Friday, July 18, 2014

Sewing for L: a chambray shirt and some not so summery pants


Pattern: Oliver + S Sketchbook Shirt
Fabric: 100% cotton Robert Kaufman chambray (used here and here)
Notions: interfacing, white thread, 10 buttons
Size: 2T
 
Pattern: Oliver + S Art Museum Trousers
Fabric: leftover piece of brown corduroy, scrap of fabric for waist band facing
Notions: coordinating thread, 1 button
Size: 2T
 
Another Sketchbook Shirt (I believe this is my 5th!) and a new pair of pants that are perhaps not the most summer friendly, but well, we do get those occasional chilly days, and they should still fit so as to get lots of use this Autumn.
 
I had planned to make this Sketchbook Shirt shortly after I made L's Nature Walk Pullover for KCW Spring 2014 but it got put off until now! I made the shirt with view A sleeves, added button tabs as in L's linen Sketchbook,  and sewed it up with version B's band collar. I decided against putting a pocket as I wanted it to stay quite airy, with simple lines.
 
I made my usual flat felled seams which were a pleasure to sew (yay for cooperative fabric!) and so satisfying to look at once finished, especially knowing that it makes for a sturdy shirt. These Sketchbook shirts get worn several times a week!
 
I really surprised myself during the making of the shirt by finding myself really, and I mean really, enjoying the process of blindstitching the collar down. I'm really looking forward to having more handsewing to do!
 
The pants were a bit of an experiment. I had pulled out a bunch of fabrics that could potentially look nice with L's newly made chambray shirt and asked my husband to pick out the one he liked best. He came up with a small piece of brown corduroy. I believe it was about 75cm long with all sorts of weird shapes and cuts into it. Challenge! I was able to make it work with the nap always in the same direction but I did have to encroach on the seam allowances in a few places, which I had to keep in mind for later while sewing.
 
I modified the front pockets because I found that in the first two versions of the Art Museum Trousers I made last year (not blogged), the pockets gaped quite a bit. I rounded out the pockets and I also chose to apply patch pockets to the back instead of welt pockets for a more relaxed look. The patch pockets I used came from the Fieldtrip Cargo Pants pattern, also by Oliver + S. I particularly like the patch pockets on these! (The pockets are lined up even though they don't look it in the picture.)
 
I finished most of the seams with flat felled seams again because these are going to get a lot of active wear! Everything was really smooth to sew and I once again did a narrow line of stitching at the top of the waistband to prevent the elastic from twisting. The only part I didn't enjoy, as usual, was putting the elastic in. Ugh, bodkin, please hold onto the elastic!
 
My husband was really surprised when I showed him the finished pants and asked me if I had really sewn them up from that small piece of fabric or had I rather gone out and bought them. I'll take that as a compliment and I must say that little L looks adorable in his new outfit and as usual, I'm so glad to see that they work perfectly for him, lettting him move, stretch, jump and who knows what to his heart's content!
 
I'm ready for more sewing for L with Kid's Clothes Week Summer 2014 edition right around the corner and I look forward to seeing everyone's amazing projects!

2 comments:

  1. What a lovely outfit! I just love those pants and doing patch pockets rather than welt. I'll be sewing something similar this fall me thinks ;). Oh and your personal challenge to eek out a garment from too little fabric is something I get a thrill from doing too. So satisfying!

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    1. Thank you! I really like the way the pants turned out and they fit him nicely. I'll definitely be doing patch pockets again for similar pants later on this year. I look forward to seeing what you make! It really is so satisfying being able to use the fabric up until there is practically nothing left!

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