K has refused to take decent photos of things I've made her and I've run into terrible fitting problems for myself. It is discouraging to have wadder, after wadder.
Nonetheless, here are some makes I sewed up about a week to two weeks ago.
Kwik Sew 3498 Yoga Pants
I foolishly bought this pattern thinking it was for women, lol. Imagine my surprise when I realized it was a girls pattern. K's measurements put her at the topmost size of XL. I traced and held up the pattern to K and realized it was too long, I took out 2.5" at the lower L/S line on the calf.
This is a super fast sew. The waistband is double wide and a fold over so 4 layers of fabric end up holding up the pants. Normally I put elastic into this type of waistband but these held up just fine. They were the perfect width.
The pants look great and fit perfectly - if not a smidgen too tight. K liked the rise and had no complaints. She just didn't want pictures taken, lol. This is a great basic pattern for girls. Fabric is 1 yard of lilac cotton lycra from purple seamstress for $6.50
Jalie 3245
This pattern, oh. The pain and anguish. I love the look, the simplicity, the easy sew-ability. And that is were the good ends. I can't seem to get this pattern to fit me correctly no matter what I do. My hands were thrown up in the air and I just had to walk away. I made two muslins and they just weren't working. I'm not sure if I will come back to it or just find another tank pattern.
The problem? Terrible huge drag lines from bust to hip. I've had this problem with this dress below in the past and still haven't figured out why. Other patterns I don't have this problem with. So what gives! lol. I refuse to but a bust dart in a knit, I just need to figure out a different solution. Plus my knits are super stretchy, and the dress below wasn't. *shrug*
Anyway, I used a floral Hatckhi knit blend of poly, rayon, and lycra (which I realize I threw away before taking a picture of, oops). I used 7/8 yard for $3.50. Purchased at Fashionfabricsclub Jan 2015. I'm not fond of this fabric so it was the perfect muslin. It turned out horrid fitting. The purple is cotton lycra. I tweaked the fit of it a bit in the front and back shaping and it didn't fit much better. 1 yard at $6.50
Now for K on the other hand, of course the pattern works great. These tanks take so little fabric and look real cute. I used my binder attachment on my coverstitch for the neck and armholes. This was so fast and easy compared to the directions, lol.
The first tank was a muslin with scrap fabric. It turned out cute but long.
The second and third tanks I shortened by 2" and they are perfect now. (of course no pics from K) Sizes are O for the shoulders and bust, S for the waist, and P for the hip.
Each fabric was 3/4 yard. The rainbow one was a nice rayon jersey but off grain. I bought it off fabricstalkers on facebook Feb 2015 for only $4. Yellow cotton lycra was used for the bands.
The second one I used scraps from this Ottobre tunic I made for myself and loved. The front is a geometric sweater knit from fabricmart in Sept 2013 and the pink is cotton lycra scraps. So this one was about $5.
~ Happy Sewing! ~ Kristin ~
Great makes for K! I'll have to just use this Jalie pattern for my girls. I really like how they look on your daughter. I got those same darn pull lines from bust to hip like you did. I increased the bust width which made it a little better, but they are still there. If I widen it any more, I'll get a floppy armhole, which I don't want! With it taking so little fabric, it is a good one for our girls though. Lucky you with the binder. I forgot you had that. The binder for my coverstitch is half the cost of my machine. Hardheaded me would rather buy a totally different machine that has a more reasonably costing binder. Totally makes no since. ha ha
ReplyDeleteThanks Shirley! We will warm up to 80 by Sunday so they will be welcome this week ;)
DeleteIt is so sad that we can't get this to work on us! I keep seeing it on other people and they look great in it :( In the win-lose battle, this one was a loss :(
I do love my binder ;-) The coverstitch has been temperamental this week though. Mine wasn't too expensive. I forgot that yours was crazy pricey though!
The orange tab top can be saved. The drag lines look like you need an FBA. But you don't want to put a dart in knits - instead of creating a dart, create gathers at the side and ease the excess fabric in - you will need to shorten the back. Head over to the Curvy Sewing Collective and see how Cashmerette has retro fitted an FBA to a t shirt. Good Luck
ReplyDeleteThanks for the tip! I will head over there now and read up.
DeleteI was in the same place for months. At first I was busy and didn't have time for sewing but then when I did, I just didn't feel like it. And then when I "made" myself sit down and sew, most of what I sewed had some kind of issue and that further discouraged me. I took a step back, focused on other things, and now I finally feel a bit of excitement and want to sew again. Whew!
ReplyDeleteThe yoga pants look great! Does Kwik Sew have a woman's yoga pants pattern? I love the tank tops you made! That's a shame that you couldn't get it to work for you but at least it works for K. I hope that you're able to find a solution as it looks like a great basic tank pattern!
Thank you Cindy! It is nice to hear I'm not the only one who feels no sew-jo and that things I am making have issues. ;-) Perhaps I do need to take a break - luckily I'm not working right now, but that leaves me with the time to sew so that is what I tend to do with my time, lol
DeleteI wish Kwik Sew made a woman's yoga pants pattern like these. I'll have to start looking more closely for one. Thanks again!