Jeans (skirt) and a (breton) t-shirt

Look at this! We're a mere five days into the Fall Essentials Sew-Along and I've already got two pieces (plus most of two other items) done! I really like this having a definite event deadline thing. I had them finished by Sunday, but waited until today to take photos. And once again, I took crappy photos. Which is sort of ironic, given that I'm supposed to be participating in Gillian's Better Pictures Project. 0/2 this month.


However, I really wanted to take the photos at Active Surplus, possibly the last bastion of grit left on the strip of Queen West east of Spadina.

That stretch of the street has pretty much turned into a mall. All the awesome goth stores are gone, and aside from Goorin Bros and the restaurants, there's nothing to tempt me to stop. Even Fluevog has moved further west. I mean, look at that poor store sandwiched between an Aldo and a Zara. Go west, old store, go west.

And they might be. At least, their lease is up and they are selling off all their stock and fittings for half off. I very much hope they find another location because they are an awesome place for a physics teacher, or tinkerer, or maker. Or if you want some weird things. Motors, LEDs, potentiometers, cell phone parts, and... stuff.

I stopped by after dropping in to school to vote on the ratification agreement and make everyone jealous with how relaxed I am.

One of the best parts of this place is the commentary.

I spent a happy half-hour wandering up and down the aisles, gathering physicsy and craftsy items and trying to figure out how I could use all the other bits and bobs. Everything is 50% off and they'll make deals on store fixtures (like the traffic lights); an employee charged with clearing out the back asked me if I wanted a coffee maker.^* The sale at Queen goes until the end of September, so get yer geek on.

Oh, perhaps you were here for the clothes. Well then.

What we have here are your basic jeans and a t-shirt. Sort of. I used the rest of the entirely-too-thin-for-proper-jeans denim I used on my Lekala spiral gore skirt and what are hopefully PhysicsGirl's first jeans to make up view C of Simplicity 2451.

It's the second time I've made this version of the skirt; I'm still not completely sold on the poofy pleats and pockets. I double-topstitched the pocket, back, and side seams and it took a little longer than it should have because I started and stopped too often trying to figure out how to get a continuous line over the back vent and lapped zipper. Also, because I remembered that my Koi is Coy skirt was too big in the waist, I left off topstitching the side seams until the waist was adjusted, but it turns out that past me had already done it to the pattern. I wore it to tea at DT Bistro anyway (really yummy food; unfortunately the service left a lot to be desired) and finished the topstitching when I got home.

Apologies for the creases; I'd been wearing it all day.

Okaaaay. Looking at those wrinkles tells me I need to investigate full butt adjustments. Because that's attractive. Ahem. I was thinking about adding back pockets, but decided against it. Maybe I should now?

I didn't interface the waist because I wanted it to be able to stretch. It doesn't roll much, so I just might get away with it.

Continuing to use fun cotton scraps for pockets.

I finally found a length and width setting for my overcast stitch that looks like proper serging (1.5, 6.5 for my future reference).

Yay for me with adding to my "casual elegant" wardrobe. The DC looked at the skirt and told me I would need to add biking flares; I demonstrated how stretchy the denim is by doing leg raises. Surprising both of us.

The second FESA15 make is a what-I-continue-to-call-breton-when-it's-really-just-striped Renfrew. It's the first time I've made this pattern, so I went wearable muslin route and made a straight size 4 scoop-neck with three-quarter sleeves. The only change I made was cutting off about an inch and a half at the bottom because I really don't like tops that cling to my hips and blouse out. I did finish this in time to go to the Cabbagetown Streetfest; the irony being that we wound up not going because it was cold and rainy. Sad trombone.


Those armcyes, man. This is the same problem I had with my as-yet-unblogged Alma. The armscyes do not fit right. At least with this knit it stretches and is wearable. But I have to solve this armscye issue, and here is where going on leave is useful: I'm taking a fitting class with Kenneth King at the Creativ Festival! All my problems will be solved, right?

Ahem. I also have a weird problem with the neck binding bubbling on the right. I can't tell why, since it seems to be symmetric when I line it up with the left side and this hasn't been a problem with my other knit tops.

Anyway, I made this with the other striped knit I got at Textiles on King. When I wrote the blog post about the breton Bronte, I had this stuff in mind as the perfect breton material. I don't know what I was smoking. It's closer in that the stripes are thinner, but it's still not quite right and the material is... strange. It's very, very smooth on the right side, doesn't stretch very much, and has those tiny holes you see in sports jersey knits. It's only noticeable really close up, and muslin, so whatever. But still, the search for the perfect breton knit continues.



I did a not stellar job on the stripe matching here, despite pinning the crap out of the sides and sleeves. So no armpit shots here. You're welcome.

I didn't want to use interfacing on the shoulder seams because I wasn't thrilled with how I did that on my still-to-be-blogged Tiramisu, but the Tasia assures me that I can use ribbon. I have a bunch of ribbon cut from tops and skirts and I now have the perfect way to use it all up.

One last look; let's pretend the armscyes are fine and the stripes match and take a look at how much better I'm getting with sewing neck binding evenly!

So, I'm on-track with my FESA15 timeline. The first two items are done; the wedding dress is nearly finished; and I've sewn up most of the Simplicity 2451 view B already. I have a feeling that the men's shirt refashion won't be happening, though. Alas.

^*I've been spending a bunch of time helping Aged P clear out her house prior to moving, so I appreciate his sentiment.