First garment for teal grouping

I'm definitely trying to keep up with my blogging for 2018 because I love having a record in one place of all the garments I've sewn throughout the year. At my age, I do forget sometimes when something was made, and it helps to be able to go back through past posts and files to determine when I did what.

Also because my weight has a tendency to fluctuate quite a bit, it's nice to be able to determine the date so I can kind of get a clue about the size it is and I was when it was made. :-)

This tee was begun on January 5, and morphed a bit from the initial thoughts to the final garment. As usual, I used Pamela's Perfect Tee shirt, which I use almost exclusively. I had intended to do a long or 3/4 sleeve on this one, but after looking at the fabric and thinking about my wardrobe needs, the climate in this area, and the short winter versus the long warm days, I went ahead and did the short sleeves. It only took about one yard, so I have enough fabric left for a tank top.

As I think I said in a prior post, I had intended to do a teal grouping back in 2013-2014, and this fabric was purchased for that group in November 2013. I was all gung ho to get the grouping going ] before other things got my attention. It's from Mood and it's a wonderful rayon jersey that sews like a dream, drapes beautifully, and has a gorgeous soft hand that almost feels like silk.

With a lot of family drama, and an interim for a bout of the flu that left me in bed for days and days, it wasn't completed until January 14. I can picture this in rotation for years to come. I just love the look and the feel of the fabric.

Perhaps because of the background, the fabric color appears different IRL. The photo is the last post is quite close to the actual colors. 

This week, I've started a pair of denim slacks out of a teal blue that will be my first bottom in this group. I started pattern work on them on January 14 as soon as this was complete. I am using the same Burda pattern I used for my shorts and instead of using the long pants in the pattern, I did some research on the width of pant legs, and the consensus was that straight leg pants have an 18" to 19" width at the hem, full pants have a 22" width at the hem, and the boot cut should be about 20". Somewhere in my research, I found something that equated the width of the hems to the crotch width, but when I went back to find it as I was starting the drafting, I couldn't find it again, so following directions in one of my pattern drafting books,  I started at knee length on the shorts, and went for a boot cut by adding 3/4" to each inseam and outer seam at the hem, tapering to the knee. 

I have relatively chunky thighs and don't want them too tight through that area, so this procedure should work well. I finished the redraft on the 15th, and finished cutting them out yesterday, but have not yet begun sewing. I do have about a yard of fabric left, so should be able to get a skirt out of that. 

The fabric is an end of the bolt cut from Fashion Fabrics Club, that was purchased along with some french terry and other denims back in September, so for me, it's a fairly new fabric. I was able to get a 3 1/4  yard piece for only $15.25, and it's a nice heavy denim with a bit of stretch. I'm sure it will also get a great deal of wear! Here's a teaser swatch of the new fabric:

In this photo, the color appears to be fairly close to real life. I'm excited to get these pants made up and into rotation. 

More later!