Eating elephants - bite six

I have been remiss in posting, but I have installed the fly zipper and facing, using the tutorial from hot patterns.  I went as smoothly as it did the first time I used this, until I realised that the tutorial was based on a woman's garment - men's openings go the other way round!

 

 I've decided to leave it the wrong way and hope no one notices.  Undoing it would be a real pain, and probably damage the fabric at the centre front.  Other than being the wrong was round, it work well, and the zip is nicely concealed from view.  The next step will be to put it together so that I can fit it before continuing.

Eating Elephants - bites four and five

I've now caught up with my schedule for sewing these men's pants.  The Ex is taking my car for its annual test at the end of the week, so I should be able to fit them when he drops it back.  (if "still being friends" means that I still sew his trousers, then I figure it also means he still deals with my car) 

Since my photography skills are decidedly dodgy, the fabric looks rather grey.  In fact, it's a dark olive green.  The bound pocket is not as neat as would have liked, but I ended up having to do it several times anyway, so I figure that's as good as it's going to get.

The next bite is the fly area.  I always hated installing zipper fly front, but last time I needed to install one I found a great video tutorial from Hot Patterns on YouTube.  I will admit that watching the tutorial it didn't seem to make sense, but when I played it while I was actually doing it, pausing the video as I completed each step, it worked, and was undoubtedly the best zipper fly front I've ever done.

I won't say that I'm an expert now, but I've saved the video to my I-pod so I can repeat the same process every time I need to install zips like this.  Hopefully I will reach a point when I don't need to watch the video every time.

Eating elephants - bites two and three

Having got side tracked by a new T shirt for my sewing chair, I figured I'd better get back to the elephant project.  I realised that I'd got bites two and three in the wrong order.  it makes much more sense to sew the darts and pleats BEFORE I overlock all the pieces.  Since I haven't bitten anything off this project for three days I figured I might as well jump in and do both.  

One of my all too frequent mistakes is forgetting that two sides need to be mirror images, not identical.  I was determined not to make that mistake and copied all the markings onto both pieces as mirror images.  Of course I forgot that men's pants usually only have the bound pocket on the right hand side, and I marked the pocket placement on both sides.  It is only tailor's chalk, so I'm hoping that the marks on the left hand piece will rub off.

I overlocked the pocket piping pieces in half, since that's how I'll fit them.

I'm still a day behind, so I might try and get the bound pocket done later today.  I found a set of really easy instructions   for making a bound pocket, so rather than try to follow the pattern instructions I'm going to work through these instructions.  She's put a button on a flap on hers, but I don't want that so I'll just leave out that bit.

Now I have a pile of prepared pieces for these pants, ready to be assembled.

Eating Elephants - the first bite

How do you eat an elephant?  One bite at a time.

I'm about to apply the same principle to a sewing project that I've been putting off.

My ex-husband is 6 ft 6, with long legs.  He has always had problems getting trousers to fit, so I used to make his formal trousers, and even on one occasion ventured into men's tailoring with  a full suit.

When we separated we divided everything up in a very grown up and amicable way, and resolved to remain friends.  What I didn't realise was that remaining friends meant that I still had to sew his trousers, until he arrived on my doorstep with a bolt of fabric, a zip and thread.I don't find men's trousers especially easy, and I struggle to work up much enthusiasm for sewing for other people.  Instead of putting it off until the last possible moment then doing a rush job, I'm taking the elephant approach: Cutting it up and tackling it one bite at a time.

1. Cut out pieces and lining pieces
2. Overlock all pieces
3. Stitch and press darts
4. Sew bound pocket on the right back piece
5. Attach and top stitch front pockets and lining
6. Install fly zip and facing
7. Sew side and inside leg seams
8. Make belt carriers and tack on to trousers
9. Attach waist band
10. Sew loose end on the belt carriers
11. Sew button hole, button and trouser bar
12. Hem

That's come out at 12 bites.  It doesn't seem very many for a task that I have always considered a "major" sewing project.  I can't help feel that I've missed something.

Anyway, If I'm right I should be able to finish these in under two weeks just be eating one bite a day.  None of the individual "bites" are going to take long, so I can still have other projects going on that I am actually inspired by, and by overlocking all the pieces at the beginning I only need my ordinary sewing machine out (which it usually is anyway).

Fired with enthusiasm I've alreading crossed number one off the list, I've cut out the pieces.  I'm using a pattern that I have used several times before (I got custody of all the patterns which was probably a strategic mistake) so I've already made the required adjustments to the pattern Burda 8186 , but today's bite and tomorrow's bite (overlocking) are probably the most time consuming.