I’ve had all of these garments sewn for about a month and a half now, but just got around to taking photos of them yesterday. So…here is my winter 6pac.
You’re looking at:
Grey M6844 Peplum Cardigan – view C – worn with a belt to keep it closed
I did manage to get this one photographed and blogged. See the details on this cardigan here.
Grey Boucle Knit M6844 cardigan – view A – with buttons added to the collar band
I picked up this great boucle knit from fabricmart a few months ago, as a birthday gift from some relatives. I had intended to make a simple pullover long-sleeve sweater and only ordered one yard of the grey. But, from the moment I opened the box, it screamed shawl collar cardigan/sweater jacket, and I was determined to make it happen.
I used the straight version of McCall 6844. I knew from the fit of the peplum version that the collar piece almost overlapped, so I used smaller seam allowances (3/8 rather than 5/8, I think) to give myself a bit more room. Then it was just a matter of figuring out how to put the buttons on. I liked the look of the folded-back collar, but was a bit unsure whether I would be able to get the machine to make pretty buttonholes through four layers of textured, lumpy knit. I even went out and bought some sew-in snaps, thinking the snaps would be functional and I could just sew decorative buttons over the top.
Before I began sewing the snaps in, I did what I probably should have done in the beginning, stopped being a wuss, and ran 4 layers of the knit (scrap, of course), through the buttonhole attachment on my Singer 15-91. Of course, it had no problems with the fabric and made me feel like an idiot for fretting about it at all. So, I quickly made my three buttonholes before it had a chance to decide that it didn’t like the fabric after all.
I love the way this jacket turned out. I think I’m going to try to tweak the collar pattern piece to create the illusion of an angled collar while still keeping the wide band. If it works, stay tuned for a similar jacket.
M6796 in teal rib knit
This is my tnt knit top pattern (see details below) merged with McCalls 6796. I learned from the first time I made this top (blogged here) that as much as I love this top, the bones of the patten didn’t fit quite the way I want. To Fix this, I traced a copy of my tnt tee pattern, then merged in the neckline and collar of the size 6 pattern so that I could get the details I wanted with the fit I was looking for.
My tnt Knit Top in a variegated, textured knit
One of my sewing goals, both in general and for my winter 2013 6pac was to develop a TNT (tried and tested or tried and true, depending on who you ask) knit top pattern. I’ve tried several knit top patterns from different companies and wasn’t thrilled with any, though New Look 6735 came close. I wound up combining (or “frankenpatterning”) New Look 6735 with M6796, then making some adjustments on that pattern, narrowing the shoulder by about an inch, raising the armscye by about the same, and removing some of the ease from the waist through hip area. I also added several neckline options, a v-neck, low scoop, and high scoop.
I don’t have photos of all of the muslins that I made, but I think it took me about 6 attempts to get to a pattern I am consistently happy with. Not to worry, those of you who dislike waste, I did finish all of the muslins and have since donated them to a local nonprofit.
2 pairs of black jeans from my tnt jeans pattern – one with jeans pockets/stitching and one without.
These are probably my most commonly worn pants yet. And the most versatile. And my most commonly worn. And quite possibly the most boring to make. There’s really nothing exciting about black jeans, but they sure are useful.
As you may expect by now, I used my regular jeans pattern, with the waistband from the Jalie dress pants (that I still haven’t gotten around to making up). The first paire is a very lightweight denim and seemed to have a lot of stretch. So, I ended up sewing nearly the entire pair of pants twice. First, I basted the main pieces together (including the zipper fly) to check fit and determine how much extra I’d need to incorporate into my seam allowances for each various piece. Then sewed, serged, and topstitched everything for real. Though this process does make the jeans take longer, it also gives me more control over the fit, since each stretch denim has a different stretch to it.
These jeans look good with a casual knit top and ugg type boots, but I can also dress them up with a sweater and/or blazer for a perfect outfit to wear to the office. I could easily wear these jeans every day of the week and think nothing of it.
The second pair is a heavy scuba knit that I got from fabricmartfabrics. There wasn’t much stretch to the fabric, but just enough for my pattern to work well. After basting the pieces together, I realized that leaving off the traditional ‘jeans’ details would result in a much nicer-looking pant, so I left off the back pockets and most of the topstitching. I also used a sew-on button rather than a traditional metal jeans tack button. My only complaint about this pair is that the fabric picks up every little bit of fuzz that blows by.
I love all 6 of these pieces, and they have all quickly become “go-to” staples in my closet. So, a very successful 6pac. I’m now looking forward to adding to them with some pieces that will transition from winter to spring. Though with our super mild winter, there’s really not going to be much of a change.
With Needle and Thread 