Cotton Boxer Shorts

The first of the bundle of fabrics I had pledged to sew this year, is done. These two cotton plaids could have been short-sleeved summer shirts, but as I mentioned, husband hasn't worn summer shirts in years. He used to, but lately he prefers T-shirts, so the next best thing for these fabrics was to turn into boxer shorts.

And I can assure you, they made husband really happy. I know cotton boxer shorts are not everybody's choice, but husband prefers them and over the years I've perfected the pattern from Shkatulka.

Pattern: Men's Boxer Shorts with a faux fly by Shkatulka

Size: 52

Fabric: cotton plaid

Time to make: one week

I've had the pattern for at least three or four years now. I just checked and size 52 is still free for downloading, if you want to try them. They are quick and easy to make and they even come with a video tutorial. Years ago, when I made them for the first time, I found the video very useful and inspiring, so I do recommend the pattern, though I suppose there are plenty of similar patterns online.

This pattern features a faux fly, which makes the boxer shorts look just a tiny bit more professional and interesting. If you don't want to trouble yourselves with the faux fly, you can of course skip it and just sew the front pieces together similar to the back pieces.

For the elastic I've found, that the most comfortable and stable solution is two rows of 1 cm wide elastic - it is sturdy enough, but not too stiff, as a wider single piece elastic, which I prefer to use for joggers and pants.

The easiest first two fabric pieces are done, now on to the next project, something for myself :)

Grey Joggers for Alex

The second piece of precut fabric I bought recently, was light double-thread sweatshirt knit. I bought it with joggers for Alex in mind and these have now been made. The fabric, unfortunately, seems not of high quality (perhaps too much polyester content?) and pills lightly, so we'll see how well they'll favour in the long run.

The pattern is an old Schkatulka pattern I had made for him before and of all the jogger patterns I've made for him, he chose this one as the most comfortable.

Pattern: Simple Joggers by Shkatulka

Size: 46 for height 178-183 cm

Fabric: Cotton-polyester double-thread sweatshirt Knit 

Time to make: 1 day

I made the joggers almost identical to his previous Schkatulka joggers, I only changed the pockets to be with slanted entrance opening and not in the side seems. I find such pockets more comfortable, better looking and at the same time easier to sew. Intentionally I added a strip of dark grey to the opening of the pockets, both for interest and to make them a set with the T-shirt i made for him recently.

It was a very easy make, which took me only a day, with the paper pattern already cut and the fit tried and tested. However, for future makes, I think I might make them just a tad shorter, perhaps by 1.5 - 2 cm.

White Raglan Blouse

One more color block blouse I made recently, this one is intended for Gaby.

I've been planning a raglan zipped cardigan for Gaby and on Shkatulka sewing site I found a pattern , that I really liked. However, first I decided to try their raglan patterns with something simpler, like a short sleeve T-shirt, which is free for all sizes on their site and includes a straight long sleeve tee and a short-sleeve tailored tee.

I took out all of my knit fabric scraps and selected a pair that went really well together - off white and black and white stripes. 

Pattern: Shkatulka Raglan Tee

Size: Russian 42 (EU 36, S), height 168 cm; shortened

Fabric: cotton knit fabric

Thread: off white polyester

Time to make: 3 days

Notes: I'm not happy with the fit and I don't think their raglan patterns fit me - they seem to be too narrow at the shoulders and the sleeves don't lay naturally, following the curves of the arms, but pucker up. After I finished this tee, I made two testers of the raglan cardigan I was eyeing, and found them both unacceptable, so I've given up the Shkatulka patterns for now and I'm looking at some other raglan cardigans.

However, I like the idea of using bigger scraps for such small raglan T-shirts and I'm planning at least one more, using a true-and-tried Burda pattern, but probably later next year. It's time to take out the long-sleeve patterns now, winter is coming :)

Shkatulka Blue Tank Top

Something quick and easy I made for my summer hiking trips - a new tank top. 

I took advantage of our hike today from Dragalevtzi to Momina skala to take a few pictures of my new tank top, while standing on a bridge over the Dragalevtzi river.

The pattern is an oldie I've had in my collection and made a couple of times - a free pattern from Shkatulka. I've used the T-shirt pattern with various modifications, but this is my first with the tank version. I am fairly happy with it, and I actually have another one already made for Gaby. However, I am now curious to find and explore other tank patterns, as this one is a bit too simple for my taste.

For my first try of the tank pattern I used the material from a failed blouse - my so called Picasso top. Because of the unusual construction of the top, I had to cut the back in two pieces, which I then embellished with two color stripes. 

Pattern: Shkatulka Tank Top

Size: 42, shortened

Fabric:  double knit

Time to make: 2 days

All in all, not so bad for a hiking tank top, but I really want to find a better fitting and more interesting pattern for my next sleeveless tops. And, it turns out, I need quite a few with the hot summer days ahead.

Lingerie

I've piled again some new makes, needing photographing. 

Because lingerie takes so little fabric, soon after embracing clothes sewing I was hooked on making our own lingerie, mostly for myself and husband.

Although my first experience with Megan Nielsen Acacia Underpants was not very successful, I went down a size, changed the shop, from which I buy the elastic, and now these are my go-to undies for myself. I made two new pairs, using fold-over elastic for one and lingerie elastic for the other.

Pattern: Megan Nielsen Acacia Underpants

Size: 0

Fabric: cotton jersey

Time to make: 2 days

I also sewed two pairs of boxers for husband. Cotton boxers are his preferred underwear in these hot summer days and I've perfected the Shkatulka pattern to fit him comfortably.

Patter: Shkatulka Men's Boxers

Size: 52, modified

Fabric: cotton

Time to make: 2 days

Teal Boatneck Tee

The third of the blouses I made out of the big piece of double knit teal fabric - a boat neck tee for me. I drafted this t-shirt in October, using my favourite simple Shkatulka tee. 

The new teal blouse is almost identical to that brick one I made last year, which I gifted to Gaby. The only difference is that I shortened the length by 2 cm and the sleeves - I added cuffs with buttons and real buttonholes.

 
I came up with the idea for the cuffs out of necessity - I didn't have enough fabric for full length sleeves and I did want 3/4 sleeves. I could have gotten away with simple 4-5 cm cuffs, but I remembered a set of 6 black buttons which I bought recently and decided to add them to the T-shirt for some interest.

I couldn't have just added the buttons without making them operational, where's the fun in that - so real buttonholes. I also made the cuffs symmetrical, so that both cuffs are closing away from the body - a detail I hadn't thought through initially. But when I finished the sleeves and looked at myself in the mirror, I realized that the rules for male and female button closure do not apply to sleeve cuffs - they have to be symmetrical, to reflect the symmetry of the body. So I had to unpick the left cuff and redo it the other way.

Pattern: Shkatulka Fitted Tee, modified with boat neck and long sleeves with cuffs

Size: Russian 42 (EU 36, S)

Fabric: double knit

Thread: black polyester (overlocker), teal polyester (Elna)

Time to make: 2 days 

 

My favourite part of the tee - the boat neck. In my notes in October I described in detail how I made the neck and this time I simply followed my notes - it saved me so much mind wrecking! Otherwise I always wonder which part where goes first :)

All in all, a very nice simple blouse, which was ideal for today's walk in the park under the warm January sun - we had a very rare pleasant and warm sunny day here in Sofia. 

And the snowdrops in front of our building are already in bloom!

Plaid Pinafore

Like so many seamstresses, I was very impressed by the styling and fashion choices in The Queen's Gambit and I've decided that I need more 60s vibe feminine clothes in my wardrobe. Not that I have many places to dress up for - today's dress up, apart from the photo session, was for the weekly shopping in the local Lidl :))) But if I worked in an office, I would definitely wear that pinafore dress to work.

The pattern is from Shkatulka, a sleeveless dress pattern in Russian, which comes free for my size 42 (the smallest available). The dress features semi-full skirt, princess seams and wrap top. The pattern includes facing pieces for the lapels and the collar, but once I cut the fabric, I realized that my wool plaid was too coarse and itchy, so I drafted additional lining pieces for the top and the skirt and made the pinafore fully lined.

Pattern: Sleeveless dress wd090919 by Shkatulka

Size: 42, shortened in height by 1 cm (top) and 7 cm (skirt)

Fabric: plaid, 100% wool; black cotton voile, 100% cotton (for the lining)

Thread: polyester, black and brown

Time to make: one week

The dress closes with a 30 cm side zipper. Because of the lined wrap top, I was very hezitant to install an invisible zipper - there was no possibility to insert the zipper between the outer and the lining, as they were sewn together because of the wrap. So I opted for an exposed zipper - I think it's OK, though I'm a big fan of invisible zippers.

I had only 1.2 m of this wool plaid, which I bought decades ago and I had to squeeze a semi-full skirt and a wrap top with lapels and facings, so some compromises had to be made with the pattern matching and especially the symmetry at the back. But I knew that from the very start and I made a deal with my perfectionist self to deal with it and not think about it twice. I managed to match the horizontal lines of all those princess seams, so that should be good enough :))

I am especially proud of the lapels - my first ever! The Shkatulka instructions were very sketchy and I was not quite sure I liked the proposed order of constructing the top, so I googled Youtube. I highly recommend Diane Deziel's tutorial - as always she's the best and made the daunting lapels fairly easy to make!

Another problem I had to deal with was the construction of the lining - the facing of the lapels was only partially equal to the outer front lapels, so to avoid constructing the facing of the fronts out of partial front lapel plus the side front part, I drew a new side panel, which incorporated both parts and I think it worked! I'm still curious how was I supposed to add the side zipper, given that in order to add the skirt to the top I had to fix the wrap, as a result of which the lining and the outer of the top became inseparable. I'd be curious to know how this is done in the industry, I'm sure there are some professional tricks, but I couldn't find a Youtube tutorial, though I searched extensively.

All in all, I'm quite pleased with my 60s style plaid pinafore. If I ever decide to repeat the pattern, I'll have to figure out how to make it a bit more fitted at the bust, but otherwise the fit is acceptable and I was happy to walk the aisles of Lidl today dressed prettily :)

Cowl Neck Top

Several very awkward flat pictures of a top I managed to make for Gaby at the end of 2020. It is a sort of a Frankenstein of ideas and pieces I borrowed from various patterns and with some minor issues it did turn out fairly nicely.

The basis for the top is my true and tried basic Shkatulka short sleeve top, which I have used for a number of modifications now, as I know how it fits us both. The inspiration for this top came from a video by Stitched up!, one of my favourite sewing vloggers. I followed the instructions word for word and I think they are quite legit, however the neck opening of the starting pattern should be much wider than that of the Shkatulka top. For the cowl neck to drape beautifully it needs width at the neck, so a closed up crew neck is not a good option. Тhis is my only issue with the resulting top - the cowl does not drape enough, it is more similar to a boat neck. Next time I will start from a scoop neck; we live to learn :)

The original Shkatulka has a simple short sleeve and I wanted bishop sleeves, so I took the sleeves of another top I made this year - blouse 101 from Burda 03 / 2020. For this purpose I constructed a new sleeve with the cap of the Shatulka, continuing into the bishop sleeve of the Burda blouse, but shortened and attached to a sleeve cuff.

The side gathering of the blouse was an inspiration from another Burda pattern I bought, but I still haven't made - blouse 103 from Burda 08 / 2020. For the gathering I used black elastic thread in the lower bobbin of the sewing machine and I am truly happy with how it all came out.

Gaby wore the blouse on New Year's eve in combination with the plaid pleated skirt I made for her and I think she looked gorgeous. Pity we couldn't take any nice modeled pictures - before we knew it time flew and she had to catch her plane back to Prague, so I had to quickly take a few flat photos of the blouse literally a couple of hours before her departure.

And another flat picture - my first finished sewing project for 2021. I had plenty of the french terry with the butterflies, so I made another pajama top. This is the same pattern and almost the same top as the pajamas I made at the end of December, the only difference is the shorter sleeve cuffs and the added bottom cuff - I actually like this version better than the first. And I love to use up all of the fabric. Now that I am through with this french terry, I can move on to something new and more exiting. I actually just cut it, but more about it next time :)