Sunday, April 26, 2015

Cullotes and Construction

 
My latest sewing projects are a pair of culottes and a jacket. I wore culottes many years ago and remember liking them a lot.  The patterns is from Burda 4 2015, pattern 113.

Burda 4 2015 113



The fabric is a tropical weight wool blend, 97% Wool 3% Lycra purchased from Roz at Sew Much Fabric . It is a lightweight fabric with some body, which was the Burda fabric recommendation. This pattern has deep pleats in the front and the longest darts I have ever seen in the back. They actually ends below butt level. They look okay though.


The culottes are definitely comfortable to wear. For some reason the "legs" of my culottes look much wider than those in the magazine pictures. Ah well, perhaps because I am shorter and wider than most models. The waistband is about 2" high which is great if you want to wear cropped tops without flashing skin. I made a semi fitted, waist length jacket to wear with these culottes. The linen print fabric was also purchased from SMF. The colors, white, gray and a light chartreuse (greenish yellow) are so fresh and calming. I liked everything about this fabric. The pattern is one of many McCall's NY NY Collection patterns in my stash. They all have garments which were a little different from the popular styles back in the 1990's, when they were issued, so I think that saves them from reeking heavily of that era.
McCall's 8611
Cropped tops seem to be very popular now. Ror the last couple years, Burda magazines has had patterns for many of them,  but they are all too boxy for my narrow shoulders and the shapelessness overwhelms my top half. My "over 55 years old" interpretation of this trend is a semi fitted, cropped at the waist top, like this jacket.  The jacket is unlined. I serged all the edges of the garment pieces to prevent raveling. This jacket was a fast, fun sew.
 



Burda 4 2015 113
What is the  construction in the blog title?  DH has been working every weekend for the last month, removing the dark paneling in our 35 X 15 ft. dungeon   family room and replacing it with wallboard. My weekend sewing, cooking, cleaning activities were constantly interrupted to help him bring in wallboard from the truck, or hold it in place while he screwed it to the studs. I was only too happy to help. Next we get to do the fun stuff like picking out paint colors and buying new furniture. Anyone want a 35 year old sleeper sofa?

 Using the wallboard as a backdrop for my pictures also serves the purpose of showing other family members where we are on the project. And I liked the purple color or the waterproof wall board. ( near a shower)
Something is not level. Yeah, the sawhorse the camera is sitting on.
 
 
 
No more dark paneling!
 
 

 

11 comments:

  1. These look so great on you!

    I traced these off right away after getting this issue and then chickened out. I was thinking I was too short for such a wide leg. I really want to try them now because I love yours!

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  2. Love the crop jacket and culottes. Looks great on you. Those were called gaucho's when I was younger. Culottes were knee length. Then there were closer fitting knickers that ended under the knee with a cuff or band. Palazzo pants and split skirts have also been re-introduced. Fashion continues to re-invent itself. A sewist has the advantage -- we can continue to be stylish and trendy by customizing what works for us.

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  3. I love that outfit. I use to be a Culottes wearer too. Looking forward to making my first pair.

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  4. The cropped jacket and the culouttes look very smart.

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  5. I have always like culottes too. These could work in so many different fabrics.

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  6. Love this outfit. I have been thinking about trying coulottes. Particularly love the jacket.

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  7. Well, I have decided that culottes are not for me...but they look awfully good on you! What an excellent combination.

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  8. Guess what I am working on-- crop top and culottes also. I really like your post about the crop top and perhaps needing to adjust the width. I like this Burda culotte pattern. I am going to use a Butterick pattern.

    I really like Sew Much Fabric fabrics. I have a piece in my stash now that I need to sew up soon.

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  9. Great outfit. I recently found a 1970s pattern for culottes without front pleats that I may pluck up the courage to try.

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  10. Love the gauchos and jacket, great fabric choices. You have some awesome shoes! I fell in love with each pair you modeled with the outfit and wall updates. Cute!

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  11. I love this outfit on you. Culottes are a tough style to pull off, but you do it well.

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