Jalie 2806

Flora and Phred

It was pretty simple sewing over the weekend.  Jalie 2806, a knit top with either neckline gathers or a lovely gathered pleat.  The pattern is short or long sleeved, but with temperatures still hovering at 105, I opted for sleeveless.

I don’t recall where the fabric came from.  It’s an ITY knit.  I know I was looking for light-colored prints to wear during the summer.  No comments about summer being mostly over.  Here in Cactusville, we still have at least another 2 months of 100 degrees, probably more.  It cools down to a chilly 90 at night.

The sewing went well enough.  With 1/4 inch seams, which is standard for Jalie patterns, the slippery knit did tend to want to skitter away from the serger knife, but it eventually worked out.

The fit is nice enough on, and the fabric feels good.  Alas, the cover-stitching on the neck band is not my best, so I’m designating this a knock-around-the-house top, rather than something I’ll wear out in public.

Jalie: Sweetheart Top

Hot off the needles, Jalie 2794: Sweetheart Top.  I’ve been wanting to make this up for ages.  It wasn’t until I re-organized the bins, and had this fabric staring at me from its plastic confines, whining piteously, that the urge was satisfied.

It’s a straight size W in the body, with a bit of bicep widening in the sleeves.  Size W?  Why yes, a W for Wonderful!  Jalie patterns are all sizes, from 4 toddler up to 20 or 22 (or X, Y, Z) in one envelope.  You find the appropriate line and trace it off onto tissue.  This is actually pretty easy, and allows for whatever size changes are needed by our individual figures.

The fabric is an ITY knit from…I forget where.   The green bands are a rayon lycra from the Evil Fabric Queen’s co-op.  The band color does not exactly match any of the greens in the print, but they all work harmoniously together.

I stitched the edges of the bands where they overlap the front.   This prevents them from popping up and flapping about, or otherwise misbehaving.

Alas, it will probably be many months before I have opportunity to wear this.  Cactusville is expected to reach 100 this weekend, which means the coolness of Winter is over.  The season for socks, pants and long sleeves won’t return until mid October.  I wonder how many consecutive days of 110+ we will have this Summer?

Daisy Mae or Bust

I’ve been working on these on and off during the week, thinking of them as my Daisy Mae shorts.

This also means I’ve been fielding all sorts of comments about my (ahem) cheeks hanging out, and having to drop tens of points in IQ in order to wear them.

Well, to all the comments, I say “Nyaaah!  Nyaaah! They don’t fit anyway!  So there!“  That’s right, I used my tried and true Jalie jeans pattern, morphed the legs a little wider, and shortened them, all the while thinking hey, summer shorts – just what I need.

How don’t they fit?  Waaaay too tight.  I managed to loosen up the stomach area, but the waist is still sausage making.  I suppose I could cut another waistband, but at this point, I’m thinking they are wadders, and I am tired of fiddling with them.  A shame, in a way, as the fly shield and pocket lining are the last of the Day of the Dead fabric.  Sigh.

Things were stitching along just fine too, so perhaps the Sewing Gods decided I needed a dose of humility.  Either that, or the new thyroid meds coupled with 75% humidity and 110+ degree heat and my sluggish demeanor have caused my waistline to expand.  Hmmm.  I think I’ll go with the Sewing Gods, that way I’m not responsible.  What do you think?

Jalie 2910: Crossover Top

I finished this up over the weekend.  This was a first pass to test the fit, and once again Jalie has a winner.  It’s another one of the infamous, or at least popular, crossover tops.

What I liked about this pattern is that the shoulder seams are moved forward, so they do not lie right across the top of your shoulder line.  This is really nice when you always have to make a forward shoulder adjustment, as I do.  My poor computer posture, to be sure!

I used a poly/rayon blend knit from an online seller, with a rayon-only knit for the contrasting accent.  I’m not too sure how the primary fabric will hold up, as it feels like it will pill.  Then again, it could just be rough skin on my hands.  In any event, if it lasts through summer, I will be pleased.

I really like the way it turned out.  The neckline is not too low, as is often the case with this style.  The contrasting neck band is cut smaller than the neck opening, along the stretch of the fabric, so it hugs the body nicely.  This would be a lot of fun made with a border print – border for the band and center fabric for the body.  I’ll have to see what’s in the stash.

The only thing I would change for the next sleeveless version is to make the armhole bands a bit smaller, to produce a snugger fit.  Like many patterns that are drafted for sleeves, when you make them sleeveless, the armholes tend toward gaposis as there is extra ease for a sleeve which isn’t there.

Jalie 968: Dark Wash

I finished these up over the weekend, and think they turned out nicely.  Like the other pairs of jeans I’ve made from this Jalie pattern, they fit well and sew up easily.

Changes I made this time around were to narrow the legs by about 2 inches.  This gives these jeans a leaner silhouette, which I liked.  Not the skinny jean, poured-into-a-sausage-casing look the papers are showing but narrow enough to be a stylistic nod to this trend.

I also did my usual routine of rummaging through the scrap bag for pocket and fly facings.  Why not have something colorful and zippy where no one can see?

The denim is actually rather thin, not a beefy, heavy sort at all.  It was stash utilization, probably from Joann’s quite some time ago.  My memory says inexpensive.

I decided to stretch my skills a little with the zipper and used Trudy, she of Hot Patterns fame, fly zipper insertion technique.  You can find that right here on YouTube .  It’s actually easier than the other method I had been using, and produces  polished results.

Of course, now that these are done, we’ve swooped away from jeans weather.  Highs are expected to be around 80 and more all week.   They may end up put away until October!

Max and Puck need a bigger basket

Jalie 2794: Sweetheart Top

Jalie hits another one out of the park!  I wasn’t at all sure I would like this top, but I read the reviews on Pattern Review and thought I would give it a try.  There are a lot of folks who have good things to say about this pattern.

Goodness, what a thunderbolt!  I traced off my size (a W, based on bust measurement and amount of ease I prefer) and set out to do a fitting muslin with some leftover poly knit that I had from another garment.

Woohoo!! Quelle surprise!  Here’s Flora, modeling the top.  Not only is it a wonderful fit, it’s comfortable and quite stylish.  I am most pleased.  It went together very easily, with a few small items I screwed up, needed to pay attention to:

1. Be sure to mark the sections on the bodice that are supposed to be gathered.  I marked the body of the garment, but didn’t bother with the edging inserts (shown in black, above).
2. Mark (that marking thing again, is there a trend here?) how the edging band attaches to the garment body.   You have to stretch it a lot in a few places, and not at all in others.

I serged most of this shirt, however in retrospect, I think that it could also be sewn with a small zig-zag stitch, which would reduce some seam bulk.  The zig-zag stitch would also maintain the stretch for the garment.

I also opted for the gathering in the front, though several folks have made this top without it.  I used a 3 1/2 inch piece of clear elastic, stretched to 4 1/2  to hold the gathers.  This feature gives those of us who are less well endowed the illusion of being more so.  Very nice.

Gazing into Madame Lazonga’s crystal ball, I see more of this top in my future.  Hopefully the very near future!

Jalie 968: The Grey Jeans

I’m wearing these today. And no, my sewing mojo still hasn’t returned.  I made these a couple months back.  The Grey Jeans as I call them, from my favorite jeans pattern, Jalie 968.

The fabric is a really nice, beefy denim with a slight striation in the color.  Not a poor dye job; it’s supposed to be that way!

It’s from a denim sale Ressy, The Evil Fabric Queen had.  Ressy runs a co-op on yahoo groups that caters to the fabric addict.  She gets some of the nicest stuff!

I did my usual with these, meaning the fly placket and pocket linings are from another fabric.  On denim, I find it works out better.  These is less bulk where you don’t want bulk.  Hmmm, better work on the grammar of that sentence, it doesn’t parse very well.

I had intended to make these up quickly over a weekend, but one thing led to another, and they turned into more of a project.  The backs just seemed a little bland, so I added some machine embroidery on the pockets and yoke, as well as some gunmetal rhinestuds.  Sparklies!  I likes.  The added detail promotes these from being “just” jeans to being dressy jeans.

The embroidery designs are from Bobbi, over at Bullard Designs who, by the way, is having a holiday sale right now.  50% off selected designs.  These designs fit right onto the pocket and yoke without any tweaking or re-sizing, which is even better.

Jalie 968

The jeans are done!  Here they are, modeled by Flora.  The pattern is Jalie 968, described as straight leg jeans.  Alas, the last time I checked the Jalie web site, the pattern was not listed, so it may well be out of print.  I’ve had it for years, but only recently gotten around to making it.

Jalie is a pattern company out of Canada, which specializes in a lot of athletic wear – think skating patterns, workout clothes, etc.  But, they also carry a series of regular clothing, of which this is (or was) one.  Check them out, they have some lovely styles.

Similar to Burda World of Fashion, Jalie comes all sizes in one envelope.  All sizes – from 2T, as in toddler to US 22. Sizes are again, printed on the same piece of paper, so you have to trace your lines carefully.  Like Kwik Sew, they are printed on heavy paper, so I generally trace off onto tissue.  This multi-sizing makes Jalie useful for lots of different family members.  Unlike Burda, they also have excellent instructions.

I did my usual, non-matching fabric for the pocket lining and fly placket.  In my mind, this helps both the fly area, and the pockets have less thickness.  The stretch denim I used is pretty beefy, and, well, let’s face it, no one wants extra heft around their mid section.

The fabric is from Big Box*.  It’s been washed and dried once, but the last piece of denim I got from them continued to shrink in length (go figure!) with successive washings.  I took care with these to have a larger than usual hem, so there’s room to let them out if needed.

I toyed with the idea of using an actual metal trouser zipper on these, but in the end time won out over authenticity, and I used a nylon one from stash.  These jeans got the Prince Charming seal of approval too!

*Joann’s