Yet Another Amateur Interest! XD

[leene_chan]

I've grown tired of sewing doll clothes lately, so I decided to try my hand at human garments. It took me two evenings to make these flannel pajama pants. I used a Kwik-Sew pattern designed for beginners. I didn't do a great job matching up the plaid (neither did whoever sewed my storebought pajama pants, but that's no excuse!)...but they are extremely comfortable. And pink.

The finished length was supposed to be 29 inches, but my inseam is a mere 27...::sobs:: I shortened these by two inches and they're still pretty long. I'm fairly petite but there was no way in hell I was giving these a 24 inch waist. I like my pants big and sloppy. I ended up making the medium size, and the waist fit perfectly. O_O

My maternal grandmother was an accomplished seamstress. She even made my mother's wedding gown, which is so tiny I can probably only fit my hand inside. My mother claims she sewed her entire wardrobe when she was growing up. She was always well-dressed (even though she hated that she couldn't have jeans) in spite of the fact that her parents' annual income was $6,000 a year.

I don't know if sewing is the affordable enterprise it used to be. These pants cost $25 to make. That's not terrible, but I'm sure you can buy much cheaper pajama pants. Still, the fabric is really nice quality. The main appeal to me is that I can shorten the patterns to fit my unfortunate figure. The average length of a petite pant leg is 30 inches. Because according to the clothing industry, 5'4'' is standard petite. :O

Comments

[astrosnik.livejournal.com]

Haha, working at Fabricland everyone is stunned how much is costs to sew these days! The real benefit is those of us with funny figure-shapes can custom stuff to actually fit. (And I find most branded clothing doesn't bother to match up patterns any more.) They definately look comfy though, I'll have to try a Kwik-sew pattern!

[leene-chan.livejournal.com]

I figure that I should at least try to match up the pattern, now that I know that cutting two layers at once is a no-no when matching plaid. I actually didn't try so hard when I was making a pair for my sister, and the pattern matched up better.

I think that Kwik-Sew is the main brand of pattern that fabric.com carries. That's where I've been getting my fabric so far. ^___^

I've been finding that for me, the Simplicity and Kwik-Sew patterns are the easiest to follow. I have three supposedly easy Butterick patterns that look more like intermediate to me! I suppose I'll get the hang of them eventually. ^o^ My mother said that my grandmother refused to use Vogue patterns because she couldn't follow their instructions. I wonder if I should keep that in mind...o_o

I've already used two different stitches and two different foots than I ever did in doll sewing! I'm terrified of how I'm going to handle buttonholes!

I hope that eventually I'll be as good as you at sewing. ^___^; All I can say right now is that my seams are straight....

[astrosnik.livejournal.com]

Haha, that's the most important part. I use a lot of Simplicity and New Look patterns. Butterick and McCalls tend to be oversized because they allow a lot of "ease", and Vogue patterns for some reason are still sized using their original body proportions, so they're assuming ladies are wearing giant bras and have tiny waists so the fit is strange on modern people. I also like Burda patterns for fit if you can find them, but because they're European sometimes the descriptions of the supplies needed need a little "translating" and the instructions can be a little odd. Cutting one layer is always good with any pattern, but it's hard not to be lazy and try to skip a step. >____>

[leene-chan.livejournal.com]

I've found a website that sells Burda patterns. I definitely will look into them--thanks for the advice! They're a German company, huh...

I picked up a Simplicity skirt pattern from Jo-Ann's that doesn't look difficult. The problem is that it insists on silky materials like double georgette. I don't know if I want my first experience sewing in a zipper to be with georgette...I heard that stuff is really hard to work with!

Kwik-Sew patterns are printed on nice paper, but they are EXPENSIVE. The pajama pants pattern said to lay the fabric out to cut in two layers--I guess they were assuming I wasn't using plaid! I know better now!

I hope you don't mind me bugging you with questions about sewing. You've made a lot of really nice things. ^___^;

[leene-chan.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Sometimes it shocks me about the bad quality fabric and thread they use on commercial outfits even at the high end stores. It's going to take some effort, but I think it's going to be worth it to try to make some of the articles myself. It's fun to be able to pick out colors you don't often see in stores (like mint green).

[tsubasahome.livejournal.com]

Plus, you don't have to worry about the ridiculously small waist measurements and huge legs the commercial ones have.