3 looks, one pattern, Ottobre 05-2010-01 t shirt

I don't sew much from Ottobre, but so far, nearly everything I have made from this magazine has been a great basic. In theory, I appreciate the use of women of many ages, who are also non-standard shape models for clothing in Ottobre . However, in reality, this means I find the pattern less immediately appealing when considering clothing for myself or my teenage daughters. I am conditioned by advertising ideals more than I would like to think!






 I liked the yoke on this t shirt, which is shown with 2 long sleeve variations, number 1 "Nora" and number 4 "Renee". Neither garment uses contrast fabric for the yoke, but to me the pattern cried out for colour blocking, with, of course some stashbusting scraps for the yoke ;) However, I did not actually have any stashbusting scraps for the yoke, so I had to make some other t shirts first in order to have scraps. This makes sense to me, but I understand if this is not universally evident as a sensible approach.



Keeping to the January stashbusting small scrap theme, I started with the t shirt on the far left, which does not look as if I used any scraps at all. This is due to the complete failure of the cotton-lycra knit Peter Pan collar I drafted (from scraps) and applied to the t shirt ( made from the Nora pattern with the  front yoke added back in to the pattern).  The collar was ripply and soggy looking, so I cut it off, then added an extra wide self fabric neckband , which despite  having a severely angled seam at its short end, managed to stand out at the upper neck.
I decided that a marvelous design feature for this neckline would be a little judicious gathering with a ribbon. The ribbon dates from the newborn phase of my son, now 10 years old, when I thought I might make him a cutsie sailor suit. He is probably glad I did not get around to this.



The ribbon is sewn wrong sides together, for robustness, and so that both sides show the pattern, and threaded through small slits made in one layer of the neckline. It looks very cute and nautical with the red denim shorts but you will have to take my word for it as the recipient is a bit too busy to stand around having photos taken.

Next I made the t shirt pretty much to the Nora pattern, now that I had some white scraps ;). However, I added a back yoke, using the back facing pattern piece, as I felt it would look better with the contrast continuing over the shoulder.



In construction I added elastic to the upper neck seamline, so that it would lay flat when worn, and coverstitched the lower yoke seam and the hems in white for more embellishment.
I was pretty pleased with the t shirt, but feel that it doesn't look very different from wearing 2 t shirts over each other, which would have been easier to sew, so I probably won't use the yoke effect again in plain colours - maybe in lace it would be more interesting.

Having some enthusiasm restored by the success of t shirt number 2, I returned to my collar plan. This collar is made from quilting cotton (given to me by my mother in law and made into a dress for daughter the first in 1998, quite a venerable scrap), and seriously interfaced with Pro-woven crisp shirt interfacing - so no rippling.
I had some trouble due to my poor drafting skills - having made a collar too small to slip over the head!, so made a gappy and buttoning design feature at the back which looks quite cute IMO -my daughter thought it was deliberate and cool, so I have her fooled nicely.



I took some trouble with the neckline. I wanted the inside to stay inside, look neatly finished, but not be too bulky.
I used fold over elastic to finish the inside, sewing it in two passes, then folding under the seam allowance and topstitching with a narrow 3 step zig-zag stitch.





I thought it looked quite good, but I finished the gap in the back with a little of the t shirt fabric in a regular binding, as the elastic alone looked a bit flimsy here.



Scrapbusting - one collar sized piece of quilting cotton, 15+ years old, and about 1.5m of 10 year old ribbon. Stashbusting about 2m of cotton lycra knit which I actually buy by the roll due to high use and turnover and do not need to stashbust . Verdict - no appreciable stash denting.

Exercise tops, Ottobre 05-2010-20

After the dull-but-useful sewing of exercise bottoms, naturally the next step was exercise tops.


I have progressed from the knit-trousers-laid -out- flat-on-the-verandah photo, to an attempt at introducing the currently lovely purple scenery at the town park for version 1 of the Ottober 05-2010-20 top, with the #19 trousers from the previous exercise clothing post.



I think the clothing and model do not quite live up to the flowers, particularly if I crop sufficently to show clothing details.

Hmm, perhaps a background photo with no foreground

The Ottobre top is rather deceptive in my opinion. In the model shot, the neckline and straps of the under top are clearly visible.
On me, although you can just see the under top at the front, it is not visible at all at the back.
The under top is also very high cut under the arms, which might be fine for some gentle pilates or yoga but would cause unpleasant chafing on a longer run. I usually run for about an hour.
Looking back at the magazine to make sure I had traced out the pattern pieces correctly, I saw that the technical drawing shows the under top only just peeping out, and not showing at all at the back, just like my version.(My photography aspirations are dwindling rapidly.....)


I can't see the point of this. The neckline and armscye are the most time consuming part of this top, why make 2 necklines if you can't see them?
Unfortunately, I had already constructed x3 outer layers before I realised the problem.


You can see here that I am making a faux underlayer, not full length, as it gets hot here, and I want the appearance of wearing 2 layers without the extra fabric around my middle.

This may seem like an excess, but, I do need this many. Despite appearances, I exercise 7 or more times per week. I am trying to confound my dreadful paternal medical history, and the 95% or so chance I have of developing type 2 diabetes, having experienced the gestational type during all my preganancies. Wish me luck, I probably need it!

I added a tiny panel to the front neckline and a tiny bit of binding to the back neckline of the black outerlayer ( right middle)
I used just the front piece and straps in purple for the underlayer in the beige/black outerlayer, attaching the panel at the side seams and at the back neck.
I coverstitched most of the side seams after severely trimming one seam, to make a flatter, less abrasive seam under the arms.
.

The beige fabric is wicking polyester, and the other fabrics are cotton/lycra knit, both from Stretchtex. I will use the knit tops for stretchy type exercises and the wicking tops for running, or on the windtrainer.

Finally, I made a new version of the outerlayer, so that the underlayer is visible.






I had to lower the neckline rather a lot to achieve this effect.


Sewing with Ottobre is not at all like sewing with Burda :)

Doldrums and prosaic sewing Ottobre 05-2010-20 active wear

Before you read on, this is a very dull post. It is more of a personal record for my useful sewing agenda. If I leave it here, I will be able to find it again ;).
I did not sew last weekend. Instead I spent the weekend in Brisbane.
This photo looks rather nice, the jacarandas are in flower, I was on the river.....however, despite appearances, I was working - at a course. I have put in the photo so there is something to look at.


This is the view of my ferry trip from the hotel to the course venue. I did enjoy it, even the storm - the sky set off the trees so nicely.

My family accompanied me, but only as far as the hotel, and dinner. They had a tourist weekend, and out of the kindness of their hearts, my daughters visited Gardams in the city and bought 3m of fabric each, with no input at all from me. Their training is off to a good start :). I don't have a photo, clear lack of organization.
I have hopes that these fabrics will turn into summer dresses without too much further input from me, but we will see.

Whilst I was packing for the weekend, I noticed the terrible shabbiness of my exercise clothes. I am generally able to pretend I am invisible whilst I am exercising, , but for some reason the thought of exercising at relatively close range to other people (a Pilates class) made this seem difficult.

Ottobre 05-2010 to the rescue.
I used some bottom weight stretchy fabric from Stretchtex, called liquid titanium, that had actually been purchased for my daughters' dance gear. It is nice and thick, but not too hot, as it is wicking fabric.
I cut a 38 for the front and a 44 for the back, once I was below the waist, having found this effective for the underwear I had made from Ottobre, but possibly the fabric was too stretchy for the pattern - I took in about an inch at the side seams, and shortened the front crotch by an inch, and the trousers are still a bit loose for exercise bottoms. They were also much too long, being below mid calf before trimming. I have short legs, but I suspect these would be longer than RTW on most people. I also found the trousers to be quite high on the waist. Despite the need for fitting tweaks, I am very happy with the pattern.
I have alternated these back and front for viewing of the added sacral pockets, but you might have to take my word for it that they are present- and that the trousers look better on, and under a long t-shirt ;)

I made the first two pairs, with definitely invisible-in-the-photo internal front pocket (key and coffee money), on Friday night, and the next two on Monday morning, changing the coverstitch colours on the side seams, hems and yoke detail, and adding some cotton lycra facings and judicious waistband piecing to eke 4 pairs from the 3m of fabric that allegedly should have made me 3 pairs. I like a free garment!
I have some experimental pattern choices to display later in the week, I just need a bit of hand hemming -so maybe it will take a few weeks.......

Loungewear version of Ottobre 05-2011-18 "Ginger"

I am being so practical at the moment. Feeling a strong inclination to lie on the couch under a blanket all day, I have made myself something slightly more suitable for day wear than my pyjamas and dressing gown, which is what I really feel like wearing around the house (with woolly socks - it was -2 degrees C last night, and we do not have central heating).



The pattern is modified from Ottobre 05-2010-18.



I lengthened it to a mid-thigh tunic so that I can wear close fitting yoga pants underneath and not hold my stomach in. I also made a square shoulder adjustment, but otherwise made the garment according to my measurements on Ottobre's sizing scale. It is a good fit for an overgarment. I am wearing it here over a merino wrap top.I did not have to shorten the sleeves, which is unusual for me.

The fabric is Polartech100 from Milldirect textiles. I had to buy this with the powerstretch for my running gear, because all fabric collectors know that if you only buy one piece of fabric from a particualr vendor, it will get lonely in the box and might wither away before it gets to you.

The Polartech100 is very stretchy. The pattern calls for softshell fleece, which in my experience is thicker, more firm on the right side, and much less stretchy than the fabric I used. This may be part of the trouble I had with this pattern. I used a stretch needle, a walking foot, and 3 step zig-zag at 1.0x1.0mm for all stretch seams and straight stitch for all woven seams. The hems were coverstitched.

Part of the reason for choosing this pattern was the zipped welt pockets at belly level. There is a single internal kangaroo pouch pocket at this level, with the welts and pocket using cotton poplin fabric.


After my trouble with inserting exposed zips to the yoga pants, I wanted to see if adding a woven fabric to the zip application would make the sewing easier. Unfortunately, I did not find this to be the case. I used a thinnish cotton (with eyelet embroidery) for the pockets. I liked how this fabric scrap co-ordinated with the fleece, and thought the textured fabric due to the eyelet embroidery would look better than something more crisp once the garment had been through the washing machine. I did not use an iron, but fingerpressed the fabric, as I did not want to risk melting the polar fleece. This made it very difficult to keep the welts even, and the pocket opening rectangular. If I was to make this garment again, I would use another layer of woven fabric or stay tape for the edges of the pocket before applying the welts.
The Ottobre instructions for applying the pocket to the welt involve twice stitching in the ditch of the welt seams, and afterwards sewing the inside pocket to the free edges of the seam allowances of the welt after topstitching. I found the 1cm seam allowances called for in the pattern left very little room after the turn of fabric from polar fleece, and 3 layers of cotton woven fabric. If I were to make this garment again, I would increase the seam allowance for the pocket welts.
I found that the pocket pieces were too small for my front piece, and had to recut. This, of course, may have been my error in either marking the welts, or tracing.
I do not really like the hang of the garment with the internal kangaroo pocket. It can bind across the stomach. I would either use stretch fabric, or make two separate pockets if I was to repeat the garment.
I used only one invisible zip at the neck. By the time I got up to the neck I was not very happy with the garment, and did not want to waste 2 zips, should it proove unwearable. I did not stabilize the edge, wanting my zip to truly be invisible, and not feeling that polarfleece + stabilizing fabric would turn nicely, and naturally found that this meant the neck seamlines did not match across the zip.This annoyed me even more when I found that I could easily slip on the garment over my head without undoing the neck zip at all.
I chose not to unpick, and embellished the neck seam with a wide machine embroidery stitch, starting above the lower seam, and finishing below the highter seam, to give an illusion of seam matching. I felt better after this :).



I fully lined the hood, not being fond of exposed raw seams.
I particularly dislike the hood. It is ill-fitting and unflattering when worn on the head.

It is a bit sad that my secret flower applique that can only be seen when the hood is up will never be visible. Sigh. If I were to make the garment again, I would draft a new hood.