Alex dresses well and pretty simply–he has few pairs of chinos and a few pairs of jeans, a bunch of button down shirts, and a few cardigans, and that\’s what he wears most days. Guys wardrobes are so natural capsule-y, right? Despite the fact that I could make his whole wardrobe with about 5 patterns, men\’s patterns are so hard to come by! I have a few big 4 patterns and a few from Thread Theory, and I just got the new Liesl + Co. All Day shirt (I think this one has real potential!), and my general rule is to snap up any decent men\’s patterns I see, since they are few and far between!
There was obviously no question if I was going to buy Simplicity 8528–omg just look at that cover! It\’s amazing! When I showed it to Alex he was equally enthused. I thiiiink this is supposed to be used as a David S. Pumpkins thing (I have not seen that, so I\’m not sure?) since it came out with the Halloween patterns and is called \”Crazy Suit\” but if you look past the wild prints it\’s a really decent unlined blazer pattern. I recently picked up a knit blazer pattern for myself and so the idea was already in my head; since there\’s basically no way a men\’s knit blazer pattern exists (correct me if I\’m wrong) I decided to use this one! In this thick dot ponte instead of the suggested linens and poplins, the trickiest part was getting my stitches not to skip (a heavyweight ballpoint needle did the trick). I love the way the insides look since the wrong side has little stripes–it looks really cute with the sleeves rolled up and pushed up a little, don\’t you think?
I think Alex was a little unclear about the concept at first–is it a blazer? is it a sweater?–but I think he\’ll end up wearing it a lot in his regular rotation of cardigans, if only because he doesn\’t have a navy one. Personally, I think it looks really sharp! I used his regular blazer size (38) and the only change I made was to sew the back pleats/vent shut instead of finishing each side of the vent and pressing–this rayon/poly ponte was not about to hold a permanent press and I think sewn-shut pleats look fine for this casual style. It\’s pretty slim fitting even in a (stable, but still) knit and I would consider sizing up one if I made it in a woven. The lapels are slim, too–slimmer than the collar which I think looks a little funny if you notice but also, I don\’t know much about men\’s fashion, so maybe this is normal in slim lapeled suits? (You can\’t see this in the line drawings but you can tell if you look closely at the models.) Sadly, the pants and shorts don\’t have any front or back pockets–although they may have side seam pockets, it\’s hard to tell) so I think they\’re best relegated to costume pants unless you\’re confident adding your own!
Would y\’all be interested in a men\’s pattern roundup? They\’re so hard to find! I\’ve also just ordered some Japanese sewing books for men–the women\’s styles aren\’t for me but I\’m hoping the men\’s stuff will be great since it\’s all very classic. Have you used a Japanese pattern book? So stylish!
xoxo,
Looks Great! The ponte knit blazers for guys are in all the shops and he is right on trend! I think you should sew up a woven blazer in a size up for spring in perhaps a seersucker.
Try https://freesewing.org/Joost de Cock is an amazing Belgian guy who runs a site dedicated to free made-to-measure mens patterns. You need to know a bit what you're doing, it's all free so you need a bit of sewing know-how, but I can't enthuse about him enough! At the moment all the designs are fairly basic, but they are designed to be blocks that you can then adapt yourself, so if you want mens clothing that fits well and gives you the basis to be creative, couldn't recommend anyone else.
P.S. Forgot to add, I do love this blazer though! Would never have thought of a ponte version, I've always avoided mens blazers because the other half doesn't like things too structured, but this is a great idea!
Love it!! I also love how you sew for him. 😄 I put off sewing for mine so often….
Thanks for the shout-out Liz. I assigned you the ambassador badge for it :)I love that blazer in this fabric. I'm working on a blazer pattern myself (I think it's ready, but I have to make one to test it) and I might add one of these to my to-sew list. Great idea!
I bought this pattern to make a jacket for my husband. I just Ave been confused and cut a size that apparently was too small and I gave to my son. I have bought the pattern again and ugh how did I cut it too big? The jackets ate really nice. I can't stand to see his disappointment again but I am going to try one more time. Pray for me.
I bought this pattern to make a jacket for my husband. I just Ave been confused and cut a size that apparently was too small and I gave to my son. I have bought the pattern again and ugh how did I cut it too big? The jackets ate really nice. I can't stand to see his disappointment again but I am going to try one more time. Pray for me.
Oh no! I'm not sure about sizing since I made mine in a knit, which makes it a bit more flexible as far is size goes. Good luck!