Finished object!

I finished my stripey cardigan, and I LOVE it.  It is super cosy and warm, and fits PERFECTLY.  In looking at it, I think it would be cute with leather patches on the elbows, so I'm going to keep thinking along those lines, and possibly order in some patches at some point.

I did also get the corduroy trousers sewn front to back - I sewed the inner seam, and decided to baste the outer seams so I could check fit before I top stitched the inner seam.  Good news:  Fit across the backside, crotch, and legs is generally good.

Let's see if you can spot the bad  news:  (Please ignore the quality of the photo, Kiddo the First was being a tweenager and refused to take a photo, so I had to steal Kiddo the Second's mirror.  It has since been cleaned!)

The trousers are about 2 inches too short.  It's okay, a fab friend and I brainstormed up a way to fix them - I'm going to take them in around the calves, and hem them to just above the ankle bone.  She called them "ankle grazers", and they're actually quite trendy at the moment.  

I've been sort of pouting about these being too short, and then it occurred to me - these were only ever meant to be a wearable muslin.  Now I know, the pattern itself fits just fine through the hips, derriere, and thighs, I just shortened it too much based on my inseam.  FORTUNATELY, I didn't cut the pattern when I shortened it, I just folded it.  So, I'm going to move forward on the actual jeans, with my nice denim, and unfold the pattern.  

We have just over a month until our trip, and none of my jeans/trousers fit properly any more, so I really need to get rocking on getting some made. 

Which actually brings me to my next "issue" - I have been paying for the major expenses of the trip a piece at a time, so the rental car, hotels, etc, are all paid for.  I was in the process of pricing out the final major expense, and feeling really good about the whole thing, when a problem came up.  It's not a huge deal, just another trip related expense that we hadn't expected - and it costs exactly the same as the bra pattern and kits I was going to buy for myself.  

I really NEED new bras.  I have always said there are two garments you should never skimp on - bras and shoes.  You get what you pay for, and as a chesty lady, I really need good, supportive bras.  Mine are a few years old, so couple failing elastic with weight loss, and things are starting to look pretty droopy.  If I wait until the next paycheck for the money to buy the pattern/bra kits, I won't have enough time to actually get them sewn before we leave.  I can go to my favorite bra shop, and spend the money on a few ready made bras, BUT that's violating my no buying clothes resolution.  I really can't go to a less expensive shop, because I am a hard-to-find size.  So, that's where I'm at. 

Progress!

I have been knitting a sweater of my own design, just a stripey cardigan using the patterns from Ann Budd's Handy Book of Top Down Patterns.  Of course, I can't do anything "right" (I kid, I kid) so I messed up the cardigan.  It was meant to be a crew neck cardigan with buttons, but I forgot to cast on for the fronts at the appropriate place, so it's a cardigan, but it won't close.  That's okay.  Design feature, who needs a cardigan that buttons?

I was reading another blog, and the author of that blog linked to a fabric shop she loves, and a specific jersey fabric she likes.  It's not a hugely expensive fabric, and it happens to be available in colors that perfectly match my stripey cardigan.  So, I'm going to order fabric to make three Auroras to wear under the cardigan.  All three colors will work with the brown corduroy trousers.  It'll be a cute, versatile outfit for our trip to the States in the spring; we'll be in the South for the majority of the trip, so it may or may not be warm enough to swim in an outdoor pool...which would be warm enough for a tank top.  If it gets chilly, voila, sweater!  We are visiting Husband's family; the last time we were in that part of the US was February 2006, and it WAS warm enough to swim in an outdoor pool.  We're going in April this year, so it should theoretically be as warm or warmer.

Speaking of the brown corduroy trousers, I finally started sewing them!  My first hang up was deciding what to put on the pockets - my butt should be a reflection of my personality, don't you think?  I love love love Urban Threads for embroidery designs, and once again they had exactly what I wanted - a coffee goddess.  Anyone who knows me knows I do not function without my coffee; even my children have learned not to wake me up unless there's a cup of coffee in their hands.  So, I give you:

The first attempt at embroidering it on a pocket came out BRILLIANTLY.  It was perfectly placed, there were no nasty thread breaks, no tension issues, no puckering - just a really nice, clean design.

Then I tried to do the OTHER pocket.  Cause, you know, butts generally have 2 cheeks.  The first time, it was misaligned horizontally, off by nearly half an inch.  I hear some of you saying, how bad can half an inch be?  Bad enough that when I showed it to Husband, HE noticed it was off center.  Second attempt at the second pocket, it was misaligned vertically, again by half an inch.  The top of the design went right into the top stitching.

So that was when I decided to be creative.  I know on ready to wear jeans, the designs generally match - but these aren't ready to wear jeans, are they?  They are custom-made trousers.  So the pockets don't need to match!  Problem solved.

I wrote on the fabric (in chalk), and then traced over it three times with my quilting foot.  I love the overall effect, even though if you look closely, you can see some of the lines are wibbly wobbly.  I did think about going over it a fourth time, because the lettering is not as robust as the coffee goddess design.

The second tricky part of the trousers was the zippered fly.  I have inserted a zipper before, and I have sewn a fly before, but I really had a mental hang up about sewing a zippered fly.  It took me three tries to get it right, but I did finally get a functional fly, and I discovered something about the Ginger pattern.

I mentioned it took three tries; this was over the course of 2 days, and included watching many video tutorials on the subject,  All of the tutorials had you sew the fly shield (the flap of fabric between the zipper and your skin) at the same time as the zipper tape and top stitching, so you had a bit of bulk, but it was all done in one go.  The Ginger pattern that I'm using has you install the zipper, do the top stitching, and then go back and sew the fly shield onto the fly extension.  I wasn't able to do that, because the top stitching did what it was supposed to - it secured the fly extension to the front of the trousers.  I fudged it, and did a seam down the middle of the top stitching in dark brown thread.  It's not hugely noticeable in these, and hopefully no one will be staring at my crotch, but when I go to make my actual jeans, I'm going to sew the shield and zipper at the same time.

That's actually part of why I'm making these - most patterns/designers will tell you to make a muslin to check the fit of a garment before you cut into your expensive fabric.  A muslin is basically a run through of the pattern, using cheap fabric - you could even use a bed sheet from the thrift store.  It helps you adjust a pattern to fit YOUR body perfectly.  Of course, you probably wouldn't wear trousers made from a thrifted bed sheet, but you can make a muslin out of any fabric.  I happened to have five yards of this corduroy in my stash from ages ago, so this is a wearable muslin.  I'm running through the pattern on inexpensive fabric, so that I can make any adjustments to the finished pattern, so my jeans will fit perfectly.

Today, I'll be finishing up the trousers.  I am not sure how I'm going to hem them by myself; it's times like these I really wish my mom was just around the corner instead of across the ocean, because I'd go stand on a chair at her house and have her pin the hems for me.  There are a few local fabric shops, I might call them up and see if I can stand on a chair or table and have the employees pin the hem for me, but we'll see.