Winter pajama pants and top

 Basic pants and an experimental top.

I love the pants. They fit well and are very comfortable as pajama pants.

The top was an experiment. The concept was a faux jacket over the top of the base layer, but actually sewn as a single top. The whole thing took ages to draft and sew (since I'm a newbie at all this), so I kept dumbing down the design to be done with it more quickly. In the end, I like the deconstructed look of the curling exposed seams, but am very bothered by the unstructured (floppy) area around the neck. Luckily, the seams are falling apart, so I will be rid of it rather soon!

The top was an experiment not just in terms of design, but also in terms of my approach to the learning, design, and sewing process. Turns out I really can't enjoy the results of taking shortcuts (as I expected), so I will try to take the time to learn the techniques needed to achieve the look I'm going for in the future.

Last one for a while

I added twin-needle top-stitching to the side seams and like the effect. I went for more subtle topstitching on the fly than on the previous pair to avoid the topstitching getting too busy.

Happily, these finished off the last of my grey cotton/lycra jersey, so no more grey boxer shorts for a while!

Turtle neck t-shirt

 

As well as making my first turtle-neck collar, I used this shirt to try to improve the line of my armscythe/sleeve seams. I made an initial adjustment to the pattern, with the plan to refine the seam after trying it on. I did end up with a line that is ok, but did not enjoy the process of making the adjustments. It was very difficult to sew the sleeves smoothly after all the fiddling, so I will not try that approach again.

I ended up with a little bubbling at the back under the collar. The back was smooth until I added the collar.

This shirt will be fine for around the house, which is what is was originally intended for. I want to make another version, which I hope will be good enough to wear out and about.

Owl baby blanket

This is a gift for a friend's baby. I love the fabric. I hope the baby does too.

More boxer shorts

Boxer shorts with some topstitching for colour.

I think I might make something other than boxer shorts for my next project...

Boxer shorts

Boxer shorts with fly. Phew, glad they're done. I used my buttonhole foot for the first time and had heaps of trouble when sampling until I remembered to add interfacing. I was so nervous I'd mess up the fly when I did the buttonhole, but it went well. I learned three new techniques for these: drafting and constructing a fly, making a buttonhole, and using interfacing.

Long-sleeved T-shirt

I coined a new term in honour of this one--wearable fail. I intended to make a close-fitting top to wear under my jacket, but it ended up plain tight. I learned a valuable lesson in adjusting for the weight of the fabric. I did add more ease than for the pajama, but obviously not enough. I think the tightness is responsible for most of the ugliness of the neckline.

As I had expected the fit to be pretty good, I used white to more easily see flaws. In that respect, I was only too successful! From this and the pajama, I can see I need to adjust the shape of the armscythe at the front.

Another problem, and one I don't know how to solve, is a pulling to one side. I observed this in the pajama, but thought it was due to sloppy cutting or sewing as I didn't take a lot of care for that garment. I did take care to be accurate for this shirt as I wanted to use it for troubleshooting. I'm quite sure I cut it on the grain and symetrically and sewed it up accurately, so I'm not sure what is causing the twisting.

I won't mention the 101 other things that are wrong with this simple T-shirt...

On the plus-side, it is comfortable to wear and I love the super long sleeves!