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Tasha Could Make That

Tasha Could Make That

Vintage knitting, sewing, and a lifetime of craftiness

Love Cats: Last things sewn for summer

September 28, 2016 by Tasha 21 Comments

We’ve really had kind of an extended summer here. It’s late September and I still have roses and a few day lilies (?!!) blooming, and the tomatoes are going crazy. This week, the temperatures have cooled, and so the projects I’m sharing today are assuredly the last things I’ll have made for summer this year!

Rounding the bend on my third pair of jeans in a row, I hit a wall a few weeks ago. I don’t typically stop sewing mid-project. I fact, I nearly never do (unlike knitting where I do it all the time). But this time, I did. I just needed… something that wasn’t jeans! (And when I picked them back up, I realized there’s a couple of stumbling blocks I need to work through. At some point…)

Before it was absolutely too late to squeeze in any more sewing for summer, I sewed an outfit to (kinda) bridge the seasons: capris, but with a 3/4 length sleeve top that I could wear all fall. Ta da!

Love Cats capris

Both are Butterick patterns I’ve sewn several times before—B5895 for the capris, and B6285 turned into a surplice top (here’s my tutorial on how to do just that). I’d mostly forgotten about the surplice top pattern over the summer, but thankfully it popped back into memory as I wanted more of these in my wardrobe for sure, so I started back up with my favorite color, red!

red-surplice-top

The capris I made using the same pattern I use for cigarette pants (last used on my pink leopard print ones). This is a stretch cotton sateen from Harts Fabric. The fabric is by Telio (why am I suddenly seeing this manufacturer’s name all over?) and is adorable. Love cats! There’s a big but though. I discovered it has abysmal recovery and within a couple of hours of wearing these capris, they’d stretched out considerably (all except the hem and the interfaced waistband). Ugh. Big thumbs down for that. They’ll have to get washed and dried each time I wear them, which I don’t love.

Love Cats capris

I tweak this pattern every time, which sometimes works and sometimes doesn’t. I could stand to be slightly better at documenting on the pattern pieces what I’ve done, as I have so many versions of this pattern floating around and sometimes I’d like to dial back changes, but find it hard to do so. Especially when I have notes like “maybe sway back adjustment?” Um thanks, really helpful, me. Even though I keep a pretty details sewing notebook, I’m not always great at keeping track on the actual pieces.

Style-wise, I changed the waistband so that it has a slight curve at the center front, which you can sort of see below, but the print is so busy it masks a lot!

curved waistband

I like it, but I forgot to ease in stay tape around the curve to force it to cling towards the body. I totally meant to and forgot in the end! So it bows out a bit at the front. Not really noticeable, but annoying to me. It’s exacerbated by the waist having stretched out about an inch since I tried the capris on a few times without basting the waistband on (since I was tweaking the leg fit). I know better, but I was in a rush so I did it anyway and paid the price. Not a big deal though, certainly not worth fussing and taking the darts in bigger or whatnot to make up for it.

I also attempted to line up the print slightly, which I’ve discovered on this pattern is damn near impossible! Kind of daunted at the idea of trying them in plaid, which I’d really like to do in a stretch wool suiting for winter. I think the only places I could get the lines to match up would be the center front and center back seams, the legs seams would be basically impossible. Maybe I’ll just stick with a mini print like this houndstooth!

Love Cats capris

Anyway, the top was great to sew, as for once I just pulled out the pattern piece (yes, one piece) and got to sewing! No tweaking, huzzah! No issues, huzzah! Good fabric choice, huzzah!

I’ve found through a few versions that this surplice top does best with a knit that has a nice stretch and recovery, like a cotton spandex. That way the surplice front stays pretty close to the body. I’m really pleased with this version and basically now want one in every color. 😉

lovecats-outfit3

back of surplice top

It was a fun outfit to sew, and I wore it down in St. Louis a couple of weekends ago when we went on a road trip. One of my goals was to finish the capris in order to show them off to my cat-loving 7-year-old nephew. Wish I’d thought to get a photo with him while I was wearing these!

The capris were definitely the last summery thing I’ll be making these year. My mind is all full of coats (a black bouclé Clare coat will be on the horizon!), flannel fabric, warm knits, fun toppers, and exploring some new things. I may do an inspiration post soon about it!

Last things sewn for summer

outfit details

capris – made by me
surplice top – made by me
vintage confetti lucite cuff – antique store in New Mexico
shoes – Dr. Scholl’s Really flats

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Filed Under: Sewing, Vintage Wardrobe Tagged With: butterick, finished projects, outfits, pants, surplice tops

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. matkailijakirppu says

    September 28, 2016 at 10:50 am

    Super lovely fabric! Looks great! 🙂

    Reply
    • Tasha says

      September 29, 2016 at 10:31 am

      Thank you! 🙂

      Reply
  2. raquel from JC says

    September 28, 2016 at 1:32 pm

    girl! you look fantastic!

    Reply
    • Tasha says

      September 29, 2016 at 10:32 am

      Thanks! 😀 I really like this outfit!

      Reply
  3. Siobhan says

    September 28, 2016 at 6:50 pm

    You are really rocking the high waist capri look! And now I feel like everyone needs a pair of cat print pants in their life.

    Reply
    • Tasha says

      September 29, 2016 at 10:32 am

      I’m all on board with cat print pants! 😉

      Reply
  4. Retroline says

    September 29, 2016 at 1:09 am

    Your capris are wonderful and it fits really great. I have made them a few years ago, but mine doen’t fit so good. Where is the zipper? I have made it into the back seam, but at your capris I can’t see it there.
    Greetings from Germany
    Carolin

    Reply
    • Tasha says

      September 29, 2016 at 10:32 am

      Thank you! I did a center back zipper because I was going to add inseam pockets in the front but they looked horrible, so I scrapped them but had already inserted the zipper. If I’m not planning anything like that, I typically do a side zipper.

      Reply
  5. PinhouseP says

    September 29, 2016 at 2:46 pm

    Woweee! Fabulous 😀

    Reply
    • Tasha says

      September 30, 2016 at 11:07 am

      Thank you! 🙂

      Reply
  6. Ryan says

    September 29, 2016 at 5:23 pm

    The cat print is great, too bad about the bagging out. I’ve also recently noticed Telio, starting when I found a royal blue poly crepe with penguins! I bought enough for an oversized woven tee and then went back and bought more…for something else. And while i was buying the second order of yardage I included black with cat silhouettes in the same crepe and ITY (to make a comfy wrap dress with cats). I want to copy my favorite Maggie London wrap dress that’s actually a half-wrap dress? Only one of the ties goes all the way around my waist and then ties to the top tie.

    Reply
    • Tasha says

      September 30, 2016 at 11:07 am

      Oooh, so many fun cats! And penguins! I bet those will be fun projects. 🙂

      Reply
  7. Jessica Cangiano says

    September 29, 2016 at 8:44 pm

    Serious contender for the cutest capri pants ever. 🙂

    xoxo ♥ Jessica

    Reply
    • Tasha says

      September 30, 2016 at 11:08 am

      Thanks, Jessica! I’m pretty smitten with them. 🙂

      Reply
  8. Nina says

    September 29, 2016 at 9:18 pm

    Great outfit. Is that a stretch fabric for the pants? What is the fabric content?

    Reply
    • Tasha says

      September 30, 2016 at 11:09 am

      Yep, I mention in the post it’s a stretch cotton sateen. I think it has 3% spandex, and I’ve sewn with several fabrics around this percentage but this one just has poor recovery by comparison.

      Reply
  9. Carlee says

    September 30, 2016 at 2:30 pm

    Super cute!!!!

    Reply
  10. Cynthia says

    October 2, 2016 at 3:44 pm

    I love this outfit! and I would never have thought of pants for the fabric but it works really well! too bad about the bagging out… it’s annoying when that happens…
    Also, unrelated but I really really like the way you set your hair there!

    Reply
  11. Natalie says

    October 11, 2016 at 5:25 pm

    you are one cleaver & resourceful young lady. I love your whole look its great to see as everything now days is uncoverd and gives a easy(tartie) look.

    Reply
  12. bella lauren says

    November 10, 2016 at 4:16 am

    You look super cute in this stunning vintage outfit,i really adore your outfit.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. Harts Love List no.7 - Sew Your Hart Out says:
    September 30, 2016 at 3:16 pm

    […] Blogger By Gum By Golly made these fun pants out of this […]

    Reply

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