I was merrily sewing away at the BWOF 04-2009-118 trousers, after wasting my time altering RTW and complaining about it at length for the last two posts, when I had the bright idea to try something new.
My daughter gave me Kenneth King's Cool Couture for Christmas, and I fancied his welt pocket over ribbon technique.
It worked beautifully, except for two little self inflicted problems.
1. I failed to understand (or measure, if you like) where in relation to the seamline I should place the edge of my 1/4 inch foot, so after cutting the welt, and the fabric, I had very skinny welts, which did not meet in the middle as welts should.
I felt inspired at this point to pretend that I had intended this effect, and inserted a zipper into the gap,(securing the raw short ends inside to grosgrain ribbon) for an exposed zip application.
I felt quite clever, until I tried on the trousers, which brings me to problem number
2. I failed to measure the length of the welt correctly, and it is just too long, creating a visual impression of increased backside width. This is not an effect I require, being amply supplied with backside width as a natural figure characteristic.
For some reason, after trying on the trousers, I now feel quite uninspired to hem them, and have instead cut out another pair of trousers, whilst the original pair is lying crumpled on the table looking at me reproachfully.
That would make 2 Saturdays of sewing with no new trousers for me. I might just make a blouse instead.
8 comments:
Oh, how frustrating that must be. i so can imagine you just want to sew something completely different for a while. But you cut another pair of trousers right away. I'm impressed with your persistance :-)
I've cut the same pair of pants from the same fabric and ruined the welt pockets not once, but twice. Both pairs are in the UFO pile in the vague hope that one day they will become one wearable pair. I then cut a third pair from a different fabric and totally ruined the pockets. I decided I don't like the pattern and have moved on to another. Further to your ongoing discussion about sewing for the whole family, this morning when I was driving home from the gym in the industrial estate in Byron Bay I passed a warehouse/outlet store for men's clothing. On the dummy outside was a men's shirt with a similar black and white paisley as the shirt you made for your husband, although the pattern wasn't as nice. The inside collar band was black and it had black buttons. Out of curiousity, I stopped the car and went to look. It was really badly made and it was $165!! If I'd had my camera, I would have photographed it for you, in fact if it's still there on Tuesday when I train next, I will photograph it for you so you can stick it on the wall in your sewing room as a reminder of why you sew for your family.
The zip welts look great - but I don't suppose that helps.. how frustrating!
"I might just make a blouse instead." - I so feel that sentiment!! Sometimes a quick and dirty, no-fair project can lift my sewing spirits so I'm ready to tackle the challenge again. Good luck!!
I think your zipper save was great, though. Very crafty!
I blame the pants. Wad them tightly into a corner of the sewing room where they can watch you merrily sewing their replacement. If necessary, stomp them hard (either remove pins or wear shoes first - ask me how I know). Better luck with your next project, some just aren't meant to be - but I sure prefer to find this out early in the project befroe I spent a lot of time on them.
My father-in-law always says (jokingly), "Measure once, cut twice."
Maybe welt flaps or something like that in place of the zipper might lend to the visual perception of decreased width?
Karen, I really like the facing/underlap under your zipper in the photo you show. Can you put that technique on your list for future blog explanation?
Yr slavish follower...
Joy's idea of flaps are a good one. It is too bad because the zip welt and the pants in general look awesome! Someday you will get a wearable pair of pants.
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