Pants For Real People - Like Me

I've been sewing jeans on and off for a little while. I've completed mine and they fit ok, although I think I need to take in the waist a little. I didn't account for the stretch in the denim. Those STILL need to be hemmed though.

But I also completed Burda 7733 for Ed.

The jeans came out ok. Those too need to be hemmed! Can you tell it is one of my least favorite sewing activities? I didn't pattern fit him, figuring that he is pretty normally shaped. When he tried the jeans on they were skin tight in the thigh and the crotch was so tight it looked uncomfortable. The waist is really low on him as well, but I think it is because he has such a nice behind (lol, he's going to hate me for writing that!) and it isn't flat like most men. I'm not so great at altering pants since I haven't made that many, so with Barnes and Noble gift cards in hand (that we got free through Mypoints) we journeyed to B&N only to find that they didn't have Pants For Real People. So, off we went to another B&N only to find there that all they had was Fit For Real People, which I already have, and love.

We ended up ordering it online and having to pay for shipping. Why do I hate to pay for shipping so much? It seems to take away from the fun of using a free gift card. But, I digress. After reading some of the book, I realized that I needed to adjust the crotch by sewing it deeper. I also ended up adjusting the thigh area, although when I originally sewed it, I had trimmed the seam allowances (which I shouldn't have done in the first place, but hey, it happened) so I didn't have much to work with. Because of that, some of the overlocked edge shows where I came thisclose to the edge of the fabric. I don't know how long the seams will last on this pair of jeans, but I can always sew Ed another pair can't I?

Once the jeans are hemmed, which I hope to get done this weekend for both of us, I will post pics. In the mean time I suggest checking out Pants For Real People if you are planning on making a pair of jeans. I really like the idea of pattern fitting, although it is a slow and time eating process, but once it is done, you have a great altered pattern to work from.

JoAnns (yes, I know some hate the place, but it is one of the few places to buy fabric locally) is having a 50% off sale on denim on Sunday I think, so we're going to hit that and I'll have another 3 yards to make Ed a better fitting pair of jeans. He will be going through a pattern fitting, of that I have promised (or threatened? I will be wielding sharp pins...) because I think we will get the best fit that way.

All in all I think Burda 7733 is a pretty good pattern. The instructions were relatively easy to follow, they include seam allowances and what I created looked just like what the pattern looked like, with a few topstitching alterations on my part.

Now I just need to work on that topstitching...

Thrift Store Fabric and Current Project

This is the latest acquisition from Savers (thrift store)


One yard of the butterflies for 99 cents and about 2 1/2 yards of the funky orange retro stretch twill for $2.99. The orange print just screamed to me to buy it, though I am NOT a fan of orange at all. But, look at that pattern! So funky! I was thinking a handbag of some sort from it.

My current project is McCall's 8107, princess seam dress, view G (the center one with the belt). I'm not really a dress person, but I figure if I go to the trouble of making a muslin, doing the fitting and then another muslin and finally a finished object that I will probably wear it! So far I just cut out the second muslin after the first turned out to be a size too big. Who knew? I should have started with the high bust measurement, but that hasn't worked for me in the past, so I decided to just go with a size 20 off the bat. I was swimming in the dress (what I hoped would be a wearable muslin). I have had to do an FBA on the size 18, and trimmed away some excess in the back. The book Fit For Real People was instrumental in learning how to do adjustments on princess seamed dresses; I didn't know it needed all that!

I hope this fitting and muslin does it; by now I 'm a little tired of all the pattern pieces. Thankfully it sews up rather quickly, even with the little inside out thing the pattern has you do with the facings.

Now, where to find a belt for this dress. I don't even own a belt!

Vintage McCall's Pattern Find

Boy do I love thift stores! I stopped in one last night and they had a lot of nice fabric, which I didn't buy because while it wasn't over priced, I wanted a bargain which some of it wasn't. They normally don't have a great pattern selection, but while walking by it this caught my eye:

So I snatched it up in a heartbeat and saw this one behind it:
Not that I am either bust size (guess higher. No, higher!) but someday I will either be a size 14 (quit laughing) or I will learn how to grade a pattern, which is beyond my abilities right now. Of course I could also turn into an obsessive pattern collector and just buy patterns willy nilly. That is something I'm debating on...since it's already started. I think I have about 50/50 of patterns that fit and those that don't. Quite a few from the 70's, although these are the oldest I've found yet. But I digress; I think these are complete. One is certainly still in factory folds (6759), and the other I haven't taken out yet since I don't have enough room on any surface to spread out until I get my sewing area cleaned up (and a project completed). Overall, a great find for $1.38 total!