Saturday 5 May 2012

Lace and Engineering

I signed up for Kenneth D. King's Jean-ius class a few weeks ago and have been working my way through the lessons. My plan is to rub-off, or reverse engineer, a pair of Armani jeans. I bought all the little tools needed for pattern drafting justifying the purchases by convincing myself I can use them for tracing off Burda magazine patterns - like I would!

To cut a long story short - I managed to produce a paper pattern for the jeans that looks impressive on its own. I tested it on a bit of calico and while there were still some issues to be sorted - it wasn't too bad, so went for the real thing.

I bought this absolutely lovely creamy moleskin (micro-suede?) [I've actually no idea what it is] in a local rundown fabric shop - sometimes you get lucky - but it was mega cheap and thought that I had not much to lose and lots to gain: practice jean making techniques, new sewing methods and maybe a pair of jeans. These are an almost wearable muslin of my patern. There's a bit of re-drafting to do but I learned a lot from making these. As long as I wear a long top - they look OK.





 Now on to the star of the show - the lace T-shirt. This is the Three Bears T but made in lace -- actually a lace curtain from the same fabric shop. Across the shoulders and top it's just lace but I cut up an old white t-shirt and added the body of it on the lower half for modesty's sake.
 So there are two layers on the body of the T and I quite like the way the T-shirt bit hangs down. I used the finished edge of the old T-shirt as a ready made hem. All in all this took 1 hour to make.
 Just need to consider appropriate underwear for this item
 While I am not actively participating in Me-Made May because I practically wear only home made clothes most of the time I think this little ensemble would qualify as a Me-Drafted and Made-May outfit.


 Thanks for reading. Ruth


7 comments:

  1. AlaskapsychMay 05, 2012

    The jeans look fab! You know they are comparable to purchased clothing. I've had discount house jeans with twisted seams before and shallow pockets are an easy fix. But the tee is amazing. And you look amazing in your Me Made May outfit!

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  2. That's what I figured too about the jeans - when you see what some people are wearing !****!

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  3. I wonder how come the twisted seam happened to one side only. I had a pair of jeans (from a shop) before and it had the same seam problem like yours. Then I found the pattern was cut on fabric that had distorted grain... Anyway, Your T-shirt is so beautiful. I have never though of using curtain lace for garments. Nice idea!

    P.S. Thank you for checking out spams for me :)

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    1. My pleasure - I have no idea why you were spammed - but you're not now!

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  4. Dear Ruth,
    Yesterday I found your award "the versatile Blogger" for me in my lost and now located mails. I very much apologize for my ignoration.
    Your blog is very inspired for me. To sew trousers is a big intention for the next month and I'm sure I will learn a lot from your posts. And there a lot of other in very interesting things. In the last time I sewed with lace and it is nice to see your work.
    You have my apologies also for broken English.
    Freundlicher Gruß
    Mema

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  5. Beite Mema. Mein Deutsch ist nicht so gut.

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  6. Well done on the jeans - I agree that sometimes we are too hard on ourselves - I was watching the TV the other day and looking closely at one of the jackets one of the guys had on and thinking "those sleeves haven't gone in very well", "look at all the wrinkles in the stitching lines" etc etc......... Yet for us who like to sew we nit pick every single item that is less than perfect.

    Love the lace top too.

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