Just thought I'd run through some of the things I've made over the last few months
1) The cavalry shirt
This was made from a folkwear pattern for Frontier Shirts which means it is based on a 19th century design. I think Folkwear are pretty authentic in the designs they sell.
I made it from a brushed cotton in a pattern they called Aztec. I noticed that it seemed to be fading very rapidly and wasn't sure how to counter that. I'm hoping it can be stopped since I really like d the colour.
Other than that I think I failed to get the pattern for shirt and bib to line up too well so need to keep that in mind if I make another one.

This had some design features I found pretty difficult at the time like a curved pointed middle of the yoke at the back which I'm not sure shows anyway. With a bit more practise that should prove to be a bit easier to do but had me having to attempt it several times before i got it anywhere near right.
Then summer hit so I have hardly worn the thing so far.  Think I will be over the next few months though.

2) The striped jeans
These were inspired by the style of striped jeans that Levis and others were making in the late 60s and early 70s. They were made from a striped drill that has 2 alternating groups of coloured stripes. The main one that is visible here which is the group with a red/pink wide stripe on the outside and the same group of colours in a slightly different order with orange on the outside of the group.  The prevalent colour grouping is dictated by the way they are cut. I'm not sure to what extent the way they are cut is dictated to in terms of the way that the groupings lie on the uncut fabric. Anyway I think they look pretty good even if I do say so myself

I had a couple of problems in making these, mainly that the sewing machine I started them on broke down when I went to sew the bib on the cavalry shirt on the morning after I started them. That left them not being worked on for about a month at the start of the summer. Thankfully Vic came through with a sewing machine she no longer used and I got them done and wore them quite a bit over the summer.
 I've been worried that colours have appeared to be fading really fast, I noticed great patches of white appearing behind what was supposed to be a solid colour line which is obviously a great shame since the delight of  these things is the vibrancy. I've tried soaking them in distilled vinegar which was supposed to be a way of getting coloured dyes to stabilise. I'm not sure to what extent it's worked since I've spent more time in more recently made jeans since.
 I've also recently undone the belt loops which were too restrictive as they were which you can see in the photo on the right. I think Tina had told me that belt loops get sewn into the waistband as in captured under the seam. This proved to be really difficult to get belts in and out of. So on later pairs of jeans I've sewn the bottom of the belt loop has been attached to the top of the trouser leg.

3) The Dickensian jacket -Burda 2767
This was the first jacket I made with the new sewing machine. It is based on a pattern from a company called Burda, though i made some alterations to make it something I could wear practically.  These included changing where the waist pockets are located and adding pockets to the breast both outside on the left and inside.
The fabric used derived from 2 sets of curtains. I also used the lining that came with the main curtain to line it.  This was also the first garment that I seam finished to any extent.  It is my variation of a flat fell .

The jacket does still need to be hemmed but it finally got the collar topstitched and buttons put on the front over the last couple of weeks.

I was told that the jacket did come up very tight, I've been wearing it open all the time that I've been wearing it. Not sure if i can comfortably close it over the waistcoat I normally wear which tends to have things in the pockets. May need to expand the size if I make another one. But it's not exactly weather proof so may not be worn with too much more under it. Might not be worn in much worse or colder weather in other words.

4) The Cerise cords

I bought some material which arrived after some delay and when it was opened it was some of tghe softest stuff I'd ever felt. Kept wanting to pick it up and fondle it again.. Lovely stuff.

I think it was designed more for curtains and upholstery than for garments but it does feel awesome as a pair of jeans

These were again cut from the old dismantled pair of cords which I've now used about 7 times over the summer. They are really comfortable though the waist may still be cut too loose. I think I've had them slide off when they weren't worn with a belt.  Which indicates I have a lot to learn about fitting properly.
I wasn't sure how much dismantling and reconstructing the fabric could handle so I've left thenm as they were initially constructed. I think the central picture here which was in daylight is truer to the correct colour than the 2 shots bookending .
Anyway do love these things. I was interested in a colour range that included the darker shades of things like purple, pink, orange also the more chocolatey of browns . I am currently working on a pair of aubergine twill jeans which i had meant to make much earlier in the summer.

Best jeans I've ever made

I finished a pair of jeans this week in a cotton/linen blend pattern called Piccolo

They are based on a pair of cord jeans that I wore for a few years but had the seat wear thin so have had me making several pairs based on a dismantled version. I've been finding some of the previous pairs to be overly baggy, even had the waistband slide over my hips when I wasn't wearing a belt.
So I consciously slimmed these down to the extent that I was becoming worried that I'd gone too far in the other direction. Particularly if the fabric blend tended to shrink when washed. I think these have come through ok,. So now i'm just hoping that they will wear ok since the fabric wasn't designed for clothing use.

I really like the finished garment. It was inspired by seeing photos of bands from the turn of the 70s in what look to be somewhat similar strides. The photos I've seen lack the floral pattern though.
 This fabric is sold for making curtains and upholstery but I find it works really well for these. I've tried looking for other varieties of similar blends of cotton and linen on ebay etc and not really found anything as attractive. Very little in the combination in fact so I will be looking at whatever fabric emporiums I come across to see if there is anything comparable. That is before having really worn them much since i only finished them over the last week.

Trying to think about things i noticed in the construction of these.
1)  the width of the material is a factor i hadn't really taken into account. I think all previous material I've done jeans from has been 59 or 60 inches where this was 54.
This meant that trying to get the legs to be cut symmetrically didn't work perfectly. In fact I think this was 54 inches wide with a pattern repeat of 25 inches. Subsequently I don't think it is possible to have the symmetry leg to leg that I would have really liked. But then again this wasn't designed for clothing use and furthermore not to be cut for this pattern.
I still think it has come out ok, looks good even if I don't have things lined up like pattern on pocket to pattern below it or pattern on leg to pattern on yoke. Not sure how much that shows. Would have like d to have that maze line run up from bottom of leg to top below waistband in a way that looked more continuous than it does. Would also have liked the dark and light patches to be more alternating.
But I guess that's why you need to know pattern repeat & things like that will be factored into future purchases.

2) not really noticed in the construction of these, but factored into the last few pairs. The way that the pocket backing has to be lined up on the pocket to make sure that the back yoke is in the right place for the leg to attach front to back right.
Actually I think I had some problem of noticing that the way that I'd made that attachment left the front about .5cm below the back so I took it apart and reattached it. But found that it happened again. There is a 1.5cm seam allowance so if I line up the corner of the front to the corner of the back there is some space for it to  fall out of sync by the time you can see where the 2 pieces join. I think this has worked ok and been hidden by the waistband anyway.though.

3) I was worried that when I was cutting the fly part of the front section after trying to lay the backs next to the front when I was cutting,  I had made where the zip goes too vertical. It doesn't seem to have mattered in the long run. I thought the slope of that angle was shallower but I have only ever cut trousers from the one model so far. Something that I think I'm going to need to change before long so that it doesn't simply become my rote way of cutting.
I'm  now wondering if that verticality might have wound up with the single fly zip covering being twisted when I sewed it, it seems to not be quite flat so leave the top hanging slightly open. I'm not sure if this is important and at the moment i'm reluctant to take the waistband apart to be able to straighten it out.
 It does leave me thinking that I probably do need to add a topstitching step when I attach that fly, at the moment it is getting sewn right side to right side to attach it then only being held in place by the stitching attaching the zip. Might be better to do that topstitching and have the fly kept flat, may sound fernickety but may wind up looking a lot better.

4) I've added an extra footwidth of stitching to the seams around the waist to prevent the waistband from sliding down over my hips and trousers falling down. I don't know if I've misread a 2cm seam allowance on Wrangler jeans as 1.5cm or if  I lost weight. But I think maybe if I do these again from this source I need to be thinking more in terms of 2cm seam allowance at that point. Possibly 1.5 elsewhere since that seems to be what's on most things.

5) if the fabric had been any wider then I think the trouser bottoms would have been cut intentionally a little wider, more bootcut than flare. I think it's a look I need to explore since I do prefer something slightly wider, certainly to something narrower. been stuck with an extreme drain on the pair of leathers I've worn over the last few winters and they've been a pain to take off.