Back in the Saddle

Today was a rather lazy day, no committments until later tonight, and Tuesday is my usual sewing-for-sure day, so I tackled the taupe pants, which are not finished except for waist fastener and hems. I think I'll wash them once again before hemming.

Taupe Stretch Cords
These are the pants that gave me much grief awhile back, and even today they made sure I was paying attention at all times. A back seam adjustment had to be transferred to the waistband; the sewing machine had to be stroked nicely a few times; and the pocket fitting will be forever elusive; but for the most part the final bits of getting the waistband attached and fitted went quite easily. Stretch cord is an odd fabric to work with. I haven't decided if I like it or not.

I probably should have interfaced the waistband as it seems quite stretchy, but then I thought maybe it was supposed to be stretchy being cut on the crosswise and all. If I used this pattern again, I would figure out a way to put some elastic in the waistband.

There's also a fitting issue related to sway back, fitted waist-band and/or low rise or perhaps all of the above. The back yoke of these pants is a nice feature but does no favors for my butt, so I will likely not choose this pattern again. Apart from that, these pants ended up being very comfortable in spite of a few flaws here and there. The Joy of Stretch! Hopefully with wear the fabric will soften even more.

Stippled Jacket (previous reference)
Class #2 for this jacket was cancelled due to a storm. I may have to figure it out for myself if I am to get it done before the SWAP deadline. Meanwhile, of course I must fix the front where the hole is. I spend quite a bit of my sewing break figuring out how to make a pocket to cover the worn area. It turned out to be a major design issue:

• I stippled a square of fabric to match the design on the jacket front.
• I drew a pattern for a suitably sized pocket that would both cover the worn area and look like it was supposed to be there.
  
• I figured out how to attach a patch to the front of the jacket which would be covered by the pocket, and not be noticeable from the inside of the pocket. (who would be inside my pocket I don't know, but it seemed the right thing to do.
• Then I had to figure out how the outside pocket piece was to be attached to the jacket without looking clumpy which included binding the pocket opening and turning under the edges so they could be hemmed down to the existing stipple lines on the jacket front.
• I sewed the patch to the pocket at the bottom edge, so it would be finished with as little bulk as possible.

All in all, this was a peaceful project for an afternoon, and is finished but for the hand hemming required to sew it on so as not to be visible from the other side of the jacket. It may look a little odd to have only one pocket on the jacket, but I am not going to do this again.

So the day was a good one as sewing days go. A bit closer to being done. A bit more hopeful and confident. Still to go: finish the bamboo shirt if it is not a lost cause, snaps on the jean jacket, hem on the bamboo skirt, hems and hooks on the taupe pants, cut out and finish the stippled jacket, one shirt not yet conceived. Sound like a lot, but not impossible in the 3-4 weeks remaining....especially given that we will not be travelling in April, which I think was making me stressed about the sewing.