Nov 18, 2010

Kwik Sew Men's Jeans + Contest Winner!


Friends, we have a winner of the Audrey-Hepburnesque 1962 vintage Vogue pattern.  She is...


Victoria, of Savannah, Georgia!  (Big cheer)

Victoria, please email me your mailing address (peterlappinnyc at gmail dot com) and I'll send it off to you right away.  Congratulations!

And now back to our regular programming.

Friends, I have a lot of projects in the pipeline...OK, I have two projects in the pipeline.  First -- and please don't ask me why I took this on -- I have to make a simple straight skirt for my mother.  The genesis of this goes back to the day we went shopping together at Lord & Taylor, and Yours Truly had to remark that for a tenth of the price of the nothing to write home about Calvin Klein skirts they were offering in Petites, I could make her one myself.  No fool, my mother replied, Great; I need it by early December.

I saw her on Tuesday and took her waist and hip measurements, and we went together to Trumart fabric store, which is just a block from my apartment.  There we picked up a very nice quality black polyester crepe and an acetate lining.



I'll be using Dorothy Moore's Pattern Drafting and Dressmaking book to draft the pattern, and hopefully it will all come together without any problems.  I'll probably make a muslin first, of course.  The only clothes I've made for women other than Cathy were two fleece jackets, one for Michael's mother and one for my own.  It's actually a little intimidating -- but exciting too.



My second project is making myself a new pair of denim jeans.  The first pair I made, more than a year ago, I have worn to death.  The knees are badly faded and the front pockets, which in my ignorance I made from a piece of a washed out flannel duvet cover, got so shredded I finally just cut them out.  When I stick my hands in my pockets I'm basically touching my underwear -- or worse.

I'll either use Kwik Sew 2123, which I've used once before to make these pants, or Simplicity 5048, which I used to make the jeans I've worn nearly every day since September 2009.  Yuck.





Men's jeans aren't difficult to make but there's a lot of topstitching involved.  If you have any questions about making men's jeans, please ask and I'll address them on the blog.

Oh, before I forget: a major score on Etsy yesterday!


This toggle coat pattern dates from 1992 and I plan to use it to make a shorter coat that will hopefully look similar to this:


Could I have drafted this myself?  Probably.  I'm lazy.

Friends, guess how many men's patterns are in-print over at Vogue Patterns.  Try six.  SIX!  And four of them are tuxedos and tuxedo accessories (vests, cumberbunds, etc.).  No outerwear.  No jeans.  No pajamas. No underwear.  Jumpsuits, capes, caftans, chaps?  Dream on.

There are more patterns to make doll clothes and stuffed animals.  WHAT is up with that, Vogue-ies?  (Don't bother answering, I know: no market for them.)

So that's it, friends.  I have work to do and so do you, no doubt.  I don't even remember what you're sewing these days; indulge me and remind me and maybe I'll nag you about it early next week.  Discipline is extremely important as we move into the holiday season that starts next week with Thanksgiving and gives us barely a chance to come up for air till Easter.

BTW, you'll be happy to know that while I have temporarily quit coffee, I have substituted weak tea with excellent results.  And while I've cut down on sugar I still indulge in the odd square of dark chocolate or spoonful of fruit juice-sweetened jam.  Food asceticism is troubling to many of you, I know, and it isn't much fun, let's face it. 

That's it for today.  Have a great day, everybody!

29 comments:

  1. I find the thought of fitting something for someone else a little terrifying, I must admit (except for my kids, anyway, who are on hand and comparatively easy to bully into trying stuff on)

    I think my next project is going to be jeans as well... my favourite pair from last summer is suffering from the same problem as yours with the recycled duvet fabric pockets (let that be a lesson to us!) but even worse, it's ripped up into the top-stitched area, causing the topstitching to start coming out. *cry*

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  2. I'm making a skirt for my mom, too. I did not torture myself by taking her shopping first, though.

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  3. Would you like to make another one for MY mom? ;)

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  4. I'm looking forward to both your Mom's skirt and your new jeans.

    I promised myself that when I returned from Germany that I'd start on a shirts for my Son (now 18) & Dad and something for my Mom for Xmas. Haven't started yet, Boo!

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  5. I have been diligently working on my huge sack of unfinished projects. Last night I finished my first pair of trousers from BurdaStyle - now to tackle a blouse that I put the sleeves in backwards. ARGH!

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  6. I made a poly crepe skirt for my mom. Just in case you run into the same problem I had with puckered seams: try Mettler silk-finish cotton thread with a sharp needle. (It may not be necessary, but I thought I'd share that tip I got from some experts at Patternreview.)I think my problem might have been mostly with bias seams, so you might not have any trouble with a straight skirt.

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  7. I've only just begun to read your blog, so please forgive me, but why on earth are you giving up on your coffee? I live in Beijing, where all my nouveau riche Chinese friends are clamoring for coffee, and although I love Chinese tea, I can't also wonder why!? I'm a beginner sewist, drawn to sewing by the amazing fabrics available to me here. Your blog is a hilarious step towards what I hope to achieve. I can't wait to hear about your sewing adventures with your mother.

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  8. Welcome, Globalgal. I gave up coffee because I wasn't sleeping soundly and I thought that might be a good place to begin. Also, I was feeling run down and beginning to depend on coffee to rev me up. I'm sure I'll go back eventually!

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  9. What fun! Can you just see your mum telling people you made her skirt? Good idea to make a muslin. Are you going to peg the hem? I think that makes a straight skirt look less boxy. And love the Vogue coat pattern. You should look really good in that! Are you using a stretch fabric for the jeans?

    As for Vogue, well, since they were bought, the number and quality of designer, accessory and men's patterns has decreased dramatically. I'm thinking of getting a subscription to one of the European sewing magazines for something different, with a bit of flair as a lot of Vogue is beginning to look like the other major companies. I, too, buy vintage Vogue and other patterns just for that reason. This sounds a bit like sour grapes, but I didn't spend all this time learning to sew just to churn out basics. I want stylish and fashion forward; I want detail.
    Heather

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  10. OMG toggle coat! I need to delurk myself for that. I have a hot pink hooded toggle coat I bought from J.Crew 6 or 7 years ago that is looking really threadbare. I really want to make myself one to replace it, but I couldn't find a pattern (or even any hooded coat pattern). I am so going to find myself that pattern!

    Where will you get your toggles?

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  11. Oh please make the Simplicity jeans - the guys on the Kwik Sew cover look like plumbers (and not in a good way). The Simplicity boys look like they're having much more fun!

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  12. C & C Button, Inc., at 230 West 38th St., probably. They have an excellent selection.

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  13. Good luck with the jeans!
    I will be very interested to see how the skirt for your Mum turns out - I bought the same book on after spying it in one of your posts (LOL I keep finding new notions/ books/ things to buy on other people's posts opps!). Oh, and the toggle coat - how fabulous! It reminds me of an old & much be-love-ed cream cordorouy Duffle coat my boyfriend (now Husband) bought me when I was 19... ahhh, happy days!

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  14. Your mom is so lucky. I'm sure you will do a good job. Take my advice and make a second pair of jeans immediately if these turn out well. That way you have something in the pipeline. I am madly sewing as many pairs of pajamas as I can. They go to a group that gives them to foster kids.

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  15. I think you just invented a new career for yourself, menswear pattern company designer. You can create your own boutique pattern company like Colette Patterns but with men's clothes.

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  16. Three milligrams of melatonin helps me sleep well at night, it also gives me very vivid dreams (the other night I was chasing spies through a Costco warehouse), which I think helps with the decrease in REM sleep we go through as we age. So if the coffee fast doesn't work, you have another option.

    It does give hubby nightmares instead of dreams though :( .

    I'm crocheting a hood/scarf out of apricot pink yarn I picked up at Goodwill. It's for my daughter.

    Hmm, I don't see my post, so I'm reposting.

    *Crosses fingers against the dreaded double post*

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  17. I laughed out loud thinking about your pocketless jeans! I'm always putting my hands in my pockets, and it would be a little disturbing to be missing the insides. Looking forward to seeing your mother's skirt, and you could have a lot of fun with that toggle jacket!

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  18. LOVE that toggle coat pattern.

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  19. I wish there were more men's patterns too. I wrote to Jeremy at HotPatterns asking why they didn't offer any and he said there was no demand. But isn't that because there aren't any? We'll have to start our own men's pattern companies. Then you and I can own the market :)

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  20. Peter there are health benefits associated with coffee (http://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/coffee_health_benefits) as well as dark chocolate (http://www.webmd.com/diet/news/20030827/dark-chocolate-is-healthy-chocolate). If you have trouble sleeping, just switch to a non-caffienated beverage mid day.

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  21. I can't wait to see your mom's skirt, I"m sure she'll be lovely. Well, she's always lovely, but there's nothing like a custom skirt to lift your spirits.

    What am I working on? I'm busy drafting a snazzy matron-of-honor dress for my SIL's wedding mid-December. She's gracious and letting us chose any style of dress as long as the colors are correct (in my instance, silvery-grey).

    What is making it especially interesting is it needs to be breastfeeding accessible as my two little ones are still fond of the boob-milk. So I'm aiming for a matron-of-honor dress that does it's duty without looking to matronly. Let's see if I can pull it off in time...

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  22. Hilarious ... I have started shirt that started giving me trouble so I set it aside and started sewing scarves. Today I bought more pieces of pretty silk. Maybe sewing hems onto flat pieces of fabric is my new sewing nirvana. So fast and so satisfying. Look forward to you next pair (of properly functioning) jeans. And skirt. I need a skirt. Maybe I can sew a skirt while I continue to avoid my shirt.

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  23. Hey, Peter! It was so good to see you again. I just wanted to thank you for adding Shop the Garment District to your blogroll. Most of my traffic is coming from your site, you popular blogger you!

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  24. They've got nine kids' patterns. None for boys, and one is booties. Most of the rest involve smocking.

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  25. Yay for C&C button! I LOVE that place! New jeans? New coat? What happened to the cranberry corduroy jacket?????

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  26. Making a skirt for your mom will be fun!

    I vote for making 2 pairs of the Simp jeans at the same time, assembly-line style. It's not really that much more work and then you'll have 2 pairs to last you through the year.

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  27. Nice find on the toggle or daffle coat!!I've been wanting one since last winter when I saw it on the American Eagle website...it reminds me of when I was a kid, I use to chew on the toggles!

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  28. Wow Peter, I'm quite honored to win such a beautiful pattern! Thanks so much for hosting such a giveaway. I hope your Mother's skirt turns out well (I know it well). I have the Dorothy Moore's PDD book--it's a great reference. Good luck on your jeans as well. One can't have enough reliable pairs of them. I'll definitely drop you a line with my info:) Thanks again!

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  29. Lots of good information in your posting, I would like to tweet your blog post so I can visit again in the near future.

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