Mosch, Me and Aud

Having reviewed a lot of photos of Moschino trousers I am strongly of the opinion that they are designed to fit badly in and around the crotch area.

So I didn't feel too bad when I made my alterations to the £310's worth of recently purchased Moschino pants.

The waist was too big by about 1 1/2", and the bum was saggy along with wrinkles around the crotch. I promptly took ripper and scissors to the trousers in an attempt to get a better fit.











Mrs Mole would be proud of me. The back seam was ripped out to crotch and the waistband cut in two. I re-sewed the centre back seam taking in almost 1" on either side, cut this off the waistband and made a centre back seam. Stitched the belt carrier over this seam, re-stitched the waistband down, sewed the label back on and Bob's your uncle - a pair of relatively well fitting Moschino pants.

I managed to keep a few wrinkles (in keeping with the Moschino fit) but overall, a much better pair of trousers with no gaping at the waist. There are a few extra wrinkles that, to be honest, if I was making these myself from scratch, I would not be happy with. Another reminder of why we make and don't buy.

The shirt is my take on Audrey Hepburn's from Roman Holiday for SWAP 13. I had to ditch the Chanel jacket from the collection as it is a jacket and not allowed as a top and I had to find a replacement. I need white shirts/blouses, so this seemed a good option.

 I started with McCalls 6068 (OOP) but as you can see is it unfitted. It's a great little basic shirt pattern with easy collar, cuffs and the two-piece sleeves make for an easy vent too.




With the shirt pieces pinned onto Doris I set about adding darts - two in the back, one in each front and bust darts for shaping. I removed the cuffs and shortened the sleeves to elbow length. The fabric is a white cotton broiderie anglaise that I rediscovered in the attic recently. I bought this in London almost 25 years ago!


With the little bits of leftovers I made a little necktie - mostly to cover up my poor sewing at the collar.

It wasn't all plain sailing however. It was difficult to tell right side from wrong side with the fabric and I ended up making two left sleeves. Nice little reminder to not be so cocky.

 The shirt is long enough to cover the backside when worn loose or tie at the waist for a 1950s look and still be fitted enough to tuck in without acres of shirt tails bunching up inside the trousers.

Me and Audrey are becoming really good mates - here's us playing cards and shooting the breeze in our pristine white shirts.