Plan C -- new shirt, new accessories + chihuahua video!

OK, so I thought long and hard about your comments yesterday.

Though I hate to admit it, I did start to see that the Western shirt -- while lovely and painstakingly stitched on a 1920 Singer treadle -- is not ideally suited to the rest of the outfit.  It is not crisp-looking.  The pants pop; the shirt is dull-toned.

I thought about white.

I do own a homemade white shirt -- a very nice one I whipped up last November.  I actually bought the fabric from Kashi at Metro Textiles and it's a silky white cotton.   And just look at that sleeve placket...





So I thought I'd try it with the pants and jacket and see how it looked.  Different belt, a few small tweaks.



Dear fashion critics and reunion ribbers, I like it.  It's brighter and looks crisper with the dark blue jacket.  The grosgrain ribbon belt is more cheerful than the black one while still looking sufficiently dressy, don't you think?



I've nixed the ascot -- too Peter Lawford.  But how about the psychedelic napkin neckerchief tucked in breast pocket (I know I said I don't wear pocket squares but it does pull things together, no?).



I've ditched the Navajo ring.  I can go Danish Modern silver...



...or domestic-partner gold.  (So I don't get hit on -- you know those 30th reunions.)



Now I should mention that there is one small problem with the shirt and I am fixing it.

When I originally made it last November, I had a problem with the interfacing on the neckband and collar: it didn't fuse well, leaving me with this:



Last night I removed collar and neckband and will make new ones today. 

And that's it.  I'll wear the loafers with black socks.  I'll shave and wear deodorant.  Clean underwear.

Have I forgotten anything?  Wallet?  Keys?

Thank you for dressing me up in your love (all over, all over).  How did I ever dress myself before this blog?

As Dinah Shore used to say, Mwah!


For your entertainment... How we'll be staying in shape this winter!

Making a Muslin. And Plan B.

Readers, I fear I am trying your patience.  We've been talking about cranberry corduroy for, what, a week now?  Why does it feel like a month?   I long to move on to new colors and new fabrics, don't you?  But such are my present wardrobe exigencies that I simply must deal with the corduroy at hand.

Yesterday, not ten minutes after saying I would not be making a muslin of my jacket, I decided to do that very thing.  It took so little time (one hour, two?) and yielded a lot of worthwhile information.

Also, how cute is that plaid sheet?  I can't tell if it screams Burberry or Johnny Carson.  This is the one-sleeve version:



And this is the two-sleeve version:





As tired as I am of writing about corduroy, I am even more tired of thinking about my muslin and what tweaks I might make to my jacket.   (BTW, there are small shoulder pads in the muslin.)

There are so many variables, so many different opinions about how high armholes should be, how much ease a jacket should have (and what activities you should be able to perform comfortably while wearing it), about how flat the back should look with the jacket buttoned in front -- that it has my head spinning.

Which is why I have decided to walk away from my project for (most of) the day.  And which is why I hastily drew up a cursory "Plan B" -- what I will wear to my dreaded event you know where if the jacket is not completed.  Because friends, I'm not sure I can -- or want to --- rush through this sewing project.  I slept nearly twelve (!) hours last night and I'm still tired.

On a related note, yesterday I laundered my corduroy pants and they came out great.  I am ready to hem.

Here are some alternate outfits for Saturday and I could really use your global wisdom.  I know this might be a bit much for Auckland, but I think it can work for here.  Here are the pants, with the blue blazer and my treadled Western shirt.  The shirt will be ironed; the belt will be straight.



Here are the shoes, btw.  I bought these about three years ago at a consignment shop nearby at the urging of a friend.  Trust me when I say they are the only Gucci-branded item I have ever owned.



I've hardly worn them as they're extremely thin-soled and not terribly comfortable, but I think they fit the occasion and the outfit.  What color socks?  (I'm generally or blue or black person and I never wear shoes without socks.)

I also have this American Indian ring I've always liked though rings tend to give me contact dermatitis.



I don't want to wear a tie with the Western shirt but how about a little psychedelic neckerchief.  Is this too Thurston Howell III --  or Charles Nelson Reilly?





Also, what do you think of the pants without the belt?  A black belt does tend to cut a short man in half so.



Anything else missing?  Flagrant fashion/etiquette violations?  Please don't say pocket square.  I love them on others but not me.

I hope you don't feel too terribly let down about the possibility of the jacket not being completed by Saturday.  I think if I wear my own pants and shirt but the RTW jacket, that will be enough from the home-sewn department, don't you?  I can throw in a pair of my own boxers too.

You've been so patient with me on this project, readers, and I appreciate it.  I've been so preoccupied with myself that I've forgotten to ask about your own projects.  I know what some of you have been up to but how about the rest? 

And speaking of rest, I'm going to refill my smiley-face coffee mug, read some blogs, and not think about corduroy.

Have a great day, everyone!

The Mens Suit Jacket (and five days to go...)

Friends, it's cut.  Not the lining, not the interfacing, just the cranberry corduroy.  (Yes, that is a Laugh-In wastepaper basket.)

Will I regret not making a muslin?  I suppose in a way, this is the muslin.

If I covered this earlier, apologies; my mind's a little hazy.  Here's the pattern I'm using.  It has two lower patch pockets and a single welt breast pocket.  In an ideal world the lower patch pockets would be welt pockets with flaps.  I don't think I can manage that this week.



Wanna laugh?





Got that?  A weekend. 

Now I've used this pattern once before, about this time last year, when I attempted my first jacket.  I never did wear it out of the house but it is recognizable as a mens jacket -- albeit badly misshapen and fitting poorly in the back. 





I need to take some width out and I should have done this before I cut my fabric, I know, I know.



I have Don McCunn's How to Make Sewing Patterns (but not his number on my speed dial, unfortunately) and he addresses some of these issues: in particular, how the mens basic bodice pattern (which I made over the summer) is adapted to make a suit jacket pattern (and how to draft the side piece that one finds under the arm of a mens jacket), and then how they are then shaped along the seams.

I think I can successfully take out a little width from the shoulder and mid-back without screwing everything up.  Cross your fingers.

I'm not using fusibles on the front even though I've read there is fusible interfacing you can use with corduroy.  I intend to use the haircloth I bought for Michael's suit project, and I'll probably do most of my stitching by machine.  The procedures are explained in both my Simplicity Sewing For Men and Boys and Tailoring: The Classic Guide to Sewing the Perfect Jacket.





I'm shooting for something akin to this (from the Barney's jacket I demolished last August).  Most of the interfacing was attached by machine.  The corduroy is already spongy so I'm not sure I'll use the lambswool for the chest piece; maybe flannel or something with less loft.





I have a LOT of information, readers, probably too much.  I'm going to do the best I can with the time I have: basically five more days.  If it's a wearable garment by Saturday night, great.  If not, there's always the rose print cocktail dress.

This is what I'm shooting for (albeit brighter) -- soft, but structured. We'll see how close I get.

Caveats?  (Prayers?)

Have a great day, everybody!

Peter's self-drafted corduroy pants: The Dramatic Conclusion

It took most of the day, but I got the pants finished.  Not hemmed yet, but otherwise completed.  (I'll throw them in the wash later and let them shrink up a bit before I hem them.)

Overall, I'm satisfied and I learned a lot.



There are a few things I wish I'd done differently, things I probably won't think about again after a few wearings. 

The front fly isn't perfectly vertical, but curves ever-so-slightly to the right.   Can you see that?



Despite using commercial waistband interfacing, the kind that has a little "skirt" that covers the inside waistband seam, making everything look smooth and professional, the inside facing is knit.   I should have used woven (like my RTW dress pants have, I realize in retrospect).  It's fine, just not ideal.  It doesn't stretch, but it's not as tight or as rigid as I'd like it.







And I attached the waistband the way I would a shirt cuff or a shirt collar band (or a denim jeans waistband), requiring me to topstitch along the outside bottom (on a shirt cuff, this would be the place where the outside cuff attaches to the shirt sleeve).  This looks OK, but topstitching on corduroy never looks gorgeous: it tends to flatten the nap.

Ideally I would have attached the outside of the waistband first, right sides together, and then folded the waistband up and over.  Then (I guess) I could have slipstitched the facing from the inside so no stitching would show on the outside.  Does that make sense?

It's all under a belt so it's invisible anyway.

I also should have attached the belt loops differently but who's examining my belt loops?





I didn't follow the pattern instructions for the waistband or the belt loops because I was working with that commercial interfacing.  As with all garments, a little judicious hand-stitching would have made things nicer.

Again, it's fine and after a few days I won't think about it again.



My self-drafted pants pattern could use some tweeking, ultimately; maybe a re-do.  But that's for later on.  The important thing is the pants are done.  I have to move on.

It's pouring rain here at the moment: perfect weather to start sewing a corduroy suit jacket, don't you think?

More pics of the pants here.  (I've been adding to the same file so you might have seen some of these already.  It's quite the epic.)

Happy Monday, everybody!

Any corduroy projects in the pipeline?

Cranberry Cords: SUNDAY UPDATE!

Good morning, sticker-outers, blender-inners, and assorted unlabelables, and sorry about those sweat stains; it was hot here yesterday.

I am close, so close to having these pants completed.

Basically, there's just the waistband left to do, but since this requires attaching hook and eyes and belt loops, it can't be rushed.  But things are looking good.

Yesterday, except to go running, I didn't leave the house.

I ended up using my self-drafted pants pattern, as many of you recommended, and adding all the various parts from the McCall's pants pattern I'd considered using.  Not so easy.  After cutting my fabric, I pin fit the pants.



Then I got to work on the side "slant" pockets.  Time consuming. 



The result, however, is worth it.



Then the fly had to be sewn in and that messy little area where fly, fly facing, and bottom of zipper fabric tape all come together, securely stitched.



The real challenge was the back welt pocket, my first.



Not perfect but good enough.  I shouldn't have had to topstitch along the top but I forgot to stitch the seam allowance closed from underneath.   I may fiddle with that a bit yet. 

Friends, corduroy is challenging.  It's thick and pillowy and if it's over-handled, starts to look it.  It can only be minimally pressed.  In making these pants I never ironed once, not so far.  It's been all about finger pressing and handling things gently.

After serging all the seam edges, I prepared to sew the pants closed and then tried them on.



I pulled them on, zipped up the front fly...



...and pulled the slider clear off the now-fully-zipped zipper!  (I had cut off the top to shorten it.)   The slider could not be put back on.  I had to rip the zipper out and install a new one.  A lost hour I will not get back.



The pants themselves are looking good and fitting well.  And I love the color.





I will finish these today; I must. So much more cranberry corduroy awaits.

Please get out of the house and enjoy the day on my behalf.  Why should we both have to suffer?

Happy Sunday, everybody!