Outfit Six: July

It's July!  I know it's actually August, but it's the July end of August, so I'm calling it.  Here is July's outfit!  July has a couple of big, complicated garments.  At least I thought they would be complicated until I started working on them and found, as is usually the case, that they weren't nearly as difficult as I had imagined.

Beatnik.  I love this jumper so very much.  I have loved the pattern since it first appeared in Knitty in 2010.  While it looks quite complicated, the pattern is actually quite straightforward.  Once it is established it is quite easy to read the cables to see where you're up to.  The colour coded chart makes wrapping your brain around it so much easier!

I knitted it in Bendigo Woollen Mills Luxury 10ply the colour is Autumn Glow.  I bought the yarn a few years ago.  It was always going to be a jumper of cardigan and I think the colour is perfect for this one.  I extended the length of the body by a couple of centimetres to accommodate my longish torso and it fits just how I wanted it to so I'm very pleased!

I needed a fairly close fitting tee with three quarter sleeves to wear under the Beatnik so in keeping with the sixties vibe I chose a basic boatneck tee.  The anchor fabric was originally destined for a different month's outfit, but was freed up in the re-shuffle and slotted in here very nicely.

The pattern is from Burda Style Magazine 2/2009 108B.  As always, I lengthened the body.  I find that most Burda Style tees are just too short for me, even with some extra length in the waist, this one only just hits where I like tops to sit on my hips.  I predict that this one will be a very versatile top, its first outing was dressed up with jeans, boots and a navy blazer, and it works just as well dressed down with cuffed jeans and chucks.

Speaking of jeans, I made some!  I really wanted to make my own jeans, but had built them up in my mind as an incredibly complicated, fiddly, and difficult garment.  Really jeans are just trousers like any others, the detailing is what makes them.

For my first (I'm already planning a couple more pairs) jeans I used some denim with a bit of stretch that I picked up from the op shop for four dollars.  The pattern was from another Burda Mag, this time 8/2009, 127.  I will definitely use a different pattern next, this one required a bit of work to fit, they swam around the seat and thighs, so took a bit of fitting.  Also, no back pockets!  I drafted my own using a couple of my RTW jeans as a guide.  And finally Burda Style's notoriously vague instructions were not particularly helpful for a first time jeans maker.  All up they're a serviceable pair of trousers, a good starting point I think.

In hindsight I should have set up my vintage machine for the top stitching.  It's sturdy enough to do the job and then I could just skip from the overlocker to straight seams to top stitching at each stage without having to re-thread my machine every step of the way.

Even though the sleeves are short, this outfit is cosy and warm.  Casual and comfortable, just like I planned.  

So that's July, the halfway mark (because I started in February of course) six outfits done. Coming up there are some changes in the 12 outfits line up.  When I started planning my outfits the second half of the year was a vague outline with a few key pieces.  That has been reviewed, and shuffled and fleshed out.  I'll have the plan for the next six months up soon!