I want to wear these forever

What's that, you ask?  The curling pants are finally finished.  And even though they haven't been tested in the large fridge that is the curling rink, The Sewing Lawyer predicts that they will be quite up to the task of keeping her warm, and not gapping or binding while the curious posture required in curling is attempted.

Behold

I've been wearing a pair of cast-offs since starting to curl a couple of years ago.  They are RTW, ripstop nylon lined with some kind of black synthetic knit fabric with a plush surface.  These pants sport a gathered elastic waist and cuffs, and have side zippers.  Ick.

Last year at Fabricland, the great Canadian chain store, they had a rather nice and very beefy ponte-type knit.  I couldn't resist and a pant length came home with me.  In stash, a mistake from on-line shopping years ago at Wazoodle, was quite a lot of of black synthetic (supplex nylon) knit fabric with a plush surface.  It's softer than the lining of my RTW pants, by a factor of 10 or so.

I muslined the interesting pants from the December, 2009 issue of Burda Magazine.  Here's the line drawing.

The curved seam goes around to the back where it incorporates the dart shaping needed, and makes a little yoke.

I left off the pockets.

The biggest challenges in making these were to ensure the seams would stay flat and smooth in both lining and outer fabric.  I sewed the pants entirely on my sewing machine, using a 1.5x1.5mm zig zag stitch which is stretchy but thin enough to press open.

For the outer layer, I topstitched using the same tiny zig zag stitch before trimming the seam allowances.  In the lining, I flattened the seam using a 3-step zig zag, and trimmed the seam allowance very close to the stitching.  This worked really well.

It's hard to take a good picture of a really black garment, and the camera finds every bit of lint!

To keep the waist and fly front relatively bulk-free, I used a cotton woven fabric for the waistband and fly facings, and the fly shield.  I also interfaced the outer waistband to reduce stretchiness almost to zero there.

Pretending to skip

This pattern has a nicely contoured waistband pattern with side seams and CB seam for fitting. I used my fold before stitching, always-perfect waistband technique, illustrated here, except this was the quick and dirty (i.e. not couture, no hand-sewing) version.  After the facing is pressed and folded as illustrated in the earlier post, pin it securely to all edges, and simply topstitch around the entire waistband by machine.  I used the little zig-zag again for consistency.

A jeans button (hammered in, no sewing!) and machine sewn hems through all layers completed these pants.

They are warm.
And they are SO COMFY!
I'm ready!

Calvin Klein PJs

Bright red with fun jungle animals

This is fabric well aged, and used for exactly the intended target.  It's just a decade (or maybe 15 years) late in the arrival.  Now there's a bit more room in the stash containers.

Aside from the fact that the fabric was purchased in Europe (Grenoble, France, at Toto Soldes, which was lots of fun), the most interesting thing about these PJs is that I made the top from this Vogue Calvin Klein pattern (ca. 1979).

Obviously I took liberties with the sleeve length in the interests of night-time warmth, but more fundamentally with the attitude (suave, sophisticated) of this pattern.  Silk charmeuse?  Heavens no.  The Sewing Lawyer's Calvin Klein PJs are made of luscious 100% cotton jersey.  Printed with fun jungle animals (many upside-down) to boot.

In other news, the curling season has started.  Which means three occupied evenings per week, so maybe even less sewing than before.  Curling is lots of fun for young and old, and involves moderate exercise which is countered by immediate post-game consumption of the drink of your choice and snacks.  It also involves periods of intense activity (trotting alongside rocks and sweeping like mad) but more time standing around in a fridge-like atmosphere.  This will be my third season as a curler.

Why am I telling you this?  Because I need to make myself some new curling clothes.  The pants I have been wearing for this activity ... I can hardly find the words to describe them.  It may be enough to say that they are RTW and handed down from my son when suddenly he got much larger.  He wore them long enough to wreck one of the snaps at the waist, which has not stopped his mother from wearing them for two long curling seasons.  And for cross-country skiing.  They are functional.

Famous Norwegian men's curling team pants from
the 2010 Winter Olympics

I am determined this year to kick things up a notch.  If not my game (my skip can count on me to be inconsistent), then my curling wardrobe.

The 2010 Canadian women's team,
skipped by Cheryl Bernard

#116 from November, 2009

There is one older woman in my ladies' league who always wears a deeply pleated kilt with black wool tights.  It moves wonderfully when she delivers the rock.  Everyone else (well, except the Norwegians) wears black pants.  My old ones are ripstop nylon, lined with some kind of synthetic knit.  It would be nice to have pants with more give to them.  Since they don't need to be windproof, I'm tending towards some thick and stretchy ponte-like knit in my stash, which is probably a rayon-poly-lycra blend.  I made my bike shorts from it and they are standing up very well.

After leafing through my Burda Magazines, I found a few pattern possibilities.  So far my favorite is #116 from December, 2009. It has some neat seaming. The back is also interesting - the curved seam turns into a back yoke, and there are vertical seams down the centre of each leg.  However, I think I'd do some major pocket modification.  Perhaps modest zipped side pockets instead of the "Look! Hips!" flaps.

If I had spiffy new pants, I might have to make a new jacket too.

I made the same mistake ...

as Cidell.   All together now:  AAAAAARGH!

I made Kwik Sew 1680 (now oop).  

I didn't forget to check the stretch of the fabric against the little "stretch to here" diagram on the pattern envelope.  It passed in both directions.

I read Cidell's post and thought ... hmmm better check this so tried it on without elastic.  Seemed OK.

In the end (oooooh bad pun!!), it was too short.










My fix (no I don't think I'll be modelling it here).  Let's just call it a design feature.

This fabric is a swimsuit polyester made for Speedo but I won't wear this in the pool.  (The Sewing Lawyer feels it's her obligation to keep her personal trainer awed by her vast wardrobe of exercise togs.)  Inside is a shelf-bra made from the same super stretchy stuff (acquired in Montreal on PR weekend) that was used to line several sports bras, one of which can be seen here.

The fabric came from the Fabric Flea Market (you can find anything there, it seems).  Here's a tour through my FFM acquisitions.

 First, proof that this fabric really is Speedo, to the left.  $5 per metre.

Right, some regular nylon/lycra.  Same price (not as nice though).

 To the left is a soft shell fabric (I think probably Polartec).  It's a deeper colour than shown (at least on my monitor).  I have enough for a jacket.  Hello Jalie 2795!

This is a prize!  It's silk from Thailand, 3.5 metres for all of $25.  I thought it was an allover print (as below) but when I opened it up, turns out that half of it is a coordinating border print.  Need I add that it's entirely hand-painted?  Clearly it's intended for a specific type of use but I'm not sure exactly what.  Any ideas?

To the right is a lovely knit print.  I did a burn test which showed it is 100% natural, and washed/dried it in the machines without any change at all. It is definitely not rayon.  It seems too fine to be cotton.  I dunno.  It's pretty.  I seem to remember paying $15 for the piece (3m).

This one to the left isn't fairly represented because it's a really lovely deep purple rather than grey, in real life.  100% wool, lightweight and soft, $20 for the piece (another 3m).  A dress?

I could also join the white shirt sewing brigade with these two.  Pure cotton to the left (voile with more opaque woven-in floral pattern); lustrous cotton/silk to the right, also with woven-in pattern.  $30 for the 2 pieces.


Gotta get sewing....

More stretchiness

OK, I’m clearly running out of catchy names for this spate of exercise-related sewing I’m doing recently.  Here’s evidence of two more jacket-and-iron-avoidance projects.  I have finished my Champion technical T-shirt knockoff and made a pair of snazzy new bikeshorts. 

There’s not much to say about the bike shorts.  I used an ancient (ca 1989) Stretch & Sew pattern  which, by some miracle, is still on their website here.  This is the 3^rd pair I’ve made.  If (as I do) you choose not to make the contrast side stripe, you can construct them from a whopping 2 pattern pieces.  Not front and back, but front/back (no side seams if you so choose) and a crotch gusset, which runs from left shorts hem to right shorts hem.   

I add another piece – a casing for the waistband elastic.  S&S says just to fold the top edge over too-thin elastic.  I’m either very long through the crotch as compared with S&S’s ideal figure (which is possible) or these bike shorts are meant to be a lot lower-slung than I prefer.  This is also possible, though doubtful, given the date on this athletic wear classic.  

One of my few fabric-purchasing goals for PR Weekend Montreal, since I knew we’d be visiting the favourite stretch-fabric buying haunts of Jeanne Binet (Jalie), was to buy a good beefy black something-or-other with lycra for new bike shorts.  My other pairs are very old and tired.  I found this absolutely fantastic bottom-weight which I think is RPL.  It’s very firm in its negative ease – easily the most comfy girdle-like garment I’ve ever worn!

The S&S pattern also has pieces to make your very own “seat padding” which I have done in the past.  However for this pair I installed a commercial pad (all curvy in 2 directions, laminated foamy stuff etc.).  I swear my bike goes faster when I’m wearing these shorts, so mission accomplished.  I’m going to make another pair while I am in the mood and will have to make the padding myself, so stay tuned for a post on that.

The shirt is one of 2 I’ve completed (a third is cut out) which combines a very stretchy mesh for the dark grey side panels and under sleeve, with a polyester athletic knit purchased some time ago from Wazoodle.  

To the right is the completed PMB pattern which turned out just as I wanted.  That is, it fits exactly like the original plain T-shirt before I started slicing and dicing it, and its style lines are more or less mimicking the commercial shirt I was trying to clone.  For once I got smart and drafted .65cm (1/4") seam allowances like Jalie does - this uses less fabric and I can sew with my serger by letting the blades just skim the cut edges.  The tiny seam allowances make it easy to sew the curved edges without puckering.  

I used the Jalie neckline technique  and it works marvellously even with the rather non-stretchy poly knit.  The stretchy panels stretch when I’m hunched over on my bike, so that the whole shirt doesn’t ride up.  To jazz it up and get rid of the puckering at the seams, I used a quasi-utility quasi-decorative stitch on my sewing machine.   

Still stretching

It is hot here!  Being inside, in non-air-conditioned discomfort WITH a hot steam iron going next to me, wasn't my idea of fun, which meant that very little sewing got done last week.  When the temperatures dipped, slightly, I got started on my knit jacket.  But the dratted thing is complicated!  I'm sure it'll go faster once the fronts are completely done.

In the meantime, I made two more sports bras.  They are ridiculously easy, take virtually no fabric at all, and don't require the iron.  Plus they are more comfortable than most things to wear these hot nights.  And the thought of working out in anything with more coverage is just not too interesting.  If this heat keeps up I may make a few more.

Tonight I took an break to monkey with a pattern I made for a T-shirt, using PatternMaster Boutique.  This is a software program that drafts patterns.  However, for me the real value is that it has a CAD (computer-aided design) component called Pattern Editor (PE for short).  Once you have chosen the various pattern elements you like in the pattern-drafting part of the program, you can tweak it using PE.  So fun!

(edited to answer Gail's question below)  My goal with PMB is to develop patterns for true basics that fit well.  I used it to draft (with PE to refine) a basic T-shirt pattern that fits quite well.

To the left you can see the very plain-jane shirt I made myself from this pattern a while back.  It's OK but not very flashy, and also it's a bit too tailored (in a not-really-stretchy athletic fabric).  I ride my bike in it and I want more room/more stretch across the back.  And more ventilation.

I went prowling on the www looking for more flash athletic wear and came up with the very technically-named Champion double-dry vented burnout shirt, shown here.  The main panels are probably similar to the fabric I used for my blue shirt (100% poly) and the side panels are a mesh fabric.  I have more of the poly which I purchased from Wazoodle several years ago and some stretchy mesh acquired in Montreal at PR Weekend.


So far my computer pattern looks like this.  Those multiple lines on the front will go - I took several tries to mimic the curve of the side panel.  Once I like the lines, I'll separate the bits, add seam allowances, print it, and sew it up.

Stretchy stuff

For about 8 months I have been faithfully working out with a personal trainer.  I like to say she comes to my house to beat me up once a week.  Seriously, this is the reason my abs are in pretty good shape today; they were getting a little doughy. 

Up until now I was wearing exercise gear which had really seen better days.  I was a YMCA member in the 1990s and sewed a bunch of tights/leotard combo outfits for my step class (stop laughing!).  Time for some new stuff.

In Montreal at PR Weekend one of our big draws was that Jeanne Binet and Émilie Fournier from Jalie Patterns were in attendance, and would do a sewing demonstration for us.  Jeanne set up her Pfaff Creative 4.0, and BabyLock serger and coverstitch machine and talked pretty much nonstop about what she was doing, with Émilie translating as she went.  She had prepared 6 garments and partially sewed them up to demonstrate the techniques and construction methods needed for each.  One is a new pattern (to come out before the end of September, we were told) for a dress with two bodice views.  This pattern will unveil a new technique for finishing and binding the edges (neckline and armscye) of a stretchy garment, without using elastic.  Jeanne gave us the preview, and it is a really wonderful technique that produces a stable and  professional-looking finish and, best of all, you do not need to fiddle with any elastic. 

The next day, Jeanne and Émilie took us to three of their favourite stores in Montreal for buying stretchy exercise/technical fabrics - Suzie Spandex, Stretch Text and Tonitex.  These are all located on St. Laurent Blvd, north of highway 40.  I had been to Tonitex before but would never have found the others which are located upstairs in a nondescript building.

You may be able to guess where I'm going with this.  Yes, I purchased some stretchy fabric.  In fact, I sort of went overboard...

But my first piece of fabric purchased in Montreal has been sewn up, along with a good chunk of fabric I probably bought 10 years ago.  To the right is the completed outfit. 

This is from three different Kwik Sew patterns which I have had for many years.  The top is from KS 1995, which is actually 20 years old (ca 1990 or as KS amusingly styles their copyright date, MCMLXXXX).  The unitard is rather fetching, no?

The shorts are from another 1990 beauty, KS 2005.  Gotta love the heavily shoulder-padded T-shirt (not) but the tights are classic - and super easy to make with only two seams).  

And there's a sports bra too, which is made from KS 1567 from 1986.  It's very Jane Fonda. 

I bought the patterned jersey in Montreal.  It seems to be a sort of cottony blend and only has moderate stretch.  The rest of the outfit is some lovely supplex nylon/lycra.  I love this stuff.  It feels soft, never fades, and wears like iron. 

I used Jeanne's new technique to bind the edges on the tank.  Here are some photos.

First, cut strips of a jersey fabric - you can use the same fabric or, as I'm doing, choose a coordinating jersey.  The strip needs to be about 90% of the length of the opening you are binding, and the width is a hair over three times the width of the serged seam.  I'm using a 4 thread safety stitch which is about 6.5mm wide (1/4") and my strip was 22mm (7/8") wide. The strip is cut along the lengthwise grain of the jersey.  This grain is more stable and the strip will curl along its length towards the right side. 

Sew the strip in a loop with a tiny seam.  Mark the quarter points on the loop and do the same on the edge you are binding.  Then serge the binding loop to the garment, letting the knife just skim the edges without cutting off any fabric (Jalie and KS both use narrow seam allowances).  Ensure that the binding will curl towards the seam (as shown to the left).  If you want the binding to be visible on the outside of the completed garment, sew it to the WRONG side of the fabric, as I have done.  If you sew to the right side, your binding will be inside.

Smooth the serged seam towards the binding.  Then flip the binding over the seam allowance - it should just cover the stitching.  The last step is to fold the entire thing along the seam line, and using your cover stitch machine, topstitch neatly.  I hope you can see how this works from the photo to the right.

This is a wonderful finishing technique for knits.  To the left is a close up of the completed top.