Refashioners 2016 Denim Had Ambition, Pep

This is what we start with 

This is all we end up with.

The jacket' toile was a dud, I need a new block to start from. That's not going to happen for a few months, I have paid work coming in.

I had fine ambitions and lovely textures in mind. That bias at the top left? That was going to be the cuffs (runs off crying)

I wanted to start with a sampler of possibilities, so I figured I could use another hat.

Strip the jeans into the parts I wanted and let it work itself out from there.

Yes, that was a relined pocket. It's day is done.

Ooh. This is where the idea starts, with these layers and wear marks and contrast.

Collage hat in progress.

Measure twice

Cardboard pattern this time

Yeah, I'm still working on Ernie Kap 2.0. What's it to you!

A scalpel is a beautiful seam ripper

I anchor the end of the piece I'm ripping to the tabletop with one of these Irwin quick clamps. Not as pretty as the vintage 3rd hand birdy, but faster and more uses around the house.

(and no, I don't get money from Amazon. Those links are just so you can see what the thing is called in the real world and how much they cost. Hardware stores all over carry them one apiece. Only I need four of them. Maybe more.)

Measured against the headband piece. Making a cardboard pattern for this makes sense: I make a lot of these hats.

I put interfacing in the waistband/headband

Layers of seams, sewed down the belt loops, the button is no longer needed.

The top is a collage of mending techniques that I am not in love with. This is a sample for my entertainment.

 Voila. That's it.

And you will have to wait until Spring, my friends.

Revisiting the Landmarks and the House of Dud

The first week after working all summer is a little crazy. I run around town and catch up with the errands I didn't do since June.

Let's begin by mentioning that I don't get a dime for linking from this page. 

Stuff happened over the summer.

Sad turn of events. Kinokuniya Books at Uwajimaya is down to this bookcase for sewing books in Seattle. No more Bunka basics (the orange spined ones). 

Boooooooooo!

Picked these up, plus a Gudetama lazy egg toy and another mechanical pencil.That looks like a pencil; oh yeah. Book reports later. Could not find Cotton Friend in the magazines. Did find the Gothic Lolita cosplay magazines though. Plenty of them.

Library books I blew through.  Saga is a great comic book; it's about war and racism so don't be handing it to your toddlers. The everyday carry mending kit with the business card stuck in the top so it won't go astray anymore.

Also watched the Creative Live Christine Haynes 'Sylvie' dress sewalong. Decently done, interesting format for a Sewalong (the idea being you buy the 'class' and watch it as you're working through it, not a one day marathon like other CL shows). Not cheap by any means at $79, which I assume will drop as time goes by. It's fine, that's just a ridiculous amount of money for a video about one dress.

Hey, for 69 cents maybe it would work

And I could make that Chanel denim jacket for the Refashioners 2016: denim challenge

Muslin's not too bad

Used the muslin as interlining for a full muslin on a Brunschwig and Fils "Palm House" chintz freebie (a short yard given to me because the corner is missing from a swatch. Sure......I'll take it off your hands....) because we are supposed to do things that we are afraid of

This is as much as you need to see. It's just not working out very well. It can be saved with some trickery in the top of the sleeve seam, just not now. And I don't imagine we'll be seeing the denim version this month.

 I'm in need of a new bodice block for the fat arms and the rounded shoulders and the dowager's hump I have acquired since the rotator cuff injury a year ago.

Grrrrrr

So I made a bag for my sister. Fabric from District Fabrics. Turns out I know the local fabric designer; it's Impwear. Hi Tracy!

It's just a copy of her beloved travel Sportsac. Their coated ripstop gets....icky after a number of years. Yeah, icky is a kind word for it.

 I stripped all the hardware and zips and decided to keep the label grosgrain tape as well.

Even put in an inside pocket the size she requested

Because bags don't need a full set of new bodice blocks.

Unlike the shirt and the other shirt

This photo doesn't need to be any bigger than this, thanks.

Which brings us to McCalls 7360, which was supposed to be a TNT, which still needs adjustments across the shoulders.

I'm going to go read my Veblen and cry. I need a new block.

On a brighter note, the Joann's in North Seattle did not clear out all the DKNY/Donna Karan patterns out of their drawers. 

Now I have. You're welcome, JoAnn's.

2016 Refashioners Denim Challenge

Seattle Asian Art Museum Indigo show made me realize I wanted to participate in this year's challenge.

I think denim is over done, but I live on the west coast and there's a lot of it out here.

vintage boro on Ebay

Boro fabrics have been in my saved searches on Ebay, and between that and the shibori things, the worn details on jeans pop out for me more than they used to.

I don't have enough fabric for a Chanel style fitted jacket, but that's what I'd make if I did. The seams would be featured, and the soft denim would be wonderful to wear. Hell, I could cut the sleeves from kids jeans (okay, maybe bigger than kids....)

The closer fit would deal with the heavy fabric (the denim coat I owned was stifling to wear)

Things I don't want to make

A straight 'jeans top' tote bag. 

No unraveling fringy stuff.

(it creeps me out)

I could collage the elements

I've made some notes.
I'll have it done this week.

The Refashioners 2016 - Jeanius Edition

This was made last March 2016.

The jeans finally bit it in January

You may remember the tutorial on mending/relining a jeans pocket that it was featured in 2013. Oh, no? Well, there's the link.

And these are those jeans.

What better way to remember an old friend than with a hat?

The ErnieKap is a pattern I've been working on (and reworking) for a year.  It's a sized brim hat, and  I would be satisfied with it if  I spent more time on it.

It just needs a little fine tuning in the print department.

But for this purpose, it's a pattern. I have it here. I have enough fabric in these jeans to make one.

I carved out the logo to put on the front.

As per the pattern, you reuse elastic to snug up the hatband (and keep it from flying off)

And I used the pocket as the crown!

And he lost it last month.

So I guess I am going to make a better one this month.

Revisions I'd do: use the seams on the side bands. The seam across the brim was a better idea than a detail (makes the front edge look lumpy in this last photo).

Because aren't they the key design detail we associate with jeans?