Namesakes

Guy Jewell Russell


Straut Shurtz

Knit Boxers, v. 1, test

I worked on my boxer shorts pattern this weekend. Still trying to make a pair of well fitting underwear that are non-elastic; I believe I'm getting closer. Made some major modification to my previous pattern; removed the button back, increased the waist, removed the pleats, and shortened the body by about and inch and a half. Now they have a more "modern" fit, no longer high-waisted, they sit on the hips.

The button on the fly was an afterthought - it's a little to tight on the lower hips so the fly kept opening. Will need to line the fly so it doesn't stretch out around the button-hole. Other things need to be tweaked too, like making the lower seat less saggy, but now I'm out of knit fabric.

Ingredients: Organic cotton/hemp knit body, unbleached muslin waist band and inner fly, vintage shell buttons, all cotton thread.

Selvedge Denim Potholder #2

My cousin and her fiancee' got married last month, so K and I have been working on some handmade gifts for the two of them. Our ideas seemed to run toward the domestic side of things, which I guess is appropriate. Here's one of my offerings, a potholder.

Like the one I made for us, this potholder is stuffed with organically grown long-staple brown cotton, grown by us here on Maui. One side is denim with a Cone Mills selvedge loop, and the other side is hand-dyed indigo cotton broadcloth. The color in the images isn't right, but you get the idea.

Jitterbug

T-shirt, raglan sleeve, with pocket

This weekend I re-worked my earlier raglan sleeve shirt pattern to try and make it fit me more like a size small, as opposed to extra-small. It didn't come out right, the sleeves were too tight on my forearms. So in order to salvage it I cut off the long-sleeves and made it into a ringer t-shirt. I imagine it as something someone could have worn in the 1930's or 1940's. Fit pic's soon.

Ingredients: salt & pepper melange jersey knit (excellent score from the thrift store), black rib knit (from a shirt from the thrift store), vintage enameled metal shirt button for the pocket (not from the thrift store).

Grandma's Selvedge Denim Work Vest

"Tailoring by mail. Across the sea and to your door."

Walleyes from La Croix, 1950

Raglan Sleeve t-shirt, fit pictures

Hers...








His...







Here's some fit pictures. It's slightly too tight in the armpit and the forearm on me. Fits more like a sweatshirt on Katie, and has pretty much become hers now. I'm going to make another version for myself, without the waistband. Then, when we wear our dark jeans, we can have matching outfits!

Raglan Sleeve T-shirt

I found a few yards of salt & pepper jersey knit at the thrift store this weekend, so I decided to try and work on my raglan sleeve pattern. I wanted something reminiscent of old football or motorcycle jerseys from the 1930's and 40's. This is close to what I was thinking, though I could probably make the waistband and cuffs an inch longer.

I'll take some fit pictures tomorrow, but it fits well; better than my previous attempts. I also decided to play around with some "branding" and attached two of my labels to the shirt. I may either sew on a pocket, or stencil something on the front later this weekend.

details

This is the second version of the woman's jeans for Katie. The first pair turned out to be too tight. This pair seems to be pretty good. I had a two little mistakes happen, as you may be able to see, but Katie's pretty happy with them overall. I changed a lot of little things on the pattern for this one. I'll change a few more things on the next pair, maybe reduce the width of the seat seam so it fits a little more shapely, add more curve around the hips, space the buttons better, etc. I'd really like to use thicker thread, but my 1950's White just won't do it.

Ingredients: Kurabo Mills (Japan) 13 oz denim, 2% stretch, Cone Mills red-line selvedge denim belt loops, unbleached cotton broadcloth pocket bags, hand-peened copper rivets, two tack buttons, and one vintage open-top button, hand sewn.

I typically always use American made denim, but I couldn't find any heavier weight stretch denim that was made in the U.S. This is good stuff though; good color and feels sturdy.