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Thursday, May 7, 2015

Women's Bundle Up Blog Tour: Bottoms Edition

It's that time again.... time to Bundle Up!  You might have seen me blog about the Girls Bundle Up before, and now, it's time for the women to get in on the fun too!  There are eleven new, never seen before patterns that have been released as part of the bundle and the more you buy, the more you save!

PRICING DETAILS:
•$4.50 each for 6-7 ($27-31.50 total)
•$4.25 each for 8-9 ($34-38.25 total)
•$4.00 each for 10 or more ($40- $44 total)


For my official stop on the tour, I was blessed to be able to sew the Filles à Maman Clemence Shorts and the Winter Wear Designs The Real Deal Jeans.  I'm in some serious need of shorts that fit me after losing about 35 pounds this past year, so I was super excited!

For the Clemence Shorts, I choose a grey twill fabric.  (That's what the fabric remnant said in the bin, but it feels kinda like a lighter, stiffer wool type thing).  I did the size 0 shorts with no adjustments to the sizing at all.


The pattern is very well written with tons of bells and whistles.  There are little camera icons included in some of the steps that, when clicked, take you to different parts of the file that have even more pictures to clarify the instructions.  There was absolutely no guess work or confusion for me on this pattern.



The zipper was easy to put in and you even sew it so there's a little flap that hides it completely so, even if you mess up, no one will see.


The darts in the back of the shorts give them a really fantastic shape, and make them very feminine.  There's an option for bermuda shorts built into the pattern as well.


I chose to put a single scallop on either side of my shorts front with a button on each.  There are other options for that trim or, you can leave it completely off to suit your tastes ans your body type.  This pattern is a winner for me.



Next up are the jean shorts I made from the Real Deal Jeans Pattern.  Never, in a million years, did I ever think I'd willingly sew jeans.  Denim needles, jean thread, the right weight fabric, forget it.  It was all over my head and I didn't care to think it through.  Then, this pattern came along, and though I tried to resist, after seeing some of the tester's photos I couldn't help but dive in.


This pattern includes cutting lines for full length jeans, capris, 5'' shorts and 3'' shorts (and it wouldn't be hard at all to make them any other length in between).  Mine 3'' shorts are a size 0.  I used a denim with about 20% stretch from Cali Fabrics.  (FYI, Cali Fabrics is now my favorite online fabric store.  They always have what I'm looking for and they ship lightning fast.  Highly recommend).

This is the denim I used.

So, I figured if I've got this awesome pattern and this awesome fabric and I'm going to finally take the plunge on jeans, I better step it up a notch.  Insert, lace.


I used used lace on one of the front panels, the key pocket, and both back pockets.  Why?  Because I can and I like to make more work for myself.



MINI LACE TUTORIAL:

To do the lace, I just bought some cheap lace my local fabric store.  Then, using some Heat-n-Bond Lite, I traced the pattern pieces directly to the paper side of the Heat-n-Bond. I did this with all of my pattern pieces, the left front (as I'm wearing them), the key pocket, and two back pockets.  I also cut my lace out of the same pieces.

Then, I fused the Heat-n-Bond directly to the denim pieces that they matched (following the directions on the package).  Once that cooled, I carefully ironed the lace to the glue of the adhesive (Use a presser cloth so you don't melt the lace or get glue on your iron.  Don't ask me how I know).  Then, you'll sew the rest of your pattern up as normal, just take care when pressing any parts that have the lace on them.

*The adhesive and the lace will take some of the stretch out of the denim so plan ahead for this.  You might want to test this part in your muslin so you know you're going to get a good fit.


You've only got one more day to pick up the Women's Bundle.  So hop on over and treat yourself for Mother's Day!  Don't forget to see what everyone else sewed for themselves too!



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