Productivity!!

So...I essentially ignored the stuff I was supposed to do this weekend.  You know, the fun and exciting things like paying bills, working on the budget and cleaning the house.  Blech, I say.  I focused instead on sewing.  When the mojo hits ya, ya gotta take advantage of it!  After my very productive Friday night, I managed to finish these on Saturday:

Butterick 5526 View C from a grey and white cotton shirting

Butterick 5678 out of the same cotton shirting as above,
using the "other side" as the "right side" for a deeper grey/black colour

I spent some time on Sunday in a marathon cutting session:

After which, I worked on these:

Vogue 8777, Katherine Tilton Vest

This vest was actually my last project of the weekend.  It was rather late, and I was tired.  The instructions gave me fits - I actually ended up draping the pieces onto my dressmakers' form to figure out how the back went together.  I'm glad I did, because I love how it turned out.  I used the length of View C, but finished the edges by serging then turning and topstitching with a 3mm x 3mm zig-zag stitch.

This is a very drapey fine sweater knit from Casual Elegance from a few years back. I made a long sleeve Perfect Tee from Loes Hinse a year or so ago from it, and it feels so lovely on.  They'll make a great twist on the twin set.

I also finished two pairs of pants on Sunday, but you'll just have to take my word for it for the time being, since I don't have the proper camera equipment to take a decent picture of my own backside.  LOL. 

I made a pair of Cigarette Trousers from V1264 out of a black wool flannel.  I ended up cutting down the waistline at the front about 2", as the pattern hits right at the natural waistline, and I'm just not comfortable with it WAY up there anymore.  The back I only ended up taking down by about 3/4".  I used the same facing patterns, but a tiny little seam allowance.

V1264

I also finished a pair of black heavy weight black ponte de Roma pants from Katherine Tilton's pattern, V8837.

V8837

Honestly, pants scare me a bit.  I never seem to be able to nail down the fitting issues.  And then, if I do get close, I gain or lose weight and have to start all over again!  I think it will take some time, and a couple of repeats of the same pattern before I can really nail them down.  It drives me crazy to try the pants on, take them off, unpick something, then sew a bit, then try them on again.  It's not simple, nor is it quick,n]but I kept reminding myself that after a bit of fiddling, I will end up with a great fitting pair of pants.  For both of these pairs, I did a 1-1/2" fish-eye dart alteration to the back and added 3" to the length.  I also scooped the seat out a bit as well, I'm pretty happy with the fit of both pairs!

Tonight, I started working on these out of a heavyweight heathered grey wool doubleknit.

M6440

I'm not quite as pleased with the fit, and not really in the mood for fiddling, so I'm stopping sewing for the evening.

Later this week, I'll tell you about my finds when I went into Fabricland tonight for thread and zippers!  I got quite a haul!

One thing I'm still looking for is a brick red stretch twill or lightweight denim, and the same colour in a stretch fine wale corduroy.  Anyone know where I can get any?