Monthly Archives: November 2017

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Sasha trousers

husband is off waiting with Clara and calling me; haven’t I finished taking pictures yet?

Hmmm, I know how this seems; I’ve only just written a post where I say how I am busily focused on solely making things for other people, as Christmas gifts and then here I am popping up with more things made for ME… haha, well there is a perfectly reasonable explanation, and that is that I actually made these trousers a few months ago and am only just now getting around to taking some pictures and writing about them.  See?  Perfectly reasonable!

Pattern; so this is the newly released Sasha trouser pattern, by Closet Case patterns, named for the impossibly chic Sasha of  secondo piano…  Heather contacted me asking if I would again be willing to test the new pattern for her… would I?! well yes, of course!  I actually love testing patterns, I can feel like I’m doing something useful and productive and actually even helpful? one can only hope… Instead of the embarrassing truth that I’m clutching at any old excuse to nip into the sewing room and selfishly indulge in my favourite hobby once more, hehehe.

Fabrics; a blue stretch denim, thickish; and a thinner, maybe a bit too thin? grey-green stretch gabardine, both from Fabulous Fabrics.  Yes, two pairs!  actually the blue pair is really the first pair I made and is an earlier version of the pattern, the grey pair is my second pair and is the final version of the pattern how it’s been released out into the wild.  I really love my blue pair though so I’m still going to wear them  🙂

Pockets: the blue are in blue linen, a leftover scrap from my stash that was initially a toss out from my friend L; and the grey are in some the leftover floral from this shirt I made for Craig last year, and also some StarWars fabric leftover from when Cassie made some boxer shorts for her boyfriend.  Love me some crazy pockets!!!

Thoughts; so what to say? what you see is what you get here… this is a very nice pattern for a pair of very nice, sleek and elegant, slightly tapered, slightly low-waisted trousers.  One of my favourite features is that smart flat front which I always think of as vaguely menswear-inspired, rightly or wrongly; and I absolutely LOVE the menswear look on women.

Lately I’ve kinda been in the habit of having my trousers a little more high-waisted, but I do think this lower-waisted look does sit and look better when one has a little bit of a tummy.

The trousers are satisfyingly equipped with a plethora of pockets; four, in fact.  Two welt pockets on the back, I have to say these are super well-engineered, and intricately explained in the instructions.  I can see the sample ones have button closure under the welt, which mine don’t have so I think this must have been an add-on after the testing process.

And two slanted hip pockets, I absolutely adore these, they’re totally perfect.  Toss in the un-topstitched waistband/belt loops and hidden button and hook/eye closure, and it all adds up to quite a tailored and “formal” looking pair of trousers, perfectly suitable for business or office wear.

I mean, not that I’m an expert on office wear; but you know.   In my sadly inexpert opinion, I think these would make great work pants.

just imagine I’m walking into an important office building in the city instead of a blank wall…

Also, they’re stretchy so they are also perfectly comfy and fine for doing a spot of gardening…   We went down to our beach block to prepare it for bush fire season and the weather was a little cold… and none of my other “gardening” duds that I’d taken down were actually warm enough so I ended up wearing these all weekend.  They were awesome.   So comfortable! And practical!  Hardy!  I wore them to scramble about on all fours most of the weekend, pulling weeds, raking, and loading the wheelbarrow.  And going to the rubbish tip!  I lead such an exciting life!

obviously you can wear them to the beach too.

All details:

Trousers; the Sasha trousers by Closet Case patterns, stretch denim and stretch gabardine (pattern 1, below)
White blouse with lace; my own design from heavily modifying NewLook 6483, details here  (3)
Ivory/caramel clogs; made by me, details here
Brown blouse; MN 2004 (Sudley) by Megan Nielsen patterns with my own modifications, details here  (4)
Cream, cowl-neck tee; the loose-draped top from Japanese pattern book “drape drape” by Hisako Sato, details here  (2)
Tan low-heeled shoes; made by me, details here
Black high heeled clogs; Dimattino, from Zomp shoes
below; I’m also carrying my Kelly raincoat

1,2,3,4

      

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Lisa Carolina dress

Hello!

I have made a very special dress lately… actually I am super busy at the moment sewing up Christmas goodies but I have deviously made sure I always have something on the go for myself at the same time too, hehehe.    And I knew I wanted to devote some of my time to making something from this deliciously cheerful and sunny dandelion fabric sent to me by my dear friend Lisa, of Lisa’s Carolina.  Thank you so much Lisa!

Lisa has also made something for herself in it too.. . a Lotta Jansdotter Pilvi jacket.  I really loved how she bound her seams inside using a yellow gingham, and I shamelessly took a leaf from her book and used small-scale yellow gingham for the facings and bindings inside my dress too.  Thank you for this super pretty inspiration, Lisa!

armhole edge

skirt facing and pocket binding. and hemline binding.  gingham galore, in fact…

For my piece, I decided to make the Wings dress, which is the cover dress of Burdastyle 04/2014; pattern 108.  I’ve previously made this pattern up once, here; and that is one of my favourite dresses to wear, so I wanted to make another one for this summer.

 

I very much like this style of simple, fitted little flared dress, the “wings” have lovely roomy pockets in them which is just the most perfect arrangement!!  and I juuuuuust managed to squeeze my pattern pieces onto the piece!  though doing this took a little bit of placement magic… Like I mentioned in my initial review of the pattern it is quite boxy in the bodice so I slimmed down the bodice by about 3cm from the centre, and also by shaving off some width from the princess seams at the waist…. the design is more slim-fitting up top now but is has plenty of wearing ease enough for me, I think.

 

Also, I forgot to mention this the first time I made the dress, in which I did this exact same thing, but in order to avoid having visible topstitching on the “wings” that outline where the pockets are inside, I interlined the pockets with a light, white cotton voile.  The back part of the pocket, that you see inside when the wings flap open, is the self-fabric.

This little strip of gingham inside the pockets was put there by my mistake understanding the pocket construction … but then I left it in place because I think it’s kind of cute  🙂

Details:

Dress; Burdastyle 04/2014;108 slightly modified, in a slubby woven cotton, slightly spongy and wholly delicious

Shoes; made by me, details here

Clara is such a lovely addition to our family, so fun and full of life and love and doing very well. And growing up fast. I can even take her for walks now without having my arm pulled from its socket

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