Happy New Year!

 

Just wanted to wish everyone a very happy New Year.

I had great plans this week - to finish decorating the room that I had finished painting last New Year's Eve.  I know, I'm a little slow, don't stick to one project, etc., etc.  But I did make headway, and the whole business is taking much longer than I thought, because it's not like there's nothing else to do at this time of year.

Guess I should start at the beginning.  This used to be my son's room.  It was painted black.  Yes, I'm stupid.  I allowed black walls in my house - my only stipulation was that the trim and ceiling remain white.  Those black walls then became chalkboards for all the budding artist friends that came to call on the room's inhabitant.   Son moves away - room becomes a place to dump things that don't seem to have a place.  Well, it didn't help that the moving out process took years, literally.  Last year I finally decided to claim the room as my own.  A lovely room where I could sit and watch movies, do my hand sewing, read - that was the vision.  Painting the walls was a bit of an ordeal, but I survived.  The paint I chose was called "biscotti"- yummy (if you haven't notice, I tend to have a thing for colours named for food).  I dragged back the bed that had been banished, due to necessity of keeping mattress on the floor.  I unearthed an ugly pink armchair with potential.  I threw some odd remnant of fabric on the bed "just for now" and there things stayed.  The room became the dog's favourite place to lounge.  You're getting the picture?  It was slowly becoming the dog's room, not mine.  The problem was that I envisioned robin's egg blue fabric, and I did find what I liked, but this year there has been no budget for the amounts of yardage that I had calculated.  Shame on me!  It's not like there isn't all sorts of fabric to be used in this house.  So this has now become the zero-budget decorating project.  It's a sort of challenge to myself.  It's taking longer than I thought.  (I said that already, didn't I?)  So here's what's done to date.

 

I covered the bed in a piece of fabric that was left over from a costume that I made a few years back.  Every flat pancake of a pillow in the house was rounded up.  The pillow slips were all made from assorted odds and ends that were lying around - some pieces new, some pieces vintage (they were doing no good lying around in a trunk in the basement, as they were).  The rug (if that's what it is) was also lying around with no designation.

It's a little difficult to photograph white on white, but you get the picture.  I did spend some time making things "pretty".

I also managed to dress the window.  The blind - well, there's one less white shirt that I'll be making.  The lace is vintage bought at an antique fair back when I lived in California, and that's a long time ago.  Time it was put to good use.  As for the side panels - that's my old Battenburg lace duvet cover.  The central medallion got cut out (it was definitely beyond help), some extensions sewn on, and there we have - from bed to window.  Not, perhaps the "perfect" decorating, but it is certainly better than what was there.  The pink chair is slotted for a slipcover - there's a white sheet with its name on it.  There's still some furniture painting in process.  Pictures need to get hung.  There are a few pieces of furniture that I would like to buy, when that becomes possible.  With time I will replace the pancake pillows with feather inserts.  All of this white extravaganza is washable and bleachable - the reason being:

There's a creature in this house that thinks that this is all for his comfort.  Not!

 

 

Merry Christmas!

 

Wishing everyone a very, very merry Christmas!

I was going to be a poop this Christmas, due to the decided lack of offspring in the house.  I was going to only put out a few nick-knacks and call it a day (season?).  Then when I woke up yesterday morning, I just decided that sitting around, feeling blue, was not a good way to be.  A tree was what I needed to get me moving and into the spirit of things.  A might late for tree hunting, but I was determined that if it was meant to be - there would be a Christmas tree out there somewhere for me.  I started at the grocery store nearest me - no trees left.  A little further down - a lot where a community group had been selling trees, where I had seen trees just a few days ago - no trees.  I headed down to the grocery store where a friend of mine is the floral manager.  Perhaps...  As I was trolling past the store - there was one lonely tree, leaning against the wall, looking a bit like a Charley Brown tree, but a tree none-the-less.  Miracle of miracles, even a parking spot opened up for me.  I ran into the store, found my friend, who promptly told me that I did not want that tree.  Yes I do!  No you don't!  Yes I do!  So for the princely sum of $5, I acquired my tree.  Its top was broken off, but who cares - I won't have to stand on a chair to put the star on.  It's even a Frasier fir - my absolute favourite!  Last night I brought it in, put it in its stand.  Now the whole living room smells like evergreen.  May-be it won't be so bad a Christmas after all.  Now my countdown has started. 

Card holder

I've finally started adding a few decorations to the house.  Why am I not stressing like everyone else in these last days before the 25th?  Well, because I have an extra 2 weeks to get my act together.  We celebrate Christmas on January 7, which is actually December 25th by the Julian calendar.  A little confusing, I know, but that's what we're used to.  I grew up with celebrating Christmas two weeks later than everyone else.  My children grew up with the same.  We celebrate in a similar manner to everyone else - just later.  Oh, yes, and church services are a huge component of the celebrations.  We gear all our preparations for the day of - no celebrating early.  Of course, it's still fun to join in with the rest of the world and participate when invited by friends and neighbours.
My outdoor decorations did not go up as usual, because of the huge amounts of snow.  I hang garlands with lights on the railings of the front porch.  Not this year - the railing is somewhere under the mountain of snow.  I did hang the wreath on the door.  May-be I need to rethink the outdoor decor for future if we are going to continue this pattern of snowfall.
The Christmas cards were beginning to pile up on the table, so it was time to put them in their proper place.

The original idea came from Martha Stewart, as I remember, from many years ago.  I don't have the budget, though, for incredibly wide silk ribbon, long enough to wrap around the door.  What I did have was this piece of polyester silky stuff that you couldn't pay me to use for clothing.  I cut it to a width that I thought would look decent (too skinny and it just wouldn't look right), double thickness, and did a rolled edge on the serger along both edges.

 

Both ends are pleated into little bands.  Velcro keeps the ends together.  The bow is separate, and I just attach it with a huge safety pin, once I've wrapped the door and positioned the ribbon in the centre.  (Oh - and I always manage to stab myself with the safety pin - you'd think that I could come up with something less dangerous to the fingers after several times of repeating the same process.)  

 

I found these round paperclips at Staples, and they're sewn on every few inches down the length on one side.  I seem to remember that Martha had brass-coloured paperclips, which would probably look a whole lot better, but you have to go with what you can find.  

Now that I look at it - that bow is a little droopy.  May-be I will (at some point) try to thread some wire through the serging on the edges to perk it up a bit.  One drawback of this arrangement, or perhaps it's the particular fabric - it attracts dog hair like a magnet.  This then requires defuzzing every so often up to a certain level.  (Good thing that I don't have a Great Dane!)

So now I'm off to pop the rest of the cards into the paperclips.

T-shirt overkill

I've been sewing a few Christmas gifts, just like everyone else, but I'm not showing until the gifts have reached their recipients.   I've been sewing "home decor" - I'll share that with you later when I've put everything in place.  In between, I've been sewing some "instant gratification" projects - namely t-shirts.  I've come to realize that I tend to run out of layers to wear before I actually accumulate enough dirty laundry to make it worthwhile to run the washing machine.  

 First I made a turtle neck using the leftovers from my daughter's t-shirt.  I used an ancient Kwiksew pattern for a t-shirt, but I have sliced and diced it so that it no longer resembles its original self.  Namely, I raised the armholes considerably and narrowed the sleeves and body, and I think I got a fairly decent fit without it being skin tight.  This fabric is very soft and drapey, and quite fine - excellent for layering under a sweater.  I used the width of the neckband, but cut it 12 inches long, to then fold in half to make the turtle neck.  I never fold my turtle necks in half, like normal people - I just scrunch them up on my neck.  Guess I should also work on the "what-to-do-with-my-face-while-waiting-for-the-timer-to-click".  I was looking out the window.  Don't remember what caught my attention.

While I was all set up with black thread in the sewing machine and the serger, I decided to make more black tops.  I bought all that was left on the bolt of this knit ("unknown fibres" - Fabricland's favourite designation, it sometimes seems).  I think that it's rayon with lycra.  It's very fine (is that what they call tissue weight?), very soft, and an absolute horror to sew.  After all that you will see here, I still have over 6 metres left, so I felt that I had to get comfortable sewing it, and having slowed down a bit, taken my time, it turned out fairly well.

Another t-shirt (regular neck) using the same pattern as the previous turtleneck.  I stole Eugenia's idea (thank-you Eugenia!) for a removable cowl neck, and made an endless scarf.



 

Next I  used my well-used Vogue 7799, one in the same black, using the turtleneck view.  I cut the front on a fold, to omit the front seam, and I have narrowed the neck considerably.  (It was way too floppy in the original.)  It looks somewhat like the Burda turtlenecks that a lot of people have been sewing up.

Then I finally switched to brown (not than anyone can tell with the weird way the colours turned out in the pics).  This is (obviously) the view with the collar.

It's a fairly fine knit, but with a bit more body than the black, so much, much easier to handle.  I like this style for winter.  It's high enough on the neck to feel cozy and to keep the itchy wool sweaters at bay, but it's not a turtleneck, which can get overly boring at times.
I know - boring, boring boring.  Sometimes, though you just have to bite the bullet.  I still figure it takes a lot less time for me to sew these, than to attempt venturing out to the mall to buy.  Besides, I'd more than likely have to make alterations, and in that case it definitely is saner to just sew from scratch.  I admire all the lovely knit tops that everyone else is sewing, and I know that I should branch out in my knit sewing, but at this point in time my only thought is whether something will work in endless layering to keep me warm. 

Transformer

I was going to post this days earlier, but for some reason the pictures just weren't coming out right.  So - you won't get to see me in the whole suit, but I can show you some bits and pieces.

Once upon a time (well, actually just a few years back) I made a navy suit.  Lovely wool with a woven stripe.  Pants were the bottom half of the suit. Every time I wore those pants I couldn't wait to get out of them.  A more uncomfortable pair I have never made in my life.  Classic case of overfitting.  A tweak here, a tweak there, another tweak somewhere else, and before you know it - the world's most uncomfortable pants.  The jacket got worn with one other pair of pants that I have in a very dark navy wool.  Every so often I would yet again wear the pants, only to remember why they generally languished in the closet.  I still wanted a whole suit, because - well - just because.  Then along comes this brilliant idea - if trousers are drafted from a  skirt sloper, then I should be able to turn the trousers back into a skirt with no problem.  Right?  Wrong!  First I undid the inseam and tried to make straight seams front and back.  (Don't forget that I had a fly front zipper in there that I really didn't want to take apart.)  Didn't work.  Stupidly, I lopped off  some 14 inches from the bottom of the pants.  After some point, when I really should have called it quits, I finally took apart all the pieces.  I pressed and steamed and got rid of any evidence of old seams.  I laid down the pattern pieces for my favourite strait skirt.  Guess what - not enough width in the legs to make a quarter of a skirt.  Saner people would just give up at this point.  I was DETERMINED that I was going to have a matching skirt to this jacket.  I did it!

  One navy skirt with 2 pleats in back and side zipper.

 

I cut the side pieces according to the pattern, measuring the amount that I was missing from the centres.  Then I pieced those bits that I had cut off the bottoms, lining up the stripes and stitching in the middle of one of the stripes, to keep the stripe pattern consistent.  In the front I ended up with just a straight panel.  In the back I needed pleats for walking ease, so I made one on either side of the inset panel.

 

I reused the zipper that I had, and (should I admit to the fact that my thread wasn't exactly matching?) I did a hand picked zipper so that I wouldn't have thread showing.  The little decorative hook matches the hooks on the jacket closure, so it went on the skirt.  The pants had no waistband, but I decided to add a very narrow waistband on the skirt.  By the time I got to the lining I decided that I had had it with messing around with preused pieces of fabric, and rummaged around and found some rayon lining.  Because I cut the lining according to the "normal" skirt pattern I had a back seam, so I took the easy way out with it.

 

Was it worth all the trouble?  At times I thought I must be absolutely crazy.  I could have made a number of skirts from start to finish in the time  it took me to wrangle this skirt from the existing pants.  But now I do have a whole suit from one fabric, and to me it was worth the effort.

Here's what else I've been doing this week - cleaning snow.  Lot's of snow.  

This is my car on Monday night, when it finally stopped snowing enough to get out to shovel.  Average depth of snow in my driveway was mid-thigh.  On Tuesday we had more snow - this time only knee-high.  Wednesday was a really easy day - only ankle deep snow.  And why was my car not in the garage?  Because I procrastinated for eons and didn't sweep the floor in the garage after the roof had been done this summer.  Needless to say, now the garage has been swept.  The car resides in the garage, and it's much easier to deal with the snow, which just keeps on coming.  Maybe I should be drooling over snowblowers instead of fancy sewing machines!

How do your boots stand up?

It's snowing.  Boot season is here to stay for a while, and even though I have no-one but myself to yell at about boots in the front hall, for some reason they manage to take over the entryway.  I kick them off as I come in, and for some reason they have not yet learned to march themselves right into the closet!  Honestly!  But once I do put them into the closet, I have a trick for keeping them standing at attention, instead flopping about.

The original idea for these boot holders came, I believe, from some magazine article on closet organization.  The idea was to keep boots upright in the closet.  In the article it said to insert rolled up magazines into old socks, pop them into your boots and keep the boots from toppling over.  Very unappealing to my aesthetics.  Old socks?

This is what I came up with:

 

 

My boot holder-uppers.  (I love making up words.)  So much better looking than old socks.  Easy to make.  Good way to use up scraps of knits that have nowhere else to go.  I used a red ribbing that was never going to find its way onto a garment and black velvet ribbon that was kicking around.  I'll give you the instructions, in case you wish to make some.

Cut 2 pieces of the ribbing (or any other knit) - 7 1/2 inches wide by 18 inches long.  I made a lettuce leaf edge on the serger along one short end, but you really don't even need to do this.  Fold in half.  Stitch along the long edge to form a tube.  Gather up the unfinished edge and secure about 1 inch  or less from the end with a rubber band.  Turn right-side out.  Roll up an old magazine.  (No - not the sewing magazines.  You don't want to be looking for Burda patterns in your boots!)  Insert into "stocking".  Gather up top edge.  Tie with a ribbon.  Pop these into your boots, and you will have the smartest array of boots of any closet in town.

Oh - for those of you who hadn't heard of a felting machine...

Some companies call these embellishers.  It looks like a sewing machine, but instead of one needle, there is an array of very sharp barbed needles.  As the needles go up and down, they lock the threads of the fabrics that they are going through.  No thread is used.  Almost any fabric or fibre can be manipulated this way.  Probably the most common thing to felt is wool, but a lot of different bases can be used.  I've played with embellishing polar fleece, denim, and silk.  One of the samples that I have at the store is an evening bag, where I felted silk chiffon onto silk dupioni.  If I ever bring it home - I'll show you.       

I found pictures!

While trying to at least begin some semblance of order in the photo department of the computer, I came across these photos that my son took about 3 years ago.  He had a digital camera and I didn't at that time.  I think that I had some crazy notion that I was going to do a magazine article, or something.  Who was I kidding?  Who would publish something like that?  Well, now that I am master of my own blog - I can post any pictures I choose, write nonsense, and then send it all into cyberspace. 

The reason this jacket came into being, was the need of some sort of sample of felting that would help in promoting the felting machines at the store.  I had already made a polar fleece scarf with pictures cut out of flannel and felted all over.  That was too easy.  I wanted to show that felting wasn't just for the crafty types.  It can be used for "real" clothing, too.

 

By the way - the pattern is Vogue 8124, which is now OOP. The fabric is a very soft wool flannel that was left over from a client's jacket.  As usual, in such cases - I had a difficult time fitting pattern pieces, which is why a cuff detail became a necessity.  The idea for this felting experiment came from the work of a Japanese lady (name I do not remember) who linked up with Babylock to promote their felting machine.  She does the most amazing work.

Wrong side of fabric

I cut flowers (red, obviously) from quilting cotton - strategically placed them on the wrong side of my fabric, then felted them down with the machine, constantly checking the other side, so that I could stop just as soon as I had the desired effect.  Oh yes, I did chalk out my pattern pieces on the black fabric first, so that I had some idea of where I needed to place the flowers. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Right side of fabric

 

 

 

(As you can probably tell, I've learned to zoom and crop and do fun things with photos on the computer!  This is fun.)  After a very short time, you have a shadowy design emerging on the under (right) side of the fabric.  Overdoing is quite easy - you really have to keep a close eye on your work, but it's a lot of fun.

Luck was on my side, because I had the cording in my stash, which happened to match perfectly.  Boring black jacket became not-so-boring.

I quite enjoy playing with the felting machine.  I made various other samples - a vest with swirls of wool roving went to live in my niece's closet (it suited her better), a pillow, which still resides at the store.  I'm not sure that I really need the machine.  For me it would be a fun toy.  There are many more items on the "want" list for the sewing room, which are of far greater importance (like a coverstitch machine, an embroidery machine, an iron that doesn't have "issues" - the list could be quite long, I suppose).  Unfortunately, there are much more pressing needs (like 2 bathrooms that need a total redo), and I am lucky to have the equipment that I do that allows me to sew! 

My first red skirt ever

So what do you do with the leftovers of red plaid fabric that was used to line son's vest?  Make a skirt, of course.  This brilliant idea popped into my head while I was clearing the cutting table on Sunday.  An easy project.  Instant gratification.  Not quite.  The fabric is a rather large plaid - matching absolutely necessary.  Added problem - I must have bought the end of the bolt, because there was all sorts of nonsense stamped at one end of the piece.  No problem!  Don't ask why I was so determined to get a skirt out of this leftover piece.  Well - here it is.

 

(Along with the ever-present helper.)  I managed to cut the front all in one piece.  The back just wouldn't fit onto what was left without having the stamped numbers somewhere in the hem.  The ink was quite stiff, and I just wouldn't be happy with the result.  Some redesigning was in order.  I laid down the pattern piece from the bottom up and figured out how deep a yoke I would need at the top.  Drew the yoke with a curved ruler.  Took out the darts from the yoke piece.  Voila!

 

 A bias (sort of) back yoke.  Actually - I really did try to get the yoke on true bias, but it just wouldn't fit, so I just made it fit.  I fused very fine interfacing to the yoke piece on grain, so that there wouldn't be any issues with the zipper insertions, or stretching later on.  Well - I did make it fit  the fabric that I had.  I now have my very first red skirt.  Not a colour that I've ever thought to wear, but the fabric was there.  It's washable, so I can wear this at home with no worries about blobbing something on myself.  I have black and white tops to wear with it.  Perfect.

I didn't line this skirt, because I'd rather not have to deal with lining after washing the thing.  I'd rather wear it with a halfslip, and to ensure that no-one will ever get a peek of my slip - I made a pleat instead of a slit at the back.

 

It's such an easy thing to do - you just add a rectangle of fabric the width of the slit extension.  (Yes, more matching was required in this case).

 

I just stitched at the sides, then top-stitched an upside-down V at the top of the pleat from the right side.  You can even lengthen the slit, if you need more room for walking, with never a worry about indecent exposure - just make sure that you remember to also lengthen the extensions on either side of the slit.

Yes, I know - I didn't match the bias plaid absolutely perfectly at the zipper - but the yoke seam is dead on!    When on public view, the yoke will more than likely be covered by a jacket or sweater, so I wasn't in the mood for "unstitching" and redoing.

 

 Whatever happened to the little bars that were sold with hooks along with the curved eyelets?  Seems to me hooks always came with a choice on the same card.  Not anymore, and since the curved eyelets have to be set further back to allow the "hooking" to happen, they end up showing.  Hence the necessity of making a french tack to be able to hook up the waistband!  Yes, I used the selvage edge, as the finished edge of the waistband - that's why there are little fuzzy threads.

So that's what happens when I get a brainwave while clearing up after a project - only made possible because I just happened to also have some red thread in the drawer (I was seriously worried that I would run out before I finished any visible stitching) and a red invisible zipper (which was way too long, but that was easily fixed).  End result - I had a new skirt to wear to-day, and that made me happy.  Now what was it that I was supposed to be sewing next?

The Wearable Umbrella

Had to call it something!  And here it is - modeled by yours truly.  (I figured out the timer button on the camera!  And the TV makes a great stand-in for a tripod.)  And before I go any further I must thank Sue of the amazing photographs for her help.  Sue was kind enough to e-mail me some pointers on how to improve my picture taking.  I'm working on it!

Well, may-be I could have fussed a bit more with the hood, but 10 seconds is not a whole lot of time to get yourself into position if you still have to deal with part of the garment.  The vest, obviously, is a little large on me, but it isn't for me.  Come to think of it - it may not be such a bad idea for rain wear.  It covers your hair completely, so: Option 1.  No worries about getting your styled hair wet and messy; Option 2.  You can hide the non-styled hair, and no-one will be the wiser.  The face is completely hidden.  Again - not so bad:  Option 1.  All the efforts of beautification will not get washed off on your way to wherever during a rainstorm; Option 2.  No need to wear make-up, because nobody can see your face anyway.  Mind you, you also can't see where you're going, but that's another story.   OK, so may-be we won't be starting any new fads here with this style, but I did my best to produce what my son wanted.  Time to pack it up and send it off.  Hope he's happy with the results.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I used the KwikSew shirt pattern.  The hood that's included was nowhere large enough, so I went looking in my drawers of patterns.  It turns out that I have a Folkwear Pattern for the Kinsale cloak.  It has a huge hood.

I cut out the paper pattern, held it up to my head and decided that it would do.  The hood is self lined.  I attached the two layers on the inside at the seam allowance of the back seam - only a few inches from the point down, but that keeps the layers from shifting around.  I didn't gather anything as per instructions.  I did have to make 2 pleats in the hood at the back of the neck, so that it would fit into the neck opening of the shirt pattern. 

 

I added a zipper at centre front.  Kangaroo pockets as per View B (I believe), and the slits are also part of the original pattern.   We have a Burberryesque plaid lining (yes, I matched at the side seams).   

I finished off the armholes with bias strips.  The outer fabric is some plasticky polyester, so the ripples at the topstitching were inevitable.  I had to keep pinning to an absolute minimum, because the pinholes did not disappear.  Quite a problem for lining up the pockets, so I resorted to my least favourite method of taping (yes, good old Wonder Tape, which, miraculously, I found in a drawer).  I suppose I could have added all sorts of tabs and snaps and whatnot, but I really just wanted to get this done as quickly as possible, and in my opinion, all those do-dads only make for more places that something can rip.  One major problem in sewing such "creations" is having to really think the whole time.  There were a number of instances where I had to stop and think through the order in which I should be doing certain sewing, because ripping out was not an option!

Damian's wish

Frustration!  Just when I have things all planned out for what gets sewn, one after the other - reality sets in.  I owe my son a present (it was his namesday).  Since I was a very lazy mother and didn't get on with things when I should have, I now have to take a break from sewing for me and get going with the present.  From a very early age my children learned that pictures and explanations of what they want got translated into some semblance of their wishes in the sewing room.  That was a very bad precedent to set.  However, I now have to deal with it.  So - what Damian needs is a vest with a hood.  Not just any hood.  It has to look like something on the Dark Riders.  (Isn't that from the Lord of the Rings?) 

 
Why you may ask.  Well, apparently he needs something to cover his head on the way to and from work on rainy days.  (I take it there's mostly rain in Vancouver over the winter.)  Something that will at least repel water.  Sweatshirt hoods are too small for his liking.  (They probably aren't too rain resistant, either.)  And why does he need such a large hood, you may ask.  Well, because there is entirely too much hair to cover.  Why a blonde boy needs to sport dreadlocks is beyond my comprehension, but that's another story.

Here's the plan.

 

I have this pattern in my collection.  It's KwikSew 3250.  Now, if I take View B, minus the sleeves, add a zipper at centre front and enlarge the hood, I think that it'll work.  I have a piece of polyester something-or-other that I had bought to make me a raincoat (may-be there will still be enough left for me - maybe), and a piece of some warmish plaid that was supposed to be a skirt for Taya (didn't happen), which I can use for a lining.  Guess that should translate into a vest that can be worn under a coat during the colder weather.  I have a few patterns (for capes) with larger hoods that I can compare, to see what I have to do to make this work.  As you can see, nothing ends up as it was supposed to in my world.  Hmm.  Seems to me that there was a lovely piece of black suiting that was to be a suit for me, but somehow ended up becoming a tuxedo jacket for Damian, because he had to have one that he saw on the Academy Awards.  Beware of teaching your children that mother can make them anything that they can dream up.  And stay tuned to see if I can actually produce something that will make my son happy, but will not make me embarrassed to know that it's walking around the streets at the other end of the country.

   

Vogue 1166

Finally done! At last report I had the trousers finished, but I still hadn't even cut the jacket.  Well, here  it is.  I couldn't wait till tomorrow, so I took pictures with room lights - not the best, however...

The jacket is a silk tweed (did I mention that previously?)  It has two shades of olivey green, some nutmeg, some goldy colour and a little black.  It ends up reading as a brownish colour, rather than a green.  What a messy fabric!  The whole sewing room is covered in threads, fluff and dust.  The weave is very loose, so I ended up interfacing every single piece, although according to the pattern, the sleeves did not need to be interfaced.  Very simple, actually.  Just a lot of pieces, and you do have to watch the pleating on the top of the sleeve.  My basting kept falling open from handling and I redid those pleats a number of times.  Oh - the only somewhat difficult bit was the little curve at the top.

It required quite a lot of rather deep clipping to get around the curve.  Not so bad when it was tweed to tweed.  A bit more finicky when it was tweed to lining.

Just thought I'd show you how I do hems on jackets.
In this case, with the fused interfacing completely covering the back of each piece, I opted not to add anymore interfacing to the hems.  I fold down the edge of the hem and catchstitch at this point.  (This picture came out most true to the actual colour of the fabric.)

 I then pop the hem in place and catchstitch again at the edge, usually at the seams only.  These sleeves have only one seam, and there are pleats with a facing at the hem - I only tacked at the seam and for a bit at the top of the seam. 

I did actually peak at the instructions, and I believe they said to attach the front bands from the inside.  I decided to pick stitch "in the ditch" from the top.  The stitching got lost in the nubbly fabric and was totally invisible.  This way I could line things up better.

I did understitch the sleeve hem facings and the neck facing.

On to the trousers (pants?) - whatever.

They're rather wide.  I did add a mock fly front zipper.  Don't know why, but that seems to be what everyone is wearing, and I suppose I'm just used to that at this point.  They're a wool flannel (not of particularly spectacular quality, but...) of a dark caramel colour.  I lined them, as I do all wool pants.  Don't want to get the itchies part-way through the day!

Now - what to wear this with...  The neckline does not work with any shirt-type collars, so that's out.  I do have a goldy-coloured high-necked t-shirt (it's my version from a Vogue pattern - I'm not going to look up the number at the moment).  Somehow this looks rather washed out to me.

I think that black would be better.  Wouldn't you know it - I have a rather large amount of a thin black knit!  Tops!  I might make the t-shirt that is included in the pattern and then invent something else.  I have ideas.  The jacket also works with a number of skirts in my closet - black, camel, dark beige - I just need some tops.  I am trying to do "whole outfits" - accessories included - at this point, so I have to take this to the finish, or I'll be back to "nothing to wear this with".

Now - on to the trials and tribulations of fit.  I was almost on the verge of just using my usual trouser pattern, but decided that I needed the challenge of working with a new pattern.  I laid the two pants patterns together to get an idea of what alterations I would have to make.  Surprise!  My usual pattern is an 8.  The 6 on this one was bigger than my old 8.  I don't understand.  I cut the 6 and needed to make very few adjustments - just took in the sides a titch and scooped out on the back seam.  I have not shrunk.  Vogue patterns were always exact in their sizing.  Or maybe I've been dreaming all these decades.  What was then very interesting, was the jacket sizing.  I measured, I read the measurements on the pattern.  I decided that the 6 would do as well for the top.  After all, I'm smaller on top than on the bottom, right?  I did straighten the curve on the side front at the bust to flatten the front (I knocked off about 3/8").  That worked well.  No excess floppies under the arms.  That's good too, especially since it didn't require me doing anything to the pattern.  The hip - was small.  I know, I should have measured there, and not just assumed that since the pants fit, that the jacket would fit.  I ended up taking out 1/8" on every seam (and there were 7 of them!) tapering out from the waist.  Just where the pants fit exactly right, the jacket was too small.  Does this make sense?  Not like I was using two different patterns!
Knit tops should be much faster work.