Satin top

After the long-running saga of the wool trousers, I fairly sped through my latest sew- a satin top. I used Burda 7079 and made view A. Well, I decided I

wanted more of a plain top, without the notched neckline...so apart from that, I made the pattern more of less as it is. Well, except I decided not to use facings and made some bias binding using the fabric, and finished the neck and sleeve edges with it. 

I wanted as plain a  pattern as possible to let the fabric be the star! Speaking of which, here's the fabric-

It's some kind of man-made satin bought from John Lewis in Edinburgh. It was about £16 a metre but you don't need much to make this top and the fabric is lovely and great to work with. I finished all the seams with my pinking scissors after experimenting with zigzagging and also tried turning over and straight stitching, but pinking the edges was by far the best option. 

So the pattern was very simple but it suits the fabric and I also needed a fast sew after taking so long to finish the wool trousers. Here are some photos of yours truly modelling the finished work of art...well, I'll maybe let you decide that!

Isn't that fabric great? Just my kind of print- loud, splodgy and in bold, strong colours. 

The only down side to this project is the gap at the back. I've said it before about other projects, but never listen to myself. I'm not a fan of a gap and should have finished it with a zip. But then that leads to another thing, it would be better with an invisible zip and I confess I've never done one of those. Something for 2015, I think. 

I'll wear this top but I'm undecided on whether it needs a zip. It does have a lovely covered button and hand-worked button-loop though. Here's a very bad photo that makes me look like I have Olympic shot-putter's shoulders (I'm not like that in real life, honest)-

Yes, the sharp eyed among you will have noticed that that's our Christmas tree up. No, it doesn't have any lights and we don't know where they've gone since last year! We have another tree in the same room, it does have lights and looks far more interesting and exciting so that'll be a trip to the shops on Saturday... 

And what's my next project? A pair of trousers but I added too much length to the rise (about 3.5") so I'll have to cut off a good 2", unpick what's left of the darts and do them again. That's not too much of a problem though. The fit looks good so it's just a matter of refining the fit after the alterations to the rise. All in all, not too bad.   

Taa dah!

It was a momentous day yesterday, even though you might not have realised it. It was The Day I Finished The Grey Wool Lined Trousers. All in capitals. I've been working on them for weeks but also been diverted by other quicker sews. They are an almost exact replica of a pair I made in September...yes, they're also grey. The pattern is Burda 7250. I know some people don't like Burda but I'm fine with their patterns. So far!

The fabric is a lovely grey and black checked 100% wool from Edinburgh Fabrics. Here's a photo of my leg encased in said fabric-

There are also large checked lines of brown running through it too. I have the feeling it's suiting fabric. It has a lovely drape and feel to it and despite being wool, doesn't seem to be scratchy.

I'm becoming more of a convert to pre-washing fabrics. Well, except anything that's 100% polyester, if you know what I mean. When the fabric was dry I steam ironed it, to make the fibres shrink. I think it's best to start as you mean to carry on with fabric and if it gets used to bad treatment now, it won't be so bad in the future when I forget to put it on a wool wash or something potentially disastrous like that. Ask me how I know all this...!

So, fabric prepared. Then I started cutting. And cutting....and cutting. I decided because of the checked pattern it would be much better to cut from a single layer of fabric. Then I could match up the checks and make sure each piece was cut on the grain.

So I cut the fabric and then cut the lining. I folded the lining in half and then cut, with a plain polyester anti-static lining it wasn't worth cutting each piece from a single layer. No checks to match, thank goodness. I cut the pocket bags using one layer of the wool fabric and another layer of the polyester lining as I wanted to reduce bulk. As usual, I lengthened the legs but that was the only thing I altered.

The fabric was lovely to sew with but it didn't half fray! I zigzagged all seam finishes, again to avoid adding unnecessary bulk. I also zigzagged the seams of the lining. That stuff sure can fray when it gets the notion!

Here's a close-up of the waistband and lining and below, the pleats, zip and button. I finished the wool hems by trimming the length to about 1.5" then zigzagging and then hand stitching. I had some bias binding that I could have used but I was worried it might be too heavy. I know zigzagging isn't the neatest of hem finishes but I think it's right for these trousers. The lining hems I just trimmed then turned up twice and machine hemmed. And of course, everything looks much better after a good press!

So, all in all, I'm very pleased with these trousers and they're the first pair of lined wool trousers I've ever had or indeed, made. They did take a lot of time to make but that's because of the details like pleats at the waistband and the pockets. Without them, it would have been much quicker. The lining adds to the project time too. Just need some cold weather and I can wear them!

I've got the waistband fit much better this time but that could also be due to the fact there isn't any stretch in the fabric compared with the other pair of grey trousers I made. These are a much better fit and as I don't like belts and don't need to wear one with them, I didn't add any belt loops.

I finished these and started the next project yesterday afternoon. The fabric for that is bright! I'm making a top for going out at christmas. I'll be blogging about that soon!

Burda bargains

Just thought I'd share with you the fact that Burda have 50% off their patterns until the end of November. I came across it over a week ago on the John Lewis website and then spent the entire Sunday afternoon browsing, clicking and collecting. It would be rude not to! Got them on Saturday but haven't yet started to make anything from them yet. I bought 6 patterns for £17.60. Bargain! Thought I'd blog the patterns I bought and think about what I'm going to make with them. 

As I just so happened to be in the store last Saturday and while on my way to the toy department for some Christmas shopping, I just happened to go through the fabric department, as you do, and bought myself a little treat- 2 metres of a lovely black and white dogtooth checked fabric.

I'm going to make some badly needed trousers. My RTW ones that I have admittedly had for years, are on their last legs (unintentional pun there, did you notice?). No photos of the fabric as I pre-washed it.

I've a feeling the dogtooth check will end up as a pair of these trousers.

I'm also being restrained and not starting anything else before the grey lined wool trousers are finished. I've been making them for at least the last six weeks. I have, of course, been distracted by quick-sew projects along the way, well, you know how it goes. But yesterday I finished the lining, attached the wasitband, sewed the lining hems and then had to stop because it was dark and I couldn't choose an appropriate button. I still need to hand sew the trouser hems. So, they're almost finished. I'll blog when they're done and then allow myself to start something else. 

I liked this dress pattern and how it also includes a good jumper/thicker top pattern too. It looks a good casual/smart type of dress that you can just throw on and add layers, accessories and boots.

What can I say? It's a dolman sleeved top and I can never have enough of these (left). I'd make both options of this pattern.

I liked this pattern (right) for what they call a jacket but looks more like a cardigan to me, made in a thicker knitted fabric or jersey. I like the zipped version on the left.  

This is just another option for a thicker weight knitted or jersey top with a floppy collar or a loose dress with a woven fabric skirt (left). 

I (obviously!) liked the dog toothed version of this jacket (right). It has a fur collar but I think that it would be better in a tweed or plain fabric as the front panels kind of 'disrupt' the check. I like the length too. And the fact the pockets are patch pockets rather than welts. I'd need to work up to those! This just looks like a good warm jacket . Any plans for winter sewing?

And now for something completely different...

Well, it is actually about sewing but it's just not about me sewing something! Anyway, I spent yesterday afternoon continuing with the grey wool trousers I started a few weeks ago, but got distracted by making a couple of tops. So yesterday I thought I should get on with the trousers as the weather here in Edinburgh is heading towards the chilly, although no frost yet! I've just about finished the outer wool shell of the trousers but have yet to start sewing together the lining. So it's a work in progress but I'm actually enjoying taking my time and completing quite a complicated garment. I'll blog about them when I finish them.

All quiet last week as I went to London for a wee holiday. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves but as you know, London is not one of those relaxing holidays! On the trip we went to the V&A and I spotted this garment in their Fashion section-

 What a lovely garment and the label says it's a Christian Dior...but the seam finish inside is really quite poor quality. I was so shocked I had to take a few photos with my iphone and blog about them!

I'm not even aware that the seams were finished at all, the hem had a zig-zag stitch or was pinked, and then hand stitched.

I'm actually really shocked about the quality of the seam finishes given that this would have been quite an expensive garment in its day. You can probably tell how shocked I am!

And I just had to show you this close-up too!

So that's enough of that. We also went to Kensington Palace where they have an exhibition of dresses from the collections of the Queen, Princess Margaret and Diana, called Fashion Rules. There were some really beautiful gowns that realistically I'll never end up wearing anything halfway as nice in my life! The other thing I noticed is that the royal women were/are a lot shorter and generally smaller than my 5'9" frame! The dresses are behind glass and well lit and displayed. Again, I took some photos to blog about-

I loved this purple puritan ensemble just for its weirdness and it stuck out like a sore thumb amongst all the other dresses.

But I think my favourite was the Maharajah's outfit complete with turban. What can I say?

Just to prove I was really there, can you see Floral Heaven reflected behind the dress on the left? Just giving Hardy Ames a run for his money by wearing a me-made top! My seams are much better finished than Christian Dior, I can tell you!

The exhibition was included in the price of admission for the palace so I'm not sure if you can visit just the exhibition itself. I thoroughly enjoyed visiting the whole palace and seeing lots of other clothes and accessories, including one of Queen Victoria's dresses (she was absolutely tiny!!!).

The beadwork on all these dresses was amazing. I can't think how long it would have taken to sew it all on. More time than I have the patience for!

Back to black

I've been reading other sewist bloggers who have been making more practical garments to add to their wardrobes. You know, the kind of wearable item that you either wear or it's in the wash. We've all got that kind of thing, whether it's RTW or we've sewn it ourselves. Well. I've recently thrown away a number of shirts that had definitely seen much better days in their dim and distant past. And they'd frankly seen the inside of the washing machine way too many times! Anyway, all of this has kind of made me get on with sewing some rather mundane in a way replacements. Here's another one I cut out and sewed up in one afternoon last weekend-

Yes, it's yet another New Look 6216 that I've already blogged about here and here . I thought I'd give your eyes a rest this time and chose plain black. Yes, the fabric is my beloved bamboo jersey. I think I've cracked it with the sizing of the pattern so I cut it out to the same requirements as I did for the floral version.

I didn't pre-wash the fabric either. It's such a good quality fabric that this doesn't seem to be necessary as there's no difference in the cream bamboo version I made after its wash. I daresay one of these days it will matter though! I always pre-wash wool.

I used my trusty twin needle too. Getting the hang of that quite well. Here's a dodgy photo of the body hem. It's given me the courage to buy an ordinary twin needle and do some top-stitching on woven fabric garments. Actually, I was thinking about a lovely Vogue dress pattern that could look great with some twin needle top-stitching. I like this pattern too, now I'm having a look at it...

Floral heaven!

Well, what can I say? I rushed off to the fabric shop last Saturday, as I warned you I would, and rummaged round the bamboo fabrics. They're all plain, by the way, I've never come across a patterned bamboo fabric before. If anybody knows of any, let me know!

So, anyway, there I am rummaging around the bamboo and going into the nearby jersey fabrics when I spied this lovely floral patterned jersey. That was it! It's got all my favourite colours in it...and it goes with black! It's the perfect patterned fabric. Also, at £12 a metre a new top would be mine for £18. I know other sewists like to get a bargain, and I do too, but I just haven't come across any places in Edinburgh I can get cheap fabrics. I think you just have to think about the cost of buying something like this RTW and £18 for fabric still makes a cheap top in my opinion. Part of the reason for me taking up sewing again was becoming really fed up at the cheaper quality fabrics used in RTW clothing that just didn't survive three months of moderate wearing and washing. I'll stop my ranting now and get back to the flowers!

 So, this fabric is cotton with 3% spandex which gives it a
 nice stretch, but not too much, if you know what I mean. I haven't pre-washed it which could be a big mistake but I only yesterday found out about the importance of pre-washing jersey fabrics. This could be the only photographic evidence I ever have of me wearing it!

I used my trusty Favourite Pattern Ever, New Look 6216. I made view A and added 2" to the body length. Just like my cream bamboo top, I cut a size 14 for the top part and then tried graduating to a size 12 for the waist and hips. These areas are too big for me with the cream bamboo top. Now, for the sleeves I thought I'd simply make the sleeves as long as I could get them as there's plenty of fabric width in this 150cm wide fabric. So, I ended up lengthening the sleeves by 10cm and also cutting to the end of the sleeve, where the size 16 sleeve length cutting line is. All I was intending to do was to have longer three quarter length sleeves but happy accident...I ended up with long sleeves. Hurray!!! (Warning: impending)...and here it is...even in winter you can't buy a long sleeved top. They all have three quarter length sleeves, or in my case, just-below-the-elbow-length. My arms get cold! (rant over).

 This New look pattern has dolman sleeves as you can see from this photo. This makes for fast cutting out and sewing up as the front and back are both cut on the fold and there are no separate sleeves. There is a neck band, so all in, there are only three pattern pieces. I cut out and sewed the top within 3 hours last Saturday afternoon and wore it to the theatre on Saturday night. In the grand tradition of a lot of what I wear, it's now been worn and is now waiting to be washed. Result!

 I was also able to use my twin needle for jersey fabrics again. Here's a close-up of the neck band and double row of top stitching which you can't really see among all those flowers.

The one thing about sewing with a twin needle, though, is that you have to have three sources of thread- two on top of the machine (see photo below) and the bobbin underneath. I'd just spent a small fortune buying a large reel of black thread so didn't want to buy another one just yet. So I wound some onto another empty metal bobbin and put it on the top of my machine. I wasn't sure if the bobbin was too lightweight and would simply jump off when the sewing
started but it was as good as gold and behaved itself perfectly. So I thought I'd take a photo and show you my set up. The twin needle is great and gives a good professional finish to the garment...just take a bit of time to go slow and steady and use a long stitch, on my machine that's a 4 which is the longest stitch it does.

So, all in all, a definite success!

Essential kit

For me, essential kit in our flat is a cosy fleece to lounge about in. This really isn't a hugely interesting garment (or post!) but it is one of those essential makes that are sooooo practical and essential. Yes I made another fleece but this one is navy. The other one I made was black and it's been washed and worn so many times already that I had to tackle another one.

 For some inexplicable reason, despite cursing, this photo will just not sit the correct way. Oh well, you get the idea and it could be my cunning way of making this post more interesting.

I bought some normal fleece, an open ended heavyweight zip and that was that. I used the same pattern as I did for the black fleece, added 2" to the body length but nothing extra to the sleeves. It is at this point that I have to confess something. Again. With the black fleece I had a gap between the top of the zip and the top of the collar. Well, dear reader, I inadvertently did the opposite with this fleece and have a beautifully inserted zip at the top of the collar and a gap at the bottom of the zip!?! How! But at least I can easily sort this out and take up a new hem. I'm sure I bought the correct length of zip allowing for an additional 2" which I knew I'd add on.


There you go, though, I'm probably destined never to become a professional fleece-maker! The world's loss...

On to the next project which I cut out last weekend and started sewing...lined wool trousers. I'll be blogging about the sometime in the future, hopefully not listing a load of mistakes illustrated by dodgy photos!

I also want to buy some more of that lovely bamboo fabric for some more tops so they'll be appearing soon too.

Bamboo...it's not just for pandas

I mentioned a little while ago in a previous post that's I'd got a hankering for sewing something using bamboo jersey fabric I'd spied recently. Well, of course, that was that and I ended up buying some as I couldn't get it out of my head (there's a song in there somewhere!?).

So, I bought some cream bamboo jersey, which actually contains 96% bamboo, 3% spandex and 1% lycra (but I could have got the last two mixed up so don't quote me on). I already had a pattern selected -

I decided to make view A, a three-quarter length sleeved top. The sleeves look much longer on the illustration on the pattern cover and I have long arms so they were three-quarter length on me. I added 2" to the length of the body and didn't add anything to the sleeve length. Next time I'll add my customary 2" or as much as I can. The fabric was 150cm wide and only 3 pattern pieces were needed. Both the front and back were cut on the fold so there was enough room to have added more length to the sleeves.

The eagle-eyed among you might have recognised the short-sleeved version, view C, which has already made an appearance in a previous post as Green top No.2.

Anyway, I'd say this pattern was easy to follow and very quick to sew up. I started cutting out at 1pm and had finished a very leisurely afternoon's sewing at about 6pm with the completed garment (this included time for tea breaks, cake-eating and chatting).

The bamboo was great to work with, an absolute dream and I'm already thinking of how I can use it again and other colours I can make this pattern up in. I challenged myself to buy and use a ballpoint twin needle, which I bought from the old faithful, John Lewis click and collect service. I'd looked before and couldn't see it in the shop but it was available online. I threaded up my machine after googling how to do this, set the stitch to ordinary straight stitch and on setting 4 (widest stitch length on my machine). Then I gently applied pressure to the foot control, expecting to hear gnarling thread and a complaining machine any second but apart from a few seconds spent adjusting the tension with a scrap of fabric, it worked perfectly and gave a lovely professional result to the sleeve and lower edge hems-

I did have a false start by sewing on the reverse of the hem, top tip here- you have to sew from the right side of the fabric. I also used the twin needle to top stitch around the neckline.


So, what does the finished top look like? Here are some dodgy photos for you.

The top has slight dolman sleeves, which I love but they're still practical enough to be able to put a jumper on without bunching up.

Remember the 2" I added to the length of the body? I ended up cutting 1.5" off the body length when I hemmed it so I won't even bother making any adjustments to the pattern next time I use it. That'll be a first for me!

Checked (rather than tartan) skirt

I just loved this checked fabric when I saw it in Edinburgh Fabrics a few weeks ago so that was that, sold to the woman feverishly clutching a bolt of it! 

This photo doesn't quite do it justice but my excuse is that I photographed it yesterday evening when it had got dark. The background is a light grey, with black cerise pink and also a purple stripe you can't really see. There's also tan/brown colour underneath the black checks. Tasteful eh? Just the kind of thing I love!

Now, I knew I wanted to sew a pencil skirt with it, line it and fill a gap in my wardrobe for a winter wool skirt. The question is, how to make it more Vivienne Westwood and less Auntie Beanie or the Prime of Miss Jean Brodie...and it had to keep me interested when sewing what is a basic, simple pencil skirt pattern and one I've made before and blogged about before too. 

Here's the pattern. So, spurred on y all you bloggers out there, I decided to give the skirt some purple lining that matched the purple stripe in the check.

Then I went a bit off piste with the rest of it and found some black pvc bias binding. I never knew such things existed! So I decided to add some around the waist instead of a waistband. 

Just to keep things interesting and to challenge myself I decided to try an exposed zip. So after googling tutorials I found lots and genned up ion the topic. 

And if that wasn't enough I decided to improve on the finish of the inside of the skirt too by hiding the facing in the skirt construction. No that's not easy to explain so here's a photo-

I then used the lovely bias binding to bind the waist edge of the skirt. I made a bit of a dogs dinner of sewing it but I figure I never wear things tucked in anyway so nobody's going to see it! I used a leather/pvc sewing machine needle when sewing the bas binding. It took a bit of persuading to get through all those layers of fabric and lining in some areas and to be honest I had to go back and hand sew areas I'd missed catching with the sewing machine. As I said, bit of a dogs dinner!

I made a much better job of sewing the bias binding around the hem. I completed the hem as I'd normally do, by hand sewing it. Then I machined one edge of the bias binding and then hand sewed the bias binding on the inside. That worked much better than the waist, probably because there were less layers of fabric to get through but my fingers were glad to finish hand sewing the bias binding! Here's a rear view photo showing it in all of its neatness (unless you had a close-up shot of the waist obviously. 

And here's a photo of me wearing the skirt. I absolutely love it even though it's far from perfect but I know I'll get lots of wear out of it. It's been an epic but it's been worth it! 

What have you been sewing for the cooler weather?  

Paisley, paisley, paisley...and the deepest trench in the world!

Have I told you I love paisley pattern? I think I probably did a while ago when I showed you about this fabric that I'd bought. It's taken a while to finish the top and I also have mixed feelings about it. I have worn it once though so nothing bad happened to it!

Anyway, I used Burda 6984 and made the long sleeved version, adding 2" onto the body length and the sleeve length as per usual. All well and good. I have this thought though, that I really liked this pattern and it would suit me well. But, as you get older, things that suited you in your twenties and thirties, somehow just don't look as good on you now. Do you know what I mean? Well, dear readers, this is one of those patterns. (You can now tell you're in for a bumpy ride with this post!). There's absolutely nothing wrong with the pattern, it's me, or rather, how I look in it.

In terms of fit, the armhole circumference is a little neat and the upper arms are quite fitted on me, that's due to my swimming so that's expected and it's not unwearable or even mildly irritating, thankfully!

If I was making this top again, I'd add a zip to the back opening, where there is a button and loop on the photo below. Perhaps I'd even be adventurous and do my first ever invisible zip! Whoa, there, Nelly!

I also found that the bias binding bands around the wrists were too roomy and so the sleeve 'fell' over my hand. Cue a couple of snap studs to fold the band over on itself and problem sorted. The sleeves hand so much better with the snaps but maybe next time I'd add use the bias binding bands as casings for elastic.

The fabric itself is a 100% fine cotton, probably some type of cotton lawn but it didn't say so on the label. It feels lovely and almost silky and handles well. It drapes well, due to it being so lightweight.

Then we come to the thing that I really don't like! The gathered section at the front neck looks like it's gathered, but in fact it's pleated. And the pleats lead to an inverted pleat in the middle and this just forms a deep trench down your front. Deeply, deeply unflattering! If I ever make this blouse again, I will gather this front section instead of pleating it and see if that's a better alternative to 'deep trench'!

I think that would work. 

This all explains why you haven't got a photo of me wearing it! The colour of the lovely fabric is nearest the red in the photo on the left It really is the most beautiful paisley-est fabric ever and I love it. So that's why I'm keeping it. I've already worn and washed it. I'm using this top for layering in the winter as I do wear a lot of scarves to help keep warm. Yep, you've cottoned on, haven't you? I wear the scarf and it hides the deep trench. Yay! So, all in all, definitely not a runaway success but not a failure either. It's staying in my wardrobe.

There is something that I've noticed that I do, and I was wondering if anyone else does it too. When I finish sewing a garment, I can have a tendency to put it away and then not seem to get round to wearing it, which must surely be part of the reason for making the garment in the first place. It's part of my motivation anyway, so why do I do it? I seem to have a natural reluctance to wear something newly finished but I've started forcing myself to wear it and this seems to help get over that hurdle. The risk with this blouse was in not sorting out the problems, as listed above, and that I'd leave the top sitting about in a 'to do' pile and never finish it. I'm actually pleased with myself for persevering with the problems and wearing the finished top. It's been a bit of a mixed sew, this one! Anyone else had the same experience, or going through the same thing?  
 

A plain cream top

It does seem to be plain month for me! I recently made a very plain cream top to replace an older one that had seen better days. I used Vintage Simplicity pattern 1364 that I'd previously used for another top that I can't seem to stop wearing and washing! I only managed to sew the final hook and eye on it after I'd ironed it on sunday afternoon. This pattern is rapidly turning into an old favourite.

This pattern has two front side darts and a zip running almost the full length of the back. There's also a little dart in each arm, at the elbow point. Now, in the grey version I made a few weeks ago, I didn't add any length to the sleeves and they felt fine, but the sleeves on this top feel a little tight. I swim and my forearms have gained in muscle! Looking at the sleeve, I think I need to add an extra 2" to the top half of the sleeve and this would make the darts fit exactly at the elbow and the sleeves wouldn't feel tight. That's my theory anyway and I'll let you know how I get on if  when I make another one!



There is something else I would like to try for the next top, and that's cutting a smaller size on the shoulders as the bias binding edge is quite wide. I usually wear these tops to work and it would be better if they just stayed where I put them. Mind you, it is accentuating my neck/shoulder muscles...

I sewed this top after making my fleece and most of my pins were blunt! This cream is such a densely woven fabric that it was hard to push them through. I have now bought new pins!

The pattern says sew up the entire side seam and as I have a complete and utter aversion to ever tucking my tops into my waistbands, I just did my own thing and made small slits in the side and then top stitched all around the hem and side slits in a one-er. That all turned out well.

All in all, despite some small fit issues with this top, they haven't been so bad that I've decided to sort them out and I think I can live with them.

Round Two

I actually made these grey trousers a few weeks ago using Burda 7250 and bought some really nice grey gabardine, which has a little bit of stretch in it. I was trying to get something like the trousers Katie from What Katie Sews blog has in her Sewing Studio and wanted a pattern I could use more than once too. So I spotted the grey gabardine in John Lewis in Edinburgh. Purchase made!   

I wore them once to work and decided they were a bit too loose- a combination of cutting them too generously and the stretch component in the fabric itself. Time for Plan B- I added belt loops. Anything to avoid unpicking that lovely top-stitching...no way was I doing that!

Somehow the photographer has only taken headless photos...but you can see the trousers anyway. Top tucked in at the front so you can see the design better but that's not how I wear them outside the flat.

And here are some close ups of the top stitching I was not unpicking! Photo is misbehaving and being upside down no matter what I do to it. I think it's something to do with how it was taken on my iphone.

 

This was a good pattern to work with and I especially liked the all in one fly and the insertion of the zip. That worked really well and stays lovely and flat when you're wearing it. I feel other types of fly can feel more more bulky with seam allowances, but that's just a personal thing. I also decided not to have turn-ups and added a good 5" to the length as they are a cropped style and I'm tall.

The belt loop Plan B seems to have worked and has made them more wearable which I tested by wearing them for a day at work. I like these trousers so much I bought some 100% wool fabric to make another pair and I'll half-line those too. It's a bit of a longer process as I washed the fabric to cut down on shrinkage and then impatiently have had to wait for it to dry. I'll maybe not be so generous when cutting them out this time!