The Breakfast Club WARDROBE, Part 2

This article was supposed to be all about showing you the shirt muslin I made from McCall’s 6613, and the adjustments I was going to make.

A funny thing happened along the way: Browsing the forums at Pattern Review, I discovered they have a Mini Wardrobe Contest happening for the month of July.  Since the whole point of this project was to build up my summer wardrobe, the contest seemed like a good thing to do.

My original plan was to modify the pattern, then produce about five or so shirts.  The new plan is to produce three shirts and two pairs of pants, in accordance with the contest rules.

The Pants

I want to make a nice pair of casual pants with modern styling.  My pattern stash has two choices: Vogue 8940, a modern pattern with a jacket and pants, and Thread Theory’s Jedediah Pants, which I had recently purchased along with everything else they currently offer.

Both patterns look like a good choice.  I had thought about making the Vogue pants, but upon inspection learned they use a yoke in the back, similar to a pair of jeans – just like the Jedediah Pants.  So I leaned back towards the Jeds, partly because they have a nice sew-along. Also, Mainely Dad of The Japanese Pattern Challenge blog recently made his own pair of Jeds, which gives me something to compare with as I go along.

Prepping the Jedediah Pants pattern was an interesting challenge.  I’ve never worked with a PDF pattern this size before, which required trimming and taping 35 sheets of paper before even cutting out the pattern pieces.  Really, tracing commercial patterns is tedious, but it’s not as bad as this.

Based on my measurements, I cut the size 36 pattern. This was based on my waist size, which admittedly is a bit large compared to my other proportions.  The 1970’s book Sewing for Men and Boys recommends selecting a pants pattern on the basis of waist size, so that’s what I went with.

Fabric Selection

The shirting fabrics all come from my stash.  The yellow and blue come from Fabric Outlet, the light purple comes from JoAnn’s.  Each is a bright, summery color.

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The fabric for one pair of pants is also coming from stash.  The gray twill fabric has appeared on this blog before, as well as the paisley floral Chambray I’ll use for the pocketing.

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I don’t have another pants fabric in my stash that’s summery and coordinates with the shirt selections, so I’ll have to shop for it.  Perhaps I can sneak out of work during my lunch hour and shop at Discount Fabrics, which is within walking distance of my office.

Muslins

I’ll be muslining the Jeds using this cut of fabric from my stash.  You’d think it’s fancy wool suiting from the selvedge, but no – it’s actually polyester fabric I bought at Discount Fabrics over a year ago.  I don’t know what I was thinking when I bought this stuff – I wouldn’t want to use it for a real pair of pants, both on style and comfort points. So a muslin it will be.

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Here’s the Jeds pattern laid out on the ugly polyester suiting, waiting to be cut. I’m skipping the rear patch pockets, and belt loops.

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Finally, I still have enough left of my paisley bedsheet to make a muslin for McCall’s 6613. Like the Jeds, I’m skipping the patch pocket for the muslin.

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Next Time

I’ll have both muslins stitched together, and we’ll talk about fit and alterations.  See you then.

4 thoughts on “The Breakfast Club WARDROBE, Part 2

  1. Joe

    It sounds like you have your work cut out for you the next few days Mike. Good luck on the Jeds. That’s a great pattern, I think I’m going to have to break down and by it myself.

    1. mportuesisf

      The Jeds do look like a great pattern. I can’t wait to see how they turn out! I’m going through the pattern instructions and the sewalong this evening.

  2. Wil

    I read the rules for the contest on Pattern Review. I am sure you will make a fine wardrobe in a month. Good Luck !

    1. mportuesisf

      Thank you! It’s going to take a lot of determination to finish this one in time.

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