Refashion Friday: Remade Leopard Print Agnes Top

After the success of my first TATB Agnes top, I knew that it wouldn't be long before another sprang forth from my machine! This time round, I've really explored this pattern's trashier, Rockabilly possibilities. 

Pattern:

I used the same pattern as my previous version, which graded from the Size 3 at the shoulders and bust out the Size 4 for the waist and hips. The only change I did make was to implement what I learnt from the stripy version: that I needed to grade out to a Size 4 around the upper arm part of the sleeves. I fannied about applying, unpicking and the re-applying elastic for the front neckline gathering detail. However, I ended up unpicking it for good as the print is so busy on this fabric that the gathering kind of got lost. 

Fabric:

I bought this humungous, nasty-synthetic leopard print top (pictured above) from a charity a few months ago. Amusingly, the garment label tried to claim a hefty cotton content in the fibre composition. If that is the case, then I can legitimately claim to be 75% inuit. I intended to make some baby trousers from it but ended up finding something else instead which was more suitable. So this top had been knocking about in my sewing corner clogging up the place for months, until inspiration struck.  

Refashion/Remake:

I cut along the original top's seam lines to harvest as much fabric from it as possible. When laying down the Agnes top pattern pieces on to the fabric, I positioned the bottom edges 2 cm lower (see above) so I could use the original top's existing hem on the front, back and sleeve pieces. By eliminating the need to hem, this became a really quick make. I used my overlocker for everything except for topstitching down the neck seam allowance. I did that with the twin needle that came with my regular sewing machine (see below). It's my most successful attempt to use a twin needle so far! 

Thoughts:

This top is awesome, in a trashy diva kind of way. I'm wearing it in these pictures with my denim high waist bow skirt, but I'd love to make some stretchy black capri pants to wear it with. Although I don't like to think what I'd smell like after a day in that synthetic substance! 

I have plans for one more Agnes top project in the near future, then that's my Agnes-appropriate stash busted and I'll have to move on. I'm going to try the poofy sleeve version next, I'm excited to give that feature a try. Have you sewn the Agnes top pattern yet? Or do you have plans to? Which is your favourite combo of features? 

Leopardy Legs!

This week (20th - 26th April) I'm taking part in the Kids Clothes Week sewing challenge (as I explained here). I've taken part in two KCW challenges previously, and at the end of each of those I published a summary post sharing all the things I made during those weeks. I then wrote more detailed posts for each of the garments I made afterwards. This time I'm switching things around: I'm going to write individual posts for the garments I make as I go, and then write a summary post next week. I'm doing this for pretty boring blog post scheduling reasons; I've got a lot of posts I want to share on the run up to and throughout Me-Made-May. So anyway, let's get on with why we're here: I made a frikkin' garment.

Pattern:

I've talked about how awesome Ottobre magazine is many times before. I have seven issues, and four of those are proving particularly useful, my most recent acquisition, the Spring 1/2015 issue (pictured below) being one of them. 

I like to put Dolores in garments made from knit fabric so she can scamp around unimpeded. I've made sooo many pairs of the Playful Kitty leggings that it's ridiculous (and now getting a bit boring to make them), so I've been keeping my eyes peeled for a knit-trouser pattern variation. The streaky legs sweatpants pattern (pictured below) looked like a fun alternative to leggings: nice and roomy for playing in and certainly spacious enough to accommodate a nappy! 

The pattern consists of three pieces, a whole two pieces more than the Playful Kitty leggings pattern (!), but I tried not to let that put more off! It's still a crazy simple garment project: a front cut on the fold, a back cut on the fold (although mine has a seam running down the centre back because of fabric limitation) and a pair of ankle cuffs. 

If I had to find a negative about this pattern, I'd say it isn't the most efficient child's trousers pattern ever, in terms of fabric usage. I'd consider making a centre back seam in other versions in the future, like this leopard print pair has (see below), except the centre back seam was made for me in this case as it existed in the original skirt that I made these from.  

Dolores is a bit of a skinny-malinx, so I combined sizes: size 80 for the width, and 86 for the length. They are currently a bit big for her, but I'm pleased with that as I want her to get maximum use from them. 

I constructed them entirely in my overlocker, omitting the (IMO weird) topstitching detail that's meant to go round the crotch seam. The only bit that my regular sewing machine got involved in was stitching the casing to feed the elastic through. I recently got a new sewing machine that can do stitches I hadn't previously tried before, so I used a lightening flash stitch (which is really narrow but has more stretch-ability than a normal straight stitch) and was really pleased with the result. Normally I stitch my elastic round the waist with a three-step zigzag. That stitch has lots of stretch but because the stitch goes through the actual elastic, the waist size can't be adjusted at a later date without an epic unpicking session. I'll definitely use the lightening flash/elastic tunnel method again.

Fabric:

You know me, almost always stash-bustin' or refashioning where possible. And this project was no exception. I bought a large knit pencil skirt from a charity shop towards the end of last year with the intention of remaking it for myself. The original skirt was more or less a knee-length tube with an elasticated waist. I used the Colette patterns Mabel skirt pattern (see here for my conclusions on that), but I wasn't particularly happy with the outcome. Although pretty thick, the fabric was much more drapey than the striped fabric of my other Mabel version/s and the leopard Mabel came out wayyyy too big. By that point I was pretty much over the Mabel skirt pattern, so stashed the skirt away to remake into something for Dolores.

As I say, this leopard knit fabric is actually really drapey. The streaky legs sweatpants pattern calls for sweatshirt fabric, but I think this floppy leopard stuff gives the pattern quite a harem pants type look. The leopard skirt wasn't big enough to cut the front, back and cuffs from it, so the cuffs ended up being cut from a small piece of black jersey that I had left over from a big piece that became many other garments (including my black Dolores batwing tunic and 3/4 length sleeved Bronte top). I'd like to make this sweatpants/trousers pattern again in something thicker and more sturdy like sweatshirting for the winter, but I wonder if they'd be as comfy and if a thicker fabric would feel really bulky between the legs due to the dropped crotch style. 

Thoughts:

As you can see from the picture above, Dolores wasn't quite sure about them initialy! I put them on her and she kind of stared at them for a while, I guess trying to figure out what was going on down there. She seemed to get over them fairly quickly though and got on with her usual high levels of busy-ness. And me? I love them! I'm super pleased that a charity shop score that was then turned into a FAIL eventually became a fun and wearable garment. It'll take a few 'proper' wears (rather than this little test/modelling sesh) to see if this style really is functional, or if the bagginess around the crotch creates some problems, like when she's strapped into her pushchair perhaps. 

Does anyone else have any experience of putting their kids in this style of trousers? Any problems caused by the dropped crotch?

Leopard Print Jenna Cardigan

Using the forth-coming Me-Made-May challenge as a catalyst, I finally got round to doing something I've been wanting to do for ages: make a cardigan. I wear cardigans ALL THE TIME, usually secondhand fine knit type ones. I would love to start introducing some handmade ones in there as well because A) I want to have made as much of my own clothing as possible, and B) I hate relying on shops, even charity shops, for any particular type of garment because the joy of having complete design control is hard to give up once you've tasted it!

The first ever self-made cardigan I had was the infamous Saint cardigan (RIP) which saw soooo much wear in its lifetime. Back in 2010 I self-drafted that pattern because at the time there weren't any great cut-and-sew cardigan patterns out there. If the Jenna pattern had been available then, I probably wouldn't have bothered, so I was forced to exercise my pattern making skills despite my lazy nature!

Returning to 2015: rather than referring back to my pattern cutting skillz to come up with a new cardigan pattern, I wanted to have the thinking done for me this time. I already owned the Julia cardigan pattern from participating in Perfect Pattern Parcel #6's blog tour, which I went as far as printing out and sticking together. I then stopped to google other people's experiences of the pattern to help me decide which size to cut out. Looking at the images of many of the versions out there, I started to feel that perhaps it wasn't really 'me', and therefore a risky choice for the rather precious piece of fabric I planned to use. I'm pretty sure I'll use that pattern at some point, but at this stage, the search for a great cardi pattern resumed.

It didn't take me long to think of the Jenna cardi pattern. A quick google search brought up many many versions, ALL of which I loved. We had a winner!

Pattern:

Style options: It was difficult to decide which combo of features to make; do I go for hip or waist length, plain or gathered yoke shoulders, full-length or 3/4-length sleeves? It's still bloody cold and damp here at the moment, and my fabric is on the thicker end of what would be suitable for this pattern, so I decided to go for the most coverage: hip length with full length sleeves. I adore the gathered yoke shoulder detail variation included in this pattern, but I thought it might not be very noticeable with a fabric that has a busy design, so I promised myself that I'll try that option next time and keep things plain for now.

Alterations and fitting: There were some fit issues that I encountered, which is not a criticism of the drafting, more some personal changes that I need to make to suit my body and style preferences. I can see a long term relationship developing with the Jenna cardi pattern so I (uncharacteristically) bothered to physically write a list of tweaks and alterations that I'm going to make for my next version:

• For this version I cut the size 36 which related most closely to my measurements. I found that the shoulders were way too broad, it kind of looked more like a jacket than a cardigan, so I shaved off some of the armscye with my overlocker. Next time I think I'll actually blend between the size 34 for above the bust (including the sleeve) and the size 36 for below the bust, as the rest of the fit is pretty spot on time terms of dimensions. 
• The jacket-effect was exemplified by how wide the sleeves came out. I pinched out and shaved 2 cm off the sleeve width (so about 4 cm in total per sleeve) from the cuff to about level with the elbow. Next time, as mentioned above, I'll start with the size 34 sleeve and then see if further width needs to be removed depending on my choice of fabric for the next version. 
• The sleeves were comically long. Well, actually they weren't but they would have been. This is because I tried on the work-in-progree to check the fit before the cuff bands were added, and at that point I could easily have just hemmed the sleeves and called it done because they were so long. However, I really like the look of cuff bands, so I removed 6 cm from the sleeve length before adding them. 
• I didn't make this alteration on this first version, but I think there's something a bit extreme and angle-y about the side seam shaping, particularly where it meets the waist band. I'll address that by smoothing that curve and angle out a bit going forwards. I also might make a really boxy version at some point that has little-to-no shaping around the waist at all.  

Fabric:

Ah, cutting into this fabric was hard! It's been languishing in my stash for about three years, having scored it second hand. It was almost as precious to me as the striped stuff that became my 1960's Breton top and equally difficult to know what to do with. Spurred on by the success after finally using the stripy stuff, I felt it was probably also time to set this one 'free'! I'm pretty sure this fabric was some kind of sample length, but it didn't come with any kind of label or tag so I have no idea what it is comprised of. I do know that it's some kind of stable double-knit with a woven-in (rather than printed) leopard print design and has a really lovely, soft feel. 

This fabric could have become many things, but seeing as I wear cardigans every day it made so much sense to use it for that purpose. It would be a real shame to make this fabric into a garment that doesn't get worn hardly ever so it isn't enjoyed to the fullest.

Thoughts:

I haven't worn this cardigan yet but I'm pleased to have it in my arsenal. Me-Made-May will help me figure out how to incorporate it into my current wardrobe and which outfits I feel it works best in. I'm excited to use this pattern again, and my head is brimming with ideas for it, like adding piping round the shoulder yoke when I make that version, or making a must wider button stand to use some of the epic larger buttons in my stash. Boringly, I had to buy the plain back buttons that feature on this leopard print version, as I don't have many sets of eight or more buttons.

What about you? Are you in the throws or on the brink of a long-term relationship with a particular sewing pattern? Hmm, maybe this'll be my One Week One Pattern contender next time...