Gr6 graduation cargo pants

I'd be getting an F for the lateness of this assignment if blogging about a sewing job was actually a requirement. Instead I'm giving myself an A+ for execution, and a "highly commended" for my positive attitude in the face of an unimpressible tweenager....

Late last year, as the end of primary school was coming up, A put in her request for her "graduation outfit". She wanted to wear a black button up shirt, under her favourite pink jumper with a pair of yellow cargo pants.

Since she had zero chance of finding yellow cargo pants anywhere in a shop, she realised it would be worth her while asking nicely....

I quite liked the idea of making her cargo pants, even if I didn't entirely understand the outfit's appeal. In my head, the "graduation" was an evening affair and this was an unusual outfit, but I wasn't about to become the fashion police.

There's a lot of tasteful mustard shades of heavy cotton drills or denims out there, but she wanted a proper buttercup yellow. I found this lovely, soft, cotton drill online at SuperCheap fabrics and it fit the colour brief perfectly. I also clicked on their black, lightweight cotton for the shirt. The quality of that fabric is not so nice. If it ever gets worn, and then washed, it might soften up. But I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's stay in the happy zone where I'm enjoying making exactly what's been requested of me.

The shirt is the Liesl + Co Recital shirt, with the collar from the Classic Shirt. These two patterns are designed to go together in a mix'n'match sense. I made a size 2 as per her chest measurement but it's probably a bit tight across the shoulders and upper arms. 

I didn't have a women's cargo pants pattern and she was very keen on the Waffle Patterns Azuki workpants - in reality I think she just falls for everything Yuki designs when it's included in one of the awesome little sketches she does.

The pattern is fabulous, and the only quibble I have is that I bought and paid for the printed pattern. What that actually entailed was receiving a copyshop print out of the pattern, but still only getting all the instructions digitally. I'm a fan of a nicely printed instruction booklet, or a pattern in a packet. This was a bit disappointing and should perhaps be advertised as a "printout of digital pattern".

I made the size 40 pants and followed the pattern suggestion to baste the pants pieces together to try them on before taking them apart again and adding all the pockets etc. Kind of like making a muslin with the final fabric. Fine, so long as you're likely to err on the side of too big.

She wanted every pocket and extra option on these, and I think the final count was something like twelve pockets! I added some rivets as I went, and I suspect I even snuck a label under a pocket edge somewhere although it's not visible in any of these photos.

The only adjustment to the pattern was to take a bit of height off the back yoke, and bring it in closer to the lower back, and then shorten the waistband to match.

The little pouch bag, which contributes 3 or 4 pockets to the total pocket count is removable and attaches with press studs. 

She was absolutely in love with these pants when they were finished. She wore them dog walking and at every opportunity. It took all her willpower to not wear them immediately before graduation day so that they would be washed and dry and ready....

The day came and she even managed to talk me into driving her to school so she wouldn't need to put her bike helmet over her hair-do. I insisted on a few photos before we left, but something caused the happy yellow pants mood to evaporate. Since the blog is about my sewing, and to be fair to someone who was having a bad morning and who is actually quite beautiful, I've cropped her face out of all these pictures. 

For a much younger, and very cute, refresher on what the "death stare" looks like: try here.

We got to school in the car, only to see everyone else arriving still in regular school uniform. Nobody's mood was improved by this and my only suggestions were either; I would provide a note explaining she'd misread the process and assumed it was a casual clothes day, and I'd deferred to her as she's usually more on top of this kind of shit than I am, or, I'd drive her home, get myself to work on time and she could get changed and ride back to school and be late. She took the latter.

The pants were worn again, a bit later, on the actual end of term day which was a free dress Friday.

Meanwhile, I'd been informed that "graduation" was actually an evening affair (ha! I knew it!) and could she please have a dress just like the one that Adora wears to the prom in the update version of the She-Ra cartoon.

Are we all sighing deeply and counting to ten in unison? 

But you know I went back for round 2 don't you? 

Recital Shirt - View A

This shirt wasn't commissioned like the View B pattern test that I blogged about yesterday. But there I was, with a free evening and piles of fabric and lovely patterns looking at me and suddenly I found myself in a cutting frenzy.

I had some perfect shirting fabric picked up a year earlier at a Phillips Shirts fabric sale and I knew it would suit the View A of the Recital Shirt very nicely. And well, that was already printed, traced off and sewn through once...

View A differs from View B in that the front pleats are absent, so the princess seams are more apparent. Also the tuxedo winged collar is replaced with a regular mandarin collar and the option of putting in a ruffle. Otherwise the sleeves and back are the same.

This shirting cotton is quite narrow and I had bought an arbitrary two metres (or maybe two and a half from memory) with no plans for what to do with it. It was a very tight squeeze to get the shirt cut out and so there was no fun to be had trying to perfectly pattern match the back yoke or get tricky in any way like that.

But after my shifty, squirrely linen it was an utter delight to sew this perfect shirting cotton. I don't have a great close up photo of the pattern but it is ropes, hooks and pulleys and has a very Hermes vibe. I thought with the Hermes thing going on and the lightness of the cotton, the ruffle collar, while not usually my style, would be fun to add.

I like it open like this, but I have to confess that if I button it up the look is a bit too much like an old fashioned lamb chop for me. Does anyone still use those frilly paper things on the end of lamb cutlets or does that only exist in the lexicon of cartooning nowadays?

I think I may be about to show off the wrong sleeve placket... The other one, the one I didn't photograph, has a freakishly lucky bit of pattern matching where the placket is a perfect continuation of the pattern on the sleeve. You'll just have to take my word for it. Or you could invite me out to a fancy lamb restaurant and I'll wear my shirt and show you.

It wasn't until I was about to start cutting that it dawned on me that a vertical stripe pattern and the curved princess seams might make for a weird looking shirt. But I think it still works. In fact a finer stripe could look really cool with the change in direction of the fabric along that princess seam.

I've been quite generous in the size I chose here (straight size 12). There's a few months between taking my measurements for the first pattern test and getting this second version photographed and I've been on a bit of an eat-less-muffins regime. It would be an interesting exercise to size down and really fit this shirt using a fabric with a bit of stretch. But then I don't wear shirts much at all and certainly wouldn't have use for an ultra-fitted shirt. So, it would be an interesting exercise in fitting, but not one that I care to be bothered with right now.

I've got one more shirt to share with you tomorrow and then I'm drumming my fingers waiting for the new Liesl + Co patterns to arrive as I keep finding and buying great fabrics for making Flipper a shirt. I guess it will be his turn next.

Recital Shirt - View B

I was delighted to have been asked by Liesl + Co to help pattern test their new patterns back in May and immediately said yes. Then I set to trying to find how I could affordably get 36" digital patterns printed....

For the record my local copy shop franchisee quoted $98 + GST for a job that Creffield did for about $14 and with such expert service and understanding of the importance of not scaling etc that I was blown away and will sing their praises very loudly. Add in that they did it while I waited, and they have a coffee machine, and they have a coffee table covered in cycling magazines (possibly only this West Melbourne store, but hey). Heaven!

Anyway I digress. Oliver + S pattern testing. YES PLEASE!

The Recital Shirt is one of the latest offerings from Liesl + Co and it's a classic button up shirt with a bit of a twist. It has princess seams at the front allowing for easy custom fitting and comes in three different cup sizes: A/B, C and D

With no measurable difference between my upper bust measurement and my full bust measurement (thanks, I guess, to lots of push ups and back exercises and no boobs), I was in the  A/B pattern camp. And my measurement put me in the size 12.

Since I was pattern testing I made no alterations to the pattern before cutting and sewing. But, you know, I've worn this quite a few times since making it (without letting anyone know it was me-made or an as yet unreleased pattern) and I don't think there's anything I would change.

The back has some lovely darts that give it a nice shape, and while my size 12 is comfortably loose it doesn't look like I borrowed my husband's shirt.

Forgive my awkward modelling, these were the fit photos for Liesl and I just can't be bothered taking any more of me prancing around in someplace more interesting. Actually, this is pretty much how I photograph everything these days, so who am I kidding...

The View B has some wonderful deep(ish) pleats at the front giving it a bit of a tuxedo shirt vibe. My fabric was some $3/m linen from Eliza that I pulled from the stash and while I love it for a shirt it was very shifty and my pleat sewing is seriously lacking in precision. My Recital Shirt is more Jazz Improvisation than Symphony Orchestra but that's cool with me.

And it obviously wrinkles like a mother. :)

Hanging on a coat hanger after being ironed it looks really great, and the insides are lovely and neat too.

The method of attaching the collar was one I hadn't seen before and I was really impressed with how it turned out. Especially for the lack of any hand sewing! The same technique is used for the cuffs and once I'd got my head around how it was done it was easy.

The other new to me technique was a tower placket for the sleeve cuffs. Again, very well explained in instructions and diagrams. The sleeve length on Liesl + Co patterns is a delight for me and my arms which never seem sufficiently covered by ready to wear shirts.

The other cool thing is that the pieces of this shirt can be mixed and matched with the Liesl + Co Classic Shirt. So, if you've already done all the work on fitting that one around the bust, or just prefer the plain, unseamed front, but you like the back darts of the Recital Shirt, you can have both!

I liked this one so well that as soon as I found a bit of extra sewing time I cut another one to make View A. I'll show you that one tomorrow....