First up was to resolve a problem on a pair of pants that I tried to sew last summer when the kids were here. They were just a basic Glebe pants, but I think the fabric is what revealed the real problem. The two other pairs of Glebe pants I have sewn were in more substantial fabrics and that may have made the hang less obvious. I did not make any notes to shorten the rise on the next cut nor did I make any adjustments on the pattern. When I cut that last pair, it was in a very soft knit. It as the kind of knit that is usually reserved for lounge wear and possibly nightgowns. It was thin and very slinky and kind of marvelous. I cut the pants as usual, and put in the normal elastic waist but they almost could not support themselves on my body. I tightened the elastic, and then I could see the awful way the pants hung in the front crotch. It looked like I had an empty potato sack hanging there. Eww. It is one of those things that I just did not know how to deal with. So it sat for a long while. Eventually, I took to the wise internet and found something that I thought would work and then I tried to open the seams to do the repair.
Not fun. It took forever to start it, and once started, it took over four hours to do. It was the softness of the fabric and the second also very light weight knit that I used for a lining that made it impossible. Eventually, I did it and it worked. Then, I had to hem them, and I did that wrong the first time, so I had to redo that too, but by the end of the day, it worked and it worked well.
I also finished a mostly complete birght red polka dot shirt. The fabric was one of the ones that were so inexpensive that I couldn't not purchase it. I played around a bit with the bottom skirt (if you will) of a Torrens Box Top. It's not perfectly thought out, but it will be wearable in my quiet little world on a hot summer day. The hem is long enough to catch and funnel the breezes up through the top in the same was a dress would, but is still just a shirt.
I also cut out and mostly sewed a pair of pants. I had a couple seams done the other day, before my heel problem made me stop but I got all that done. Lots of long straight seams. Not hard, but the new sewing machine is not quite so fast as the old one. It sews so much more reliably, though, never breaking the threads, never knotting up, that it probably is faster in the end for all that the old machine simply did long seams faster. I just have the waist band to sew on. My foot was giving out by then and it was lunchtime.
The big debate for tomorrow is make another pair of pants, or do I cut it and run and make a dress? The dress would be fun. I am going to make it just like the one I already have, with as much of a gathered skirt below a slightly cropped Torrens Box Top . I love that dress, and now that I am planning for some bike shorts for wearing underneath, I want a couple more. It is the most comfortable thing ever.
Anyway, time for bed for little old me. Time to dream of dresses and the kinds of knit cardigans that I will make to top them off. I never told you about those dreams did I?
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