Category Archives: Papercut Patterns

Guise Louise

Papercut Guise

Despite already having a TNT pattern for this type of pegged trouser shape (Burda 7017), I bought the Papercut Guise pattern just to see if I’d prefer it. For one reason or another (bad fabric, ruined from over-washing, poor construction) all my 7017s are pretty much out of action these days, so a new pair is definitely needed. I was also intrigued to see how the elasticated back waist of Guise was made and if it had any benefit over a fixed waistband. I made up this wearable toile in cheap poly crepe to test what I thought of it.

Papercut Guise

I don’t hate these or anything, there are just a few fit and style issues that mean I don’t like them as much as the 7017 pattern overall. Size wise I cut a straight S going by the finished measurements. They do fit well but I feel like I’d want to make a series of minor tweaks to make them more like the 7017s. For example the rise falls a bit between mid and high; I think I’d like it an inch higher. Then the waist would be too big so I’d need to take it in… so I’m thinking I should probably just stick with 7017 next time, ha ha.

Papercut Guise

Back view – the elasticated band looks pretty bad when it’s visible (I couldn’t even bear to put up the photo!) so I’d feel like I need to to cover it. Which for me sort of defeats the purpose of high waisted mannish pants as I like to tuck in and show my waist.

Papercut Guise

They’re quite a demanding sew as well for casual pants: there’s thirteen pieces, several of which need to be cut in interfacing too, so the cutting and fusing took an entire unpleasant evening. In the end I wimped out of sewing the welt pockets and belt loops in this non-pressable poly which made it much faster. Anyway, the instructions are good and I followed the given fly directions with a good result. I really like the fit in the legs and the release tucks at the hip.

Papercut Guise

Another styling option where you can see the rise doesn’t hit at my smallest point so isn’t the most flattering. Soooo, I’m sort of of the fence about this pattern and probably won’t be too likely to make it up again. There are a lot of cute Guises out there – Lizzy, Sonja, and Julie – so I think it’s just a case of it not being right for my shape and style. Back to the 7017s for my definitive autumn trousers!

Anima times two

Well hello. Bit of an unintended break there. I was sick for a week (sinusitis turns every little cold into a bed-bound week of hell), then had a trip away with work.

award

Two quite lovely sewing-related things have happened since I last posted – as well as some real sewing, below. First, I had an email (and a tweet from Jen!) to let me know that my lil’ space here has been nominated for a Bloglovin’ 2015 Award. I don’t know if the nominations were reader-voted or internally decided, but either way I can’t help but be extremely flattered and a bit proud. I know awards are always subjective and ultimately don’t mean much, but it’s a lovely boost to be recognised by a platform I use every day. If you’d like to see the other nominees and cast a vote, you can do so here.

Secondly, on that work trip we all had to give a short talk on what we’re passionate about. Guess what I picked, ha ha. Some of my colleagues already knew I sew what I wear nearly every day but some didn’t, and I had such a lovely reaction of admiration and support… plus about ten commission requests and the idea that I should start a ‘sewing for my colleagues’ blog series – we’ll see about that! Anyway it was really nice to share a big part of who I am and get a warm reception, and to find a few more sewing fans to have stitchy conversations with. (Hello if you’re reading!)

Anima pants

Right, on to some actual sewing. So I recently bought the Papercut Anima pants pattern as a PDF. I know, it’s pretty similar to the True Bias Hudsons and I try to reuse patterns rather than buy similar ones, but what made me buy Anima in particular was the faux fly front, which I’d never been able to wrap my head around how to construct.

Anima pants

They’re a quick and simple sew, a gentle single session type of project. The PDF was a manageable printout at around 25 pages and went together easily. I generally sew an S in Papercut but cut the M for these because I’m larger around the hips and wanted them loose. I think the S would’ve given me a closer fit more like the pattern photos – good to know I can just print it off again to try the smaller size sometime.

Anima pants

I sewed them per the instructions with no fit adjustments, except omitting the cuffs and just hemming the legs – I liked the ankle length finish and was hoping to go for a sort of soft tailoring look rather than full-on sweatpant. I’ve just rolled up the cuff a bit here for a peek of the slightly contrast inside.

French terry

The fabric’s a mega lovely French terry kindly sent to me by the newly opened UK arm of online knit fabric specialists Girl Charlee. I’d ordered from the U.S. Girl Charlee site before so was really pleased to see they moved to our shores too – no worries of getting stung by high postage and customs charges. Founder Mark Creasy let me pick a couple of fabrics to try, and this is the modal blend French terry . Ummm, I love this fabric. It’s insanely soft and has beautiful drape. I think it definitely helps these pants to look a cut above sportswear or loungewear – I had the Anima in mind when I ordered it and it was definitely perfect for this project. It comes in Sandalwood brown as well as this Deep Forest shade and it’s just £6.95/m. i’ll definitely be getting some more come the colder weather.

Anima pants

Given the loose fit I reckoned they would work as is in a woven fabric, so I cut a second pair pretty quickly in this gorgeous viscose I got in Chester’s Abakhan store.

Anima pants

I’ve been living in these since I finished them to be honest. They seem to go with all my plain tops (this is another Aster hack in linen) and are so comfortable – great for cycling and nice and light and breezy. I didn’t need to make any fit changes to make them work in a woven. Perhaps if you picked a snugger size you’d want to size up one to make sure they drape well.

Anima pants

I omitted the topstitching and drawstring this time for a smoother waistband. I’d love to try hacking around to make a flat-front waistband sometime too. Nice to have another TNT everyday pattern in the stash!

Halo Sigma

Sigma dress

Yayy, I’ve made something that isn’t jeans! I’ve hardly made any dresses so far this year which is unusual for me, so decided to get back into it by using up a pretty stash fabric and trying a new pattern, the Papercut Sigma.

Sigma dress

I bought the pattern on a whim from Ray Stitch – a bit of an expensive whim at £15. I could/should have self-drafted this rather simple style from my blocks – this frock from December is pretty similar – but fancied some instant gratification without fiddling with dot and cross paper and French curves. The fabric is delicious Atelier Brunette ‘Halo’ viscose bought from M is for Make a while ago. It’s a really nice slightly heavier weight fabric that’s just perfect for dressmaking, and is in my current favourite colours to wear. I cut it all on the cross-grain – the little pebble shapes actually run vertically but I preferred them horizontal.

Sigma dress

I made the size small exactly as patterned and I’m pretty pleased with the fit. I did view 2 with the cute side gathers on the skirt and the sleeves shortened a couple of inches. It’s a bit blousier on the bodice than intended due to my drapey fabric choice, but I like that effect.

Sigma dress

It’s just a bit loose through the shoulders and upper back, but at least that makes it comfortable to move in. Be warned that the skirt is pretty short – I’m shortish and like short skirts and needed to do a baby hem to keep it decent.

Sigma dress

It’s got two elements I’ve tended to avoid for a while – a neck facing and a centre-back invisible zip. I’m slowly warming to both of these things: a facing is admittedly less likely to pucker than a bias finish, and since I’ve actually learned and practiced how to do invisible zips I like them much more than I used to. Always be learnin’.

Sigma dress

I’m really happy with this dress -it was a fun Sunday afternoon sew and the result is a perfect work or dinner-out kind of frock, the kind of which will get a lot of use. To be honest, if I were to make this style again I probably would be less lazy and use my blocks to knock-off the shape in order to address the minor fit issues around the shoulders. Oh well, it was worth buying anyway to fire up my dressmaking desires again and it’s a sweet little one to have in the pile.

Crimson and Clover

Papercut Clover

This charming earworm wouldn’t leave my head the entire time I was sewing this dress, so I had to don some appropriately-hued accessories it photograph it with. I’m sure you recognise by the distinct bodice detail peeking out that it’s a Papercut Clover dress.

Papercut Clover

I didn’t buy this pattern right after it came out, but was slowly persuaded by so many pretty ones popping up: see Fiona, Rachel, Devon and Hazel. I bought a hard copy directly from Papercut in New Zealand as I really like their packaging and pattern paper, and sewed it up in the evenings this week.

Papercut Clover
Papercut Clover

This was a test run to check fit and construction, but I finished it pretty much as final and it turned out perfectly wearable, hurrah. The fabric’s a cheap poly crepe from an Abakhan dash, with the bodice detail and sleeves in a random black silk from my stash. I haven’t seen anyone do a contrast sleeve version yet but personally I think they help to balance the bust detail rather nicely. Fitting is pretty easy with such a relaxed shape and it seems true to the size chart for a slightly oversized fit. I cut a small with zero modifications and don’t think I would change anything next time.

Papercut Clover

You’ll notice I did give the dress a permanent waistline, simply by sewing a line of elastic on the inside right around where my waist hits. There’s no chance I’d wear this style loose and I don’t really like wearing belts, so adding a perma-cinched waist seemed a good idea. I like how it blouses out a bit but beware it makes the skirt ride up and appear shorter: I didn’t shorten it from the pattern at all which is rare for me.

Papercut Clover

It’s easiest to try the dress on, cinch with a belt and mark where it sits at the side seams and CF/CB, then connect the marks with a straight line to sew over with the elastic. You could also still wear a belt over the elastic and it’d stay nicely in place – I hate when belts shift around.

Papercut Clover

Overall the dress was a quick and easy sew; the hardest bits are the curved hem and getting a nice joined-up seam on the bust detail. Just one thing to nit-pick with the pattern: the bust detail pieces end in a sharp point rather than having a bevelled-off seam allowance (like the D&D Centauree’s do) so it’s kind of hard to gauge where to position it against the bodice edge to sew at the 1cm seam allowance. It seems like the point should run off the edge of the centre front, so I’ll probably just square it off on the pattern piece.

That aside, I’m pretty sure I’ll be making more Clovers sooner rather than later. It’s a great one to chuck on and feel instantly dressed as well as super comfortable. I love the blouse length option too and I’m interested to try lengthening the sleeves a bit. You could maybe say I’ll be going ‘into the Clover, over and over…’

Papercut pleated pants

Papercut pleated pants

Another new sewing challenge surmounted: tailored trousers, with a proper zip fly-front and everything: Papercut Patterns’ pleated pants to be precise. I made them in a slightly tweedy charcoal wool from my shopathon at Mood.

Papercut pleated pants

The pattern is great, although it’s definitely one to toile first to check fit and techniques. Lots of bloggers say the sizes come up very big but I didn’t find that was the case. I graded between the S and M which fitted about right. The construction went pretty smoothly and was a good level of challenge. The pieces all slotted together very nicely and the instructions – in a little fold-it-yourself booklet – are good. I messed up the fly front a couple of times and managed to set the pleats the wrong way, but no major disasters. I’m quite proud that these are labelled for ‘skilled’ sewists and I didn’t struggle much, actually!

Papercut pleated pants
Papercut pleated pants
Papercut pleated pants

The front didn’t quite want to stay flat so I used two hook and bars instead of the suggested one, and also slipstitched the bottom two inches of the zip opening closed. I decided to add belt loops right at the end, mostly inspired by Jolies Bobines’ fabulous pants using a similar new République du Chiffon pattern. They’re quite functional at keeping them in place, as well as adding a bit of detail to the wide waistband.

Papercut pleated pants

Nice and tidy inside. I slipstitched down the waistband before topstitching for accuracy, and all the raw edges are overlocked.

Papercut pleated pants
Papercut pleated pants
Papercut pleated pants

The fit overall is good: I like the mid-rise and slim legs, and the cleverly shaped waistband has no gaping at all. For some reason though, I’m feeling a bit ‘meh’ about the finished garment. I’m just not sure the mannish silhouette with hip pleats is the best shape on me, and I’ve been struggling to think of ways to wear them in an outfit. I usually tend to like a slouchy top half but then the look just gets baggy all over, so I think more fitted tops are the way to go.

trousers

I had a little trawl for styling ideas – I like the patterned knit and asymmetric blouse ideas. Any other thoughts on styling them? We’ll see if I pick them up to wear very often. I poured a lot of love into them so I hope so!

Papercut pleated pants

I’m pretty sure I’ll make these again, but next time I’d pick a solid coloured twill or denim for a more casual look. I have another Burda trouser pattern that I want to try first. The mission to sew perfect pants starts here…