Winter Wonders - Flannel Lined Jeans

OK I admit it - I'm a frog - I'm forever cold and in this country (north east USA) at this time of year, I often feel like I'm never going to be warm again.

This has a definitely impact on my sewing - during summer I love to use beautiful fabrics - bright prints, different type of fabrics etc, but in the winter all my sewing is based around how warm any given fabric is - which makes my wardrobe a lot more drab than I would like.  I try and make nice tops out of beautiful knit fabrics, but just end up covering them up with fleece sweaters etc.

When it comes to pants - I'd happily spend all winter in fleece tracksuit pants - but sometimes I want to look a little more put together.  I've got one pair of woolen pants that are lined with rayon - they're not bad, but sometimes I just want to wear jeans, but then I freeze when I do.

So what's a girl to do but make herself a pair of flannel line, elastic waist jeans. Comfortable, warm and not too mumsy/dowdy.

To make these I used the same pattern I've been using for all my pants lately - the one with the extra seams up the front and the back of the leg for more fitting help.  To create a waistband I cut 2" off the top  of the pattern pieces used those to piece together a 2 part waistband with just a little bit of shaping.  I also increased the rise at center back by 3/4" and lowered the front rise by about 1/2" - just tweaking the fit.

I removed a little bit of the flare from the bottom of the leg, but probably not quite enough - these are very 70's

I added a bit of extra width to this version of the pattern 1/4" at each seam from the waistband to the hips,  since the pattern tends to be a bit tight when made in a fabric with no stretch - as was the flannel.  I cut out and sewed up the flannel first to get the fit right - I wanted it to be fitted through the thigh down to the knee, but not so much I couldn't sit down and lounge in them.  Once I had the pattern right I then cut it out of the denim.

I added pockets in between the center front seam and the side seam and top stitched about 7 rows parallel to the pocket with top stitching thread.

There is no fly and the waistband is threaded with elastic so they're not really jeans as such - but they're close enough for me!

I did a pretty basic design topstitched onto the back pockets as well.

I was in such a hurry to be able to wear them that I didn't bother hemming them before throwing them on - and I've since been told that the whole frayed hem thing is in at the moment - so since I'm lazy these pants are going to be left un hemmed.

Overall I love love love these pants.  They're warm, and they're comfortable enough that I don't have to change out of them when I'm lounging around at home, what more could a girl want?

Precious Stash Fabric Sewing - Part 1. Purple Velvet

Back in September 2015 I found an absolutely beautiful piece of fabric at my local fabric store.

A purple satin velvet overlayed with an iridescent floral/ paisley pattern in metallic.  I did some research at the time and found out that it is a Manuel Canovas fabric and is supposedly a home decor fabric but since when has that stopped me using it for clothes.  I originally planned to make it into either a beautiful dress, or a coat, but instead it languished in my stash for 2.5 years because I was too afraid to cut into it.

This month I decided enough is enough and pulled it out.  I thought again about making it into a coat, but it's not quite the right weight so I shelved that idea.  Obviously a dress was the next option, but I just don't wear dresses in winter and it's not really a summer sort of fabric, so I decided in the end to make a two piece - top and skirt that could be worn together as a dress if an occasion should ever occur, or be worn separately.

I sketched out a number of ideas before deciding on a cropped wrap top and pleated skirt.

To make the top I started with the Pattern Review Clair wrap dress, that I had already fitted in a woven fabric when making my red plaid dress.  I omitted the collar, incorporated the yoke into the back pattern piece and incorporated the neckband into in the front piece.  With the sleeves I did a wide bicep adjustment, since they were a smidge too tight in the red plaid dress and flared out the cuff a small amount.

I cut the modified pattern out of a plain black fleece fabric first to make sure it worked, then once I was sure that I had the pattern correct went to work on the purple velvet.  This fabric was not that great to work with.  The different thicknesses between the metallic overlay and the velvet were quite noticeable and made it really difficult.

I used the black fleece to line the top bagging the whole top and hand stitching the sleeve edges together.  I also added a bit of elastic to the front neck edge to eliminate any gaping.  There is definitely some of the black fleece that shows along the neck edge, but I tried top stitching it so that it didn't roll out and it ended up looking terrible.

I only made one strap as I wasn't sure just how much material I had and wanted to make sure I could get the skirt made as well.

Next up was the skirt.  I decided this time to try out a Lekala pattern.  I've wanted to try one of these for quite some time and decided that now was the time.  I went with #S3047A Line Skirt with pleats in the front.

The front pattern pieces turned out to be a perfect fit - but I had to take 4cm off each side of the center back seam so I'm not sure what that was about!  It wasn't just ease because the side seams hit in the right place in front - all the extra was at the back.  I don't know if maybe there was supposed to be darts in the back, but the pattern didn't show anything (and it doesn't come with instructions).

I again made it up in fleece before committing to the real fabric, and used the fleece yoke to face the final skirt.  I did a lapped zipper in the center back seam and finished off the yoke and hem by hand.

The only other thing about the pattern was that I specified no seam allowance but it came with it anyway - that's not a problem, but they had a 1" hem allowance on the front of the skirt, but 3/8" hem allowance on the back of the skirt.

Looking at the photos I'm thinking that I might want to take the length of the skirt up a smidge.  I think it needs to be just a touch shorter.

The first time that I tried the two pieces on together my daughter asked me if it was a bathrobe or a dress, so I'm not sure about wearing the two pieces together anymore.

And I'm not sure how much wear I'll get out of the skirt - I can't remember the last time I wore a skirt..But having said that this skirt is definitely comfortable and I really like this style.

I'm hoping that the top will get worn a bit more though.  I've shown it here with my black pants, but I think teamed with jeans might even work better.      The fleece lining makes it quite comfortable.  Since it's quite cropped I have a feeling that I may spend the entire time wearing it tugging it down.  I'll have to see how it goes...I wonder how much I have left in scraps?  enough to make another tie?  that might help with the length issue/cover up any gaping.

Flannel Shirt

This post is a bit late, but better late than never.  (I apologise in advance for the terrible pictures, but its just too cold to go outside at the moment so washed out inside shots are all I've got!)

I started working on this shirt back in December of last year.  I used the pattern that I created to make this red plaid shirt.  And then modified to make my silk pajamas in November last year.

Once I was finished with my pajamas I decided that I wanted a basic flannel shirt - like the ones I used to wear as a kid (though those were generally tied around my waist rather than on my back).

I modified the pattern once again to include both a back and a front yoke but other wise kept everything else the same.

The material I used is a green flannel material that is a beautiful weight. It's nice and fuzzy and warm on the inside, but much more smooth on the outside so it doesn't look too pajama like.

I cut the yokes with the plaid on the bias.

I also added an inverted box pleat at center back for some extra ease.  I'm not sure that I really like this and would probably remove it next time I use the pattern.

My pattern matching through this project was OK, but not great,  the plaid pattern was totally off grain so I did the best I could,  with what I had.

I used white press studs instead of buttons down the front - they're just so much easier to both install and do up/undo.

I really didn't need that last stud though - I never do it up.

The bottom of the shirt is finished with a narrow hem and I did full cuffs and plackets on the sleeve - again with press studs.

This shirt is really nothing special but it really fills a gap in my wardrobe - its comfortable and warm and what more could you want. For some reason I do't like the neckline on this one - I don't know if it's the plaid placement or what, but it's not enough to stop me form wearing it!