Tuesday, June 9, 2009

a lesson in fit


new clothes, originally uploaded by Soozs.

OK so this weekend I went to craft camp and I made a complete shit load of stuff. Woo hoo! (You can read more about the weekend here, and head over to flickr for better looks at the garments in the mosaic).

But aside from the obvious benefit of new gear there were some less expected wins. Firstly I made more than one style of pants in a sitting and that gave me a really good opportunity to think about the more subtle aspects of cut. I also made the same pants in three different fabrics and two different lengths, and that was an interesting exercise too.

And so much sewing time at a stretch made it easier to devote time to some riskier projects, knowing they might not work out, and a because I am in the dead of winter but will be in the heights of summer in just a few weeks I covered a really wide array of fabrics and garment types.

So just a few things really stood out for me like how much more flattering a firmer fabric in a more fitted style is - look at the short sleeve shirt in the second to bottom row on the right or the black tunic vest in the middle row on the left and compare them to the olive over top to the left of the shirt or the stripe top over jeans in the top row.

I also think my fear of pants and skirts in too light colours may be unfounded (second and third rows on left), but my general aversion to small scale prints may be best listened to (though I think the T-shirt to the right of the grey pants is OK - perhaps because it is more fitted?).

A jeans style of cut suits me more than a more conventional pants leg (look back at previous pants here) and lots of layers and pieces in variations of a greyish scale work well for me, though a splash of red does wonders (you can't see it here but I had a red scarf on in most of the shots).

I love the tunic - this was a no pattern experiment and I think it really worked. It is made out of a woven rather than knit cotton spandex two way stretch so it is firm and sits very well but is super comfy too. I started with a quite unstructured box and added in bust, shoulder and back darts and then did the front shaping with rows of fine pin tucks where a conventional front dart would be. I will definitely be making another of these - I want to wear one every day!

All over I feel quite invigorated on the wardrobe front as a result, and I think future sewing will be very influenced by what I've learned. As always I used an array of Ottobre patterns to great effect and continue to be very happy with them.

5 comments:

Sherril said...

What a great new casual wardrobe. Now you should add some color. The jersey scarf is a start.

Taphophile said...

Fantastic production line you have going! Loving the a-line skirt and the jeans pants in particular.

frog said...

I was really happy to see the results - they are flattering, even if we can't see all of you!

I do enjoy the Ottobre patterns. Interestingly, their kid's patterns work best for my two who are complete bean poles.

Anonymous said...

Wow, what an inspirational set of pics! I love all the different combinations of pieces - I really struggle with putting things together so seeing complete outfits like this is fab. If you ever felt like putting together a pattern or tutorial for that tunic in your spare (hah!) time I for one would love to try it.

Anonymous said...

hi Sooz I have popped over from reading the latest Mixtape. I have lurked on your Sooz blog from time to time and always enjoy your writing in Mixtape. I was SO THRILLED to read about this blog. I am over joyed I have been reading a few posts and will read more when I have time, it is such a great resource and I hope too I can even contibute at some stage.