Achievement Unlocked: Fly Front Shorts

So the fly front has bedeviled me for years.  Decades, even.  Something about it seemed so complicated, and it seemed to require more precision than I have the patience for.  I've read at least dozens and possibly hundreds of tutorials, but it has never clicked for me.

Hiking was the main activity I had planned for our Greece trip.  Since the only non-exercise shorts I own are my Adventure Shorts, I decided to add another pair to the stable.  And I also decided it was time to face my biggest fear:  the fly front zipper.

Elizabeth of SEWN recommended the fly instructions from Kwik Sew 3614, so I bought it at the last sale.  The instructions seemed good, although when I actually started following them I realized that step 4 is missing several crucial words and phrases:  "Move zipper toward as far as it will go without puckering underneath (edge of zipper is not even with extension).  Using a zipper foot, ."  I mean really, comma-space-period?  The missing word after "toward" I can maybe see getting by a very bad, very lazy proofreader, but comma-space-period is ridiculous.

EDIT:  Thank you, Elizabeth!  She supplied the missing text: "Move zipper toward right fly extension as far as it will go without puckering underneath (edge of zipper is not even with extension). Using a zipper foot, stitch only through zipper tape and right fly extension.

I also pulled up Debbie Cook's truly excellent jeans fly tutorial to keep Kwik Sew honest, though I had to mirror-image it in my head because a jeans fly is the same for men and women, while a women's dress fly is reversed.



In the end, I don't know why I was so exercised about this!  I went slowly and completed each step without trying to think further ahead, and it came out perfectly.  I am always telling people that most sewing is not difficult, it just involves a LOT of simple steps.  There are a very few exceptions--I found bound buttonholes difficult, some origami patterns make my head explode, and sharp corners are extremely fiddly to execute--but most things are not that hard when you break them down.  And it turns out the fly is one of them.

For the pattern, I used the sloper developed in Annette Hickman's class.  She had to cancel the third session of the 3-session class due to a family emergency, so my pattern is not totally final.  The shortness of the shorts hides the fact that there is still a little bit of cascading wrinkling on the back legs.  Someday this will be solved.  Someday.  Also, the front needs a little more room over the belly.



Another thing I faced was the slant pocket.   I copied the pocket and side piece as well as the leg width from McCall 5391.  I have never successfully made slant pockets that sit flush and don't poke out, and I didn't fully succeed here.  I interfaced the slant edge on the pocket, as instructed by M5391, but I should have interfaced along the opening edge of the yoke and then taped the seam when I sewed it, too.



I retrofitted the pocket opening edge with ribbon for as far as I could reach after construction, but it is too little, too late.   The pockets poke out a bit in wearing and always will.











Redeeming itself from the typos in the instructions, I used the curved waistband from KS3614.  What fabulous drafting!  I will be using this waistband again and again.  I have been looking for years for a great curved waistband for my body (Burda's are ok but not wonderful for me).  Something about the way the grain is at CB it just snugs right against the body.  I taped the upper edge of the waist with ribbon to keep my very stretchy fabric stable.



The shorts star in another favorite photo from the trip, from our hike from Fira to Oia on Santorini.  Oia is reputed to have the best sunsets in the world, and there is a lovely cliffside hike from Fira (the main city) to Oia, where at some points you can see the ocean on both sides of the island.  Unfortunately, we didn't leave Fira until 4:30 so we had to hustle the 7 mile hike to get to Oia on time for sunset.  We made it in the nick of time! (You can see the photos from the trip here; the photos from this particular hike are here.)

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.

Variations on a Tee # 8: Kwik Sew 3915 Collared Tee

Now that Kwik Sew has been taken over by BMV, it is included in the sales so I have acquired a number of their patterns.

Source: shop.nordstrom.com via Trena on Pinterest

One of the patterns I picked up is Kwik Sew 3915, a t-shirt with two neckline options.  I've seen this style of collar in a number of ready-to-wear pieces, including this St. John's Knit ($295).  You know how much I love t-shirt variations, so I had to give this one a try.  I used one of the athletic knits from Fabric Mart.  This is a really nice thick and beefy knit with good recovery.  I almost regretted using it for regular clothes because it is definitely athleticwear-worthy!

Full disclosure:  it's unfair to call this a review of Kwik Sew 3950, because the only thing from the KS pattern in the finished top is the width of the collar.  I used the body of my TNT tee so I wouldn't have to worry about fit, copying the KS neckline onto it, and then ended up altering the neckline substantially.








There is a printing error, or at least a printing weirdness, on the pattern sheet.  There are two neckline choices for the top; the collar is View A.  So I traced and cut where it says "View A" and has arrows pointing to the various sizes.  When I went to sew the collar in place, it wouldn't fit.  Then I realized that I shouldn't have cut where the arrows point to View A, but where "View A Neckline" is printed.  I was pretty annoyed.











As drafted, I am way not into the KS collar.  The neckline is super high, which is not a look I find flattering or comfortable.  After sewing it up as drafted I thought about trying to live with it, or maybe adding some hand gathering to the collar to widen the neck opening, but finally decided, Nope, not happening, and ripped off the collar.

I went back and looked at my inspiration piece and saw that the neckline opening in the body of the shirt was much lower than in the KS.

I cut a new square neckline in the front with the bottom of the square at the lower edge of the bridge on my bra (the collar fills in the space, raising the neckline higher; there is no chance of bra show-through).  I made the lower edge of the neckline opening 2 1/4 inches wide, based roughly on the proportions in the St. John's tee.  The folded Kwik Sew collar, minus 1/4" seam allowances, is 3 1/2 inches wide.  The St. John's collar seems softly gathered into the opening, so I kept the original width of the KS collar.

The resulting neckline is 28 3/4 inches long.  Based on my pattern measurements, the KS collar is drafted to be about 90% the length of the neckline.  However, I felt that even this gentle gathering was creating pulling lines, as you can see in the photo above.  Every line is very obvious in this shiny fabric, even though I turned the shiniest side in.  So I cut the St. John's collar the full length of the neckline.



I folded the collar in half (wrong sides together), gathered the lower edges, and stitched it into the neckline.  I had a hard time getting the square corners perfectly square.  I did my usual inset square method of reinforcing the inner corner and then clipping to the seamline.



Once it's clipped, spread it out flat for stitching.



The corners ended up a little rounded but I can live with it.  There are 5 layers of bulk with the double layer gathered collar laid over itself and the body of the top, which also makes the corner difficult.  Here is a view of the inside.










This top was a comedy of errors to make and took way too long for a t-shirt.  However, the final result was worth it.  It makes for a dressier, more sophisticated tee and now that I've figured out how to do it hopefully the next version will go a little quicker!  I can see myself with a whole wardrobe of this style.  It will be a nice change from my default cowl neck (not that I don't have one of those to show you soon).



The only thing I will change is to consider lowering the front neckline opening even more.  I feel the collar still comes a touch high.  However, this fabric is thick and quite substantial; a lighter-weight fabric might relax and open a little lower.  Cidell found some more of the "major brand manufacturer" base layer fabric and kindly picked some up for me in both black and navy.  The only decision I have to make is which color to choose in making a fancy summer tee!

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.

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Thank you so much for the good thoughts for my dad.  It looked really dire for several weeks, but then it was determined that he had an undiagnosed infection.  Once they began treating that, everything turned around in a truly miraculous way.  He has been in a hospital or nursing home for over a month now, but there is a light at the end of the tunnel (we hope).

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Alert:  Sew Confused is giving away a copy of Cal Patch's patternmaking book.  Visit her blog for details--it's supposed to be an awesome resource. 

Kwik Sew 3968, Slipper Socks

I have very cold feet and have one particular pair of fleece socks that I like to wear to bed in the winter.  I haven't found another pair of commercial socks that I like as much, and the socks I like were a gift many years ago so I can't get more of that particular one.  I decided it was time to take matters into my own hands, using Kwik Sew 3968.





These socks are well-drafted and easy to sew.  The notches line up perfectly--as you can see on the pattern as drafted at left--and you can cut and sew a pair in well under half an hour.










That's the good news.  The bad news is that the symmetrical draft that makes them so easy to cut, sew, and grab a pair to put on any-which-way makes them too uncomfortable for anyone to wear.  They flap around in a way that made me feel unstable.  If you want socks strictly for sitting on the couch or going to bed, they will be fine.  But if you'd like to pad around the house at all, you will need to make them conform to the non-symmetrical shape of the foot.





You can see that the first pair gives me major duckfoot.  They felt very floppy on the feet, like they'd fall off at any second.  The last thing I want to do when I'm hanging around at home is think about whether or not my socks are falling off!

I sewed the first pair up as drafted, then put them on with the seam allowances in the outside and pinned out the extra along the inner arch of the foot, as well as at the ankle.  Then I altered the pattern to fit the foot.



The altered pattern makes a great pair of lounging socks.  They conform to the shape of the foot and passively stay in place.







Be warned that if you are going to alter the width around the ankle, you definitely need a stretch fleece. I thought all fleece would have adequate stretch, but with a pair I made out of a less stretchy fleece I had a hard time pulling the narrow ankle over my foot.











You can't make fleece socks attractive, but it amused me to try.  I love that they have the female model on the envelope with her feet in a "sexy" pose.  I wish they had shown her face, because I'd love to see the expression on it.  "All these years of calf raises and pedicures, and *this* is where my foot model career ends up?!"

All photos are here and the pattern review is here.


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As I mentioned in my last post, I haven't been able to find much time for blogging lately.  Well, then things really got hard.  If you can spare any good thoughts for my dad, I'd really appreciate it.  He appears to be on the mend now (but it has been a rollercoaster for the past month and I don't want to get complacent).  There will be a lot of going back and forth to Texas and not a lot of blogging for the foreseeable future.