Round -a-Cords

March 2, 2014 by sewruth 31 Comments

OK, what I really wanted was to title this post “Cord-a-rounds” but that’s already been taken and I mostly certainly don’t want to get involved in a trade name law suit, especially with Americans! In my defence, I don’t make any money out of my sewing – just save it – and prima facia I’m doing someone else out of making money from me….

A few weeks ago, Shams posted about some of her collaegues’ clothing... these kids work in IT (that’s information technology to those over 40!): they’re cool dudes, not geeks (although they are kinda geeky too, in a good way): they’re stylish (in their own way): and the best bit for me, is they’re non-conventional! They think outside the box – see, I even know the lingo. My teenage son has deep aspirations to be an IT geek – believe me, he works hard enough at it and he actually reads Shams’ accounts of her time at work. He ignores the clothes bit and skips directly to the IT/computer/Google stuff; whereas, I read all about the clothes and ignore the other stuff. So Shams, if you’re reading – between the two of us, your posts are read inside out!

Right – getting back to the clothes. I hate to admit it, but I was inspired by the geeks that Shams highlighted! Not muses, not Vogue models, nor fashion gods, or designers but computer nerds. Oh how the world turns…….

Firstly, let’s give credit where credit’s due – go to Betabrand for the starter gun.

Now come back to me and what I did – thank’s for not being too distracted.

Following on from the relative success of the teal jeans I bought some burgundy/aubergine/eggplant/ corduroy to make another pair of Kenneth D King’s Jeanius jeans. This was my chance to improve on the waistband and general bagginess of the moleskin. It is also apparently, this season’s IN colour for A/W and as spring as not yet sprung, I reckoned I had a good few weeks to wear these babies. I’ve taken to sewing my label in plain sight for these jeans rather than relegating it to the inside centre back. Heck, Levi and Diesel do it, so, so am I.

How many times have you put your pattern pieces straight to the grain like you’re on auto-pilot and without a second thought just cut them out?

These cords go round!!! This is what I simply adore in youth – the questioning of the conventional. And so I thought, let’s give it a go – what am I gonna lose? 1.5m of fabric (not the end of the world) and a few hours effort ( lesson learned not time wasted).

There is a subtle shading involved in the horizontal: it does not reduce the apparent length of legs but rather enhances it.

Shall I make cords in the vertical ever again? No, and here’s the reasons why according to Betabrand –

Through sheer scientific marvel, Betabrand has fabricated corduroy that goes sideways instead of up-and-down, lowering drag coefficient by an amazing 16.24%!

Cordarounds’ horizontal wales mesh evenly, lowering the average wearer’s crotch heat index (CHI) reading by up to 22%.

Between the reduced crotch temperature and a lower drag coefficient, how could I go wrong?

BTW – the jersey top that is paired with the cords in these pics is a SWAP reject. I bought the fabric on the internet for the violet end of the spectrum and it turned out not to be violet enough. However, it was put to good use and made into an elongagted tunic using Katherine Tilton Vogue 8817.

For these jeans’ pics it was stuffed into the waitband, usually I wear it with aubergine (eggplant) opaque tights and boots, and topped with my Jungle January furry gilet.