Barb and Belinda

The Barb trousers are finished and hemmed now.  They have come out quite well.  I am not 100% sure how much I like the Bengaline I made them from. They feel a bit like Rohan walking trousers and are slightly rustle -y.  However, the fit from the envelope was almost spot on.  I had to take in the top part of the waist band about a half inch each side.  Its shaped with elastic inside but because I have a ten inch difference between waist and hip measurement, I was getting a really gathered waistband with the elastic and it looked bad.  The reshaping fixed this.  As you can see from the photo on Twiggy, the band still looks gathered when off the body, but when its on me, it hardly does.

The other alteration required, which, annoyingly, I only noticed after I'd serged the waistband on permanently, is a slight shortening is needed at the centre back seam on the pants. I've got a wrinkle below the waistband.  However, its an easy one to fix for next time and I've taken a bit of a wedge out of the tissue ready for next time.    But those were my only alterations so I counted myself super lucky.  I think these could be made in any stretch woven with a  good amount of stretch: I had a piece of denim that was the right stretch but sadly too small to make the trousers from it.

The Belinda top is also made exactly from the envelope.  This one I am on the fence about.  I am not totally sure whether its too large and I should have got the smaller pattern size. The sleeves and body seem a bit wider than I thought they would be.  Its a roomy top rather than a sleek and fitted one, as can be seen by the wrinkling at the front where I've leaned my arm forward to hold the camera in the mirror shot.  However,  I like the raised back neck and it is fairly comfortable, if a little loose on the arms.  I think I need a wedge out of the center front as it seems a bit wide there.  However, there is excellent coverage as its nice and high at the front neckline.  I am not totally sure whether its the rather unpleasant fabric I used  which is putting me off this, or whether the drape at the sides isn't quite flattering on me.  The fabric was a cheap poly spandex from Abakhan....  feels nasty, rather disobedient to sew, not much softness to the drape.  Its a lovely colour though.  I think I might make this top once more, in a softer knit.  I have found a soft black mystery knit that I think will work nicely, and I think I'm going to take it in a bit for size as well next time. 

Overall though, its been a successful weekend's sewing.  Both these items, and the wrap from yesterday are wearable pieces.

I've also had a dig in the stash and pulled out all the knits that I felt needed to be used up, either for muslins or as garments.  I have got to the point where my stash needs a radical weed-out and I may as well start with the knit shelf.  Whilst I was weeding it out, I found a print and two plains that will work well together.  The print will become the first try for one of the new StyleArc skirt patterns, and the two plains will become polo necks to wear with the skirt if the skirt works well.   I also kept the black mystery knit out for the second Belinda.

So now the knit shelf contains only:

• Good stuff
• Big enough to do something useful with
• A colour that suits me
• Earmarked for a  particular project or type of garment (ie. not in there on the off chance I'll think of something to do with it one day)

The floor now contains knits matched to patterns .... everything else from the knit shelf is in the rubbish bin.

Next in my  sights:  the shelf with the small bits that might be useful one day. 

Edit:  having taken the side and sleeve seams in by five eighths on the purple top it fits much better so that is an easy alteration.... just cut the seam allowances off the tissue.