Perhaps the best part of this pattern is that it exists. Which sounds dumb, but, really, it is the ONLY men's skating shirt pattern on the market produced by any of the major pattern companies. So, well, it has the market pretty well cornered. And it seems to work out pretty well too. Here is a look at my first version:
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| Man's shirt - version #1. He picked the fabric. |
I am going to wait to do a review until after I do a few more shirts - my first shirt ended up HUGE, but I think part of it might have been the fabric, which seemed to grow before my eyes. So I will hold off on a formal review as of yet, but I expect I will be making quite a few more of these in the near future.
Also, I am going to be working on a man's jacket for competition as well. Dance skating is pretty much like ballroom dance on wheels - so I am going for a tailored tux type jacket, although it will be a bit more embellished, and I wanted to go with a more modern puffy sleeve (which I had to draft myself). Since I am starting with a normal jacket pattern, I did a muslin, and I am going to have to get rid of a lot of wearing ease (because stretch velvet doesn't need any wearing ease). My starting point was Burda 7194:
Basically, I have used only the top half of the jacket, and I am re-doing the sleeves, changing/removing the collar, and doing a few major fit adjustments. One thing I have noticed - how is it that guys fit into straight sizes??? I mean, I looked at the chest size to pick a pattern size, and as I worked my way through the measurements they all matched up exactly. How creepy is that? Do I even know any female sewers who use a straight size? I doubt it. Also, because I was toying with different patterns, why does Vogue for men have so much ease? These things I ponder...
And now, for a laugh, here is a look at the most ridiculous muslin ever:
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| The jacket muslin - with a puffy sleeve! |
The body is a cotton velvet I got in a Fashion Fabrics club mystery bundle. Rolls like nobody's business and with only 1/2 yard (and a dislike of the pattern - it looks cool in the photo, not so cool in person) I had nothing else to do with it. And the sleeve? Yes, those are parrots. No, I didn't actually pay for this fabric - it was a gift. I had no idea what to do with it - it is like a polyester terrycloth and doesn't have a pleasant texture. So, well, I figure this was as good a use as any.
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| Hello little parrot - I thank you for your sacrifice. |
You may have found your sewing niche :). If it were me I would have said f**k it and got him to buy his own costumes - but you find it interesting so I wish you luck.
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit sad about the sacrificial parrot :( (and you have waaaay more patience than I will ever have.)
Well, to be fair, since our sport is so small now, all teams automatically qualify to nationals, and we will need matching practice costumes for nationals, and since I don't see any reason to pay anyone else to make me a costume, I figure it is just easier if I sew for him. That, and he drove me to LA for fabric, so I sort of owe him. Also, I have to point out that guy costumes are way easier than girl costumes. Much less effort. Sewing the shirt was maybe an hour on my serger (well, maybe an hour and a half because of taking it in twice, but still), but making myself a costume can take 4-12 hours (depends on complexity). And it is probably just as well to be able to sew guy costumes - the adult skaters often pay quite a bit for the tuxes, so possibly I can make a bit of money sewing them in the future!
DeleteMy original comment was somewhat tongue in cheek. If you have found a niche then I think that's great - especially if you have the patience for it. I'm still sad about the sacrificial parrot :)
DeleteHaha, ah, um, I probably should have taken your advice... because now I have like a bunch of adult guys asking me to make shirts for them! To be fair, they *finally* decided on a club uniform (for official practice sessions and such - not for competition), and they want everyone to have one in time for the practices at the big competitions this summer. Part of me wanted to be like f*** it, no, but part of me is like, oooh, money! (As a side note I am pretty sure I don't have to pay for the fabric - it was part of our club membership fee at the start of the year, so other than money for elastic and snaps, I am making total profit on these things.) So, erhm, yeah, money won out at the end of the day. I feel like I am almost too busy, but I also know that 3 or 4 of the skating moms sew, but they are already maxed out making costumes for this year. When you have about 50 skaters who need 2-7 new costumes a year, well, that is a lot of sewing! And nobody wants to sew for the adults because they are harder to fit, so I guess that task falls to me. Oh well. Extra money does make me feel slightly less guilty about my recent Fabric Mart splurge though!
DeleteAnyway... sorry to ramble... I am so tired. I ramble when I am tired. Back to prepping patterns.
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ReplyDeleteLOL, that is quite an amusing muslin.
ReplyDeleteThat jacket is only slightly weirder than the stuff I saw at a skate meet last weekend!
ReplyDeleteHave you made up the Jalie skate pants? I'm not sure if it's worth getting since the pants seem like regular pants with a strap added at the bottom.
I have the pattern, but I haven't actually made it up yet. I can't imagine why you would bother with a fly front on skating pants... or why you would have a belt instead of an elastic waistband, but perhaps it is just me...
DeleteIn any case, I am sure you would be fine using another pants pattern and just using an elastic waist and elastic straps on the bottom (or the hook on the front and the strap/loop on the back is popular too, at least in roller where it can go over the wheels - in ice I think that method would not work so well!). And leave off the fly front - why bother with all that effort when then have the crotch covering shirt anyway? And, well, I imagine it might be nice to not have a zipper there in case of an awkward fall...