Category Archives: Fabric

Vest and pants: a self-draft & Vikisews Britney

If the words ‘vest and pants’ don’t send you into a nostalgic school horror spiral then I’m afraid you didn’t grow in up in the UK in the 90s. ANYWAY, here’s an entirely handmade outfit that in the US parlance we’ll also call a vest and some pants…

Trousers first, these are the Vikisews Britney pattern, which it seems like is still only available in Russian although they are working through English translated versions at a clip. But I am impatient and also enjoy a challenge, so muddling through with Russian it was. It’s actually my second Vikisews pattern in a row after a rousing success with the Ingrid coat (which is now available in English).

Gotta say I’m joining the VS fan club, I have really enjoyed the drafting, fit and construction of both the patterns I’ve made now. The Britneys are a high waisted barrel-leg trouser with pleats, hem darts and facings and jeans-style yoke and fly. I made size 38 which is pretty much my measurements other than bringing in the waist. The VS site has detailed size charts and also ease charts which are very useful to select the right size for your fit preferences. The instructions are also really nicely photographed which helps with the language barrier.

The only main modification I made was to draft and add these front patch panel thingys which have been doing the Instagram rounds. No real practical purpose but I like the additional interest and I think the topstitching looks really nice on this creamy fabric. I used tonal cotton thread and a triple-stitch, and adjusted the back pocket size and shape to ‘match’.

Talking of the fabric, it is a natural undyed cotton and hemp blend denim that The Hemp Shop kindly sent me to try out – specifically their Mid Denim Twill though they have many other weights and blends as well. If you are a linen lover I suspect you will like hemp too – it has the same characteristic coolness, lustre and rumple and this twill has a pleasing soft-slubby finish to the texture. This twill sewed up like a medium-heavy weight denim, although with enough drape for the pleats too, so was a great match for this project. I think it’d make a particularly luxurious boiler suit or dungarees too, and it has excellent green credentials as a fibre.

I did have to be careful stitching over areas with a lot of layers – I didn’t want to go too thick with needle size as I didn’t want to snag it, so ended up hand-cranking some of the fiddly parts with a size 90 needle. I ordered some navy dye too as undyed hemp fibres take well to dye, but actually decided I loved the natural colour as is – however I used cotton thread so I can overdye in future if I feel like it (or they get grubby).

I was oscillating between will they/won’t they work for the duration of sewing these – right up until the waistband and button were in I was worried the pleats and pockets were pulling awkwardly over my hips (pear-shape problems). But in the end they fit and hang pretty nicely and they’re really comfy. Another VS success!

Back to the vest! This is just a fun little number where the fabrics did the heavy lifting of a very simple silhouette and sew: soft-stitch jacquard and brushed check flannel both from Merchant & Mills.

I hacked the pattern from this vintage one inspired by this picture of RTW; I needed to size it down then just added the wavy front by eye. Then outer and shell were just sandwiched together, the raw edges bound with knit bias tape, and a little velvet ribbon closure tacked on.

And yay, it’s reversible! Although I do fancy adding a pocket which will take some thought. I have plenty of fabric left, this taking pretty much only half a metre of each, and it’s already been a staple both at home and out (the sweater under here is an old Toaster). Fast and slow, old and new, in one nice autumnal outfit.

Fluffy floral coat

This was a real fell-in-love with the fabric and had a vision project, and luckily it just about turned out how I imagined! It’s yet another spin on the Lysimaque Nenuphar pattern, taken the way of Shrimps with a bit of hacking and that statement fabric…

I bought this fabric as soon as I saw it on Simply Fabrics’ Instagram feed (it’s still available and agh check out this ex-Gucci cornflower blue faux fur too??!!) and knew I’d be making a fun coat from it ASAP. It’s apparently ex Paloma Wool, which happens to be my favourite RTW brand, although I can’t find the matching garment in question in their archive.

I still love last winter’s Nenuphar but it’s quite plain and who doesn’t need a bit more enjoyment in their clothes right now – not to mention warmth, this thing is wool-rich, heavy and c-o-s-y. I was a bit intimidated when the fabric arrived: it’s got such mighty, puffy loft that I could barely fold it into my fabric storage cubbies, which was at least good motivation to sew it up quickly rather than get sewing stage fright and put it off.

I added length to the Nenuphar pieces to get the below-butt fit I was after and similarly to before cut self-drafted facings. I also increased the depth and spread of the collar to account for the bouncy fabric’s turn of cloth, and finally added a jaunty side-angle to the pocket tops for more ergonomic hand-stuffing.

The fabric really dictated the sewing process and I had to play it slightly on edge at times to tame it: it’s an alarming-to-sewists blend of thick, loopy-textured and very ravel-prone. I overlocked all the raw edges prior to sewing and even that was shedding off in places by the time I picked up the pieces again!

That said, I used most of the normal tricks for such a combo – walking foot, sturdy needle, elongated stitch length, judiciously applied interfacing, reinforcing stress points with twill tape, not trimming seams too closely, using a lighter weight fabric for the undercollar and pocket lining, pressing and clapping the life out of it – and other than getting a bit of a workout manhandling it around my sewing room by the end it wasn’t too dramatic.

I gave it the full bagged lining treatment, both to add more stability and because the inside of the textile was quite rough. I used Stoff & Stil’s woven viscose, a favourite for being silky and fluid but still relatively stable to work with, and was pleased that the dark grey was a decent match for my flowers. It’s been a while since I bagged a coat so I referred to the method and pattern cutting from the Named Yona coat to jog my memory.

It closes with concealed sewn-on chunky snaps also from S&S, because buttonholes in this fabric hahahah are you kidding me.

Enjoyed a couple of weekend walks where it kept me admirably cosy, in and around the frankly horrible news of the new Covid strain to hit the south of the UK and resulting new tier 4 restrictions. So it’ll be walks around the park only in this guy’s near future.

Grey and Sunny 

Winter sewing continues apace and spoiler, I don’t think I’ll be removing this one till April. (See also: my spangly new boots, which give me LIFE of a grey autumnal morning. They’re from Mango.)


It’s a Style Arc Sunny top: a 25% off their PDFs dropped into my inbox (code PDF25, valid til Friday!); I typically buy their paper patterns but this was a good excuse to try the PDFs out for a fiver. It’s nice that you get three sizes bundled – albeit as separate files, so blending is tricky – and assembly was smooth, although I was annoyed to find that the pieces are mostly symmetrical but were printed full/flat. Such a waste of paper and taping time!


This pattern came together incredibly quickly and was really fun to whiz up on the overlocker. I wasn’t initially sure how the cocoon-y ‘skirt’ panels would look, but I trust SA’s drafting and always find their stuff looks and feels very RTW in terms of fit and ease. I love the resultant shape. The only tweak i made was to take an inch off the hem before hemming. I’m sure I’ll be making more of these, a snuggly cocoon is perfect for wrapping myself in on those don’t-wanna-get-out-of-bed days.

The gorgeous fabric is from The Fabric Store, specifically this cotton/modal blend salt’n’pepper sweatshirting. This New Zealand-based shop, who have sent me fabric before, asked me to be an ambassador for a few months and it didn’t take me long to say yes.

I’m always impressed by the range and quality that The Fabric Store offers. Personally I appreciate that they largely focus on both natural fibres and on solids/textures rather than prints. It seems like no coincidence that garments I’ve made in their fabrics in the past, like my rayon crepe Ninnis or this tied Inari tee dress, are firm wardrobe regulars. I think the garments I’ve made with my latest haul will be no exception – stayed tuned for more soon as I had a bit of a weekend sewathon with it. I should add that I have been a paying customer in the past and can vouch for their great customer service, and international postage is pretty reasonable / free over about £100 (though watch out for customs charges).

This fabric was a perfect match for the Sunny; it’s medium weight and stable with a smooth grey on one side and the salt-and-pepper marl effect in a loopy textured finish on the rear. You could definitely use either side as the right side and I was very tempted to reverse some of the panels to highlight the seamlines, but I’m glad I kept it simple and used all of the looped side as my good side. I can show the smooth side a little if I roll the sleeves at least.

It was a delight to sew with and pressed well – especially important to get a slick finish with this top and its directional seamlines. Even the neckband stretched willingly and went in nice and flat; I was concerned it wouldn’t as it’s not super stretchy. I think I have enough from my 2m left for another little top, so I can use the other side too – hurrah!

Here’s how I wore the Sunny out later in the day. I’m glad it works with a baggier bottom half as well as slim (these are RTW Monki jeans), and of course it matches my coat!

Bonus kitty snuggle, another winter essential <3

Iceland meets Kyoto

This was a fun wee project! Contrado, a London-based print on demand factory which I visited a while back, recently gave me some budget to make a new pattern and have it printed on whatever fabric I liked. Luckily I’d just returned from a quick holiday to Iceland, and being up on a glacier really reminded me of fabric prints – Liberty’s Manning springs to mind, which was literally also inspired by glacial landscapes. Here I am on said glacier and some of the pictures I took which acted as print-spiration:

I followed this tutorial to create a repeat pattern from one of my photos, and the file below is the one I entered into Contrado‘s online tool, from which you can set up scale and repeat styles.

I chose the Vintage loop-back sweatshirt fabric, a cosy and stable knit with an off-white base, a poly front side and cotton looped back. I was super pleased when I received the fabric a week or so later, it looks just how I imagined it and apart from a slight chemical smell that dispersed in the pre-wash you’d think it was any regular printed fabric.

I sewed it up into a Papercut Kyoto sweater, minus the cute sleeve ruffles, as I thought a simple sweatshirt would show off the print the best, and I only had 1.5m to play with.

Not a lot to say about the construction, it was super easy and the only fitting amend I made was to shorten the body and sleeves by a couple of inches each. This sort of drop-shoulder style isn’t really the most flattering on me to be honest, but for a cosy sweatshirt I don’t really care!

The fabrics I had printed through Contrado over a year ago are still holding up super well with repeated washing, by the way – I still wear my emoji Inari and Olivia dress a lot, so I was pleased to have the opportunity to get some more made, and end up with a cool wearable holiday souvenir. Thanks Contrado!

Olivia

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Another recent-ish addition to my summer wardrobe, this is a Style Arc Olivia dress I made a month or so ago. It’s about the simplest project you could imagine with its kimono sleeves, elastic waist and gently flared skirt. I always feel a bit lazy buying patterns like this, but the unfussiness means they actually get used more often than more unique or complex designs, so it’s definitely an economical purchase. It’s also a great canvas for pretty fabrics and ripe for a few design hacks.

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The proportions overall are really nice: I like how the slightly longer bodice blouses over the elastic waist, and the skirt’s the perfect fullness and flare – it’s another cycle-friendly gal. As Meg noted when she made her Olivia, the neckline as drafted is really quite wide and scoopy. I’ve actually got the facings safety-pinned to my bra straps to anchor it in place! Next time I’ll alter the flat pattern to make it a little snugger.

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A little design alteration I made was to do a deep baseball-style scoop at the hemline. I still haven’t actually hemmed the skirt – it’s just overlocked – because I’m a bit stuck on how to do it neatly with a fabric that likes to ripple and won’t take a nice press. I have a rolled hem foot which would be ideal but I’ve never got the hang of it; ditto a serged rolled hem. I’ll deal with it sometime. Or just wear it unhemmed forever…

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It was the perfect pattern to use my treasured self-designed French crepe fabric, printed by Contrado. Like all springy poly crepes it didn’t like to take a press very well, but it was mercifully non-shifty for cutting and sewing and feels great to wear. I wouldn’t hesitate to get more of their crepes printed with other designs.

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Considering how fast and simple this was to make, it got INSANE praise when I wore it to work today. I think every girl in the office commented on it, along with gaining boyfriend seal of approval. I’d better get designing more fabric and making it into more Olivias!

Printing with Contrado

A bunch of us sewing bloggers took a trip to Harlesden last weekend, to check out Contrado‘s amazing mini printing empire.

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Contrado started as a tiny family business called Bags of Love (which still runs, through a separate website), printing photos onto bags in the early days of the internet, and has grown year on year, expanding their range and bringing as much of the processes and production under one roof as possible. Now they have Contrado as a specialist arm focusing on fabric printing: they print onto over 75 substrates and have a loyal customer base in students, creatives and home sewers.

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After this company background from founder Chris Childs and a rundown of how the online design software works, we were let loose to upload our designs and send them to print.

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It was pretty exciting to see the orders come in live on the big screen. There’s some impressive software powering the company’s printing process (they employ seven engineers) which means that the layplans can be as efficient as possible, resulting in a minimum of wastage. They can also turn around orders in two days due to everything being automated as much as possible under the one roof. As a startup and tech nerd I found all this fascinating and inspiring.

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Then it was down to the printing room to see our designs come to life. Depending on the substrate, some fabrics are printed directly and some are printed onto huge transfers before being heat-bonded to the fabric.

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The we took a walk around the rest of the factory floor. They have in-house pattern cutters and sewists to make up a lot of the readymade garments they sell through sister company Bags of Love. Cue lots of cooing from the assembled sewing bloggers over the lovely industrial machines.

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Back to the printing room because our final fabrics were starting to be revealed!

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Here are the two fabrics I was lucky to get printed on the day, back at home and prewashed ready to sew. I gave myself no time at all to design anything fancy, so knocked these up in the morning before I left. The ditsy emoji-type print is on 190gsm cotton jersey and the blobby abstract one is on French crepe. I’m so thrilled with the fabrics, they’re without a doubt the nicest fabrics I’ve seen custom-printed and the substrates both have a fabulous handle and softness. I can’t wait to sew with them!

I’m also excited to see the next phase of Contrado because they have exciting plans to build a marketplace of user-submitted designs that you can order direct – if I knuckle down and design some prints with a bit more time I’d definitely put them up. For now though, Contrado‘s fabrics start at only around £14.50 a metre so if you’re in the market for printing unique fabrics in the UK I couldn’t recommend them more.

Thank you so much to Contrado for the tour and chance to sample the printing process, to Rachel and Kate at The Fold Line for organising the trip, and my fellow bloggers Marie, Janene, Jane, Elena and Charlotte for being excellent company.