Ultimate trousers and a bat-wing sleeved top

Hello there! I'm still blogging some items I finished and took on my holidays. There's even more to come. This is a 'doubler post', showing you a pair of Ultimate trousers I've made before, and also a top I've made before here and here.

And...here's another holiday photo of me, complete with C's thumb in the frame, this time outside the Pousada at Cascais on the last day of our holiday. What a beautiful place! Full of palm trees which I like very much as it makes me feel I'm in another country. We ate some very good fish here.

I'm wearing my second pair of Ultimate trousers, this time in a beige stretch cotton fabric I pre-washed before cutting out. I think there's about 2% or 3% lycra content. It was good to work with. I did the same alterations when cutting out as I had done for the black pair. This is definitely a pattern I'll be making again and again and again....

Now for the top which for me is, quite frankly, the star of the show here! Quite bright, isn't it? Very 'me'! I bought this fabric from Mandors in Glasgow when we were there for a weekend break in April. Well, we went to Glasgow for the break, not Mandors....but then again, if Mandors did holidays...! The fabric is a 100% viscose fabric and quite fine. I've got a camisole top underneath this as I think it would be a bit transparent in the sunshine. I pre-washed the fabric before cutting out.

It took ages for me to decide which pattern or what garment to make. I love this fabric so I really didn't want to mess it up. It was such a cheap fabric, £3.99 a metre and 150cm wide, but I love the pattern and colours. I wanted to keep the cutting and the number of seams to a minimum so eventually I decided on view D from the vintage Style 3982 from 1982.


I keep coming back to this pattern and I've made it before for my Vintage Pattern Sewing Pledge here and here. Must be a good one!

This is one of those times you feel you've made the right choice of pattern for the fabric. I stabilised the shoulder seams with some cotton tape as the fabric's very fine. Apart from that, it was a relatively simple sew. I turned over the neck edge twice and machine stitched it so it won't stretch out with wearing and washing. Oh, and of course, I had to start cutting it out and sewing it up 2 days before the holiday departure. And I worked the day before we left. Is this typical of sewists?

I love both of these garments and know I'll wear them a lot. Definitely worth the time spent sewing them!

Vintage pattern pledge - with a twist

Well, I took last week off work to sew and boy did I sew! One of the first things after my Project Jacket was an easy, quick sew which is also No.2 for my Vintage Pattern Pledge. As soon as I saw this pattern I knew I had to sew it. It's Style 3982 which has a basic batwing sleeve top with neck and shoulder variations. The copyright date on it is 1982.

So what's the twist, I hear you asking? Well, I confess that in the early 1980s when I was a child sewist (!), I had this pattern and made view 4 in black poly-cotton. I wore it all summer long and certainly during a family holiday to Kent. I really loved that top and thought I was the bees-knees in it! Somewhere back in the mists of time, I got rid of my copy of this pattern (why?!?) so when I saw it again on Etsy or Ebay I'd bought it faster than you could say 'Duran Duran'. And so, Vintage Pattern Pledge No. 2 (pattern) was decided. 

The pattern is very simple, containing just two pattern pieces. The front is cut on the fold and the back has a seam. There are folded back cuffs and that's about the most difficult and time-consuming thing about making this top. 

So, I'd got the pattern, but the next big question loomed up for me - what fabric could do justice to this 1980's gem, this trip down memory lane? Does anyone else get so attached to a me-made piece of clothing it instantly brings back where you were, what you were doing and the music of the time? Just out of interest, the best-selling single of 1982 was Come on Eileen by Dexy's Midnight Runners. Also big in 1982 were Adam Ant, Haircut 100, Yazoo and of course, Madness. Enough of that mental-meandering and back to 2015! 

It was difficult but I did find a worthy fabric for this pledge, an electric blue, purple and black animal print which I feel know is very reminiscent of the 1980's. 

It's 100% viscose which I pre-washed. I made view 4. Again! I cut the back on the fold as there's more than enough room to pull the top over my head. It also avoids unnecessary pattern-matching! 

It's really quick to sew this up. There aren't any facings or bias binding for the neckline. The edge is just turned over and stitched. I pinked the edged as the fabric frays, especially after washing. I've not used this technique recently so we'll see how long the neckline lasts!

I decided not to do the folded over cuffs and just turned up the sleeve hems an inch and then folded the raw edge under and machine stitched them. No raw edges are showing but as the sleeve is quite wide the wrong side can be seen. The close-up of the sleeve hem lets you see the fabric in all its glory!

For the hem of the body I turned up 7 cms and then turned under the raw edge. I prefer a wider hem on the body. The hem is also machine stitched. 

You can't really see the shape of the top so here's a photo:

 And then just when you thought I'd finished...ha ha! I decided that I needed to make a snood (going full immersion in the 80's here) to go with the top. So I used up the fabric left-overs and here is a photo of the whole ensemble. They're quite a sight together, aren't they, but see how happy I am wearing both?

I have thoroughly enjoyed this Vintage Pattern Pledge and although it has been very easy and quick to sew, that's the point about this make. I really needed an easy sew after Project Jacket but I also thoroughly enjoyed the unexpected memories of long-ago 1982 and a much younger me!