Stripes and polka dots, pink & white, lekala & style arc...

 

Last day of the month so last minute stripes and polka dots... I have 2 more polka dots entries and one stripes pants already finished but I will not review them in time ... Anyway this entry was started a while ago and I loved the way this 2 fabrics looked together...

I got an easy choice for the top to make one more striped Lekala 4511. I was so in love with the big stripes in black and white that I really wanted to see a softer version of the same idea.

And the only thing I didn't 100% love in ty black and white version was the side seam that did looked a bit to random so I decided there is time for one more alteration to my beloved Lekala pattern and a new twist for it. I put the back and side front panels together without the seam allowance and created 2 new pieces out of it with lines that made more sense to me:

The pointy corners were a bit tricky but it all went together beautifully.
Front:

 Back:

Shoulders:

The pants on the other hand were a totally different story.  The only pants I sewed that I wore a lot were the Eleonore pull on jeans. And this summer I made like 5 pairs that I still have to review but somehow none of them were 100% right too and my favorite pants are still RTW. That felt like a slap in the face. I want my favorite pants to be made by me. So I decided to get on a quest of trying out some new pants pattern and find my pants. From some of the Eva pants I was left with a desire of front pleats. They look so damn good on her. So I got myself the Christia pants from StyleArc... I couldn't find at the time any review of those but I really liked the design lines and the sketch fit :

I didn't looked hard on reviews and the general opinion seemed to be that the charts are right and there were no big issues with the fit. I studied their charts and I was around size 10 for pants and for top so I just ordered size 10 and made it as it was. I might have thought at some point that some pieces felt a bit big but I kept telling myself that I only been sewing this style for Eva so of course mine were looking big compared to what I was used too.. I didn't expected to have no adjustment to make but I didn't expected this either:

 They were just huge! huge! more huge than my PJs! I believe that I would need at least 2 sizes down, maybe even 3 if fabric has some give!  I was furious! I was humiliated! I haven't failed that big in a long time! I started to read more and look for answers! I finally found Sigrid review and they do seem larger than their skinny model but still nowhere as bad as mine. In my folly I even emailed StyleArc but they didn't bother to respond me in any way! I considered grading them down myself or ordering a new size but both didn't really seemed to worth. The logic thind would have been to never order a StyleArc again but I guess my sock was to big and I wanted answers more then anything so I did the exact opposite from what was expected. I ordered a new StyleArc : the Luna stretch pattern. This was asking for stretch and the only way that made any sense to ask for is there is a close fit or negative ease involved.

I was also ready to go 2 sizes down but after reading the charts again and flat measure the pattern piece this time I decided that just one size down should do it.
 I was pretty much expecting a lot of things to go wrong this time but what I didn't expected was nearly perfection! This was definitely the pattern I was looking for!

 This one felt just right to me! Not too tight but not too baggy! Just a few drag lines that could be improved, a waistband and replace those fake pockets with real ones!
 Luckily I had 3 meters of pink polka dots fabric so failing the first pair didn't cost me my plans but now I didn't had more fabric to waste to I wanted to test my alterations on a different pair before cutting my polka dots one so I added pocksts to the Luna pants from the Christia pants - really liked those big  front pockets they have and they were close by.

I also thought it would be fun to add 2 small pleats to the front:

This is the result pair. I kind of rushed it a bit but it looks really cool and wore it for work already is is so comfortable I could not believe. I had a good feeling about this pattern more and more.

 I used the chance to finally wear my refashioned white flats from last summer that were totally worn out and used ElizabethMadeThis idea to use leather paint and give them a new shiny look. It took a while to get 3 layers of blue in and 2 of paint protection but I really love the result:

So my pleats were a bit awkward but not a complete failure so maybe I can try again to tune them. The pocket cut out was too big, way too big so I completely redrafted those...

On my blue pants I got lazy and cut the whole pocket bags from main fabric and the thick lines are showing in a non flattering way... so this time I really used thin pocket bags and facings. So cheerful and so much better the pain boring white in RTW:

Even if my bottom is not that big and I can make do with pull ons I really prefer a front zipper to my pants so I did that. It was easy to adapt, specially since the pants already has the extensions added for the fake fly.I also thought it would be fun to make the zipper shield in flowery fabric. Not the most professional look but definitely different and personal :P

 It was a good thing I wore my blue pants one full day before doing anything else because it was wind that evening and I realized my low hem was a bit large and blowing with the wind. I looked at the pattern and it is indeed rather straight from the knee down so I tapped that a little bit:

I really wanted welts in the back and found this amazing tutorial on Thread Theory. I did a quick one to check if I got it all right and and I was good to go:

I did a fake dart to get a more tailored look and then took it all very slow. I was lucky to find a marker  in close color who seemed to write only on interface and not show on the front. It was all so much more easy with the lines there

 I calculated that an exact row of dots will show on my welt and was so happy too see that I got it right:

 I used the same fun flowery thin cotton for pocket bag. I don't remember last time I had real welts on my pants. A lot of RTW have it but they are all fake. If I don't like the real thing I figure I can always stitch it down to a fake one.

 I sewed under the pocket the seam allowance to the pocket bag figuring I will have less chances of gaping this way and I never need the opening that high.

 The hem spit turned out really cute:

 And I used a bit of flowery fabric to bind the hem edge:

So here it is:

 I was happy to discover that my new pants work really well with quite a few of my tops and shoes ( was to lazy to try them all for photos but here are a few):

Sewing 116 - Shopping 93.