Blue and white striped top

 

A long sleeved stripe tee made from a remnant my mum passed to me (she's more a knitter these days).

This is the polo neck/turtleneck from New Look 6008 (long our of print) with the neck band cut out the same length but only 2" tall. I did a 1" hem on the coverhem machine.

Pink stripe top

 

Another turtleneck from OOP New Look 6008. I've altered the sleeve for a full bicep and the back piece for a high round back.

Striped tee

 

This striped tee was made using my TNT New Look 6735 as the basis.

I raised the neckline a bit, added a wider (but shorter) neckband and used the pocket from the Closet Core Tshirt pattern.

The fabric was a strangely shaped remnant from Auntie Joy's stash, which I think she used to make T shirt for her boys in the 1970s.

Trying Butterick 6947 Trousers

I pulled out this OOP Butterick pattern from 2000 (mine is size 14-16-18) from the pattern collection, when I was thinking about making culottes, instead I decided to make the trousers (far right).

I thought I'd help myself with the crotch curves by copying them off the black bengaline trousers and transferring onto this pattern. This involved altering the back pattern piece quite a bit but just changing the curve slightly on the front.

I made the front waistband longer as I am flatter at the front but swaybacked.

I then partly constructed the trousers and tried them on to see if I could manage without the back zip. They have a fixed front waistband, a centre back zip and a back elastic casing to two parts either side of the zip. This seemed overkill and I wanted to avoid the zip if possible.

Overall they were too long in the waist and I didn't like the way the back casing would have an angle in it (from my alteration). I marked either side of 1 inch elastic with a sliver of soap (I prefer soap to chalk on dark fabrics).

Here's what that looks like.

The white lines are drawn above and below the elastic belt and are broadly where I want the waistband to be. The front has the waistband attached but flipped up.

The back includes the casing but flipped up.

The lines are a bit wonky as I'm doing this for myself whilst wearing them, so I will smooth them out to something sensible.

So this time I will trim off from the top of the waist, but that will affect the pockets. They are large with a big opening so they will still be usable once shortened, but it may be best to shorten the tissue in a different place for next time.

I'll show you what they look like once I have done that and finished them properly.