I know I don't look happy here but inside I'm so thrilled I could burst!

Happy autumn makers! This post is the first stop on the Indie Sew Fall/Winter Blog Tour! Please scroll down to the end of this post to see the line up of bloggers who are up next on this tour. I was fortunate and honored to have my Toaster Sweater #2 included in the Indiesew Fall/Winter Collection pattern bundle. If you haven't checked out this amazing collection, I urge you to head over to the Indiesew site  and take a look. It's a great value with some great designs from some very talented designers. I was really excited to take part in the blog tour and try out some of these patterns. I get so busy and wrapped up in deadlines that it's hard to find time to do any selfish sewing. I love volunteering for blog tours occasionally because it forces me to do some sewing for myself and I always discover new patterns and designers in the process.

By the way, I am happy in the photo however, I suppose I might have been a little frustrated with my hair. I decided to get my hair cut last week and I told the guy that I didn't want it short and I didn't want another bob so he gave me a really short bob. Oh well... it will grow back I suppose.  

What you see here is the Lonetree Jacket from Allie Olson of Indiesew (her debut pattern I should add), The Chi-Town Chinos (expansion pack) from Alina of Alina Sewing & Design Company, and my Sew House Seven Toaster Sweater#2. I first committed only to the Lonetree Jacket as I really wanted to make a fall jacket but didn't think I had enough time to make anything else before the blog tour. I was able to eek out the chinos in the end and had a Toaster #2 already made so there - I had a complete outfit. I really want to make the Bonn Shirt by Itch to Stitch as a shirt dress soon but just didn't have the time for this blog. I tell you, it was touch an go on the timing. Even as an experienced sewist, just about everything that could go wrong with the Lonetree did (all my fault) and so that ate up much of my time. I still enjoyed the process though. In fact so much that I decided I could fit the chinos in as well because I was on a roll and having too much fun making pockets!

So what went wrong with the Lonetree you ask? Well... I made some major errors on this one so I am thrilled that it turned out so well. I made lots of little, stupid mistakes because I was in a hurry but the major one was the rookie mistake of printing the pattern out at scale fit to page - 108% larger. I didn't notice it until I was half way done sewing. I decided to make the pants and as I was printing out the chinos pattern, I saw that my default to scale 100% was no longer working. I decided I'd better check to see if I had messed up my Lonetree printing and sure enough, I did. I had already finished all of the pockets and wasn't about to redo them. I did some fancy trimming and recutting of some pieces. The only parts that really suffered were the sleeves. I shortened them and took them in a bit but I need to shorten them a bit more. I must confess that I did a terrible job on the cuffs but I love this jacket so much that I am happy to redo the cuffs and shorten the sleeves a bit. I have just enough fabric left for new cuffs.

Speaking of fabrics, I used some army green twill for the body and some left over fleece that resembles sheep skin for hood and front facings. I really wanted to use some of the dark army green twill from the Indiesew Fall/Winter Fabric Collection but there wasn't much left and then I remembered that I had some very similar fabric in my own stash. If you love the twill, I believe Indiesew is out of it now however, Fancy Tiger Crafts is carrying the complete fabric collection that goes along with this pattern bundle.

I should add that the Lonetree and Chi-town patterns were so well crafted and well thought out with beautiful graphics and instructions. I highly recommend both patterns. 

 The only things I changed on the Lonetree (aside from my accidental upscaling) were that I added pleats to the pockets for some added detail, I 2-needle topstitched all of my seams and I added a tunnel and cording to the hood. I like the fleece lining however, you will notice that some of the fuzz has migrated to my outer. I'm not sure what will happen in the wash so that may be a problem I didn't foresee. 

side view of the Lonetree

Here I'm wearing a black ribbed wool Toaster Sweater#2 (the rib only worked because it has a high recovery however, the neck looks a bit wide here possibly due to the extra stretch of the rib) and crisp or stiff light/mid-weight denim (sorry I don't know the fabric maker) Chi-Town Chinos (the expansion pack). To make the chino pants, you will need the Chi-Town Chinos original pattern for a skirt and shorts and the expansion pack adds the long pants pieces as well as welt pockets. I chose to use the pockets from the original pattern rather than the welt pockets because as I said earlier, I was having too much fun making pockets - I love them!

 Here is a back view so you can see the pockets that I love to make. The pants are maybe a little tighter than they should be but I didn't have time to make a complete muslin. I did add 1.5" to the back rise and 1" to the front rise and took in the center back waist a bit. My thighs tend to fill out slim pants so I'm not sure if a size up would work or not. I like the fit anyhow as people are used to seeing skinny pants. I love the fabric - again it was denim that I had on hand. I might make these again using a stretch twill. 

 Here is a close up of the back pockets. I'm not wearing the pants- my rear is much fuller than this - ha. 

And here is a final view of the complete outfit on the mannequin. I hope you enjoyed the first stop on the tour. Please check out the other bloggers as they have some great interpretations of this awesome collection for you. I've added the blog tour line-up below. Thanks for reading!

Peggy

Up next on Oct 28, is The Sara Project!

Nov 1, Allie J

Nov 2, Alina Design Co.

Nov 3, Sew Charleston

Nov 4, Sew Mariefleur