need for a string market bag*

* although I have made one out of the leftovers - yet to be photographed

I found a free pattern online called Grace in Lace by Drops Design, which is the pattern arm of Garn Studio who sell yarn. I swatched my yarn and from memory I went down a half a hook size and it was pretty close to correct. I made a size smaller than I measured as I think the swatch was still fractionally bigger than intended.

If I'm sounding vague it's because I made the dress during winter. I would often find myself sitting up watching the European cycling on the TV late into the night anyway, and it was easy to be doing something with my hands. How long did it take? Certainly all of the Tour de France, and possibly most of the Vuelta a Espana as well.

I followed the pattern dutifully until I was below the part where the sleeves would later attach. Then I made my own increases and decreases, trying it on every few rounds. I wanted it to be tighter and more sheath fitted than the original pattern which is almost A line.

I also added more length in the mid body section so that my waist line detail was actually at my waist (it's quite high on the pattern) - I later discovered the downside of this was that I couldn't wear hold-'em-in nanna pants underneath as they'd show through. Rightly or wrongly I also decided to forego a bra. With not much underneath and Melbourne plunging us back into cold weather I was grateful for the venue having heating and awnings to keep the wind out!

Not owing a nude coloured shoe I decided that if my dress was $35 worth of string, my shoes could be a treat. I found these Charlotte Olympia shoes at the Luisa outlet and they are something else. I've nicknamed them my measles shoes as they're covered in spots and the heels are sharp enough to vaccinate someone.

And then, when I was visiting one of our event Sponsors, Torb & Reiner, I found this equally pockmarked piece of leather and decided I had to have it to make an Ida clutch (free pattern from Kylie and the Machine)

Back when Kylie was finishing up with selling kits to go with the clutch pattern I cleaned up on a sale of the hardware. Happily, I had the tan zipper, the D ring and clip and the tassel maker thingy all in my stash.

To complete the theme of everything beige to go with my green dress, I even found some little stone earrings at a shop in the city on the Saturday afternoon just hours before Frocktails.

So, you could be mistaken for thinking the only sewing I did for Frocktails this year was a small, leather purse....

Did you see the shirt that our photographer (my friend JB) was wearing in the first picture? Well I made three of those!

Lisa (my co-organiser and preserver of sanity) and I decided that we needed assistants for the door this year. Someone to help with checking in tickets and drawing prizes and then handing out the stash bags at the end. Lisa was suggesting some discounted tickets to people who wanted to come, but I thought we needed totally disinterested parties who did not want to be there! that way they wouldn't get distracted by old friends, pretty dresses or sewing chat. they'd just do their job... Who better than husbands! Meet our doormen for Frocktails 2019!

We convinced out own fellas and one other mutual friend (who's partner was going to be attending anyway) to be our doormen. Lisa's man prefers a fitted T-shirt (for obvious reasons!) to a shirt, so she made his top. I sewed three shirts: two for the doormen and one for the photographer.

We had the fabric printed by Next State Print, also one of our sponsors, and it's a cute little detail of our logo on a grey background. I used the Liesl & Co All Day Shirt and made Flipper (left of pic) his usual size L and the other two a size M.

It was quite a job keeping all three piles of shirt bits separate so that I didn't sew a L collar into a M neckline. I work on a square dining table. One place was my machine and the other three seats were for each shirt. I would work around the table doing the same step to each shirt before moving on. By the time I came to sew all 36 buttonholes and buttons my machine finally blew a fuse and died and the last 5 buttons were sewn on by hand!

I bought some extra Kylie and the Machine labels to sew into the guy's shirts!

While I was waiting for the fabric to be printed, and so that I wouldn't start second guessing the crochet dress, I also made Flipper a pair of trousers. They're a mystery wool blend from a local Vietnamese fabric shop.

The pattern is the same Jutland pants I'd previously made in a drill and this time I thought I'd line them. Something went disastrously wrong and they were way too small. He literally wore the drill ones to work and then came home and couldn't squeeze into these. I've no idea.

Anyway I took the lining out and then used every bit of seam allowance left to make them bigger. I also ended up stitching the front pockets closed as they were tending to gape. I'm less enamoured of the pattern as the instructions for lining and the zipper fly was disappointing. It would have you baste the lining to the trousers and then construct the fly - but that means all that ugly fly flap construction ends up visible. I pulled out the Liesl & Co Hollywood Trousers for the perfect lining/fly instructions (but then had to pull all the lining out anyway)

I also feel that the pockets need some kind of pocket stay that anchors them to the midline fly section so there's no tension on the pocket opening. Either that, or I needed about three sizes bigger! :)

All that said, how gorgeous do these guys look!

I think they had fun, and having them there made the evening so much easier for Lisa and I. Although, with 150 guests I still don't feel like I managed to chat to even a tiny portion of the crowd, and those I did chat to I was so busy talking I failed to notice their outfits. I'm only now catching up through all the pictures I'm seeing on the #melbournefrocktails Instagram page. Thank heavens for our photographer!

And then the guests arrived! There are so many wonderful photos, but similar to last year there were lots of lovely blue/greens, so we all piled in for a picture. The backdrop at the Hophaus bar was just too good!