Hubby and I dressed up in clothes I've made

One more pic ... the official pic of hubby and I before going into the banquet last night wearing a bunch of clothes I've made:

dressed up in clothes I have sewn

If you've read this blog even just a week, you know what I am wearing: B5355 tunic in silk charmeuse (yes, I was petting the sleeve hems during the speeches) and the Butterick 5221 knee-length shorts in linen.

Hubby's shirt is much older ... the first thing I sewed for him last year.  It is Simplicity 7030 in an offwhite linen/cotton blend, and he still loves it because it is lightweight, cool, washable (he dripped chocolate sauce on the sleeve during dessert!), and best of all he picked out the decorative stitches and was able to ask for two pockets instead of the standard one.

I have to confess: yesterday afternoon as I was ironing hubby's shirt I was cringing.  Ye-ouch ... it looks so sloppy to me now, but almost a year ago I was quite proud of it.  When I remarked on this to hubby, his response was oh-so-predictable ... make him a better one!  He'll still wear this one to tatters because he likes how it feels.

So, along with all my other want-to-sew-now projects, add in a new dress shirt for hubby ... and about four more casual shirts that I already have fabrics for.

Better pic of Butterick 5221 shorts

Hubby is home now, and honestly, I really did just press these!  LOL  Meh, it's linen ... it's allowed some wrinkling.


Wearing Butterick 5221 shorts

 I forgot to mention in the previous post ... I have just enough of this linen left over to make a matching hat!  Now I just need to decide on a hat pattern ... and debate between fedora style versus a brimmed sunhat style.

Butterick 5221 view A shorts mirror pic

Got'em done ... finally found my motivation today (something about needing them to wear this evening!) and they took me less than four hours because I stopped for lunch before hemming and the waistband.  Since neither of my guys are home yet to snap a decent pic, but I still want to show them off ... here's another good example of why I probably shouldn't post up mirror pics:

B5221 view A mirror pic

Hmmm ... are those spots on my mirror?  Or paw prints?  Probably spots as high up as they are ... and it also looks like I'll need to press these again before leaving out for son's sports award banquet.

My only problem on this is at the hips where I graded from a size 18 waist out to size 20 hips ... if I hadn't been so quick to topstitch the outer side seams down I could have fixed it, but I was "on a roll" at that point.  I am pleased with the mock fly this time ... I also interfaced it this time!  No floppy fly on this pair.  I was intending to do a blind hem, but when I double-checked the instructions, they call for some funky regular hem with zigzag raw edges and slipstitching .... odd.  So I did a more traditional hem.

I think I'll still do up view C with hidden side seam pockets and the cuffs out of the black silk/linen suiting.  But first, I need to finish my ren faire garb before ren faire ends!

A plan for pants

Is it safe to post again?  LOL Most of y'all have probably read about Blogger's little problem this week ... but that isn't my only excuse.  Along with another flareup of sinuses and back, I was struck by indecision ... more than usual this time!  I started out with a fabric, a pattern, and a plan ... I have some mostly-black silk/linen suiting that I (still) intend to make into Butterick 5221, view C ... the midcalf pants with the cuffs.

Ahhh, but then Thursday evening, my salt-n-pepper linen started talking to me from near the bottom of my want-to-sew pile ... you remember this one surely!

the salt-n-pepper linen

Yes ... the one that made me want to cry last month because I didn't buy enough to make a blazer from it.  I had decided that this linen would make some lovely culottes or gaucho pants ... but it has piped up and wants to be view A of Butterick 5221!  I then wiffle-waffled over adding side seam pockets, but this morning it occurred to me I want to conserve my scraps and make a matching hat, since this linen is beefy enough to pull it off with style.  While moving the charmeuse scraps ... I am now thinking if I can get pants and hat done by Tuesday evening I can use the charmeuse as a hatband or trim ... it's probably a bit too ambitious but I tend to shoot for the moon.

Pattern prep is done, and I am embarking on a bit of a fitting adventure: last year's gaucho pattern fits very nicely through the hips and crotch, but the waistband has seemed a bit loose since I made them so I will try to cut a size 18 waist and grade out to the size 20 hips.  Without pockets, it's only 3 pattern pieces, one mock fly (which I did twice last year with success), a few seams and a blind hem this time.