So, those of you who read this blog will know that I've been trying and failing to learn to sew for a while. While I can handle knitting needles tolerably well sewing is another story - I find it incredibly difficult. I've several half completed projects littering the flat as I tend to be OK until I get to waistbands, buttons and zips.
Thus, when I saw this kit from Dolly Pegs vintage clothing on eBay I decided to take the plunge and give it a go.
I ordered the kit in a bottle green and it was very quick to arrive. It comes with everything - the pattern cut out, interfacing applied and tailors tacks sewn in, along with a spool of matching thread and four buttons.
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| pic from their site, I was too excited to take photos before beginning |
The instruction book that came with the kit is really helpful, (there are some flaws which I'll come to later) and so I sat at the sewing machine, reminded myself how on earth to wind the bobbin and got stuck in.
Everything went swimmingly until I got to the buttonholes, and here I discovered that, despite having an automatic buttonhole foot, buttonholes are a b@%!@£d.
Still, I got the things together, they fit and they definitely look like trousers!
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| excuse the mess, I'm ill...boo |
I've learnt a lot from this project - about darts, buttonhole positioning, adding waistbands and the importance of interfacing and now I feel ready to pick up those half finished projects and tackle them again.
I do have a few criticisms of the kit. For £20 I'd have expected better fabric - it may just be the green I chose but it seems like 100% polyester, the shiny dinnerlady kind that melts the moment you waft an iron near it (I very nearly burnt them when pressing the waistband). Unfortunately this fabric, as well as looking ugly to my eyes, is also rather stiff and doesn't drape at all like a genuine vintage fabric which therefore makes these unwearable for me. I'm rather a stickler for only wearing natural fibres where ever possible and I'm aware others might not be so fussy. Also, there seemed to be no right or wrong side to the fabric, which made things a little confusing when working out which piece was which.
The only other things are really niggly: the instructions have quite a few spelling mistakes, not the end of the world of course but they did bother me, and finally, I think the instructions would benefit from photos for some stages rather than sketches.
Despite these issues I would still strongly recommend this kit for anyone starting to sew, it has really given me the confidence to step back into it.
They have other styles of trousers as well as blouses and playsuits in their cloth kit range and are well worth a look.
I really like the look of this as I'd love to learn to sew trousers, however like you I'm not a fan of polyester. I think it's a great idea to do kits like this though.
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