Out of my comfort zone...a bit of an experiment with stretch lace

In sewing up things for my holiday I've been trying to use the fabric and patterns I already have. Which has been interesting and also pushed me a bit to try some new things. I give you... Exhibit A some stretch lace and some black viscose jersey I already had.

The observant among you will notice that I managed to find paisley patterned stretch lace...demonstrating my love for paisley patterned anything.

Overexposed photo...but you can see the gathered back section

I used Simplicity 1463, a pattern I have in my collection but this is the first time I've sewn up view C. The black viscose jersey I bought from John Lewis for a bargain £4 a metre and I bought lots! That was a year or so ago. The paisley stretch lack I bought specifically for this top and I bought 50cm of it from Edinburgh Fabrics, which I think I paid £8, but I'm not really sure. Either way it's still a bargain for a top like this!

I added 2" to the length of the body and cut a generous Medium. This top comes out big! I'm not sure I actually needed to add any length, especially not to the back but I'm fine with it. I'm 5'9" tall just in case anyone's wondering about making this top, it's always good to have a height comparison!

The stretch lace was actually easier to work with than I expected. Basically I overlocked everything. For the sleeve hem I overlocked the edge of the lace, turned it up and straight stitched it, no stretch required in the sleeve hems! For the body hem that was a little bit more work. I stitched a straight stitch 1.5cm from the edge and pressed that to the inside. The front and back have pointed centre edges so you can't just stitch blithely around the hem in a one-er. I used my twin stretch needle and started sewing from the edge of the fabric, around the hem to the other point and off the edge of the fabric there too. Then repeated for the other part of the hem. Job done! Yes the double row of stitches overlap each other at the points but it's black and you can't see. It's good enough.

Accessorised with lipstick obviously

This is the bit I don't like though. The raglan sleeves are not in a straight line from the neck to the arm, more of a rounded square. On me I don't think they sit correctly, see the wrinkling? I think they would probably be better shaped as more 'classical raglan' sleeves, with a diagonal line from neck to arm.

The neckband gave me some grief though. It's the correct length and gives some nice stability to the neckline, which is all lace really. I overlocked the band on and found that the inside hem was wider than the neckband so it showed when wearing the top. So I overlocked again and cut more off the hemmed edge. Then pressed it well and used the twin stretch needle to topstitch around the neckband to make everything sit neatly where I wanted it to. You can't see any topstitching among all that lace, it's great!

To join the lace pieces of the sleeve together, the pattern instructs you to use a sewing machine. I didn't (what a rebel!) and used the overlocker so all seams were neatly cut and all edges securely finished. Those are quite full sleeves, not something I have in my wardrobe or that I'm used to wearing.

If you've got any rough patches on your hands, the lace will find them! Top tip...smooth on some hand cream before working with the lace...otherwise it'll drive you mad. I have to say I really like my new top and I'm glad I made it. It's already sitting in the washing machine as I wore it on Saturday, so that's a good sign!

New old pyjamas and the next Big Project

Yes it's been a while since I last posted anything on this blog. I've just been so busy over the last couple of months that there's only been a little time left for sewing and I'd rather get on with sewing than photographing! However, there is a bit of a queue of finished projects to blog about so I thought I'd just get on with taking some dodgy photos and making a start on the backlog. You've been warned!

These are a pair of summer pyjamas I made quite a few months ago and I love them! I've worn them throughout the summer and I'm almost putting them away for the winter but we're having a lovely mild, mellow autumn so I'm wearing them as I'm writing this post.

The fabric is a lovely 100% printed cotton bought from John Lewis. It was in their spring sale and cost £7 a metre, I think I bought 3 metres or maybe 3.5metres. I prewashed the fabric before cutting out and made the usual adjustments of adding length to legs and sleeves. I didn't have enough fabric to lengthen the body or to match the 'stripes' of the pattern but so be it.

I added purchased bias binding as flat piping on the pocket, leg and sleeve bands and around the collar. As you can see from the top photo one side of the collar is more successful than the other. It's good to share the things that didn't quite work out as planned! Everyone makes mistakes. And despite these mistakes still I love these pyjamas! So much so that the piping is beginning to fray a little as they've been washed and worn so much. Well, they didn't cost me much. I think the buttons were given to me earlier this year by my mum when she gave me a big bag of buttons she's collected over the years. Ah yes, I used my usual pattern, Kwik Sew 2811.

Now, on to the Big Project I'm working on at the moment and which is taking up my sewing time. Bit of a story first! I went to London in mid-October for a conference and took a day off to see the sights...well, to trawl the fabric shops along Berwick Street in Soho. There are some lovely fabric shops there, some with eye-watering prices too. I desperately need jackets so I was (mostly) focusing on outerwear fabrics and looking for something I haven't been able to get in the fabric shops of Edinburgh or Glasgow. Well, I found it in the Berwick Street Cloth Shop! It's a loud orange/red colour waterproof fabric (I tested it when I got home). It was eye-wateringly expensive at £35 a metre. That price was excluding VAT at 20%. I swithered and tried to find something else but after persuading myself that as I have no jackets this is actually less than the cost of all the jackets I haven't bought (do you see what I did there?) - I just went for it and handed over my credit card. Then I went to another shop in Berwick Street and bought...more fabric (not as good quality, thickness, heft etc. as the loud orangey-red one, of course, but cheaper at £16 a metre) for another jacket.

I've cut into the expensive orangey-red fabric already and used the Waffle Patterns Tosti jacket which I made in the summer here, and have completed the lining which I quilted with some polyester wadding and satin lining fabric. I'm not making a winter jacket, just something for the very difficult transition period so I may finish it and not wear it till the spring. We'll see. Anyone tried making a waterproof or transition jacket?

A couple of Jamies

Oh dear! It's been over a month since I last blogged and I certainly didn't intend on leaving it so long between posts. But I haven't been idle...I've been sewing quite a few things and here are two pairs of Named Jame jeans to show you. It's certainly a pattern that I love and with all the alterations I've made to it, it's definitely a tried and tested pattern for me.

Here are some blue Jamies I made using stretch denim I bought from John Lewis in Edinburgh. I decided to topstitch in a matching thread and didn't use any rivets on these. I did get to hammer on the jeans button at the waistband though and there's some secret Paisley fabric in the pocket linings of both pairs.

These are the second pair of Jamies, this time made in stretch denim that I bought from Mandors in Glasgow when I was there in April. This is a lovely, good quality fabric and makes a great pair of jeans. This time I decided to add some mustard coloured topstitching, just like classic jeans and I like it. The topstitching isn't perfect but, you know what? I'm leaving it as it is.

I'm just back from an overnight stay in Glasgow and yes, I went to Mandors again and also Remnant Kings. I've bought lots of fabric, of course, so there's lots of pre-washing to do before cutting out etc. I bought a particularly lovely stretch black denim from Mandors so I guess that'll become a pair of black jeans! Maybe Jamies but then again, there are other jeans patterns out there, it's just the amount of adjustments that I'll need to make that puts me off trying another pattern. We'll see!

Summer jacket

Well, I don't know how it is with you, but the thing I always have bother with, and I mean REAL bother with, is finding jackets and coats to fit me. I'm talking decades of bother! I'm tall at 5'9", I have really long arms and quite broad shoulders and basically ready to wear jackets and coats just Do Not Fit. I once took my friend with me to shop for summer jacket. We're still friends and if I want to joke with her I'll threaten that we should repeat the shopping trip. I had to throw out the summer jacket we bought on that one trip. It had done well, lasting 7 years. So I decided I just had to sew one...

After extensive internet searching, I came across Waffle patterns Tosti jacket. It has everything I like in a summer jacket - funnel neck, lots of pocket designs to choose from, set in sleeves, interesting two piece sleeves, shoulder tabs, poppers, zip....and then I saw this version on Handmade by Carolyn. She had sewn it in cotton drill and I loved the green but couldn't find it in local shops. I did however, find this burgundy cotton twill so the plan was sorted! It took a while to gather the supplies together and pre-wash everything though.


There were lots of pages to print off. I think just under 100, including the instructions, separate lining pattern pieces, a whole file for all the pockets available and of course the outer fabric pattern pieces. Then there was the taping together. Then the cutting out. I don't trace if I can possibly avoid it, I'd rather print off more pages. Then came the alterations. I added about 3" to the body length, 2" to sleeve length and did a 2" FBA. Phew! Then came the cutting out which took a while....

The instructions are good and there are illustrations for most of the steps. It certainly is an undertaking, a serious project, to create a new, fully lined jacket or coat even without using any tailoring techniques. I did, of course, make a muslin for this new-to-me pattern but didn't need to make any changes.

For the lining I used black 100% cupro lining from John Lewis (at £12 a metre it was more expensive than the £8 a metre cotton drill of the outer fabric, but totally worth it) I wanted the jacket to be breathable, with the cotton outer layer and cupro lining. I used medium iron on black interfacing for the front zip flaps, pocket flaps and the bellows pockets (but not the concertina sides of the bellows pockets). I also added the same interfacing around the body hem and sleeve hems and reinforced the places I sewed on the pockets and pocket flaps. I used horsehair iron on interfacing on both of the collar pieces and this has worked really well. The collar sits up and doesn't flop about.

I added bellows pockets and spent about a whole morning making them. I interfaced and lined the pocket fronts but the pattern doesn't tell you to do this. When sewing the pockets onto the jacket, I just couldn't sew the concertina bellows edge all the way down to the bottom edge of the pocket. There's about an inch gap on each edge but I just won't put anything small in them! I omitted the interior welt pocket in the jacket lining and just cut two facings instead and right facings. I also made such a botch-up of sewing the metal zip within the opening for the sleeve pocket that I threw it in the bin and didn't bother making another.

I really like my new jacket and enjoy wearing it. There are a few small details I'd perhaps do differently next time but it's totally wearable and in a lovely colour. Realistically I'll probably get a few weeks more wearing it before I feel autumn coming, usually at the very beginning of September. I'd like to make the Tosti as a more trans-seasonal, autumnal jacket, maybe with a thin padded lining for a layer of warmth. Guess what? I think I've convinced myself that I really need a new autumnal jacket! Mind you, autumn sometimes doesn't feel so far away...when taking these pictures the wind gusts blew my tripod over! Time to head indoors....

Too cool for School!

Ah people, I've been looking forward to writing this post for a while! This is my second make for the Vintage Pattern Pledge organised by Marie from The Stitching Odyssey and Kerry from Kestrel Makes. So, it's a skirt. But not just any skirt. This is another 'Blast from the Past' pattern, one that I owned when it was first released, re-found it on EBay and sewn it up again. Why the post title? Well the first time I sewed this beauty up was as my school skirt! So, get comfy everyone, and I'll tell you the story of my old school skirt. First we have to go back in time to the glory days of 1980....

I grew fairly tall when a young lass and my mum despaired of finding a school skirt that we both felt was long enough (and decent enough!). So, after trying on umpteen skirts, she asked if I wanted to sew a school skirt. Yep! So we went shopping in Carlisle and bought this pattern Style 3092.

My mum said I could have a wrap skirt but not a skirt with a split. Looks like a wrap skirt, doesn't it? We also bought some black needle cord fabric, the zip and black lining.  Later, at home nearly 30 miles from Carlisle, I started cutting out the paper pattern only to discover it was a 'mock' wrap skirt and it did indeed have....the forbidden split! However, I received special  dispensation to go ahead and sew it up but I was warned not to make the split too high. Hand on heart, I did not know this pattern had a split until I was home. Just wanted to make that clear! I loved the finished skirt and loved wearing it at school. Nobody else had one like it!

So, here's my favourite bit, what was happening in the most important part of my life (music obviously!) in 1980? I know you're all holding your breath wondering what I was dancing to at school discos back in the day. Well, I was a big fan of Madness and the first vinyl single I ever bought was 'Baggy Trousers'. Even today I am word perfect for the lyrics of this song. Proud to say! Ska was a big thing at school and other bands like The Specials, Bad Manners, The Jam were also on the turntables and we had varying degrees of success at dancing to this music! Disco was still on the school disco turntables too...remember Kelly Marie and Feels like I'm in love (please, please you've GOT to watch this video...it's brilliant...the hair, the make up...the dancers...soooooo 1980!). Mind you, I do remember piling on the green eye-shadow myself for school discos. What about Blondie and The Tide is High? My mum made me walk into the nearest record shop to buy this single for her. The Nolans with 'I'm in the mood for dancing'? Classics. Every one of them!

So, back to the sewing in 2016. This is a fairly simple pattern, with the back cut on the fold, the front has a left thigh seam and split and the waistband is simply a rectangle. I didn't have to make many alterations at all to this pattern, I just added some length to it but can't remember how much as it was a few months ago. The tricky thing is with cutting out the pattern. You have to cut the front pieces on a single layer of fabric and you have to make sure the pieces are the correct way up. I confess I did try making this pattern at the start of the year but accidentally flipped one of the front pieces over. Undo-able mistake! I threw that mess away.

The outer fabric is a non-stretch dark-ish 100% cotton denim bought from Edinburgh Fabrics. I used an 8" jeans zip and some cream cupro lining bought from John Lewis (which at £12 a metre was more expensive than the £10 a metre denim but totally worth it). The pattern was not lined but I just adapted the skirt pieces to make the lining. I used a jeans button I already had and topstitched using black thread. To finish the skirt hem I used some 1" tan and black tiger print ribbon I bought last year from Edinburgh Fabrics during a blogger meet-up in Edinburgh organised by Helen from Grosgrain Green. I knew I'd find a use for it someday! I like using little souvenirs in my sewing.

The verdict? I like this skirt, I don't love it but then again I took it on holiday to Prague and Vienna and wore it a couple of days so it has been a success. The rectangular waistband is not a great fit on me and a bit baggy. The skirt is quite loose, especially in the front and I wonder of that's due to the front seam. I like the off centre split but I think I'm still getting used to the longer length. Will I make it again? I'm not sure but I'd need to make some changes to the pattern if I did. But I did enjoy making it and wearing it on holiday, just need to incorporate it in my everyday wardrobe now!

Lots of Named patterns Alpi Chinos

Well, it seems I've developed a bit of a habit for making a pattern....and then making lots more versions of it. I needed some new linen trousers for going on holiday at the end of June. We went to Prague and Vienna so I knew it could potentially be very warm at that time of year. And for the most part it was and we had temperatures of 36 degrees. After the success of Named Jamie jeans, I thought I'd have another look at the Named website and ended up buying the Alpi Chino pattern. Yes...Alpi Chino sounds like Al Pacino to me too!

The pattern is for non stretch light or mid-weight woven fabrics. Linen was one of the suggested fabrics. Great! I made a few alterations to the pattern before cutting out, I added 1.5" to the front rise and 1.25" to the back rise. I also increased the leg length by 4". These are the same adjustments I make to the Jamie jeans pattern. I also had to take in the centre back seam quite a bit but that's normal for me.

I love the front pockets and the back pockets. I wanted ALL the details on these trousers! The first pair I made was using some Essex Linen, I think it's a Robert Kaufman fabric, that I bought from John Lewis in Edinburgh. It's a 50% linen and 50% cotton blend which I pre-washed before cutting out. I used a jeans button from my stash, a metal jeans zip and added some rivets to the back pockets too. I like the coppery colour of the rivets and button compared with the fabric colour.

So, I was very pleased with how these turned out and decided to make some more! The next pairs were using a black linen that I bought from John Lewis and some kakhi linen I bought from Edinburgh Fabrics. I'm really pleased with both those pairs too! 

  

Can you see the four piece curved waistband? It's utterly brilliant and I love it! It fits so well. I used to hate waistbands so much because they didn't fit me at all and gaped. Now I know that curved waistbands are great and fit me so well and are the only way forward for me.

Em...confession time. Did you see the cream top I made throughout this post? Yep, it's yet another New Look 6217. I used cream polyester triple crepe but I thought I'd need to wear a camisole underneath so I lined it using cupro lining. This lining says do not wash/dry clean but I just wash it in a silk or wool wash in my washing machine, using an appropriate delicates liquid soap and it's always worked for me. The only thing is, if you let it fully dry out after washing, you will never iron all the creases out of it. That seems a small price to pay when you can just chuck it in the washing machine (either intentionally or unintentionally!).

Vintage Sewing Pattern guest blogger!

This post has previously appeared on Kerry's blog, Kestrel Makes, as part of the Vintage Pattern Pledge month of July #vpjuly guest blogger extravaganza! Well, that's what I'm calling it, anyway. I was totally astounded at being asked! Anyhow, it lets me ramble on about my favourite vintage decade for sewing patterns, the 1980s.

One day I was just browsing through Ebay, as you do, when I came across a sewing pattern I’d used as a young sewist in the 1980s. I just had to buy it! I’ve found and bought other sewing patterns that I bought and sewed in the 1980s and this has led to me developing a love for 1980s sewing patterns. Perhaps this could be a new sub-category of the Vintage Pattern Pledge, ‘Blast from the Past’…patterns you’ve previously owned, sewn and re-discovered!

This particular pattern is Style 4824 with a copyright date of 1986. There are collar and sleeve or sleeveless options so it’s quite a versatile pattern. The first and only time I sewed it, I made View 2 in a rust coloured poly-cotton fabric that I also used for the self-covered buttons. The shirt did actually work well in a poly-cotton and I wore for quite a few years.

These 1980’s patterns make me think back to what was happening and what I was doing at that time. It was quite a decade of change for me growing up then. In 1986 I was in art college and having quite frankly, a rare old time. I remember going along to weekly art college discos wearing what I thought was a very cool combo of Doc Martens and (very) mini-skirts, dancing along to a varied and eclectic range of music, including The Communards ‘Don’t leave me this way’, Doctor and the Medics ‘Spirit in the sky’ and Farley Jackmaster Funk with ‘Love can’t turn around’. Alongside this chart music they also played much cooler non-chart stuff too, especially James Brown, Louis Prima and Stevie Wonder. What can I say? I was young! It was the 1980s!

So, back to the sewing in 2016. One thing about using vintage patterns is that sometimes they have been used before. This one had. The descriptions said the size 10 had been cut out but the cut off bits were there. They were…but not all of them! I pieced all the bits together that I could and did a ‘best guess-timate’ of the missing bits, which seemed to work out fine, thank goodness. Just something to be aware of but it’s all part of the charm and sometimes challenge of sewing used vintage patterns!

I cut out the size 14 and added 2 inches to the body length. I also did a 2 inch FBA. Next time I make this, and there will be a next time as this is a lovely fitting garment, I would add an inch or more to the length of the sleeves, they’re just a tiny bit shorter than I’d like. I’d also add some width to the sleeves as they are a shade too fitted for my liking (I blame my swimmer’s arms!).

The fabric is a John Kaldor print 100% polyester bought from John Lewis in Edinburgh. This was quite a risky purchase. I like the mix of subtle grey stripes in the background but yellow….that’s not a colour I’d put near my face but sometimes a ‘diluted risk’ is worth taking. I think it’s worked well in this case. Yellow and grey…a very 1980s colour combination too!

I was very surprised at how challenging this shirt pattern was, much more than I expected or remembered it to be. The shawl collar with its back neck seam and the gathered front is tricky to sew and get right. I have a new respect and admiration for the sewing skills of ‘young me’ in tackling such a deceptively complicated garment! 

I wanted to make a more challenging pattern from my surprisingly favourite decade of the 1980’s (who’d have thought!), something just a bit different from the batwing sleeved tops I absolutely love, adore and can’t get enough of. This ‘Blast from the past’ has certainly lived up to that…and there’s another Vintage Pattern Pledge ‘Blast from the past’ from 1980 coming up soon on my blog. Love the music from that year!

Chrysanthemum print top

Well...when I say chrysanthemum I probably mean it's quite a stylised version but it was the cerise pink that swung it for me! It's easier to see closer up.

I just had to bring out the cerise somewhere and adding bias binding to the neck seemed the right thing to do. This fabric is fine so I drafted facings for the neckline too and this provides enough 'body' for the rest of the top to hang from. I used Simplicity 1364 again and the fabric was bought from John Lewis, perhaps in their sale but I can't remember. 

I have added some width to the back pattern piece and I think I need to review how I've done that. In fact, I'm thinking I should start from scratch with how this pattern fits me and how I go about making fit adjustments. Basically, I'm discovering that with swimming I've developed back muscles (and arm muscles too) and clothing often feels tight across the upper back. I added width (2cm?) to the back pattern piece and I think that was perhaps too much. You can see the too-wide shoulder seams in this photo. 

Good pattern matching though! There is a zip in the back seam, just for info! The pattern is one I've made so many times before. The fabric is a 100% polyester, probably John Kaldor and is good quality. Do I love this top? Not really. Why not? I don't know...I will wear it but I know it won't be the first thing I reach for in the wardrobe. But there you go, some you win, some you lose in a way! 

A lacy top and a print top

Hi everyone and I hope your weekends are going well and full of sewing loveliness! As I said in my last post, I've been sewing up a storm but I've built up a bit of a backlog of unblogged items. Here are two tops made from the same pattern, New Look 6217 that I've used before here. Interestingly, Hand Made Jane recently blogged about this pattern being a right corker. The secret's out folks, buy yourself a copy of this pattern now!

I love this top pattern! It takes very little fabric to make a lovely grown-on sleeve top. Here's the first of the two tops and it's made from a John Lewis remnant of John Kaldor fabric, about 80 cms long by 150cm wide costing just over £4. Bargain! When I cut it out  I didn't bother with the centre back seam or the button loop closure, and cut both back and front on folds.

I did simple turn up twice hems for the sleeves and the body hem. For the neck edge I used some black satin bias binding I already had in my sewing heap of haberdashery. I think it's 25mm wide bias binding I wanted the contrast of dark colour at the neckline. I thought about using green bias binding but I'm not so sure I'd be able to find the exact colour match so just stuck with the black.

I really like this top and it's something quite different from me, a bit more out of my comfort zone in the cream and green colours that aren't my first choice colours. It's good to get out of a rut sometimes, isn't it? I finished this top on a Saturday late afternoon and wore it out to dinner that night. That's a good sign!

The second top was a bit more of an experiment. I bought the black lace last year in a John Lewis sale and bought a metre. I think it was about £7 for the metre. I hadn't a clue what I was going to make with it but thought I'd buy it for bit of a 'fun challenge'.

I bought a metre of cream cupro lining and pre-washed it so it felt silky. I used the cupro as an underlining for the black lace and treated the two layers a one layer. I overlocked inside seams and used some black satin bias binding to hem all the edges - neck, body hem and sleeve hems. I machined the bias binding and then hand-stitched the edge on the inside f the garment.

So far I haven't worn this top yet, but I've got a feeling I'll probably wear it next weekend. I love how this has turned out and would like to make another lace/cupro lined version but in a different colour of lace. Must keep on the lookout for some coloured lace...!

This is a great pattern and if you like the style, it's very fast to cut and sew up unless you add variations to it like bias binding around hems etc. but it's a great basic style to work with. Expect to see more of these in the coming few months! Have you got a great basic pattern that you love to add variations to?

A hint of spring with a shirt full of flowers

Hi everyone and I wish I could say that spring was here in Edinburgh but...it's not! I've seen tiny snowdrops, the odd minute crocus and the best thing of all, it's getting lighter in the mornings now (hurray!) but it's still cold. Enter stage left a very flowery shirt just to cheer up the spirits.

I bought the fabric a few weeks ago from the sale in John Lewis in Edinburgh and paid about £8 a metre. I bought my usual 2 metres. This is a 100% viscose fabric but it's quite fine. I used my favourite shirt pattern ever, McCalls 6436 that I've made here, here and here and will doubtless make again in the future! There's a real addiction to this pattern going on here and I'm not giving it up! It's great to have a properly fitting shirt. The sleeves are long enough for me, the back fits perfectly across my broad back and the body length is just right. No flashing my bare back when I bend over!

I had a look through my button tin but couldn't find anything I really liked. There were plenty of OK buttons but nothing that managed to make its presence felt in amongst all these flowers! So I actually bought some. That's something I haven't done for a long time.

There is a pattern repeat but I didn't bother matching this when I cut it out. Who's going to notice? I applied iron-on interfacing to both pieces of the collar stand and collar just to give it the perfect 'body' to stand up properly but without being too stiff. I finished the shirt on Sunday and wore it to work on Monday. The sign of success! It's now 'in the wash'. These photos were (obviously!) taken at night when I got home and after a day wearing the shirt so because it's viscose there are wrinkles but...I don't care! And you can't see them in among the flowers. What do you think? A bit of brightness for a late winter's day? Do you wear colour to pep yourself up a bit?

A jazzy paisley patterned shirt and some black wool trousers

Yep, it's another one of those hi-lo hem shirts I made before and have washed and worn. Time to make another! The fabric is typically 'me'...loud with lots of colours and...look!..it's paisley pattern which I absolutely adore.

I bought this fabric from John Lewis in Oxford Street when we had out little holiday in London last November.I haven't seen it in the Edinburgh John Lewis so I'm glad I bought it when I saw it. I think there's a lot of viscose in it because although it's lovely and silky to the touch it crushes as soon as your head's turned. I can't even remember the cost per metre but I know I bought my default 2 metres. It takes that much to make a shirt for tall, long-armed me and I also wanted room for manoeuvre with pattern placement. This fabric was a fray-er to work with, though!

I used New Look 6374 and cut view A. I didn't change add any length to the body and I think I may just have added 1" to the sleeve length, I can't remember as I cut and sewed this up during the Christmas and New Year break. Yes, it's taken this long to get round to taking photos! Mind you, I've also had a stonker of a cold and bad cough which everyone seems to have had, so I haven't sewn a thing for 2 whole weeks. I must have been seriously ill!

The sleeves are supposed to roll up and button with a tab. I managed to sew one tab on the inside of the sleeve and the other tab on the outside of the sleeve. Numpty! The lurid pattern must have dazzled my eyes...that's my excuse! Anyway, I unpicked the 'wrong' one and haven't got round to unpicking the other one as I've now decided I won't be rolling these sleeves up. Lazy!

The other mistake I made was to use a woven fusible interfacing on the collar stand. That thing just isn't going anywhere! I used the same interfacing on the plackets but it doesn't seem too bad. Live and learn, people! It hasn't stopped me wearing the shirt though so that's fine. 

Right, I'm going to tag on a pair of black trousers I made recently to this post because...they're black and almost impossible to make them look interesting in photographs. The fabric was a lovely black stretch wool, probably crepe, that I bought in Mandors in Glasgow when we were there for a wee overnight stay in September. The pattern is rapidly becoming my favourite and has superseded my Ultimate trousers pattern. I love the wide yolk and can see I'll have to add some pockets to them in the future.

There's quite a lot of lycra in this fabric, so much so that I decided not to line them at all and pray the lycra would prevent bagging at the seat and knees. So far so good! 

See? How do you make black trousers interesting? I used the New Look 6035 pattern that I got free with Sew magazine last year and have used once before. I took ages to finish the hems. Isn't that always the way? They were hanging about on the dining room table for weeks on end until I had a tidy-up. Glad I did as I've washed and worn them a few times. Yes, I'm happy to wash wool and I prewashed this fabric before cutting. I always use the Wool cycle on the washing machine, a wool liquid soap and hang them up to dry, nope I don't dry them flat. It's survival of the fittest in my wardrobe!