Cutting it fine..... Part 6

Yes.  

Yes I know.  At this rate the tale of my trouser making journey alone will read like War and Peace and I haven't even got round to starting my holiday top yet.  *sigh*

Dispiritingly, my optimism about the elastic channels was completely unfounded.  According to the instructions,  BOTH lengths of elastic had to be fed through the channels at the same time otherwise it would be impossible.  Turns out it was impossible anyway as the tiny tolerance in the channels was too small so I simply couldn't thread them through.

In a strop, I yanked out the few inches of elastic I had managed to wiggle inside then sat morosely, contemplating my diminishing options.  Which were:

1.  Unpick ALL the waistband channeling seams and start again.

2. Throw the damned trousers in the bin and let's never speak of them again.

3. Buy slightly narrower elastic.

Option one was never really a runner.  It would have taken hours and I'd likely have poked my seam ripper thingy through the waistband in several places and completely ruined it.

Option two, though tempting, just didn't sit right with me.  At this point I'm six weeks into my trouser making 'journey' and have endured failure and mortification at every turn.  Nevertheless, this close to the end I felt disinclined to throw in the towel.

So option three it was and I have ordered some flat elastic which should arrive tomorrow.  

During this enforced hiatus, I decided to start thinking about my holiday top, which is a very simple, straightforward sleeveless, boxy top with a round neckline.  I bought the pattern online and had the PDF printed by a dressmaking pattern printing service.

I've had the fabric for weeks now... a soft crinkle crepe viscose, in colours to complement my trousers.  I didn't think about it at the time, but the fabric is directional, top to bottom AND side to side, which complicates things enormously, as I'll have to make sure that the front is perfectly centred and the back piece will have to run in the same direction from shoulders to hem, also centred.

The purples in the fabric exactly match my trousers.

Then there's the small matter of double inside bind neck and armhole facings, neither of which I've done before.

There is supposed to be a separate hem facing along the bottom edge too, but I'm going to dispense with that as it would be a nightmare trying to exactly match up the pattern, but I'll have to add extra length to compensate.  

I'm also going to try to make side slits, because HIPS.

I've laid the pattern sheets out on the dining room table prior to cutting out the bits I'm going to need and am devastated to discover that there are nine different pieces. 

NINE!!!!!

Not as I fondly imagined, looking at the pattern illustration a mere two.... front and back.

Four of the pieces will be cut from iron-on vilene to stabilise the neck and armholes.  Then there are another three long strips which have to be cut on the bias to form the neck and armhole facings.   I just hope that I have enough fabric as the bias strips will take up a lot of space, and I'm going to have to juggle the front and back pieces to be symmetrical and directional.   

There is no cutting layout diagram with the pattern, which is just as well, as it would be pointless.  Looking at the front and back pattern pieces I'm inclined to make a basic toile with the remnants of the old dustsheet as they look a bit big, even allowing for seam allowances and bust darts.  A toile will enable me to judge how much length to add. 

It all seems to be one step forward, three steps back at the moment......