Tanks two to four

To finish the week, two tops in a very lightweight olive handkerchief linen, and one in a coarser, but very soft, zebra print linen, shown above.  There are minor variations on a theme here:  #2 is on the straight grain, #3 has a bias front, #4 is bias front & back with CF & CB seams, and a subtle v-neck both front & back.  I also lifted the bust darts and carved out a little bit at the waistline on #4, which gives it a very nice fitted tunic-y look & feel.

Here you can see them with potential matching overblouse fabrics: a very lightweight cotton voile with a cool combination of colours that include olive, grey, cream and pink/peach, and a solid sand-coloured lightweight linen (already laundered and clearly not yet re-pressed).  The linen was originally intended for another pair of slacks, but honestly - I do believe I already have enough of those!

I thought I could finish all five by week's end, but the last one didn't make it under the needle.  Yet.  I might finish it today. 

Carrying on!

Week One of tanks

No, silly, not the big ones with stuff that goes bang on top!  Little sleeveless ones!!!
Using my self-developed pattern, I cut out five from remnants of the pants linens and one very cheerful lightweight cotton plaid (!), and have been plonking along on them since the weekend.  Ten minutes one morning here, an hour of an evening there.... just pecking away at the task, slowly but surely.  Here's the first I actually finished, in a very fine black/white stripe.  The fabric is a $5 find from the Fabric Flea Market that sufficed for both trousers and top. By the feel of it, it's a cotton-linen blend.

Of the five of them, three have bias-cut fronts, two of them with CF seam; a couple have a CB seam as well.  At this point, I think all, like the one here, will have flat felled seams, bound neck & armscyes (sp?), plus vented sides.  There's a reason for all the compulsive over-finishing, and it's that (so I hear) the laundry service over there is very harsh on clothes.  I'd rather put in a little effort up front than find my work falling apart in week 3 of the adventure.  Right?  of course right. 

 I did make an effort to make the bindings as narrow as possible, and this one isn't bad (I've done worse).  The trick is to use a very short stitch and then trim the excess to a scant 1/8 inch (2.5 mm?).  The side darts could come up 1 cm higher or so, I think, and the neckline might drop a smidgen in some of the others.  But overall - especially with a blouse or jacket on top - eminently wearable!

ETA:  all my tops are simple pull-ons.  The back neckline is scooped out about 2 cm (~1") below the neck bump, so there's plenty of room for my head.  There's a little shaping to the side seam as well, but I've kept the CF & CB seams - when they're present - straight.  

I do all of these in the flat:  sew both bust darts, flat fell one shoulder seam, attach neckline binding, flat fell other shoulder seam (catching the open binding in the seam - there's a bit of tricky little trimming that always has to happen here), turn over & stitch-in-the-ditch the neck binding, attach both armscye bindings, flat fell both side seams (pressing the vent SA's at the same time),  finish armscye bindings, press hems, sew all around hems and vents in one go, hide all thread ends, press it all one last time, toss on the done pile, repeat.  ;)

Are five white shirts too many? Never!

As I said in the last post - for me, this is a most timely initiative, and the little white shirt button at left will take you to Barbara's "sewing on the edge" blog, where you'll have the opportunity to admire other sewists' pristine creations.

I have the following :  midweight textured linen, lightweight textured linen, lightweight smooth linen in cream (not white), a midweight crinkle cotton, and a floaty striped cotton voile.  Three of them will definitely become shirts, but the two midweight fabrics might turn into something a little more jackety - we'll see.

As to patterns:

One will definitely be the Vogue 1054 Chado Ralph Rucci overshirt.  I wrote the review for it a year ago, and it's still languishing in private mode, because I haven't yet photographed the shirt nor the shirtdress that I based on the same pattern.  Interestingly, though the shirt is a bit too casual, I wear the dress all the time - it's a classic, a dark grey self-patterned silk wool, perfect for work, perfect for accessorizing in any colour of the rainbow, and it garners lots of positive attention.  So, when I tear myself away from my sewing machine, finishing that review will move from my to-do to the done list.  That's the plan.

The second pattern I'm interested in is the blouse made by Terri, a very talented theatrical costume tailor who writes A Tailor Made It.  Her creations are fascinating, and they're usually for men, so a simple white lady's blouse coming from her is a unique treat. I'd have to adapt a simple darted bodice pattern to one with curves, but it should be doable, as she posted both the original German draft and her own pattern pieces.  New Look 6598 has similar bones: a cut-on collar and vertical front & back darts, so I'll start with that.

Thirdly, a crisp white blouse  made its debut within the last few days at Handmade by Carolyn.  It's a Burda pattern, with a charming curve to the fronts, and sashes for tying.  Beautifully feminine.

Fourthly, Irene, who started her Irene's Studio blog only this month, posted a perfect classic white blouse: bust plus vertical front & back darts - just last week.   Not only that, but she gave a few tips on how to slash-and-shrink as opposed to slash-and-spread; nice & useful for the skinny minnies among us.  Go over and visit her - up for barely three weeks and she's posted some luverly stuff already.

I'm sure there are plenty more white blouses out there in blogland - why not make your own linked list? 

In fact, let me just add a link to Les Merveilleuses - a for-ladies section of the Cutter and Tailor forum.  Not just about shirts, but some of the retro topics do include scans of various 20th C pattern magazines, if nothing else, to inspire us to maybe think of a different white blouse.  Later! right now I have to return to those four waistbands.  The clock's aticking!

Trolling for trousers

I haven't fallen off the face of the earth. I've been madly rushing my olde Kenmore to Produce, Produce... and Produce even more.

The biggest hurdle of my upcoming high hot desert wardrobe was the fact that I have NO summer slacks. None. In summer I wear dresses.  I admit to having made two pairs in lightweight black silk a couple of years ago - one dupioni, one jacquard -  and have already worn one of them literally to death.  But traipsing around China's sights during a very hot couple of weeks one September not long ago convinced me that no no matter how light, black will cook you.  They did.  Black at 44C would be hazardous to my health (and, given the wardrobe directive I'm subscribing to, I'd be correctly suspected of being mentally defective).

When pressed to the wall, I'll concede to wearing RTW tops, blouses, etc, especially in a not too sartorially demanding working environment.  But finding lightweight heat-tolerant slacks in the Great White North in December?  Methinks not.  So my most critical need was for pants, trousers, slacks.    Remember, they'll have to ride me through both winter & summer seasons, in a dirty, dusty adventure.  And I'll be sharing laundry facilities (no, I won't be doing it myself, heavens!) with 4000 likewise dirty & dusty companions.

I gave myself October to produce as many as I could.  With 6 days to go, the count stands at (HOW many?!!!) seventeen.  Count'em.  Please.  Dirty. Dusty. Wear once, then throw in the wash. 

I made the first two (that's the olive linen and brown crinkle rayon in the left column) using standard trouser technique:  darts, zipper, zipper guard, waistband.  Of course, this took some time, and I literally freaked. At that rate, I'd still be producing trousers in January! And have no time to build a proper wardrobe! EEEEK!

Now, speaking of proper wardrobe, I decided it'll have to consist of:
1. trousers: see above ;)
2a. in winter, rayon knit and merino wool tees per Jalie patterns
2b. in summer, linen, cotton, and silk crepe (yep! I love it!) sleeveless tops
3a. jackets & 3b. lightweight shirting overblouses over 2a & 2b as the obligatory long-sleeved cover-ups.
4. a few sunhats

I'll make one warm fleece jacket, and likely purchase a 3 in 1 parka (breathable rainproof & windproof shell with zip-out fleece lining jacket inside, for you out there unfamiliar with the term), if out of time to make.  

Back to my eeek moment, I switched technique to elasticated pull-ons.  Boy that really helped me put on some speed!

As things stand, two are crinkle rayon; two crinkle cotton; four stretch cotton; one a techno stretch cotton-nylon; one a linen-rayon; one an amazing lightweight linen-silk; and the rest are plain linen, in various weights.

I varied them with different degrees of relaxed fit; different pocket shapes and placements; and even added faux front zippers, cuffs, and sewn-in front & back creases to a few.  You'll have to forgive me for not boring you to tears with a pictorial of each pair on my behind, but 1. there's no time, and 2. you might just start getting the "look of the dusty day" in four months or so.  Stay tuned!

By Saturday, I felt I could afford to return to tailored shapes, and cut out four jeans-style pairs, using the jeans construction but Jalie's more relaxed trouser rather than skintight jeans overall fit, so as not to feel like a steamed sausage.  Lucky me, I already made each of these in the recent past, so I could cut, sew, and not worry about fit in the slightest.   I added large patch style cargo pockets, and pretty much finished the four over the weekend, excepting the waistbands and hems.  Exhausting, much?  Yep, it was a sweatshop here. Especially with two of them being in a check that needed to be matchy-matched.  Painful, 'twas. 

Oh, and some four others still need hemming.  If worse comes to worst, and I run out of time, I can always hem them "over there".  That's the plan.

Next up:  blouses and tanktops.  I joined Sewing on the Edge's "never too many white shirts" for that - timely, oh yea.  Impeccably timed: thank you, Barbara.

Courtesy of the internet.

 Roll on Tanktop (or is that, top of the tank?) November.

Planning the Plan

The time has come, the walrus said, to speak of many things.  Thank you Lewis Carroll, that's one of your best lines ever.

Many things?  Many garments! Many, very many garments, actually; and to plan making them.  Plan carefully, judiciously, parsimoniously - and, probably the hardest for me, to stick to the plan.  The fabrics, the garments, the patterns - all the specifics, including a schedule, which is limited to the four coming months.  No more.  In four  months the clock will strike midnight, my sewing machines will all turn into rotten pumpkins, and my needle steeds into rusty little mice. 

I have to create a "field" wardrobe for an extended away from home professional engagement.  The time span includes both winter and summer months - so, in effect, I'll need a full year's wardrobe in a suitcase.  Actually, "winter" won't really be all that bad for this snow-loving, wool-embracing Canuck, but "summer" is guaranteed to be "fry your egg on the pavement" style of Hades for increasingly heat-intolerant moi.

In addition to the climatic considerations, my wardrobe will have to fulfill a draconian dress code:  ultra-modest!!!!!  No dresses, skirts, shorts, or capris/cutoffs.  All limbs must be - or, at least able to be, on demand, covered to ankle/wrist. And no decently feminine shoes, either:  practical boots, I'm devastated to report.  Ugh, and sigh.

90% of my workmates will look like this:

 and the other 10% will, I guess, sort of, look like me.  I'm hoping to produce a practical wardrobe that'll also ensure they won't look TOO MUCH like me. 

What would you, dear reader, come up with for, say, a week in a horrid hot and arid working environment?