It’s Good Friday {Pauline Alice Turia Dungarees}

It didn’t start as a Good Friday. In fact, it started with me in tears, hugging my dog on the floor. Which I should probably explain. He wasn’t feeling well yesterday, a bit off his food, a bit drooly and just unhappy really. I thought I’d take him to the vet then because I didn’t want him to get worse and end up paying a billion dollars in vet fees on a public holiday. HA. So I took him, they did bloods and basically were none the wiser. Diagnosis: maybe he ate something he shouldn’t have. I suspected ears, but I ain’t no vet. Fast forward to this morning and he had deteriorated into a stumbling, circling drunken sailor with the inability to focus his eyes. It was upsetting, I was concerned about the billion dollar vet fees. But alas, I had seen this before. Vestibular disease, middle ear infection related. I’d bet my life savings on it.

(Old pic, he’s firmly on the floor today).

Long story short, I have a couple of angels in my life that were looking out for us. Phone calls were made, strings were pulled and Sid is now resting comfortably on all the right medication. Tomorrow he’ll have a proper check up, but for now he is ok. And I saved a billion dollars. MARVELOUS. What a bloody Good Friday.

So what does one do when she is stressing out about her dog? She sews the Turia Dungarees that she’s been meaning to make for close to a year. Oh yes. So wise. Spoiler: I made so many stupid mistakes. Ridiculous mistakes that I haven’t made for a really long time. And I made them one after another. But they’re done.

So pants scare me. Not nice, wide leg, very little can go wrong pants. No. Not all-forgiving stretch leggings. No. I thought overalls were a nice progression. Not tailored pants, not jeans. Denim with a bit of stretch, no fly or any of that jazz. Should be cool right? Nup.

It’s not very apparent in the pics (thanks to the colour black), but I have delightful drag lines in the crotch region. Vertical drag lines that some might call…..

CAMEL TOE.

But less cleaving up the middle, more a framing of the sides, if you will.

A bit of googling provided this great resource from Closet Case Files. I heeded the advice, but it made very little difference. When I was trying to figure those pesky lines out, I was pinching out fabric here and there to see how I could get rid of them and I suspect that maybe there’s just too much fabric in that region for me? I’m still not entirely sure. Pants, man. What mysterious creatures.

I unpicked and adjusted those suckers no less than three times. Have you ever unpicked flat felled seams? It’s not a good time. I did manage to make a bit of a difference, but some of those lines remain. In the end I gave up. So advise me wise sewists, what do you think? How do I get rid of those suckers?

Ooh, I almost forgot:

Turia Dungarees pattern here.

Denim is Telio.

Bib and brace thingies I bought locally from East Coast Fabrics.

I have made this pattern before, but majorly hacked it into a skirt. Because pants are scary and I’m more of a dress gal.

A couple of changes I made:

Bias binding to finish the back underarm bits instead of folding stitching. Did that last time too. No raw edges.

Narrowed the legs.

Shortened the legs.

Gave up on the flat felled crotch seam after so many adjustments and just did a mock version. I know, I’m the worst.

Verdict: I don’t know. I want to like them, I really do. Maybe they will grow on me.

 

 

ARGHHH ME DUNGIES {Turia Dungarees V2.0}

I know. Two pairs in 24 hours. Am I crazy? Maybe. Yesterday’s version was my (wearable) muslin, today I cut into the good stuff. Oh how desperate I’ve been to cut into this delicious Robert Kaufman corduroy from fabric.com. Look at those little skullies. There was also a navy version with little red lobsters. Toughest decision of my life.

Just a couple of really small changes to this version:

• I brought in the waist a touch and made the skirt slightly more A line in shape. More suited to my body shape, I think.
• Exposed metal zip sewn onto the outside. I had no idea what I was doing, but it works. Oh and only one zip this time, instead of the two suggested by the pattern.
• I rearranged the steps a bit and sewed bias binding to finish the edges of the upper back and the front seam where the bodice attaches to the skirt. Still looks flat felled from the outside, but you can see the binding on the inside. Only changed that because I had so much trouble with that seam on my first pair. Binding extends to the zip and opposite side seam, nicely finishing that raw edge problem too.
• I changed the envelope pocket on the front bodice to a really simple patch version. I had originally cut and sewn on the envelope version but paid no attention to where those skulls were and it just looked rubbish. I think the simpler version suits this fabric better.

 

Inside out, binding plus check out the reverse side of that flat felled seam!

Please note I was too lazy to change my over locker thread. I’m that guy.

Behold! Fit is better with those adjustments, right? I feel like it is. I love it. Stark contrast to how I felt about my last version.

I truly have no idea how to thread these. Will consult my old mate Google before wearing them out in public like this.

 

 

Bearded and Knife Wielding {Turia Dungarees Dress Hack}

Oh how I eyed off this pattern for a long time. Will they suit me? (ehhhh.) Will I look ridiculous? (debatable.) Will I be able to turn it into a dress version because shorts aren’t really my jam? (absolutely.)

When I finally got around to buying the pattern, there were none in any of the online stores in Australia. Then I contemplated the PDF route for about three seconds before deciding to buy directly from the Pauline Alice website. They took a few weeks to arrive, but I love me a paper pattern.

I bought some spotty stretch denim on sale from The Remnant Warehouse in anticipation and already had a couple of metal denim zippers here that I’d picked up from an op shop ages ago. One has brass teeth and one silver coloured, but you know – this is just a muslin version, so no biggy. I knew there would be a tonne of top stitching involved in this, so I kept grey thread in my machines. My top stitching does not need any extra attention because it is, quite frankly, appalling. I did get lots of practice today though. Button and buckle set was a Birch one from Spotlight.

My measurements put me into the size 46, so I traced that off pretty much as is, with the skirt hack. It was much simpler than I thought it would be. Being dungarees (or overalls, as we would call them in Australia) there is a fair bit of ease.

Off I went, gaining smug confidence early because look at these pockets:

Oh yes – look at those pockets, so fashun, much smug.

Next? Flat felled seams. Oh. Better consult my old mate Google for those buggers. HAHAHA you guys. Look at my seams! YASSS. I AM QUEEEEEEEEEEN.

Basically you sew your pieces wrong sides together (I know, but stay with me), press those seams open, trim the seam allowance on one side, fold the bigger one over the smaller one and Bob’s your Uncle, really.

So flat, so felled, so strong for chunky butts.

Then I made the bodice front bit with the envelope pocket. Still going strong. Still loving this sew (and myself a bit, let’s be honest). First snag came with the second flat felled seam where the bodice attaches to the skirt. The pattern doesn’t specify which seam to trim but I sort of figured by the way the rest of the top of the skirt seam allowance has to fold over, that you’d have to trim the top one. I think. That sounds very confusing but you’ll get it if you make them. The rest of the top edge of the skirt is still raw and has to be finished by folding it over and top stitching. ANYWAY. Seam allowance trimmed, but where the bulky seams sit on the pockets was quite difficult to turn over for that nice flat felled finish, so it’s not as good looking as the back seam. Never mind, not that noticeable.

Next snag was turning over the raw edges of the upper back and the top of the skirt. I didn’t like how it looked and my denim seemed prone to fraying. So I decided to finish it with bias binding instead. Bit of a hacked together job, but again – not all that noticeable. Bullet mostly dodged.

Final and WORST EVER snag: those damn buttons and buckles. Pattern suggests you follow manufacturers instructions. Birch provides none. Cool. Consult my bestie Google once again, find decent tutorial (seriously, do companies just assume we know this stuff? Did you know this stuff? Let me know if I’m the only stupid one). RIGHT. Hammer. Let’s get bashy. Oops. Too bashy. Bashed that first button so good that I can barely get the buckle over it. Uh oh. Code red. Or blue, maybe. She’s gonna need surgery at a later date. And most likely a denim patch after I plier that sucker off. Second one goes on like a dream, of course, because I was much more gentle.

But she’s finished and here she is. All in all, a pretty rad pattern. Next time I’ll only use one zip – two isn’t necessary.

I have the greatest fabric for my next version, but I’m on the fence about whether I like these or not. I think I do, but again – that boxy feeling and that flattering word (can someone kill that word, seriously? With fire). I feel like maybe the cute spotty denim makes me look like a bearded, knife wielding butcher, but again – let me sleep on it.