4 April 2009

Better Grey than Never - Part 3

Next up in my Better grey than Never capsule is a jacket, pant and top combo. I wanted an outfit to transition from winter into spring.

The jacket is the Loes Hinse Garbo (view B - the shorter high hip length version), made from a lovely coral and beige textured rayon blend woven purchased from Textile Studio a few years back. This fabric is gorgeous - it has yarns of varying texture and colour woven together into a soft, supple fabric. As far as the pattern is concerned, I really like the shape of this jacket and after making it up once, I will be tweaking it in future incarnations. My only problem with the design of this jacket is the inclusion of separate jacket front and back neck facings. I absolutely hate floppy, bulky facings. Although I used the large separate facings for this jacket, and Steam-a-Seamed them down to the jacket body quite satisfactorily, I have already drafted a small cut-on facing for future go-rounds.

The pants are Loes Hinse Oxfords (view B - the version without the front pockets) made from a poly/rayon blend woven fabric purchased from Fabric Mart for a pittance. I love this fabric and wish I had bought more of it. It has a heathered greyish-brown colour and due to the blend of poly and rayon, it is smart looking and indestructible. It is a great work wardrobe staple fabric. I like these pants despite the fact that the waist ends up a bit more bulky than I would like. This is not the fault of the pattern. Rather it is the large difference in circumference between my waist and hips. Therefore, to get the pants (made of a non-stretch fabric) on over my hips, the waist is much larger than it needs to be, which results in extra bulk around the waist. At some point, I will redraft this pattern to include a fly front to remedy this situation.

The top is the Loes Hinse Princess tank. I love this pattern - I have not found a more flattering tank top for myself and thus, I have made up this pattern countless times. This time it is made from a remnant of the crinkled grey Fabric Mart free bundle fabric used in a previous sweater set.



In other news, I received a wireless remote control for my camera. Since, I want to be able to show more of my garments being worn (rather than just on the hanger) and I don't always want to bug my hubby to be my photographer, I figured this might be the solution. I still have to play with it to figure out how it all works, but hopefully soon I will have some modeled garment photos to share.

11 comments:

Mary Beth said...

I need to chase down a remote control, too. Let us know how this works out for you! Would it cut down on having to take multiple shots just to get one decent photo?

Unknown said...

Will look forward to hearing how the remote works. Sounds interesting. You mean your hubby isn't interested in snapping photos for you to share with the world?

Love the garments. Will need to try that tank - it looks fabulous. g

Nancy K said...

I know how you'll draft the foldover facing for the front, but how will you handle the back neck? I take it that this pattern isn't lined.

Nancy K said...

The wireless remote sounds like a good idea. If you don't already have a tripod, that would make taking pictures of yourself a lot easier.

Sigrid said...

You have quite a nice combination of grey garments with these basic patterns. And I would love to see more pictures of you wearing these.

gwensews said...

Loes Hinse patterns and you seem to be a good match. I've been reading your blog for a while, and notice that your clothes are very chic and elegant. I haven't made any of her patterns, but there are a couple which are definitely on my list.

Sandra said...

Qu'est-ce qui t'arrive, lacquer lundi? ;)
I'm so looking forward to those pictures of modeled garments. Your blog is quite an inspiration; you make sewing seem so effortless and FUN!

Carolyn (Diary of a Sewing Fanatic) said...

I will be interested in seeing how the remote works out too! Love the new pieces!

angie.a said...

Does the Garbo have a CD or pattern available with extra design options? I know Loes did this with another jacket pattern or two. That might be interesting to look into. Also, you HAVE to document the cut on facing. That's my only beef with the Garbo too.

I drafted a fly for the Oxford using the Euro front. Sort of just morphed the Euro from crotch up to the Oxford, but made sure the crotch curve from the Oxford stayed the same since it works for me better (actually the crotch from the Cruise Pant is perfect so it's probably a triplet morph. HA!)

Lastly...Grrr. My Canon is like the only (pricey!) model that doesn't work with a remote!! Gah. I'm so jealous.

Summerset said...

Those pieces look like great work clothes. I loved that poly/rayon stuff for work, too. It wore like iron no matter what antics I was up to for the day.

Tany said...

Nice set of basics!

A remote sounds great, I wish my camera had one... I hate to ask my boyfriend to take pictures of me with my garments on;