A Traditional Chinese Pants Pattern!

YOGA HOSE AM ME-MADE-MITTWOCH #17!

This pattern really attracted me right away - not so much because of the final shape of the pants, but because of the simplicity of the pattern. It is put together from two rectangles and an elastic waist band. Nothing else! See here:

(Don't worry about figuring this out yet, I will explain it later in this post!)

Maybe you have already seen my circle jacket or the one I made out of a simple rectangle - yes, I am fascinated by turning simple geometric shapes into garments.

The final pant shape is similar to harem pants. I actually still haven't made up my mind about harem pants yet, and I haven't even made up my mind about these Chinese pants either. I consider the two versions I am showing you here muslins... wearable maybe, as pajamas and/or yoga pants, but I am curious whether I could turn this into elegant street pants... What do you think? Do they have potential? I'd love to hear your input!



 The pattern is put together from two identical rectangles like this one:

This rectangle will make up one pant leg and half of the crotch/hip part. Because it is so simple, the  measurements you decide on will be crucial. I wear a European 34/36 and I will tell you the measurements I used, along with the explanations how I came up with them.

This rectangle is actually made up of three parts (indicated by the vertical dashes). You could just use one piece of fabric, but the extra seams add interesting style lines. I did my first muslin with just one piece, so you see what that looks like in the pictures below.

Line A-C = 95 cm (37,5''), this is the total pant leg length from the waist band down.
Line A-F = 3 x 25 cm ( 10'') = 75 cm (30'') (They don't necessarily have to be equal though!)
Line A-G = A-B = 28 cm (11'')

No seam allowances included!

The distance from A-G (A-B) is how far you will overlap the two rectangles for the legs and it decides how low the crotch will drop!

The remaining length G-F is half the width of your hip opening, so unless you want to add a zipper, it has to be at least half of the measurement at the widest part of your hip.

Me-Made-Mittwoch #16 - Recycling!

Deutsch: Grau

English: Green

Die Idee und Organisation des Me-Made-Mittwoch stammt von Catherine von Cat-und-Kascha, und Neueinsteigerinnen sind jederzeit willkommen! Einfach auf ihrem schönen Blog den Button abholen und Euren Link hinzufügen bei Mister Linky auf ihrer Seite.
Diese Woche seht ihr HIER, was die anderen Teilnehmerinnen heute Schönes tragen.

"Mittwoch" is German for Wednesday, so the participants wear a self-made garment or accessory every Wednesday. Catherine from Cat-und-Kascha is organizing it and you are welcome to join us anytime! Just go over to her blog to grab the button and add your link at Mister Linky on her site!

HERE you see the outfits from this weeks participants.

Heute präsentiere ich mal etwas ganz Neues, den Rock habe ich gestern fertig gestellt! Kaum zu glauben, letzten Mittwoch war ich nicht dabei, aber vor zwei Wochen habe ich noch ein Sommerkleid angezogen. Nun ist es definitiv Herbst, und mein erstes Herbst-Stück tatsächlich schon genäht!

Today I am presenting a skirt I only just finished yesterday. It's hard to believe that two weeks ago I showed a summer skirt. I had to skip last week, and now it is definitely fall already. I am proud that I actually sewed a first fall piece already, right in time with the season!

Tutorial: Melting & Making New Lipsticks

Be my guest: learn from my mistakes! I had the clumsiest morning when I did this little project, and I regret not having taken pictures of all my bloopers! But I promise I will tell you about all of them, so you don't have to make them yourself!

There are many other people who have written tutorials about making lipstick - in fact, I never even thought of doing this until I read this post from Vixen Vintage. The only problem is that most people use lipstick palettes or little jars, and I really wanted to make lipsticks again. Also, I wanted to use what I had in the house and not have to go shopping for this little experiment. As you see in the picture above, in spite of all the bloopers, it worked out just fine in the end.

Me-Made-Mittwoch #15

Deutsch: Grau

English: Blue

Heute trage ich das Kleid, das von mir den Namen "Miracle Dress" bekam. Nicht, weil es so wundervoll ist, sondern weil es wie ein Wunder war, dass es überhaupt tragbar herausgekommen ist...

Today I am wearing the dress that I call "miracle dress". Not because it is so miraculously beautiful, but because it seemed like a miracle that it turned out wearable at all...

Der Schnitt ist aus einer Deutschen Modenzeitung von 1941 und war mir eigentlich zwei Grössen zu gross, mindestens. Das war allerdings nicht die einzige Schwierigkeit -ich schneiderte das Kleid vor über einem Jahr, und dieser luftige Chiffon hat mich noch etwas überfordert. Das Kleid hat einen Seitenreissverschluss und die Raffinesse ist, dass es ein Unterhemd und den Unterrock gleich mit eingebaut hat. HIER sehr ihr mehr Fotos davon.

The pattern is from an old magazine from 1941 and was actually at least two sizes too big for me. This was not the only difficulty though - I sewed this dress over a year ago and this chiffon was a bit too challenging for me then. The dress has a side zipper and the really cool thing is that it has a top and underskirt sewn right into it. HERE you can see more pictures of the details.

Eigentlich ist es auch ein Wunder, dass es bei all den Änderungen die ich machte, am Schluss doch so ähnlich wie das Original aussieht. Was hält ihr von dem gelben Kleid? Ich glaube fast, das muss ich auch mal noch schneidern. Es ist sogar in meiner Grösse!

It's actually also a bit of a miracle that it ended up looking so much like the original after all the changes I made to it. What do you think of the yellow dress? I think I might have to give that one a try too - it even comes in my size!