Okay, I finally got the fly figured out! And I've made the Roommate four pair of knickers now, all using the pattern I got from One-Yard Wonders...
I must admit I didn't figure it out by myself. I ended up going to one of the open studio classes at Bits of Thread and getting some assistance from Rosalie, who, despite her tender age, has amazing sewing skills.
The top pair (turquoise/burgundy/yellow) is using up some of the printed Kente we got in Ghana, lo these many years ago, and the bottom pair is flannel; the other 2 pair are actual one-yard pieces I got at a quilt show. BTW, it's a rainy cool weekend and the Roommate reports the flannel pair were very nice to put on this morning!
I have many projects in the pipeline, using some fun fabric I just purchased, plus getting some inspiration from a concert we were at on Thursday...but first I must finish up quite a few things. More on that later!
I mentioned I'd found 2 great books in my public library, and ended up buying them both. You'll see here the 2nd version of boxers from Fabric by Fabric: One-Yard Wonders, which I actually made with less than one yard! Boy is my life exciting. If you're interested, the original book is One-Yard Wonders. Both are written by Hoskins & Yaker.
I am about to start a 3rd version, with a look to really perfecting the fly, something I've always known was difficult, but I got interested in really trying to get it right after watching my friend Tilly on the Great British Sewing Bee from BBC2. I have become addicted to Project Runway, so #GBSB was fun because it was soooo different. (For one thing, much more emphasis on sewing skills, not as much on design...which makes sense, but nice to see a different focus.)
One of the projects was to make a pair of men's pants...something I will probably never try. But they mentioned how difficult a zipper fly is and I remember that I had done a just-barely-acceptable job on the first pair of knickers for Mr. Roommate, so was enthused to try again. The verdict? Well, not quite right, but better.
I had a lot of fun playing with the stripey fabric on this & if you look closely at the left edge of the photo, above, you'll see that I went all the way to the selvage. We saw this a lot in West Africa & I think it's a great way to use as much fabric as possible!
First up from the One Yard Wonders book I mentioned in the last post...knickers for the Roommate! They were extremely easy and I used flat-felled seams inside & out. The pattern doesn't need a separate waistband, so that makes it easy. I have fabric for a second pair, but I'm out of 1" elastic.
