Maternity Renfrew

It didn't take long for most of my regular clothes to stop fitting me. The scale tells me I've only gained about 5 pounds, but my belly tells a different story. It was time to try out a tutorial that I've had saved for a long time: how to modify a t-shirt pattern for maternity wear.

I used the tutorial from So, Zo... to modify my TNT Renfrew. I followed it exactly except that I didn't go up a size (my normal Renfrew is a size 4 with a slight wedge removed from CB for my narrow shoulders). I did use a 3/8" seam allowance on the side seams instead of 5/8". In case you don't want to click over and read the whole tutorial, you basically add length to the front bodice only, then gather that extra length to fit your unchanged back bodice. How you choose to gather is up to you, either with regular basting stitches, pleats, or elastic. I chose clear elastic because most of my RTW maternity shirts use elastic. Next week I'll post a mini-tutorial on how I sewed this top with the elastic in the side seams. It was a bit lengthy to include with this review and it won't be interesting to anyone who isn't sewing maternity wear!

This really unflattering side view shows that there is plenty of room left in the shirt for an expanding belly. If you follow the tutorial you'll be producing shirts that will fit through your entire pregnancy, I'd wager.

The fabric I used is a very pretty heathered coral cotton/rayon jersey from Girl Charlee. It's been a while since I ordered it so I believe it's sold out. I like the fabric a lot, but it was way off-grain. The heathered effect is sort of horizontal from selvage to selvage but even that isn't straight. After attempting to straighten it, I kind of stopped caring and did what I could to make it work.

What I like about this shirt is that it looks normal in the back, you can't tell that it's maternity wear. I *might* add a teensy bit of length there if I make this again, because all my other maternity shirts are longer in the back and that's what I'm used to. We'll see.

This was my first time making the cowl-neck version of the Renfrew and I like it. A lot. For some reason I was under the impression that the cowl was a folded-over rectangle sewn to the neckline, but in reality there is quite a bit of shaping. Just be warned that it's kind of huge and it will take a bit of fabric. This top took two yards, I can get a short-sleeved Renfrew (non-maternity) out of only 1 yard.

It also took a little longer to sew, due to the cowl. My previous Renfrews were knocked out in two days, one day to cut and one to sew, but this one took three. Still, I paid something like $11 for the fabric. There is no way I could buy a maternity shirt just like this for under $30. My favorite part is how pretty the front gathers turned out. Just need a bigger baby to take advantage of them!

Grey and White Stripe Renfrew

How is it possible that I've only made two Renfrews? You can see my first one here. I made today's version a few weeks (months?!) ago, and I've been wearing my two constantly. Like, never-make-it-to-the-hanger-straight-out-of-the-wash-onto-my-body kind of stuff.

For some reason I thought it would be a good idea to take photos after running errands in the rain. Sorry I look like a wet dog. Also, growing out bangs sucks.

Anyway! The fabric I used is a cotton/spandex knit from Girl Charlee. I can't find it online anymore--sorry! It's a good weight, though I realized when I was finished that it's not completely opaque. As long as I leave the neon blue nude bra, we're cool.

Stripe-matching!

This is a size 4, with short sleeves and a V-neck. On my first version, I removed quite a wedge from center-back using this tutorial. I got it in my brain that I could stand to remove a bit more (I have pretty narrow shoulders) so I took another wedge out. I think that was overdoing it, and it's a little tight across the back. It looks fine in these photos, but the first shirt is much more comfortable in terms of movement.

I'm always impressed by what a quick sew the Renfrew manages to be. It usually takes me 2 days (one to cut, one to sew) but that is fast by my standards. The only fiddly bit with this view is the V-neck, but I think it's worth it for that extra touch of femininity. One tip for the V-neck: use a scrap piece of knit interfacing (I got mine at Jo-Ann's) on the point of the V (on the shirt bodice) and it will keep your fabric from stretching all crazy. I also recommend basting the neck binding around the point before serging.

This wasn't on purpose, but I did manage to match the stripes on the bodice and sleeve.

...y'know, on one side only. Le sigh. Oh wait, I don't care! Sometimes it's nice not being terribly picky.

What else is there to say? I love this pattern and I've traced off the 3/4-length sleeve and scoop-neck bodice to make a few for fall/winter.


We're halfway through October, have you picked out a Fear Fabric yet? You could win a $35 gift card to Girl Charlee!

My First Renfrew

Oh. My. Word.

It's taken me TWO MONTHS to blog this shirt. I whipped it up back in May (you can see it as part of MMM here) and kept meaning to blog it ASAP.

However, every time it came out of the laundry, it was on me within 24 hours (the "Golden Boy" of shirts as I just saw on an episode of Seinfeld). And then I'd forget to take pictures, and then I'd wear it to bed...anyway, enough excuses!

Altered pattern piece, back bodice.

The portion to the left of the green line was removed.

This is the Sewaholic Renfrew in a size 4 with significant width removed from the center-back along the shoulders, following this excellent tutorial. I think I removed maybe an inch (on the fold, so 2 inches!) and it's still not enough, as evidenced by some back neck gape. I have seriously narrow shoulders.

The fabric is a cotton/spandex knit from Girl Charlee. It is SO. SOFT. The bands on the sleeves and neckline are a solid black cotton/spandex, also from GC.

This was my first time sewing a V-neck, and the results are pretty good for a first try, I think. Black hides all sewing sins!

I went with the V-neck in order to keep this somewhat masculine print from overwhelming me and making the shirt look like boys' pajamas. I LOVE a V-neck, I think it's super flattering, so expect most of my Renfrews to go that route. And of course, there will be more! 

I've got a bunch planned (and apparently they're all striped!), but I'm waiting for a good time to sit down and make them all assembly-line style. Probably soon. I'm in love with the way this pattern is drafted, with just the right amount of ease through the torso, sleeves that are a cinch to sew in the flat, and yet it doesn't look sloppy at all. I made this one during ONE toddler nap (just the sewing, anyway, not cutting). How can you beat that? Especially for my first time making this pattern.

I did try a new trick for serging in the round, which I read about in Serger Secrets (I think it was that book, anyway...). Basically, you cut a rectangle out of the seam allowance, creating a "starting point" to begin your serging:

Serge around in a circle and meet up with your start point. The only disadvantage, which I figured out AFTER I'd already started, was that my serger could not accommodate the full seam allowance. My bands are bigger than called for because of it. No biggie, and next time I want to try this, I'll trim the seam allowances first.

There isn't much more to say about this pattern than what's been said before, so I'll leave it at that. Add me to the list of Renfrew-lovers!

Nautical Thurlows

"Nautical" is one of those words that gets tossed around so much, it's almost meaningless, and I kind of hate myself for even using it. In the sewing world, anything navy and white with gold accents seems to fit the bill. So "Nautical Thurlows" it is, even though I doubt they'll be on a boat any time soon.

These shorts are part of my Wardrobe Architect plans, as they fit my color scheme and my silhouettes. They fulfill my loose pledge to make more pants. And they almost didn't make it out of the UFO pile hidden behind lots of respectable sewing books.

I don't think you can see anything amiss with the two above photos, which is good. The detail shots will reveal plenty of flaws, but the reason these ended up angrily wadded in a ball was originally due to fit. I made my first pair of Thurlows this time last year, and since they still fit I decided to make the same size again. I glibly disregarded the fact that the first pair was made with a lightweight stretch denim instead of a heavy twill, and ignored the 15 lbs. I've put on since last year. I went back to the less-than-a-size-0 pattern pieces and cut away, figuring that if I needed any wiggle room I could take it from center-back as the pattern intends (more on my pattern changes from last year here).

Starting to look a bit questionable...

If you're familiar with this pattern, then you know that Sewaholic provides what's called a "center back extension" which allows for a customizable fit.

Center-back extension

When I got to the point where I could try these on and determine where to sew the center-back seam, it was quite ugly. They were WAY too tight around the waist and in the thighs. Much cursing and angry accusations followed. I asked my husband what to do and he wisely told me to put them aside and come back later.

The pockets aren't level with the ground.

A few weeks went by and these babies came back out. I'd had time to mentally process the extra weight that a life without breastfeeding has afforded me (seriously, I lost a lot of weight after giving birth solely due to nursing) and was no longer so emotional about fitting them. Miraculously, they fit much better. I have a sneaky suspicion that the first fitting was thwarted by a certain weight-inflating time of the month. Could this paragraph be any more TMI?

Anyway, I got the shorts finished and wore them out and about, and they're great! Very comfy, not too tight, and with a long shirt I'm able to ignore the flaws that abound in the fly and front closures. I never wear a tucked-in shirt, so I can easily hide the waistband issues. I love the cuffs, the piping I added to the pockets, and the gold topstitching. It helps to focus on those positives instead of the negatives.

Piping, topstitching

Cuffs

I even matched the stripes so well at the sides that you can't see the seams.

Inseam. Can you find the seam?

One negative that I can easily ignore, because it's behind me, is the patch pockets. I added them so that the stripes would match up, however that's not exactly level with the ground. Consequently, they look tilted. I was VERY frustrated when I realized what I'd done, but the only solution to correct the tilt was to misalign the stripes. A rock and a hard place, I tell ya what. However, now I know what to avoid if I ever make another pair of striped shorts. I should have cut them on the bias or just stuck with welt pockets as the pattern directs. I wanted these to be more casual which is why I went with patch pockets.

The outside row of topstitching is done with a triple stitch.

And since I have too many photos and too much to say, how about a photo dump with captions?

Center-back seam. Chevrons on my butt!

I added a jeans button instead of a bar hook and eye.

Here you can also see the waistband is two

different sizes where it overlaps.

This only required a hammer to install. Tutorial video here.

Jean tack from Wawak.

I had to hand-sew the buttonhole for the jeans button.

It looks terrible. This is WITH Fray Check.

Back of the terrible buttonhole.

This is a heavy-duty zipper and the pull tab is way too big

for how these pants are designed. Use a regular zipper!

Belt loops are easy with a coverstitch machine!

Inside view, front

Inside view, back

Please note, the inside of the shorts is not supposed to look like my photos. The waistband facing should fold down all the way around. I have no idea why, but I could NOT get these to fit right unless I sewed them "incorrectly". Check Lauren's sewalong if you want to see what I'm talking about.

Speaking of Lauren's sewalong, I could not have sewn these shorts without it. Not last year, OR this year. Time to be blunt. I hate the Sewaholic directions with this pattern. Last year, I thought it was just me, my inexperience with pants, and that if I knew what I was doing the instructions would be sufficient. At this point, I have to say that it can't JUST be me. I've already made these once, yet I was still often confused unless I consulted the sewalong. Is the pattern nicely drafted, does it produce a great result? Yes. But you're going to need to know what you're doing, or consult some other resources.

I broke about 3 needles sewing these shorts, so I seriously need to re-evaluate my machine's ability to sew jeans/denim/twills. I had to hand-crank almost all of the topstitching. I've only had my machine for 2 years, and I like it a lot, so it bums me out to think about getting another one just for heavier fabrics. And because I haven't mentioned it yet, this fabric is a cotton twill from Mood, and the lining fabric is a quilting cotton from Blue Hill featuring elephants playing croquet (available in multiple colorways, here). It's left over from this dress for AB and it's so stinking adorable. The twill felt like cardboard when it arrived, but with a wash it softened considerably.

Despite their flaws, I like these shorts better than my coral ones from last year, and it feels awesome to have made pants that fit into my capsule wardrobe. I thought I was DONE with this pattern, but today I found myself daydreaming about making it again. Better the devil you know than the one you don't, especially with pants. Although I wouldn't mind getting my mitts on the new Jennifer City Shorts pattern by Style Arc...

Sewing Project: Thurlow Shorts part 3--completed!

It's about time I showed off these shorts! I feel like I spent a month on them. Uhhh...because I did! From start (prewashing fabric) to finish (post-completion wash where I check to see if anything fell apart) I'm pretty sure I spent close to 4 weeks making these. I hope they look like they were worth it!

For an insomnia-curing account of my muslin fitting and flat pattern alterations, check out part 1. It will be of interest to anyone else with chicken legs and no butt who might need tips on making a size 0 even smaller. If you're interested in my brutal admission of setbacks with this project, see part 2. If you want to know how I figured out my fit issues, see my post on pants fitting resources. But for more pretty photos, keep scrolling!

If you've missed my previous posts, then I'll recap the important details. The fabric I used is a lovely coral stretch denim from Hart's Fabrics (no longer available). The lining is a cotton batiste from Mood (also no longer available...I should sew things up faster!). Both fabrics were easy to sew, but I used a jeans needle and I KNOW that made all the difference. For reals. I even took the time to change the needle in my serger to a jeans needle.

The insides are not as pretty as I would like. I used my new serger for a lot of the finishing work, and as you might be able to see in the photos, I didn't rethread the machine. Yep, I used the color-coded thread that came with it (blue, green and yellow). It was more a case of "hey I don't want to buy 4 cones of coral thread" than a case of the Lazies. I used the sewing machine for finishing in places where I wasn't confident in my serger skillz. Read: anywhere that wasn't a straight seam. I'm pretty sure that's how I ended up needing two spools of thread. That overlock stitch eats up lots of thread! At least Jo-Ann's is right down the road from me...

Sewing machine overlock stitch.

Serger 3-thread overlock stitch.

Aside from the changes I made to the fit, I also topstitched in a few places where the instructions didn't call for it. I wanted these to be more jean than trouser (I don't visit a lot of trouser-worthy places!) so I thought the topstitching would be appropriate to help keep them casual.

Pocket topstitching.

Waistband topstitching.

The waistband sits a tad higher than I would like, but I doubt I'll tuck my shirt in (okay...I'll NEVER tuck my shirt in) so aesthetically it's not a big deal. It's not uncomfortable, either. I know they look preppy and stuffy, but I assure you that they are comfy and wonderful. The center-back extension, plus being able to sew buttons wherever you want, really helps get a great fit.

I opted for a wide hem instead of a cuff, partly because I couldn't figure out how to do a cuff. Again. Sigh. I obviously need more practice with pants. I'm sort of dreading making up a pair of long pants and tearing my hair out over an even hem. Actually, I think one of my legs is longer than the other. Better store that excuse away for later. Ha!

But back to the shorts. If you feel confident with pants, you'll enjoy making this pattern. If you've never made a pair, I encourage you to take a shot at some pajama pants first. At least something with a waistband. Have you made a pair of Thurlows yet? Or spent a month on one project? And can someone tell me how to do a dang cuff!?

Make sure to check out the sidebar and vote in my poll about Friday posts in June!