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I made some hats and cowls with thick yarn again. This time I have varying colours! (eh) And of course I included in action pics.
Edit: Oh yeah! I forgot to mention these are couple knits, with the cowl for the guy and the hat for the girl :D One set is for a friend couple I often third-whell and one set is for a teacher couple.
will knit for trades

I made some more things.
First, some double knee fatigue pants. The material is a nice brushed, slightly stretchy cotton twill. Its thinner than I would have liked, but nice all the same. The pattern is a modification of the fustic dyed trousers I made earlier. The waist is a little lower, and the taper is stronger.



Next up is this wool over shirt. I think the material is actually a cotton/wool blend, its slightly shiny, pretty heavy, and drapes beautifully. The tab is plain canvas, which should fray quite a bit since I didn't fold it or anything.



Finally, a shop coat. I made this out of wool from Dormeuil that I've had lying around for a while. Its also lined in silk kimono fabric (which in retrospect was too rough for a lining, but oh well), but I didn't think to take a picture of that. It's totally unstructured, which I don't think was a great idea. The lapels and the button holes really would have benefited from at least a layer of canvasing.





All together

Trying something a little different with sleeves. This one is a two piece sleeve, which I chose so there wouldn't have to be a sleeve placket. The sleeve opens up after the bear tick, which is way simpler than dealing with plackets. Next, I extended the pleat past the sleeve opening. There is no functional reason for this, it just looks neat.

how did you begin your garment crafting journey? any resources you could recommend?

I started out just by doing small repairs on clothes. That gave me the basic idea of how to use a sewing machine, what appropriate stitch count is, figuring out thread tension, etc. That lead to teaching myself how to alter clothes. Pretty basic stuff, hemming and tapering pants, slimming shirts, turning long sleeves into short sleeves. I made my first garment just for something to do, and without most basic knowledge about how to properly put a jacket together. The pattern was awful but the end result was okay. I bought Patternmaking for Menswear, which gives a good foundation for drafting patterns. Some of the sample designs are a bit weird though, so I usually end up heavily modifying anything I make from that book now. Technical Sourcebook for Designers is another good one, covering both womenswear and menswear, and various design and construction techniques. It is geared to a more professional audience though, so some stuff isn't really relevant to someone just making clothes in their cellar (me). For alterations, I have some scans out of a book just called "Alterations and How to Make Them". It explains how to do fairly minor alterations that can make big changes in fit in a really concise way. I have no idea if it is for sale anywhere.

I made a wallet for a friend. Shout out to for the leather.

im not sure what the leather is. crocodile leather has distinct pores, which this doesn't. im leaning towards it being embossed cowhide. i did end up trimming the threads too.

in chronological order:



Trucker jacket in natural indigo denim. I like the way this looks, but the fit is all kinds of fucked up on me. I don't know how I managed that.




This was the first time I tried a one piece fly, way simpler and supposedly stronger than a two piece design, so that's nice. Played around with a different style for the waistband and the pleats too. I'd say this was a success.

new things from old things

When is the big cartel store coming, or do I have to buy off instagram

Restoration Hardware wanted $300 for a faux chinchilla fur throw. I went to a fabric store and got my old lady vibes on.





It feels amazing and only took an evening to complete. $25 in supplies.

Continuation of Cowboy's gift (but this one is for me)

where's a good place to get interesting fabrics for patches and the like?

i'm talking stuff like this:





(mainly the bottom ones in this last image, with the varying shades of blue/white/indigo)

just simple, eye-pleasing patterns. bonus points if available in canada. they don't have to be exactly like this, and they don't have to be blue, of course. mainly looking for interesting prints and simplicity, think kapital, sasquatchfabrix/eototo, visvim looking stuff.

i'm looking to get in to sashiko stitching but I want some awesome looking fabrics to use as patches instead of just normal denim.

I know you can get vintage fabrics like this on etsy and the like but they're insanely expensive.

Fabric markets in West Africa

Second attempt at a type 3 trucker, this time in stretch selvedge denim. A couple of minor changes to the pattern plus the back gusset really helped the fit.

you can still recommend me good etsy shops for this, just not the ones that sell vintage yards of japanese fabric for like $300

Found a beat up bulletproof vest at a thrift store, embroidered a drone on it.



My original plan was to get some patches and make a military inspired and actually wear it, but on further thought the whole impersonating the military thing can come of as disrespectful at best, and terrifying at . So uh... any ideas of what to do with it?

I'm not really sure what to call this, conceptually it was a shirt, but it ended up very jackety. Mostly linen, half of the sleeves are stretch cotton. The buttons are mismatched mother of pearl.


This is why organization is key. My patterns are all over the place and nothing is labeled, so I cut the sleeves with my trucker jacket pattern and didn't notice until I went to attach them and they were 5 inches smaller than they needed to be. I cut some shorter sleeves that would fit out of the old sleeves, and finished the rest out of some scrap material. It worked alright.


The single outside pocket. I can comfortably fit my phone, a pack of smokes, a lighter, and a sandwich in this. Airport jacket material right here.


So much utility.


There is one on the inside too.


That's it.

A variation


Pretty much the same pattern as the last one, just now in wool, lined, and with different pockets.



The buttons are light pink and white.





Just for fun.



Lined with the remnants of the last one.

The shirt is a wool/silk blend, woven pretty loose.

I found the buttons for it in a thrift store.


The pants are made from heavy selvedge corduroy.

I left the edges raw on the patch and the cinch.

I prefer the cinch over a belt, it works well with the high waist.

Printed on this J Brand jacket that I literally never wore for a school project. Had to collaborate with an artist I did a previous report on, so I used Ray Eames's dot pattern. Now I've worn it more times in the last two weeks than I have since I got it!

I'm slowly refining my shirt pattern. Two piece sleeve this time, and larger cuffs. I'll probably never wear this with a tie, so there is no collar stand, and the first button is a few inches away from the collar. I'll probably add a pocket at some point.

The yoke probably should have been angled the opposite way.

Standard thrifted buttons and hand sewn button holes. The fabric is wrong side out, the right side was less interesting.


Totes. The one on the left is dyed with turmeric and dried lemongrass. I boiled 1 heaping tablespoon of turmeric and a handful of dried lemongrass in about two cups of water, let that boil down for maybe 15 minutes. Mix that in with enough hot water to cover the bag, and leave that for about an hour, stirring occasionally. It probably isn't very colourfast. The one on the right was just dyed with olive dylon dye. The handles have potential, but still need some work.

back at it again

Sick Boy you need to mordant that fabric! Turmeric is suuuuuuuper strong and great dye but unless you use a mordant it wont stick. If you're super lazy you can add the mordant in with the dye but best results if you mordant and dry before dyeing.

Also DONT BOIL it. Hot but not boiling water will give you a more vivid yellow. It'll be plenty light fast - the hat I made for exprof was Turmeric (literally from my spice rack)

I figured as much, I used a mordant when I dyed some pants with fustic a while back and the difference is huge. I'll keep the temperature in mind though, thanks!

Mordant sounds pretty goth, but then again what else could I expect from a conversation about dying.

I used a heavy, basket weave type cotton for this. The texture is nice, but the weave is so loose it probably wouldn't be pleasant in the rain.


I wasn't sure if I wanted to add the "cape" or not. I ended up making a huge tear while taking the collar off, so the cape hides the repair.

I made some jeans. The denim is pretty light, slightly irregular, and non-selvedge. I'm not made of money here.

I took the pattern from the corduroy pants.
Changes:
-significantly wider leg
-lowered the rise (2.5 inches?)
-added a yoke
-different pockets
-tapered the waist

The back pockets are lined with brushed cotton.

Trying something different with the coin pocket. You can see that I still can't attach a waistband quite right.

ALSO
I found the first pair of jeans that I made. These are probably from late 2014.


The pattern was loosely borrowed from a pair of levi's 505s. I think I made the rise higher and added a strong taper.

Total lack of re-enforcing stitches went predictably. The patch on the crotch is to cover up where the seams meet.


What's an enclosed seam?

The fly from the inside. I don't even...
It's really fun to see these side by side.

I love everything about this shirt. It's so heavy though, probably won't get much wear until fall.




This fabric is just too good, sadly I'm not totally sure what it is.

My thinking with this was a toned down take on that one asymmetrical shirt Kapital makes. The material is a linen/silk blend, it drapes nicely and doesn't wrinkle as much as a straight up linen would. I skipped pleats at the cuffs, and went with a fairly large box pleat on the back. My only issues with this are the hem doesn't quite line up (I redid it about three times), and the asymmetry looks unintentional from some angles.

My first sewing project! an m65 liner/OL liner jak inspired jacket with fleece lining and seven pockets...
fit pic:

close

open


hidden coin pocket:


one side of the lining:


the bottom two liner pockets and the three outer pockets are made from two pairs of pants; the others are from the same jeans as the sleeves. The only things i want to do to this is put some patches on it (thinking a cdg play heart on the left breast and a big patch on the back, please give me reccs) and put a zipper so it closes. A problem I've encountered is that it shifts forward and sits really awkwardly in the shoulder area whenever I move my arms over my head. What can I do to fix that problem bc it makes wearing this jacket uncomfortable