Peeps, my butt is sore from sitting, standing, bending, and sitting again for the last 48 hours as I worked to get this last outfit done for Miss V, who left this morning.  She brought me this sari and wanted something made of it.What to make?  She’s got a load of dresses and didn’t want any more, but she had been gifted this sari and wanted something made of it.  I immediately though of those Oriental inspired collections in BurdaStyle over the years and suggested a pair of loose trousers and a short coat. She agreed enthusiastically, so I traced of #116 from Burda February 2013.  And bought several yards of pink broadcloth (since it seems to be her lining fabric of choice) because the sari is polyester chiffon.  With silver thread embroidery throughout and a green ombre-effect border for added fun.  Working with silver thread is a pain in the butt.  It will not shape.  Bend, yes.  Shape or crease cleanly, no.  I “petited” the jacket – folding out about 2 cm through the upper chest, and about another 2 inches through the waist, making the adjustments across all pieces.  I chose to treat the broadcloth as an underlining for the body of the jacket, but I hemmed each piece of underlining separately.  I wanted it to hang free at the hem, and fall about 1.5 inches shorter than the bottom of the green border.  The sleeves are not lined.  (Please excuse the garish background.  My kitchen is still not done, but it’s a big space and very bright).

I added a mandarin collar to the pattern, and left the pockets in.  They are very deep, and needed trimming to fit the front panels of the coat.See what I mean about that darned silver thread in the border?  It has a mind completely of its own.  I could have interfaced and underlined it to make it hold it’s shape, but this garment needs to be cool and washable.  And I didn’t have the time, frankly.  It was muslined and fit once (and only once – I have no idea what it looks like on Miss V) three days ago.  I’m hoping the border will behave nicely while she wears it!  🙂The buttons are decorative, and the garment is held closed by hooks and eyes. I added a fly for modesty’s sake, since I know it will be worn alone.  I bias bound all the seams.  Not by choice, initially.  My @(*&! serger decided to chew up the fabric instead of cut it, so I had the choice of flat felling or binding.  The binding was simple and easy, thank goodness.  And it looks nice. For the trousers I chose the wide-legged version from Vogue 2064 which is for two-way stretch knits only.  But I cut them one size larger than Miss V required and they fit perfectly.  I stitched two lengths of the sari fabric together along the green/silver border and cut the trousers on the cross grain.I love this trouser pattern.  It’s got no side seam – just a waist shaping dart that ends at the mid-hip level.  Two pieces – one for each leg!  Like glorified leggings, I guess.  Here’s a closeup of the dart and the bordered fabric seamed down the length of the trousers.This trouser pattern was brilliant for the sari fabric because of the lack of seams.  I used a French seam for the inseam and bias bound the crotch seam from CF to CB, binding the seam edges underneath the CB zipper separately.  Then I grabbed some grosgrain ribbon for the waistband/facing, stitched it 1 cm from the upper edge, understitched, flipped, pressed, tacked it to the centre front and side darts, and voilà!  Nice clean interior.Well, it’s all packed and on a plane by now.  I had a lot of fun sewing all these garments.  Long hours logged in the sewing room, but always with anticipation and sense of fun.