Week Something? Calontir Clothing Challenge
With Halloween over and the first check-in on Nov 1st completed, I realized I am way behind on my timeline. At this point, the weeks also seemed to blur together as we raced for Thanksgiving and then the December check in. But not to be discouraged I managed to forge ahead and get more done then I realized.
The Drawers
Seeing other people hand sewing their projects I had a moment of delusion and thought I may be able to as well. Reality kicked back in and I deiced to compromise on the sewing style. I ran the seams on the machine and hand-finished the shorter raw edges by hand.
Once together I had to actually add the bottom cuff I had cut last minute. I hadn’t worked them up in the mockup so it was a trademark hack and slash move. I folded them in 4th much like a double fold bias tape. This let me seal my raw edges and save on hemming them. All that I need to do then was baste the cuff on and then fuss the overlap before running the whole thing on the sewing machine. They added the little bit of weight I needed to get the drawers to sit right around my calf.
I then turned the top over an inch to make a casing for a drawstring. In hindsight I should have gone half an inch, as I feel they ride a touch lower then I would like.
In my last Medieval ReCreationist Box, I had received a Lucet. I struggle with most fancy knot-tieing crafts and this was no exception. ( Knitting is just sorcery ok?) Lucky for me folks on Instagram were able to point me to a tutorial that made sense and I started messing with a length before realizing it would be the perfect drawstring for my drawers. A few episodes of Burn Notice later I had enough to go around my waist and then some.
True to form I finished the layer up on Nov 30 just in time to check it in.
Behold the first layer DONE!
The front 
Drawstring 
The cuff 
My hand stitching on the inside. 
The back.
Over all I am happy with them. They are the first pair of working pants that I didn’t have hand holding on. They are super comfy and I spent some time lounging in them pleased to have them done.
The Pocket
I came back to working on the pattern in between working on the main layers. I was hopeful I could correct the errors I had last time.
I decided to start by expanding the overall size of the pocket. After messing with the original I found that not much beyond my phone. Given I am carrying stuff for me and a small one I figured more is better.
Other adjustments were to the opening slit. I made sure I could fit the phone and my hand in. I also stopped it before the top and that corrected some of the issues I had with the top. I also adjusted the layering to get the pocket to self line.
A new mock up later and all I needed to do with scan it back in to add the embroidery to the front. I probably should pick some fabric so stay tuned to my Instagram to see what I end up choosing.
The Dress
I started with the redraft of the bodice this month as well.
My original dress had some issues as I had got overzealous with the seam allowance. Adding too much to some parts and not enough to others. The original also only got a single mockup just enough to make a reasonable attempt to check the pattern worked. Not near enough to really get a proper fit or chase out issues a custom pattern has.
Of course between the two, I have lost enough weight to need to take the original in more than I had planned. Not a bad thing but a new skill as normally I am sizing things up not down.
I started with holding up my paper pattern and with some scrunching and clever folding I got what felt like a better fit. Happy with that I traced it over to wrapping paper and scribbled some notes on construction I had been toying with.
Cutting a single layer fabric mockup and stitched it together to see if I had managed to translate the corrections over. For the most part, it worked. I also reached out to my local A&S Facebook group to see if some of the more experienced seamstresses could give me some pointers on the dress.
They suggested moving the straps, and some much-needed construction guidance beyond the mock-up along with words of encouragement. Much needed as I was starting to panic that I was in over my head.
With December well on its way I plan to make the adjustments and sew a multi layer mock up as I surmised the lacing may change some of the fit.