Shear(ling) Love

from sarah the sewist

Josh's birthday is coming up next month, and since he made me such a fabulous gift that I know was a real labor of love, as well as a major pain in the butt, I feel compelled to make something for him that's he's going to love as much as I love my gift. Plus, my husband's just generally awesome, and he deserves something special.

When our latest Burda World of Fashion magazine arrived, Josh was thrilled because it actually contained three men's patterns. He was immediately taken with the snazzy faux shearling fisherman's coat.


(You can check out the line drawing here if you're so inclined.)

I've never made anything out of shearling, faux or otherwise, but I thought this would be a wonderful birthday gift for my sweetie. It's certainly not something that he'd make for himself (even though I believe he'd be perfectly capable, despite his recent spate of self-doubt). And, faux shearling items are still so popular, that they're quite overpriced. I've also never seen anything in the stores, even Nordy's, that has quite these unusual lines and interesting shape. (Working just a few blocks from the downtown PDX Nordstrom can be a bit dangerous---I'm always checking that place out.)

What I didn't know is that faux shearling is really expensive---like $25-30 a yard. That seems a little insane for something that's basically fancy polyester. But I'm sure there's a good reason. Anyway, these prices forced me to do something I never do---brave Fabric Depot on one of the 40% off days. Worse yet, the Saturday of the two 40% off days. Hardier souls can handle this, but I'm just not that tough when it comes to shopping. Anyway, I grabbed my fabric and ran (after paying, of course).

This looks to be almost identical to the fabric in the pattern photo. It's your normal white fleece inside, with the outside of the fabric being a dark brown faux distressed leather. I think it's pretty masculine, unlike the pink-on-pink that was also available.


So, I haven't actually done any work on this pattern. Haven't even traced it out of the magazine. But, I'm thinking about it a lot. I hear the this stuff is a nightmare to sew with, but I'm in denial. It'll all work out just fine. And if I keep telling myself that, it just might be true.

Oh, in case you're wondering... It's (obviously) not a surprise. Kind of hard to hide a sewn gift in our house, since the trusty Kenmore's in the living room.

1908 Americans Fabric

Last weekend we found the right color and drape of fabric for Josh's 1908 St. Louis Americans jacket. We considered going more authentic, but the right color, weight and drape of wool flannel is just too expensive for such an experimental project (have we mentioned that we're kind of cheap?). Instead, we found a stretch corduroy that's very fuzzy and really has the look that we want, even though it's not straight up authentic.

This is as far as we've gotten in the project.

We'll keep you posted.

A big "thank you" to Nancy of Sew West for her input on the fabric. Hopefully, this one will work out fabulously so we can do an awesome flannel one next.

New Fabric

from sarah the sewist

One pink, one brown. Both Robert Kaufman stretch "Vera" sateen. Had a plan for these, but reconsidering said plan. For some reason pants and a shirt just don't seem interesting enough. Lots of projects to go before I have to commit either of these to a pattern.

Both were procured this weekend at Bolt. They also had red. The red was pretty awesome.

Inspiration

What you have here is a 1908 St. Louis Americans Warm Up Jacket. That's baseball. We're looking at trying to replicate this as our big fall project. We're perplexed about the fabric choice, though. What do you think? Corduroy? Flannel? Boiled wool? Nothing seems just right, and all we've got to go on is a photo in an auction catalog Josh picked up at Powell's. The plan we're thinking about right now is to go for a gray corduroy (because it's relatively cheap) for the first one, pretty much copying the styling as much as we can---with the exception of the wacky button placement. Then, if that works out, maybe Josh will go for a Cincinnati Reds-inspired version in red wool.

It'll also give Josh a chance to mess around with his favorite sewing technique---appliqué. No, we're not kidding. Josh loves appliqués.