a friend of mine purged her stash in the spring, which means I added way more fabric then I have room for to mine. but really how can one say no to free fabric, and nice quality fabrics at that.
the moment I saw the brown stripe I knew which pattern I needed to make.
Vogue pattern #9301, this pattern was a give to me by a former co-worker a few years back. though it doesn’t appear she made it herself as her name is not on the pattern or she did make it but didn‘t sign it. I was drawn to this pattern for several reasons. 1: I like palazzo’s. 2: I thought is was really cool the people who made this pattern before had signed it, which means its rich in history. I have no idea who any of these people are but this pattern has been made at least 6 times, by at least 5 different people over the course of 44 years. 4 times before I was even born. and yet here it is withstanding the test of time.
the pattern itself is a bit torn here and there, its been cut in places for resizing, but its all still there.
the first date is 1975, underneath that name is Julie, and beside Julie’s name is the date 1980. so I don’t know if she made it twice 5 years apart or if 1975 person didn’t put there name on the pattern. underneath Julie is Susan 1981, then Patty 1983. and this is where it must have been put in a drawer and forgotten about, I know Palazzos went out for a while, but also came back during this patterns hiatus. they do seem to come and go as time goes by. the next name is Merideth 9/02, then me I made these for 2019.
the pattern was fairly easy except for the pockets, but that had to do with the matching of the stripes not the actual pattern. I think I would like to make these again but in view B, and with longer pockets. I mean what is the point of a pocket if its too shallow to put anything in? and with the trouble I had putting these in I wished I had opted to leave them out completely.
I thought when I cut the pants out that I had carefully matched the stripes into the pockets and it would be no big deal to put them in. I mean they are easy enough to install, very basic instructions nothing weird about it at all. however when I put them in and held them up the stripes did not match up in the least. I think I forgot to take into account the seam allowances when I was laying out the pattern and how it would actually be over 5/8inch from each cut line. sewing really does have a lot of math to consider in it. on a plain fabric the way the fabric is cut doesn’t matter nearly as much, but stripes and repeats certainly have a mind of there own. in the end I cut out five pockets before I was satisfied with the matching. and by that point it didn’t matter if I was happy with it or not, I was out of fabric. so its a good thing I cut it out right the last time.
I also added a half lining just to be on the safe side in case the fabric was a bit see through, though I think that may have been overkill.
they turned out cute and I think will make a nice pair of pants for the fall.
the black shirt is also made from my newly acquired fabric. its a really nice quality knit that sewed up nicely. I used Butterick #3391 View B. I wasn’t really happy with this shirt. it went together fine but the front ended up being a bit wonky. the pattern has you thread 1/4inch elastic through the neckline. I guess its to help stiffen it so it stays up, but the reality of it doesn’t work very well. there is too much fabric for the amount of elastic it calls for causing the fabric to gather, which I think makes it look odd, and have that look of “yeah I am homemade” and not in a good way. I tried adding a bit more elastic, but that made it gap really badly, so I messed with it and messed with it till I got it halfway decent. I ended up taking out a lot of the fabric under the arm, just in the front of the left side. at least it wearable now. though it still does gap at times and that drives me a bit crazy.
I was a little worried about the neckline being too low as it looks kind of low on the pattern picture, but its not, so I was glad I didn’t try to make it any higher then the original pattern called for. I have worn it a few times but I don’t love it the way I was hoping too. that’s okay though because I actually used something from the stash, and I have many more things to go.
my goal is use what I have, and only buy what I have too. no more just buying because its cute and I will use it one day. I have enough of that already, and one day needs to be now. however that being said. if I have a project in the works and I need to buy something I totally will, just no extras.
