it's not just you

guys, i've done a lot of un-selfish sewing lately, so it was time to sneak in a piece for myself before starting another dress shirt. i decided to make some denim thurlows. yeah, i blatantly copied not only the online sewing peeps who have made denim trousers, but even my own little sister who made a pair recently, sent me pics and generally rubbed it in my face that she made super awesome pants. really, they were so cute i just couldn't help myself anymore. i had to have my own. there's a fabric store nearby called sewfisticated (don't you just adore the name?) and every time i go there they have loads of bargains. they always have a table full of denim for $2.50/yd, and on my last visit i just couldn't pass it up. the denim they had was a little heavier than i would have preferred, but i think it still works just fine.

now, i made thurlow shorts way back when and when i did the fly, i noticed the fly extension seemed to not quite be in the right place. but i went along, leaving it as it was. then when it came time to put the waistband on, the waistband came up short. i assumed i just messed up somewhere. i made a quick fix, and all was good.

so this time around, i carefully followed the directions, and lo and behold—same problem. ah-ha! it wasn't me. it was gasp a flaw in the pattern! this time, i searched reviews because surely i wasn't the only one who came across this problem. nothing. then i asked my sister and yes! she too had the same thing happen to her. i have seen whisperings of waistbands coming up short, so i'm here to say: it's not just you! this time around, i decided to rip out all the stitching, take out the zip and start over. p.s. one of those little razor blades makes super fast work of stitch unpicking. a regular seam ripper would have taken me an hour; razor blade, less than two minutes. believe me, re-doing the zip was much less work than it sounds.

i know we all have a proclaimed love affair with sewaholic patterns, but for the sake of anyone making this pattern and having fly/waistband issues, i will stand here and be the one to let you know that there is indeed a teeny tiny mistake in either the fly extention piece or the directions. fortunately, it is a super easy fix.

if you need what you are sewing to look exactly like the directions, trim 5/8" off the width of the fly extension when you go to finish the long edge (or trim it from the pattern piece to begin with). after, you can continue following the directions and illustrations as they are.

please note that i reversed my fly to the
standard zip up with the right hand layout

if you are confident enough to have yours look slightly different, sew the zip at 5/8" in from the facing edge instead of lined up with it. then when you sew the zip and fly extension to the pant, line up the edge of the zip tape (instead of the edge of the facing) with the edge of the pant. i kind of like the facing to extend beyond the edge of the zip tape to minimize bulk, so that's what i did.

all in all, it's not a big deal. i do wish sewaholic would put a little note amending the pattern either as an insert or on the site somewhere, especially since we're talking about the fly. many people are using this pattern as their first try at pants and we're all assuming that we have erred somewhere. i love sewaholic and tasia is an absolute dear who works very hard and delivers an outstanding product, but just a teeny tiny little amendment would be fab.

again, my zip is reversed from how the pattern is written
that's just how i roll

that's my PSA for the day. carry on.


—lisa g.

denim skirt: finished!

the denim skirt for my seven year old is finished! actually i finished a week ago, just didn't have the opportunity to photograph it sooner. it's such a confidence booster to design, draft and sew a project. oh yeah, and have it look good!

[aside: i'm just going to acknowledge that most of the finished product photos are a bit dark and don't show the detail very well. i even photo edited them lighter. that probably means i need a better camera...]

i added a simple straight waistband. originally i was going to make it 2" wide, but settled on 1 1/2". i used underlining to stabilize the waistband and used a thinner cotton material for the waistband facing. this cuts down on the bulk and gives me a chance to add a little color to the inside. which i love! and of course, a little more topstitching. 

instead of using an invisible zip, i went with a standard zip. i find that the invisible zips get caught on bulkier seams and i don't want my daughter to have to struggle to zip her own skirt. she's the type that would just leave something half zipped if it requires too much effort. we're working on that.

with the zipper inserted, i added some elastic in the waistband to keep it comfortable for a kid. i stitched the elastic in place at each end, right next to the zipper. then i pulled the facing over and pinned it in place, then from the outside, stitched just under the waistband to catch the facing. in retrospect i probably should have stitched the facing in place along the lower edge first, then threaded the elastic. but... whatevs. this won't be my last waist band. then to stabilize the top of the waistband i stitched just next to the lower row of topstitching. my dark thread disappears into the denim, so i was able to get a nice crisp top edge.

i hemmed and hawed about whether to stitch the hem in my topstitching gold thread or to hide it with navy thread. i ended up with the gold to give it a more casual look. so that's that!

as i finished up this skirt i kept thinking: ooh this looks just like something i would pick up in the kids section of j. crew and immediately scoff at the outrageous price! just to find out i took a look over at their website and found a jean skirt.

[source]

cute, yes. but $55? considering that i made mine out of leftovers (the original fabric was on sale for about $6.50/yd)... again, why don't more people sew?

this little one adores her new skirt. her only complaint? the pockets aren't big enough. she was (and i quote) "hoping they would be big enough to put a book in." considering her favorite book at the moment is any of the seven harry potter books, that indeed, would be a big pocket. sigh... just can't win sometimes!


—lisa g