Category Archives: Papercut Patterns

Space Kyoto

I feel like I’ve been having a bit more fun with sewing lately. Case in point, this sweater with all the shiny and ruffles thrown at it!

The first part of this project came about when i meet up with the lovely Jess on her recent trip to the UK, and dutifully took her to my wonderful local fabric store, Ray Stitch. Jess got some excellent sweatshirt knit and striped denim and since I can never leave there empty handed I picked up a few of these sparkly space embellishments for £1.50 each. (Some are in their online store, but not the stars.)

[Image sources on my Pinterest]

I’ve been a bit obsessed with space print stuff for quite a while now and have quite the little collection of moon’n’star-festooned clothing, along with quite a large wish/inspiration list. Some of it can run quite pricey so it’s the ideal candidate for ‘DIY instead of buy’.

Luckily I’d just made my pick of fabrics for my December Fabric Store ambassador allowance, amongst which was a black merino-mix sweatshirting that was calling out to be bedecked with shiny things. I’d call this fabric a French terry more than true sweatshirting; it has a smooth front side and loopy back and isn’t too thick, so it was a great candidate both for these iron-ons and for my choice of pattern, the Papercut Kyoto sweater.

I made the Kyoto up as before, with an inch or so of length taken out of both the body and sleeves. This time I added the fun ruffles to the sleeves, which worked really nicely in this medium weight knit. I simply overlocked the raw edge of the ruffles rather than hemming to keep them airy and drapey.

I ironed the embellishments on right at the start, after cutting but before construction. I placed them on the front of the sweater fairly randomly, used a bit of washi tape to stick them down then pressed a hot iron over the back of each patch for ten seconds. They feel very well stuck down and hopefully they will launder ok.

I’ve been gently encouraging myself to get more into sewing in the evenings again, and this was a perfect post-work fun and relaxing sort of sew, which was done in under two hours. I’m thrilled with how this sweater turned out. It’s a little bit novelty and silly but also highly wearable and of course perfect for this festive time of year.

Fabric provided by The Fabric Store as part of their ambassador program.

It’s turtles all the way down

After cracking out my coat, here are some simpler sews ready for winter – lots of knits, built-in neckwarmers, and some bonus cosy pants. First up, this is a Papercut Rise, in a lovely grey marl rib that I’ve had in my stash for a while – I think it was from Woolcrest. I made this pattern up twice ages ago and both succumbed to washing fails, so I’m glad to have a new one (and to have learnt to never tumble-dry my handmades!)

This is a Sew House Seven Toaster 1 sweater. There are loads of lovely versions of this pattern in blogland but I think it was Heather’s gorgeous classic cream version that made me buy it. For a more shrunken fit I cut a size small, took a couple of inches off the body and sleeves, and brought in the neckline for a slightly closer fitting turtleneck. The neck sort of collapses because this fabric is pretty fine and drapey, but I still like how it looks. I used the reverse of the fabric – a soft knit with a slightly brushed back, also from Woolcrest I think – for most of the body, and the ‘right’ side for the cuffs and hem for a bit of subtle contrast. This pattern is so fast and has zero hemming, hurrah!

And for a bit of variety, this is Toaster with no turtle! Made from a lovely lilac marled sweatshirting from MyFabrics, with matching ribbing for the hem and cuff bands. I’m very into both cropped sweatshirts and pastel colours at the moment – rather new for me but I think these tones are actually pretty good on my colouring – so this sweater is ticking a lot of boxes.

Do you like my Pusheen mermaid socks :D

These trousers are the Style Arc Joni. I made these for a very specific use case: when you get home from work and immediately have to shrug off your awful constricting day clothes – lovely and well-fitting and handmade as they may be – and wriggle back into super comfy but definitely indoor-appropriate-only sweats or pyjamas. This pattern attracted me because they’re a bit elevated from basic track pants by the twisted lower leg seams, faux topstitched fly and little front tucks, but still pyjama-comfortable.

This pattern is easy as pie, only made a little more tricky by the drapey and stretchy quality of the fabric I used – a luxurious modal terry again from MyFabrics, again with matching ribbing for the waistband and cuffs. I’m a convert to investing in proper ribbing, it really makes it easier to get nice snug cuffs and neckbands and I think makes projects look more RTW.

I made them exactly as patterned with no fitting alterations; I could stand to take an inch or so off the leg but I don’t mind the slight slouch around the deep cuff that the extra length brings. I think I could even get away with wearing these to work on a casual/hungover sort of day. Come at me, winter!

P.S This post’s title refers to one of my favourite anecdotes

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!

Simple does it

Plantain + Anima

This me-made outfit sort of represents where both my clothing preferences and sewing style is at the moment. Plain, basic, classic, capsule style stuff. Might seem boring on the surface, but I’m getting a kick out of sewing simple stuff well and adding really useful staple pieces into my wardrobe.

Plantain + Anima

The tee is a Deer & Doe Plantain, with some small modifications. I raised the neckline to crew/jewel style, cuffed the sleeve, and made a baseball-style curved hem. The fabric’s a lovely heathery knit from Abakhan which is sort of brushed on the underside so it’s really soft and cosy. TBH I find myself wearing this until it starts to smell bad then pulling it out of the wash to wear again immediately.

Plantain + Anima

The pants are hacked Papercut Animas. This pattern for me is one of those super-adaptable TNTs – I’ve made four pairs in different fabrics and they all look totally different. This one’s in a dreamy viscose-mix suiting I got from Brighton’s Fabricland and the simple alteration was to straighten out the leg at the knee rather than the tapered fit as patterned.

Plantain + Anima
Plantain + Anima

I was actually hoping for an even more exaggerated flare/culotte style leg, so I might take this hack a step further and slash-and-spread the pattern from the hip for a future pair. Here’s some of the inspo I found while dreaming these up. (Click through to the post if you’re in a reader, to see the Pinterest pins below.)



Plantain + Anima

I love this outfit: I feel really cool and comfortable in it, had fun sewing it, and I know both garments will get worn to death. I’ve been buying up lots of plain fabrics in nice luxe natural fibres lately to take this principle further.

Waver

Waver jacket

I was itching to get back to my machine after Christmas, particularly to try out some of my new toys (sleeve board! Pressing ham – finally! New pinks and snips and a snazzy pink mini cutting mat!). I wanted a low stakes yet slightly meaty project, so made a wearable toile of the Papercut Waver jacket. In fact it’s a very fast sew as it only took me one day end to end, and it’s wound up being elevated from ‘wearable toile’ to ‘really rather like it, actually’. I like when that happens.

waver

I bought the Waver pattern with the aim of replacing a rather tatty old RTW khaki jacket I’ve had for ages but always seemed to be just right for heading out on semi-slobby, casual days when it’s neither overly warm or cold. Like the Waver it’s got a hood, roomy patch pockets and falls to high hip length, though I cut this one a bit longer: about halfway between the two views of the pattern.

Waver jacket

The pattern was really fun to sew, even with the tiresome chores of interfacing and cutting of linings that coat-making insists on. The pieces all slotted together really nicely: it was fun to make the gusseted hood, see how the neckline facing came together, and try a new method for bagging and finishing the hem. And like I said, it’s fast – I wasn’t rushing but still had it basically done in 5-6 hours over a single day. For a lined coat! There’s lots of handy shortcuts which make it a speedy sew like the simple patch pockets, the front facing being integrated into the main front pattern piece, and easy-set raglan sleeves.

Waver jacket
Waver jacket

I cut a straight size small and I don’t think I’d change much at all on the fit. Like other Papercut patterns it’s on the roomy side so sizing down would give a more fitted look, but with the raglan sleeves and elastic waist it’s supposed to be an easy fit.

Waver jacket

The only thing I struggled with in the construction is that tricky point where the lining, facing and hem meet at the front. You’re supposed to get a nice mitred point but mine was a bit out of whack so I had to do a bit of wiggling and poking to make a neat corner. Suspect a bit of practice and more accuracy will make this a simple and failsafe method for bagging out coats, though. The instructions have you handsew the sleeve hems but I bagged those too while the coat was still inside out. Despite the corner-fudging I think it’s still amongst the more professional-looking garments I’ve made, which is largely down to spending a bit on good quality notions.

Waver jacket

I used a pack of Prym anorak snaps instead of buttons and made a trip to Soho’s Maccullouch and Wallis for the elastic cord and toggles. Pro tips for hammering snaps: buy extras, practice on spare fabric first (you’ll always ruin the first few), and start at the bottom of the coat in case you, um, hammer one on inside out. Which I definitely did. Also I freestyled my positioning, but next time I’ll make sure one is horizontally aligned to the elastic casing as it gapes a bit there when fastened.

Waver jacket
Waver jacket

Amusingly, the notions cost more than the fabrics themselves. The outer is a viscose twill from Abakhan, which is quite lightweight with a tiny bit of crispness and sheen. Once I realised the coat would end up wardrobe-viable I decided to use some delicious Liberty tana lawn to line it. This print’s called Achilles (I have a much-loved knit dress in a different colourway) and I bought it at the same time as the outer fabric in a crazy online Liberty sale that Abakhan had on – it was £7.50 a metre or something. I like that the lining peeks out when the coat is undone or the cuffs are rolled.

waver hack

I’m so pleased with the fit and speed of the Waver that I want to make another one pretty soon, in the full-length view with no hood or elastic, and perhaps attempting to add a notched collar like these inspirations I’ve had pinned for a while. Shouldn’t be so tricky to hack a piece onto the neckline and I’ve got a lovely forest green textured coating in my stash I’ve been wanting to use.

The Rise of the necklines

PB240981

I find it interesting to sometimes ponder on how changing fashion trends influence sewing choices. Do you sew to escape trends, or to make your own rather than subscribe to fast fashion and all the horrors it entails? I’d say it’d be pretty hard (and unfulfilling) to sew a lot of purely trend-based pieces every season – all that time and effort to make something that you wouldn’t wear in a few months! But undeniably I’m inspired to sew certain styles due to influences I see around me. In particular I’m very drawn to the whole 70s revival happening this autumn, leading to sewing dreams tinted in tan and denim, of a-line skirts and jumpsuits, and to kick things off a couple of nice turtlenecks.

Rise turtleneck

This isn’t a style I previously thought I’d touch with a barge pole, considering myself scoop or V neck for life. But I bought a RTW burgundy turtleneck t-shirt in snugly-fitted ribbed knit and it became a wardrobe hit, teamed with my black Gingers, loafers, and a long necklace. Plus what could be cosier now it’s starting to get cold out than a built-in mini scarf? So I bought the Papercut Rise and Fall PDF pattern to whip out a couple of my own.

papercut rise

You could probably self-draft a turtleneck from any t-shirt pattern to be honest (it’s just a high crew neck with a deep neckband), but Papercut’s PDFs are fairly inexpensive so I saved the effort. Plus the pattern actually comprises two views with totally separate PDF files – the Rise is a snugger fit with a turtleneck, and the Fall is a slouchier shape with a polo neck – making it even better value.

Rise turtleneck

I used the Rise in size small here with no fit modifications but a couple of style tweaks: shortening the sleeves, reducing the turtleneck height by about 1cm, and finishing the cuffs and hem with bands instead of hemming (I just really dislike hemming knits and had no matching thread, to be honest, so this was a 100% overlocker project). The fabric is a soft jersey in nice 70s sepia brown that was knocking around in my stash. The fit came out a bit less form-fitting than I was expecting, but I think it works well with this fabric and looks nice blousily tucked in.

Rise turtleneck

I was so pleased with it I wore it all day yesterday, and while sewing up a second one – which I’m wearing today, arf. This time I slimmed the shoulders down to XS as they were a bit wide, cut the sleeves full length, and cropped down the body a few inches to sit on the waistband without needing to be tucked.

Rise turtleneck

Rise turtleneck

This is another stash fabric, a nice soft almost sweater type knit from myfabrics. My camera is really on the blink so apologies for the photo quality, but it’s sort of a sagey green-grey.

Rise turtleneck

Rise turtleneck

I’ve ordered some actual rib knit from Plush Addict to make one more version: I’ll probably size right down next time to get a closer fit like my rtw tee. Right now these are all I want to wear all the time, but I’m also aware that perhaps the fashion will pass and so will my urge to wear them. I hope not though!