DIY Linen Pants Using Simplicity 8389

“For everything there is a season, and a time for every purpose under heaven:” Ecclesiastes 3:1

Hello Lovelies!

I hope your week is going splendidly.  I’ve been breezing through my Sew Easy Sewing Makes for the summer series.  Its been such a breath of fresh air for me.  Not just because I’ve been flying through my projects list.  But also because its been really liberating my thought process around my personal style choices.

For a long time now i’ve been struggling between creating things that I deem wow and blog worthy vs. what is truly my personal style aesthetic.  Working through my fabric and pattern stash has given me a framework to focus my individual projects while forcing me to take an internal inventory.  And i’m realizing the following:

1. Buying fabric is like clothes shopping.  You can sometimes purchase things that are a hit and sometimes its a miss.
2. I have alot of  summer weight woven fabric in bright colors mostly from natural fibers like cotton.  (A lot of cotton.)
3. I’m not challenging myself to my full potential.  I keep buying the same kind of fabric and choose the same kind of projects. Pants are a prime example.  I hate working through pants fitting issues.  So I tend to stick to making dresses or skirts.
4. I want to make things that are really pieces that I can incorporate into my everyday life.  Whether they are wow to others or not.

Which leads me to today’s DIY project.  I bought Simplicity 8389 last summer because they seemed like an easy pull on pants pattern.  It has been lurking in my sewing room for a while and everytime I passed it, I would pick it up and look it over.  So finally about 3 weeks ago I decided to bite the bullet and try my hand at pants fitting again.

Fitting palazzo pants is much easier that fitting fitted pants.  I created one muslin before going into fashion fabric.  What I learned from the first fitting is that I didn’t like the rise of the pants.  On the model in the pattern envelope picture it looks like the pants are high waist.  But in reality they fit more like a mid-rise.  Below is a picture of me in the muslin.

On my curvy pear shape.  This isn’t a flattering cut for me in a palazzo pant.  So I made a few modifications which  I list below:

Modifications:

• Raised the waistline 2 inches only at the side seams and back rise.  This made the pants high waist which is more flattering for my shape but it also added length to the back rise.  (I didn’t need to add to the front because it would have lengthened too much in the front.)
•  Lengthened back crotch curve by 1in.  There was bunching at the bottom of my butt where the fabric curves into the crotch.  Which was an indicator that I needed to lengthen the crotch curve at the back.
• The waistband was a bit of a challenge. For the following reasons:  a. The pattern itself was off by about 1.5 inches too short.  So I had to redraft the pattern to make sure it fit. And b. the back band did not stop at the side seams like in a traditional pant. It instead reach around to the front band at the princess lines.  Once I put the elastic in it caused a weird gathering and unflattering fit at the side seams. It gave me a bit of a muffin top.
• I widened the waistband  from a 1.5″ wide band to be a finished width of 3″.  I also re-drafted the front and back bands to sew together at the side seams. This gave me a more flattering fit at the waist.
• I took in 1 inch at both inseam and outer seam starting at the hip.  There was too much fabric in the leg.
• The last thing I did was more out of trying to save my final project because the modifications created a great waistline, and fit in the seat. However, there was way to much room in the front rise.  So I opted instead to release the front pleats and convert the entire waistband to an elastic waistband instead of how the pattern was originally drafted and removed about 7 inches of ease from the front waistline.

My final is more of a wearable muslin.  Even with the emergency modifications there is about an 1.5″ of ease from the front crotch that needs to be removed.  However.  I really like the way they came out and wore them to church styled in the way they are featured below.  These pants have some great styling possibilities and i’ll be posting those as #OOTD on my Instagram page throughout the week. So stay connected.

Photo credits: My beautiful daughter Asabea..

Well that’s all for now! Until next time….

 

 

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DIY Poncho Wrap Top Tutorial

^“And we know [with great confidence] that God [who is deeply concerned about us] causes all things to work together [as a plan] for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose.” Romans 8:28 (amp)

Hello Lovelies!

Its a great day!  The weather here in Milwaukee is starting to break and i’ve been experiencing a series of challenges and triumphs the past few weeks.  I’m so thankful. I am really hanging onto my faith and trying to see things from the glass half full mindset.

As for this weeks post. My DIY Wrap Top Tutorial is about a week later than I promised but I finally got it done yesterday and I like it.  I hope you do to.

It’s a pdf technical sketch pictorial with both cutting and sewing directions.  This is a great beginner friendly tutorial that requires no pattern and I was able to complete quickly.  Less than 2 hours.  You can download your copy of the tutorial in the link below.

DIY Wrap Top Tutorial

If you missed last week’s post where I went into further detail and shared my styled photos you can catch up here.

Let me know what you think and if you make it I’d love to see your version of it.

Well that’s all for now! Until next time….

Shift Your Perspective: DIY 40s Inspired Wrap Top

“And we know [with great confidence] that God [who is deeply concerned about us] causes all things to work together [as a plan] for good for those who love God, to those who are called according to His plan and purpose.” Romans 8:28 (amp)

Good Day Lovelies!

I hope everyone is doing so well!  This weeks post is a result of some sudden yet unexpected blunders on my part.  I was planning on giving you all Look #1 of the Summer Sew Easy Series.  Complete with a diagram tutorial on my first make.  When a few things happened.

Blunder #1 I left the power cord to my mac book at the coffee shop last week Wednesday and didn’t notice it missing until Saturday and after calling the coffeeshop.  They said they didn’t have it. (so sad right…?)

Blunder #2 I had to order a new one on Monday morning and lucky for me I was able to pick it up at my local Best Buy on Tuesday only to come home and find out that I bought the wrong cord.  So I went back and very happily exchanged it for the right one later that afternoon.  Which leads me to….

Blunder #3 where it is Wednesday (blog posting day) and I realized that because I had already made and photographed my  project I still had time to post only to arrive at the coffeshop ready to work on creating the PDF diagram tutorial and I forgot my mouse and mouse pad at home.  Which I absolutely need to illustrate in Adobe Illustrator.

So this is probably where I…. at any other moment in my life, would have shut down the computer and cried or walked away and ate a bag of salty chips. lol! (the struggle is real).  But God has been doing such a wonderful thing in my life lately.  And that is…. He’s been helping me to shift my perspective.  While yes…..!  I was feeling a little frustrated and yes! I did shed a tear or two yesterday about the power cord issue.  I decided who cares if it doesn’t work out the way you want it too..?! What is the solution?  and keep going.

So here is my solution to this week’s post.  I am sharing with you all today Look #1 and the tutorial i’ll share tomorrow.  And I am totally smiling as I type this.  Its all good!

This week’s post is inspired by this 1940’s wrap top that I’ve seen on Pinterest for a few years now and i’ve always wanted to give it a try and liked the idea of making it for this series.  Its suuuper duuuuper easy to make and only really requires 1 yard of fabric for the average s-xl sized woman. If you are plus sized you will probably need more yardage.

I used a border printed stretch cotton panel that I purchased in Chicago last summer.  The fabric looked like it was printed with the idea of using it to make a gathered short skirt or tunic top.  Neither of which appealed to me.  I just really liked the print so much that I bought some.

I styled it kind of 90’s inspired with a denim skirt that I thrifted from the Goodwill last summer and yellow block heeled sandals and my favorite craft inspired (but store bought) statement necklace.  Its an easy summer outfit that I plan on wearing often.  The shirt is super comfy to wear and In addition to a skirt I could see it paired with shorts, wide leg jeans or palazzo pants, even as a swimsuit cover-up could be nice.  Below are a few pictures.  I even put together a collage of photos demonstrating how to tie it on.

Well that’s all for now.  Thanks for reading.  Until next time…..

 

 

 

 

Summer Sew Easy Series

 ^“casting all your cares [all your anxieties, all your worries, and all your concerns, once and for all] on Him, for He cares about you [with deepest affection, and watches over you very carefully].”  1 Peter 5:7 (amp)

Heelllo Everyone!

I hope all is well with you! I’ve been super busy trying to manage multiple hats and as a result blogging has been on the back burner. New changes are coming as I am seeking to merge both areas of my business.

I value simplicity and order. So I am working to streamline my business so that the various components complement one another and allows me to be consistent with my output.

But I am so ready to get to blogging again. I miss creating and sharing content. I think I had a blog block.  For the life of me I wasn’t sure what I wanted to write about.  Until today.  I had a light bulb go off and I decided to write all about it.

One of the things that I love about summer is that I actually get a vacay.  My children go and live with their dad for the summer and I get to be single and while I miss my kids;  I love the extra time that I have.

Time that my work-a-holic tendence can really bloom if i’m not careful.  but i’m honestly getting tired of that and I want to enjoy life a bit more.  So I decided that I want to maximize my time in the sewing room so that I can sew fewer days and live more.  Which leads me to announce the Summer Sew Easy Series.

I’m thinking easy pull over tops and dresses, pull on palazo pants, wrap dresses and skirts, upcycled pieces, small accessory projects.  Patterns that have less than 5 pieces to them.  Or better yet require no pattern to create.  No zippers, no buttonholes.  Just easy breezy.  Things that can be accomplished in an afternoon.  Things that I can raid my fabric and pattern stash to create ( because I really am practicing sustainability in my sewing I have only bought new fabric to make samples for my apparel line and even started saving the scraps for smaller projects instead of tossing them.)

I already started sketching some projects on my first set of posts and working on creating a hit list of content ideas. I think I might share them with you all on my Instastories later this week or over the weekend.  So stay tuned!

What about you all…?  What are your summer sewing plans? I’d love to hear about them.

Until next time……