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,
