Category Archives: V8909

More luxe loungewear

I made this set using a gorgeous, loose weave, rayon knit. I tried to keep the style extremely simple because the fabric was a little annoying to work with. The raw edges stretched out and unravelled just to look at them. The seams also stretched easily when stitching or overlocking and it took me a while to get the tension right to avoid wavy seam syndrome. I’m not too bothered though. This was always intended to be a comfy, at-home, lounge-around set, and nothing more.

The top is very loosely based on the Simplicity 1366 pattern. It’s been a magically morphing design for me. I think I may have dropped the shoulders and widened the sleeves. I also lengthened the arms, modified the bodice length and neckline, added a (loose) turtleneck, and a waistband. Some of these changes were made for this top, and some have been made in the past. I’ve lost track.

Both the leather pants and the shorts were based on V8909. I made the leather pants about three years ago now. I refashioned them more recently to have wider, and longer trouser-style legs, but they are otherwise, very much a reflection of the original pattern. The shorts are a summation of all the fit-changes I’ve made over the past few years, including a lower waist height, and improved crotch curve and length. I also omitted the faux fly and pockets, and shortened them significantly and added hembands.

Wool jersey luxe lounge pants // V8909

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These pants are such a simple design and are so easy to make that they very nearly didn’t warrant a blog post. I’ve use the pattern several times before and have tweaked it slightly along the way to improve the fit. This time round, I lengthened the legs, and only sewed two channels of elastic in the waistband.

The only point of interest in these pants is to do with the fabric I used to make them. It is a wool/acrylic blend in a super soft, loose knit jersey. It’s the same fabric I used to make this grey knit dress. It’s not the type of fabric I’d normally associate a pair of trackie pants with, but boy is it delicious to wear.

My inspiration came from a pair of RTW cashmere trackie pants. Unfortunately I didn’t have any cashmere on hand (nor was it in my budget) but this wool blend did a pretty good job. The sad news is that my fabric is going to pill like crazy after a few wears. Agh… once again I am cursing my foolishness in purchasing a synthetic blend. It’s such a waste when they look rough so quickly. It won’t matter too much with these pants though. The comfort factor will be present no matter how they look, and that’s pretty much all that matters to me in Winter!

Cropped leather pants

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I’m going to call these my cropped leather pants. I could just as easily have called them long shorts. I toyed with the idea of gaucho, but they don’t really fit that definition either. Gaucho pants should really be high waisted and with a bit more of a flare in the leg, as would be seen on the Argentinian horsemen from which the term is taken. These pants sit on my hips, which is where I like them right now.

The leather I used is a type of composition leather called Perfection Fused leather. It is a very thin, uniformly processed layer of cowhide on a rayon backing. It’s a beautiful weight and drape for many garments, although I wouldn’t consider it suitable for coat making. It will never compare to a buttery lambskin or genuine cowhide, but I’m impressed with it nonetheless.

Perfection fused leather looks convincingly like leather, but without the imperfections, and it comes with a price tag of only $15 per yard. It’s the perfect, low-risk ‘real’ leather to have a go with if you’ve never sewn with leather before. It’s a dream to sew, but you do need to be careful when pressing (or when you are pressing an adjoining fabric like pocket lining). This type of processed leather does not tolerate heat at all. The leather layer is very thin and it comes off easily if you iron it.

For these pants, I used V8909. You’ve seen it many times before. My modifications were as follows:

I ditched the yoke
shortened the crotch seam
added side pockets instead of inseam pockets
drafted a separate waistband instead of folding the top over to form the encasement
added a single back patch pocket
cropped the legs
I also widened the legs. Have a look at the modified pattern pieces below. To achieve the wide leg look, I simply redrew both the inner and side seam lines straight, in line with the grainline.

Other patterns you could use to make shorts like this are:

Carolyn Pyjamas (shorts) by Closet Case Files: I’ve only recently finished sewing a pair but the fit of the pants is fabulous, and totally worthy of outside pants. They sit on the hip, fit the bum nicely, include a faux fly (like my leather ones), and have some great shaped side pockets.

The Robbie Pant by Tessuti Fabrics: These pants appear to be higher waisted, but they have some neat side patch pockets that would look fantastic in leather. You could easily make the pants a little shorter.

Cropped pants look great with a lot of different style tops, including my short, white pinafore and my Lou Box tunic top. They would also look great paired with a chunky knit and layered over dark tights and long boots in Winter.

Ikat vs Chanel

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The pants in this ensemble are yet another crack at my TNT pants pattern, Vogue 8909. You’ve seen other versions before (here, here, and here). This time, I made them using silk jersey. They are so comfortable it’s criminal and I suspect they will be getting a lot more wear than simply with this dress.

The rest of the dress was inspired by my current Chanel infatuation. You’ve seen the Ikat jersey print before and I’m quite sure that you will be seeing it again. I still have a few kid size remnants left in my stash. The silk chiffon from Tessuti is gathered into a skirt that overlaps at the side to flare and swish as I walk.

I’m not entirely sure how I feel about this outfit. It was actually my first attempt at a Chanel-inspired ensemble (my second attempt in Cracked Glass silk CDC was a winner!). The pants are definitely here to stay. But it’s quite possible that you will be seeing the dress come back as something entirely different down the track.

Layered pant Chanel style

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So a little while back, I made an amazing Anna dress. And it really was a fantastic dress. It was my second Anna (my first was a wearable muslin), so the fit was great, the style indisputably pretty, and the fabric, beyond amazing. I’d even drafted a full lining attached to the facing, handstitched some of it’s innards, and took more care than usual in it’s construction. I ended up wearing it three times, to date nights and the like. I got compliments from strangers who noticed the pretty style, or the stunning fabric, or the way the modern graphics of the print were slightly at odds with the feminine style of dress, but at the same time so perfectly matched. But each time I wore it, I always felt like I was wearing someone else’s dress.

I had inklings of this when I was making the dress in the first place. I remember observing, as I was cutting the large portions of fabric required for the gathered skirt, that I could relax because they would be large, undamaged panels that I could cut off and re-use later. My head was telling me that the fabric deserved an Anna, but my heart was telling me to do something a little more uncharted, something a little more me.

Well, it’s the best of both worlds for this most special of special crepe de chines from Colette of Tessuti Fabrics. It lived a wonderful, yet short life as an Anna. And now I’ve had the double pleasure of remaking it into something a little more exciting (twice in fact, if you saw my first remake of layered trackie dacks on Instagram).

So this story needs an intermission now, with a few inspiration shots from the Chanel 2014/15 Cruise collection *swoon*. Let’s call this the triple P collection. It had me Panting, Pinning (Pinterest), and Planning knock offs. There was layering and blending of beautiful fabrics and prints that quite simply left me breathless. Skirts layering pants, culottes layering pants, beautifully shaped 3/4 length sleeves, and all in gorgeous colours and shapes. Here is a taste of my inspiration. Be still my beating heart…

Chanel | Cruise/Resort 2015 Collection via Karl Lagerfeld | Modeled by Magda Laguinge | May 13, 2014; Dubai | Style.com

I love that every look in this collection is a skirt over pants! my favorite silhouette lately.

Ready-to-wear - CRUISE 2014/15 - Look 56 - CHANEL

Ready-to-wear - CRUISE 2014/15 - Look 50 - CHANEL

The dress I made is a simple, slip-over-the-head affair. It is self-drafted, mainly because I had a very limited length of fabric to work with and no patterns on hand to match what I wanted. It is unlined, un-faced, and beautifully light to wear. I didn’t have enough fabric to make a facing or create bias binding so I fused bias stay tape to the neck and armscye edges and then turned them back as narrow hems. It worked beautifully. I also wasn’t sure whether to add the waist elastic or not, but I’m glad that I did in the end. This is now a beautiful summer frock that I can see myself wearing a LOT.

But wait, there’s more! Thanks to Mr Lagerfield, I was also now desperately in need of a pair of matching fancy pant trackie dacks to layer with the dress. So that I did. Once again I used Vogue 8909 (you’ve seen my other versions here and here). But this time I eliminated the yoke, faux fly, and pockets to create a more simple, streamlined pant that could be worn better for layering.

I love the way pants look layered with a simple dress and I also love both items as separates. I’m wondering if I can pass them off as a bit of matchy matchy for Ada Spragg’s Two Piece Set-acular. But before I finish up on this style, I borrowed that kimono for one last go at some print mixing a la Chanel.

Vogue 8909: Ralph Lauren fancy pant trackie dacks

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So I purchased this lovely Ralph Lauren wool suiting from MOOD, stuck it in the machine for a pre-wash and eeek….it lost it’s pristine, smooth finish. I was devastated! I ironed it and ironed it, and it improved quite a bit, but not to the extent that I would like. What on earth was I thinking?!

Luckily, the fabric wasn’t completely ruined, and I’m that hopeful it might still come up better after a dryclean. I did notice as I was sewing it, that with hotter pressing it improved more, but I’m always so scared of scorching fabrics (given my history!), particularly this white wool, that has a tiny bit of elastane in it.

Because of the slight stretch this wool has, I though it would be perfect for a pair of fancy pant trackie dacks. I might have stolen ~~a little inspiration~~ ok shamelessly copied them from Nikki of Beaute jádore. I used Vogue 8909, the same pattern I used for my leather jogging pants last year. I was originally going to make a Tokyo jacket with this wool, but I switched to neoprene for the Tokyo jacket instead. I haven’t blogged about the Tokyo jacket yet but there are some photos on my Instagram. Likewise, I must point out that I am NOT blogging about the Camilla cami you see in the photo. Well, not in this post anyway. I’ve specifically made it for an outfit I’ve planned for week 4 of Indie Month so I will be holding off to blog about it then.

V8909 is a tried and true pattern for me now. I like the fit. They are comfortable pants. The only thing I need to adjust is the length. These jogging pants are designed to be slightly cropped, which makes them more like pedal pushers on me. I’m not exactly sure how much I lengthened these by in total since I altered an already altered (leather pants) pattern, but I suspect I may have added about 4.5″ to the longer version. I also partially lined them in china silk.

Unfortunately, the wool is a little less opaque than I thought, and I can see the outline of the lining underneath them. I should have made my lining longer, but I think I can get over this.

So once again, I’ve opted for an out-of-season make. But I do think these pants are pretty versatile, especially if we have any more cool Spring days. Does anyone else suffer from such an affliction, perhaps making strapless frocks in the dead of Winter or sewing coats in a heatwave?