What Was I Thinking
My word for me today comes from Proverbs 3:5-6 which says "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.".
This week brought the death and burial of another friend. She is no longer suffering in her body but resting in the Lord now. I was able to visit with her the day before she died and I have a new appreciation for the family members, friends, and hospice workers tasked with their day to day care.
Sewing is one of my "hiding" places - I use it to "hide" from the stress and frustration that comes in this life. As of late it has been adding to my stress.
I have finally decided to make shorts/pants and because of the "extra" adjustments that are needed it gives me a headache and drastically increase my frustration and disappointment level. With skirts and dresses I really only have the worry about the waist and hips but with shorts/pants I also have to deal with the crotch.
One of my issues is that my waistline slopes downwards going from the back to the front so that my waist is several inches higher in the back than it is in the front. Another issue that I have is that I don't have a dress form that mimics my true shape which makes it really hard to get a "perfect" fit.
I saw this pattern on the Lekala.co site and thought it was really cute and I knew eventually I would sew it for myself.
This week I started and completed it. What a huge disappointment and it had nothing really to do with the pattern but everything to do with me.
This pattern only had 4 pieces and an invisible zipper for the closure. Normally Lekala patterns have very little ease so I added a 5/8" seam allowance rather than the 3/8 " thinking I could use the 2/8" for more comfort. This pattern had an enormous amount of ease so much so that I had to remove a couple inches.
It was quite easy to put together but I did have to figure out how to attach the lining to the sleeve and it took me some time to figure it out.
Invisible zippers are the absolute best because I never mess them up and they are so easy to put in. The seam down the middle of the back of the garment is actually where the zipper is placed but it is completely hidden as it should be.
I had to remove about 2" from the length of the pant and I doubled the width of the hem. The pant was super long. This picture shows how long they are before hemming and I had already removed 5/8" from the length.
I used a blind hem stitch on my sewing machine (Janome 8900 QCP) to hem the pant. I serged the edges.
I got distracted by how cute I thought the jumpsuit was and forgot about what looks good on me.
This was suppose to be a custom fit pattern but I was surprise to find the adjustments that I needed to make so that it was an okay fit (still needs some fine tune fitting in the back area).
I believe the collar rides a little too high for my comfort and getting it on and off is an absolute nightmare. Trying to zip and unzip a zipper placed in the back on a pant jumpsuit is not a great idea. The other jumpsuit I made several decades ago had a button closure in the front.
I definitely should have made a muslin first and I know I will not be making this again only because the style does not look good on me.
Because of my shape and as much as I despise making adjustments I believe I am going to have to make them with pants - even on "custom" fit patterns.
This week brought the death and burial of another friend. She is no longer suffering in her body but resting in the Lord now. I was able to visit with her the day before she died and I have a new appreciation for the family members, friends, and hospice workers tasked with their day to day care.
Sewing is one of my "hiding" places - I use it to "hide" from the stress and frustration that comes in this life. As of late it has been adding to my stress.
I have finally decided to make shorts/pants and because of the "extra" adjustments that are needed it gives me a headache and drastically increase my frustration and disappointment level. With skirts and dresses I really only have the worry about the waist and hips but with shorts/pants I also have to deal with the crotch.
One of my issues is that my waistline slopes downwards going from the back to the front so that my waist is several inches higher in the back than it is in the front. Another issue that I have is that I don't have a dress form that mimics my true shape which makes it really hard to get a "perfect" fit.
I saw this pattern on the Lekala.co site and thought it was really cute and I knew eventually I would sew it for myself.
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| Lekala 2024 |
How I Did It
The fabrics that I used were a rayon challis, a cotton, and either an embroidered cotton batiste or a cotton voile (not sure which one). the rayon challis was used for the pants portion, the plain cotton was used for the lining of the top portion and the embroidered cotton was used for the outer top portion.This pattern only had 4 pieces and an invisible zipper for the closure. Normally Lekala patterns have very little ease so I added a 5/8" seam allowance rather than the 3/8 " thinking I could use the 2/8" for more comfort. This pattern had an enormous amount of ease so much so that I had to remove a couple inches.
It was quite easy to put together but I did have to figure out how to attach the lining to the sleeve and it took me some time to figure it out.
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| Lining Back |
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| Lining Front |
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| Inside of Garment Before Lining is Attached |
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| Outside of Garment and Zipper is Completely Invisible |
I had to remove about 2" from the length of the pant and I doubled the width of the hem. The pant was super long. This picture shows how long they are before hemming and I had already removed 5/8" from the length.
I used a blind hem stitch on my sewing machine (Janome 8900 QCP) to hem the pant. I serged the edges.
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| Before Hemming |
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| After Hemming |
Conclusion
The sewing went fine and the jumpsuit looks like the picture so why the disappointment? I made a similar jumpsuit several decades ago and I really looked good in it but I was about 1/2 the size I am today. This jumpsuit doesn't look good now that I am twice the size I was the first time I made a similar jumpsuit.I got distracted by how cute I thought the jumpsuit was and forgot about what looks good on me.
This was suppose to be a custom fit pattern but I was surprise to find the adjustments that I needed to make so that it was an okay fit (still needs some fine tune fitting in the back area).
I believe the collar rides a little too high for my comfort and getting it on and off is an absolute nightmare. Trying to zip and unzip a zipper placed in the back on a pant jumpsuit is not a great idea. The other jumpsuit I made several decades ago had a button closure in the front.
I definitely should have made a muslin first and I know I will not be making this again only because the style does not look good on me.
Because of my shape and as much as I despise making adjustments I believe I am going to have to make them with pants - even on "custom" fit patterns.
Great post. Saw your review at PR and came to visit.
ReplyDeleteThank you glad you liked.
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