A 14-piece travel wardrobe

We have not done any real traveling since before 2020, but are headed for Europe soon for a two week excursion. One suitcase and one carry-on are plenty for me to wrangle. I really admire people who can go for that long with a carry-on alone, I just can't pare down that much. Shoes changes alone would fill up a carry-on bag, and frequent changes of shoes makes such a difference when you will be doing a lot of walking.

Anyway, here is what I intend to take. It is mostly sewn by me - some made specifically for this trip, some pulled from the closet, and a few store-bought pieces.

I originally thought the colors would revolve around indigo, classic color for jeans and one that I happen to look good in, but when shopping for jeans, I ended up buying stretch twill. One pair is teal and the other natural. To my surprise, I had enough things that would work with both of them and ended up with a gray/natural/teal color palette. 

Tops: 

The first two are knits, pulled from the closet. The teal Knipmode one is a medium weight rayon blend with princess seams and grown-on sleeves. The Ottobre one is a narrow natural/black horizontal stripe, boxy with set-in sleeves.

The others are all woven.  That Ottobre vertical stripe doesn't bear much resemblance to the original pattern, which fit so nicely and had just the right amount of ease that I have changed it up again and again. The Ballad and Marley were sewn to round out this wardrobe. Both are lightweight cottons. The Aria also came from the closet and is a cotton oxford cloth.

 

Pants:

Pictures of pants on hangers don't convey a lot of information. The first two Simplicity have flat fronts and gathered back waists. The leg is just barely on the slim side. The black pair is cotton/poly and the gray is a light cotton that will be good on the hottest days.

The Burda pair is from an old magazine and is my all-time most sewn pattern. Whether I gain or lose weight, my basic shape does not change and all I have to do is trace off a different size of this pattern and it fits. These are straight leg, made in a gray RPL and will probably be worn for the days on the plane.

The next two are the purchased stretch twill jeans. They fit pretty closely, with a straight leg. I really like the current fuller leg pant styles and especially the funky barrel leg ones, but I can't wear the same tops with them that I wear with jeans, so none of them are going on the trip. For a condensed wardrobe like this, you get more mix & match versatility if you stick to one silhouette.

The last pair is tan RPL, made in case I want a nicer pair of pants for dinner some evenings. They are made from Sewing Workshop's Helix pattern, with the legs cut just a little bit wider so they are not a skinny pant, although they have a close and neat fit at the hip and waist.

Layers:

Rain-repelling hooded jacket from REI. Plenty of zippered pockets.

Light-weight linen topper was sewn AGES ago from an out-of-print Cutting Line Designs pattern. I have worn this for decades and it shows that good quality linen just keeps getting better and better. I really should make this pattern up again because this jacket gets worn so much - not because it is worn out.

Shoes - two pairs of sandals and one pair of sneakers, all with super arch support.


Happy end of summer to anyone reading!

Style Arc Marley

 

This is my second attempt with Marley and this time I didn't throw it in the trash!

The first experience was pure frustration. I was trying to follow the instructions which don't seem to match the drawings. The situation was complicated by the contrasting topstitching I was trying to do, so unpicking was a chore and left my fabric looking raggedy. That part was my own fault.

A clue for the future - the notches on the collar do not match to the notches on the body. They match to the shoulder seam, and the notches on the body match to the little half collar stand.

But I still liked the style and it was the type of top that fit perfectly in my travel wardrobe. I tried it again without any fancy touches. The instructions for the collar and center front still didn't make sense, but this time I just set them aside and did what needed to be done. 

Style Arc means for this pattern to be used either as a top or a light jacket. I will be thinking of using it whenever I want something sort of like a camp shirt. It has more shape (Style Arc describes it as boxy, but it does have gentle shaping) and is cuter than a camp shirt, but I would pair it with the same type of bottoms that a camp shirt would go with.

Shaping is achieved with a center back seam, bust darts, and side seam shaping. There are splits in the sleeve seams and at the sides like in the second photo. 3/4 sleeves. The collar has a little half-stand that is inserted in the back only. This is a touch I've liked on several Burda patterns that helps the collar stand up in the back. Thumbs up for that!

The pattern has a small extension at the center front that folds to the inside to make a narrow band. Unless it is buttoned all the way up, the wrong side of the fabric shows where the collar opens, something to keep in mind when choosing material. It would also be easy to draft a front facing that would cover that area.

My fabric is a seersucker from Miss Matatabi. The print is actually a darkish gray on off-white, which is nice. It gives the effect of black & white, but easier to wear for those of us with low-contrast coloring.

Alterations: lowered the bust point and added width at hip level on side and center back seams. Added width at the bicep, too. The sleeves were narrow, especially for something that you are supposed to be able to wear as a little jacket.

This is such a useful style that I'm sure I'll make again. Glad I gave it a second chance!

good length for Bob & Barry pants

Love Notions Ballad

This top came about because the fabric made such a good coordinate with a travel wardrobe that is needed soon. The print seemed to need a pattern that is a little more femme than the minimalist things I'm usually attracted to. Ruffles and flounces are beyond tolerance, but I felt like some shoulder gathers would be okay. Neither my Ottobre nor Burda collections had what I was looking for, but the Ballad did. This pattern had been pronounced "good" by people I trust (not influencers) so I gave it a chance.

Fabric is a lovely cotton lawn from Miss Matatabi.

A quickie muslin led me to the alterations: chose size L grading out to XL below the waist notch, 3/8" forward shoulder rotating the sleeve cap a corresponding 3/8", and smoothed out the LN trademark scoop in the front armscye. The bishop sleeve is shorter than drafted because of a shortage of fabric. I think I also placed the lower back (which is gathered into a yoke) 1/2" from the fabric fold when cutting, giving me another extra 1" fit insurance there.

Bathroom mirror shot is closer to the actual color. The sleeves are below elbow, which is fine. I didn't make any changes to length, and think it's good to wear with jeans or moderate-width pants this way. If it was supposed to go with leggings, extra length would be required.

I can often just hand baste sleeves, easing them in as I go, but this pattern really needed the double row of machine basting stitches to draw up the excess. The rest of the construction was easy and straightforward.

Buttons. Suddenly getting buttons is so hard! For a while, even though JoAnn's had its shortcomings, you could still get a good selection of buttons there. When that source dried up, there was a thrift store nearby where I could pick up things on special sale to harvest buttons. My last button purchase was on Amazon where I bought a bag of 200? 300? lots of blue buttons for just a few dollars. They were mostly different kinds of shirt buttons and some of them got used for this project.

This top will be a great addition to the travel wardrobe I'm getting together. Originally I thought the key color for the group would be indigo, but after a lot of adding and rejecting the color scheme morphed into gray/natural/teal. That was unexpected! There is both gray and teal in the print of this fabric, and it can be worn with all the bottoms I'm planning to take.

When everything is all firmed up, I'll probably do a little checklist of what I'm taking along with some photos and make a little blog post about it. 

Reaction to the Ballad pattern: I like it and will likely make it again. I skipped the shirring that sets this pattern apart from other similar styles, but would like to attempt that some time with a solid color fabric that would show it off.