The Peanut’s wardrobe is mostly casual and her needs are mostly play clothes. So even though I’m drawn to the dress patterns, pants are always in need. I had just finished sewing the
After-School Shirt & Pants by Oliver + S (with
the Raining Cats & Dogs top), but I jumped right in and gave it another go. I considered the ruffles of View C in the pattern, but instead opted to sew a sportier look more in keeping with The Peanut’s personality. To achieve this I used lots of high-contrast top-stitching on the plum-colored bottomweight. I chose thread in a pale purple (over an even paler purple option) yet it looks almost gray-white in the final product. Top-stitching can be painful for a perfectionist like myself to sew; I can’t help but see every wobble and catch. It takes effort not to go back and re-do it until it’s just right.
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| Still rocking the up-and-away model look. |
[
Now here comes the part where I reveal that I’m an amateur sewer with so much to learn.]
I wanted the casual look of jeans, so I made inside-out French-seams and top-stitched them down. When I went to type this up I realized that it is incredibly unwieldy to say (or to type) and that it must have a name since it’s so obviously a Thing. Or so I thought. After I finished sewing, I searched for the proper name and learned about
Flat-Felled Seams. Well,
that would have cut down some of the bulk. I almost want to go back now and re-do these pants with flat-felled seams instead of my clunky (both to say and in fabric) inside-out French-seams top-stitched down. Almost. Instead, I’ve been inspired to add the
Craftsy Blog to my feed to see what else I can learn.
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| Taking her shoes off finally stilled her enough for a non-blurry pic. |
Likewise, I feel the bias-bound seams are also rather clunky even though this time I finished them separately as the pattern suggests (instead of together as I did
last time). I ran out of the pale purple bias tape, and didn't want to lose momentum, so just kept going with turquoise—it’s all inside where it’s not visible anyway, except here in these pics for you lovely readers (so now I’m wishing I had stopped to get more purple). Anyway, I’m currently on the hunt for various non-serger seam finishes so I can fight the bulk.
The shirt is constructed from a lovely gray herringbone made even more fabulous by the fact that it’s a super soft flannel. I played with the herringbone, turning it on the bias for the yoke to add a subtle detail. I love my manual sewing machine, but I wish I had a really good button-hole maker. This flannel was begging for
contrast button-holes worthy of Sherlock. Sadly my machine and I are not great partners when it comes to button-hole making, so I made the decision to stick with tone-on-tone thread. Some day I
will Sherlock a button-hole or two! [
I just made “Sherlock” into a verb, go with it—if I can make up my own seam finishes, why not my own verbs?]
For the remainder of the top-stitching I used the same pale purple thread that I used on the pants. I can’t remember where I read about using two threads through the needle for a more pronounced top-stitch; if I could remember I would go back and thank them now. I didn’t feel I needed the double thread on the pants, but found it was especially effective on the soft flannel. I bound the seams at the armholes with bias tape made from the flannel—no loose threads to tickle The Peanut. I attached the yoke to the body of the shirt using my now-trademark inside-out French-seams sewn flat method. With that detail, these two pieces clearly speak to each other, yet remain neutral enough to be much needed separates for mixing & matching within The Peanut’s wardrobe.
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| Size 5 is still a tad too large; plenty of room to grow. |
I had a goal of two pairs of pants before another dress or tunic passed through my machine. Done. Now, I think I hear a tunic and leggings calling to me from my yet-to-be-used Ottobre 4/2013!
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| Digging for Hershey Kisses—she remembered from last time. |
Pattern
After-School Shirt + Pants by Oliver + S, Size 5
Fabric
Joann Fabric Sew Classic Bottom-Rodeo Cotton, Blackberry; and Flannel Shirting in Gray Herringbone, also from Joann’s.
Love
I adore the look that all the top-stitching gives on both pieces, even if they’re not proper flat-felled seams.
Note
When you sew a pattern a second time you should still read thoroughly and move forward carefully. I was sure I knew what I was doing and sewed the pocket linings on wrong (Step 1!). I'm always more likely to need the seam ripper the second time I do a pattern. Also, write down your model’s measurements: I remembered 19" for the waist, but thought that was the final length of the elastic I needed instead of her actual waist measurement. I had to open the waistband up to re-cut the elastic so her pants won’t fall off.
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You should really see all that goes into each project!
From my model preferring to wear washi tape on her navel instead of the clothes I've sewn for her, to the ingenious way that I’ve re-purposed my favorite sewing tool, a chopstick, into a spool pin for double needle sewing on my machine. Daily updates on
Instagram (and
Flickr) of works-in-progress will give you that behind the scenes view you’re looking for, and sneak peeks of First Tuesday Tutorials, too.
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