Lace and Engineering

I signed up for Kenneth D. King's Jean-ius class a few weeks ago and have been working my way through the lessons. My plan is to rub-off, or reverse engineer, a pair of Armani jeans. I bought all the little tools needed for pattern drafting justifying the purchases by convincing myself I can use them for tracing off Burda magazine patterns - like I would!

To cut a long story short - I managed to produce a paper pattern for the jeans that looks impressive on its own. I tested it on a bit of calico and while there were still some issues to be sorted - it wasn't too bad, so went for the real thing.

I bought this absolutely lovely creamy moleskin (micro-suede?) [I've actually no idea what it is] in a local rundown fabric shop - sometimes you get lucky - but it was mega cheap and thought that I had not much to lose and lots to gain: practice jean making techniques, new sewing methods and maybe a pair of jeans. These are an almost wearable muslin of my patern. There's a bit of re-drafting to do but I learned a lot from making these. As long as I wear a long top - they look OK.

 Now on to the star of the show - the lace T-shirt. This is the Three Bears T but made in lace -- actually a lace curtain from the same fabric shop. Across the shoulders and top it's just lace but I cut up an old white t-shirt and added the body of it on the lower half for modesty's sake.

 So there are two layers on the body of the T and I quite like the way the T-shirt bit hangs down. I used the finished edge of the old T-shirt as a ready made hem. All in all this took 1 hour to make.

 Just need to consider appropriate underwear for this item

 While I am not actively participating in Me-Made May because I practically wear only home made clothes most of the time I think this little ensemble would qualify as a Me-Drafted and Made-May outfit.

 Thanks for reading. Ruth