Another Hotpatterns' Rivieria Cardigan Jacket

Hotpattern Riviera Cardigan Jacket

This is the second time I've made this jacket.  I've made it both times out of double knit.  I did a better job this time with the collar and lapel, but I still had booboos along the way.   I got so confused, I attached the collar three times - there are only two ways to do it!  I actually unpicked the whole thing once, when I had done it correctly- argh!   I also struggled with the top stitching.  I had a stretch needle, a stretch setting on the machine, and a roller foot; and I still worked hard to get it to make any seam at all and not to end up with all the fabric in the needle plate.  Forget even and perfect seams!  And there was no way to get close to the edge.  By the end of the project, I loosened the tension which helped some.

I did not stabilise the shoulder seams.  I should have.  I've read a million times in the sewing blog world to stabilise the shoulder seams on knits.  I never do it.  I always wish I had.

Enough of the complaints; I actually really like this jacket.  It looks better on me than the mannequin.  It is comfy and sunny.  Perfect.

The rolled hem foot was brilliant, easy to use and a great edge.

I had a scrap of silk left over from my May ball dress last year.  I used my new rolled hem foot to make a little scarf which adds a nice splash of drama to the jacket.  I was about to cut the dress up to make a slinky top, but my husband dissuaded me.  He thought our daughters might want to see mommy's pretty dresses someday.  

Clearing the Decks

This is another HotPatterns Weekender Sunshine top.  I love orange.  Some how it seems to make the pink tones in my skin look "rose-y" rather than "blotchy.  Now that I have this out of the way, I just need to finish a sun-dress for my eldest daughter and then I can move on to my special dress. 

Not Quite Right, Maybe too small?

This picture was taken by my six year old with my 3 year old running through it, but I think it is good enough for illustrative purposes.  


This is HP 1105, free at fabric.com.  I cut a 12 without giving it a second thought.  I am happy with HP's Weekender Sunshine top in a 12, and their Riveria Cardigan in a 12, so I was confident.  


Somehow, the top doesn't look like the picture.  It looks tight around the bosom, a novel experience for me!  The neck is more of an envelop than a cowl.  I think the main part of the shirt (not including the band) is plenty long enough, but it could be an inch or two wider to make, it looser so that the neckline would fall into more of a cowl.  Perhaps this is a good illustration of what Carolyn meant, when she wrote about ease.


I think, I can still use it as a layering piece this summer as a pop of colour underneath a jacket.

HP's Weekender Cool, Calm & Cowl-necked Top, and Ribbing Material

Months ago (last summer?), I downloaded HP's free Cowl-necked top pattern from Fabric.com.  I never did anything with it because I could not find any ribbing material here in the UK.  Yes, I found some black and some cream down in the West End, but I wanted COLOUR!  

Now, I have found Dots N Stripes, an online fabric store based out of Scotland.  Dots N Stripes is mostly fabrics for children's clothes, but they had plenty of different ribbing fabrics.  I bought their Cerise Pink ribbing and Jersey Fuchsia. I think the colours are a near perfect match.

I just need to pre-shrink the fabric and finish the white T-shirt I was supposed to sew this week!  

Hotpatterns Weekender Track and Field Cargo Pants (HP1102)

Trudy at Hotpatterns really is right up to the minute.  Her Track and Field Cargo Pants look very much like the pants that I have been reading about in the papers for the past month.  Pants that I haven't yet seen in the stores or on the trendy Mums at the school gates (you know the ones, glossy blow-dried hair and whippet thin.)  I live in the flashy bit of West Essex near London.  I'd be surprised, if I didn't see a lot of this sort of trouser all Spring and Summer around here.    


They look comfy, and would seem to be right up my ally.  Alas, all the fashion editors advise that you MUST, MUST wear a heel with these or you will look dumpy.  Sigh.  I have always had lousy feet and for the last 6 months have had plantar fasciitis.  So, no high heel sandals for me.  


I am not very good at putting "looks" together or imagining what goes with what, but I can kinda of see that sneakers would not look so good here.  If anyone spots this trend with a comfortable shoe option, I'd be interested in knowing about it!




         


Here are some from Balmain on Net a Porter for £2559.46!

















Here are some by Sas & Bide for a mere £210.  (A budget option! Hee hee :)










No doubt, TopShop and Zara will be churning this stuff out soon, and I will see it on the teenage girls around here in less than a month's time.

How can a HotPatterns Dress be frumpy?!

I have to admit that this dress looks better on me than on the hanger. I can't take a picture of myself, and sunny days are rare in England in December, so I didn't want to wait for my husband to be available.  


I've finally lost the baby weight after daughter number two- woohoo! Now that I don't have to wear a big sack any more, I don't want to! Sadly, it also means that some of the patterns in my stash from the last two years aren't so interesting any more. 


This was Hotpatterns BoHo Delux Hippy Chick Dress (HP 1046).  The directions for this dress were diabolical.  There were no pictures, and the written instructions seemed to have errors.  Normally, I would blame myself because I am no expert, and I do make mistakes.  But in this case some of the directions were logically impossible.  In the end, I think I made things worse by attaching the waistband upside down.  I'm not sure, but that would explain a lot.  I used wool challis for the dress, and I just don't want to pull it apart and try again because the weave of the wool is quite open, and it unravels easily.  I am afraid that there won't be any fabric to sew if I rip it apart.


I'll probably were it weekdays with the kids around the house just to get some wear out of it.  I did learn one good thing from it.  Finding trims is often difficult.  In this case I used thin, cheap black ribbon because I just couldn't find anything else.  It was going to look cheap too.  Then I attached the ribbon with a smocking stitch and this took some of the sheen off the ribbon and improved the look a lot.  

It's Already too Cold!

I finally got around to making Hotpatterns, Riveria Boulevard Cardigan-Jacket (HP 1031).  I ran into a few problems, but I love the material so much, and the cut is so good, that I would really like to wear it anyway.  Unfortunately, this was the perfect jacket for late Summer, not proper Autumn.  It's just too cold and wet now.  I'll have to wait until Spring.  It would look nice with a lemon yellow t-shirt, I think.


Before sewing this pattern, I looked around to see what other people had already done with it, and how it worked out for them.  Not many people have sewn this pattern it seems, so I'll go into some detail, just in case there is anyone looking for a thorough review.

I live in ratty old fleeces, and embarrass my daughter, when I pick her up at school.  I thought this would have a soft, unstructured feeling while still looking a little more pulled together.  It does!  It is very comfortable and flattering.  While the finished product looks boxy, the pattern itself is loaded with gentle curves that cleverly sculpt it to the human form.  The different decorative seams help divide your body up, making you look a little less bulky.  I have a small bust, and I thought the front details suited me.

As for the sewing.  It wasn't difficult so much as tedious.  I don't have a serger and the pattern has 3/8" seams.  That meant I had to sew each seam three times!  Once to get the 3/8" seam.  Once to finish the edge with over-locking (my machine gives me a 1/8" seam allowance when I over-lock).  And once to cover-stitch.  I was sewing on stretch stitch settings and ended up going through more than 200 meters of thread!  I had to finish the final cover-stitching in a slightly different thread colour because I couldn't find any more of my original thread which I had bought 50 miles away. Aargh!  


The instructions do include some basic diagrams.  They don't go into a lot of detail, though.  A more detailed picture of how to attach the yoke to the body would have been a big help for a novice like me.


My hints and tips would be: 1) Do the topstitching.  It makes all the difference to final appearance of the jacket.  2) When choosing fabric, choose something of which your machine can handle a four-fold thickness.  3) Don't bother with interfacing unless you choose the lightest jersey.  This is a soft, slouchy sort of piece and increasing the thickness will make attaching the yoke that much harder.  4) Choose a solid fabric.  There is plenty of interest in the pattern itself, and you won't have the headache of getting the pattern matched at all these different seams.

Now that I have made it once, I am tempted to make it again in French terry for the Summer.   I have already done the hard part of figuring out the instructions, and now I know to buy three spools of thread!  Plus, I now have the cut-out, traced-out pattern on hand.  Then again, my machine is pretty basic, and I had real trouble sewing the collar, yoke and body together.  I had four layers of fabric (I did not use any interfacing) and my machine barely made it.  The roller foot I had was not much help, even with the top stitching.  

Jumping on the Bandwagon

Everyone raves about Hotpatterns' Weekender Sunshine Top (HP1071). It's been around a few years now, and this is my first time trying to make it. It's very easy to sew. Though, I must admit that I referenced Off The Cuff's tutorial. The step by step pictures made it a snap.

Like most people, my body is not in perfect proportion. After two babies, even less so. My frame is several sizes smaller than my girth. :-(

So I went ahead and cut a size 12 pattern, which is what I should be according to my shoulders, center back length and underbust measurement. Since my waist is larger, I pinned the pattern about an inch away from the fold line. I figured that the extra material in the folds would allow for my waist and hips. It did. So that was a simple and pretty successful adjustment. Looking at the picture, I think I might have even added a little too much extra fabric. Next time, and I do plan to make this again in a couple more colours - it's so flattering and comfortable, I might just add a half an inch.

Not a Triumph

I finally managed to finish the Hotpatterns, Weekender Cabana T Shirt (HP 1035).  The directions were clear, the pattern was simple, but my result is lack-lustre.  

Where did I go wrong?  Well, first of all, my proportions are far from perfect, and I couldn't decide which size to go for.  Ultimately I chose a size 16, because this is the size of my hips. How silly.  This was a T-shirt, not a pair of trousers.  Anyway, my under bust measurement is a 12, so the t-shirt that I made swamps me.  As I put it together, I did keep thinking, this looks awfully large.  

My second problem was the fabric.  It was a thin, cotton jersey that I had prewashed.  It kept curling at the edges making it difficult to precisely follow the cut of the pattern.

What is the point of sewing it yourself which costs more than buying a t-shirt at Marks and Spencer, if you can't actually get the lines of the pattern?  I will try this one again in a size 12. But, I think I'll wait awhile, buy a heavier knit and not pre-wash the fabric.  

Something for Myself

I am impatient to try out a Hotpatterns, pattern.  They all look so tempting.  I have heard reports that the instructions are cryptic and sparse, so I am starting out with something simple.  The Cabana T shirt Pattern.  Having looked through the pattern I can report that at least this particular pattern does have pictures and the instructions seem to be straight forward and clear.  

I like the cover picture very much, so I went into Cloth House in SoHo to buy some black and white striped jerey.  Cloth House is amazing, but very different from fabric shops as I know them.  For me, fabric shops are filled with old matrons and grannies and little girls in tow.  If I head into the haberdashery department at John Lewis, I basically find the comforting old scene I know from childhood.  

This is not the case at Cloth House or MacColluch & Wallis.  The shoppers are of all ages and everyone looks so avant guard, you all but expect to bump into Vivienne Westwood!  My very presence dilutes the hipness of the scene.  However, the kids who work there (and they do look like kids to me even though they must be in their early 20s) are always charming and helpful.