Vikisews Oona dress

In Dress, Finished items 2022, Vikisews on
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Pattern: The Vikisews Oona dress. I bought it in English with a discount code from their Etsy shop – it appears to be on sale for just £5 at the moment too.

Fabric: A stash mystery! It’s a very lovely weighty, drapey off-black cloth with a bit of slub and I have no idea where it came from. I’d say some blend of tencel/linen/rayon if I was guessing. I had the perfect amount for this dress so calling it fate.

Pattern notes: I umm’ed and ahh’ed over this pattern for a bit: I’ve been looking for variations on midi/milkmaid styles but was a bit concerned that the plunging front was out of my comfort zone – but I reckoned that if I offset that with a sombre colour and matronly length it’d work out okay.

The pattern was initially intimidating, with a lot of steps and fiddly little pattern pieces. But once I got going I realised there’s nothing to fear. Essentially every edge is either hemmed or faced with an elastic casing (elastic lengths are all provided) and there’s quite a sensible order of construction to get nice neat edges where all the pieces abut. The instructions are excellent, very thorough but no extraneous info either (honestly I love being told which side to press seams to), and clearly photographed. The only variation I made was to French seam everything, which was a bit tricky with a 1cm seam allowance but I got there. Everything fitted together like a lovely scrunchy puzzle and it’s so neat and tidy inside and out.

Fit notes: I made a 38 in 158cm height. Before attaching the skirt I checked the fit of the bodice and reckoned I needed to pull all the bodice elastics a bit tighter to help everything stay in place. This is quite easy to do at this stage provided you don’t baste the elastic ends in place too enthusiastically, so I definitely recommend it before you seal everything up once the skirt goes on. I took an inch off the skirt length and gave it a deep blind-stitched hem. I think the size down might fit better with less ruching, but I guess the effect is supposed to be blousy.

Thoughts: I really like it! It feels comfortable and secure and not like I need to mess around with it all the time. Going braless feels fine in this weightier fabric with the tightened elastics. I want to make another one, perhaps from one of the fun prints in my stash, and perhaps hacking the bodice to give more coverage like this lovely one on IG.

Hacked tie-front bodice dress

In Dress, Finished items 2022, Self-drafted on
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Pattern: a self-draft hack using a basic woven T-shirt bodice block as the base

Fabric: deadstock viscose print bought from Fabric Godmother a while back – there are some similar ones still in stock.

Pattern notes:

Rather than give into the temptation to make yet another Mindy hack (who knows, i may yet tire of square necklines and puffy sleeves) i sketched and pulled together this simple silhouette. The construction is straightforward; the cropped T-bodice is sliced up the middle and finished with a facing, into which the skinny tie straps are sandwiched. I played with the ties’ position a bit to prevent bra-flash, but ended up sewing some of the seam closed under the lower tie to be extra sure. Then just a gathered skirt of my fabric’s width, and finally a little hem ruffle to bring it to my preferred mid-calf midi length.

Thoughts: It turned out just how i imagined and feels so easy to wear. I love these conversational prints, and the especially ’me’ palette of black plus muted pinks, blues and beiges make it extra likely to be selected regularly. I expect I’ll wear it quite a lot.

Checked linen flared trousers, & some thoughts on buying patterns on Etsy

In Finished items 2022, Trousers on
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Pattern: Margaret Flared Trousers from PatternCos on Etsy

Fabric: Wobble Navy Check Linen from Merchant & Mills, bought in person on a daytrip to Rye.

Pattern notes: This slim-fit kickflare style has been all over the shops (I was particularly channeling these and these and sketched out a vision in Procreate accordingly) but it was surprisingly hard to match to a pattern to make my own. It’s another in my recent Etsy pattern purchase spree – I’ve been increasingly looking there for more inspiring and affordable options than the current indie scene or Big 4 can offer.

In my experience buying patterns on Etsy is a bit of a potluck: they can suffer from drafting/instruction quality issues, fewer made-up examples to reference, and less inclusive sizing. But in return you do get a widely expanded range of stylistic choice and typically some more interesting or trend-driven designs.

At this stage in my sewing ~journey I want more RTW-adjacent styles that can be hard to find in the indie/Big4 world, yet I don’t enjoy drafting from complete scratch, so I’m happy to pay a few quid for some PDF bones that I can mess around with. I can generally set aside weak instructions, make hacks to get the design I’m after, and fix drafting errors and fit issues as I go. Perhaps that approach doesn’t make sense to everyone, but it works for me!

As it happens though, I think this pattern is quite a little gem. This designer has an online sewing school and a lot of avant-garde-leaning designs in her shop which show her drafting prowess, so I thought it’d be a decent bet on good quality. It doesn’t come with written instructions but a video tutorial (with captions) – I didn’t refer to this as I can make basic pants in my sleep now but it looked good and clear. All the general gumph you need like size chart, fabric yardages and seam allowances are clearly laid out as part of the PDF package. Tick from me for usability.

Along with the silhouette I was looking for, this pattern features a jeans-style back yoke, straight waistband, fly front, sweet little shallow front pockets and jeans-style pointed back pockets. For fit and design preference I made a few changes: I converted the yoke into darts, added a slight curve to the waistband, squared off the pocket edges, added belt loops, used a button rather than concealed bar closure, added just one back pocket, and graded the lower half of the leg to the largest size for a more exaggerated flare. Fun story: I also cut some curved-hem front patch pockets to match my reference pics, and only realised I couldn’t use them when I came to start sewing and realised you cant (really) layer pocket on pocket. Doy.

Fit notes: I selected size according to my measurements with a bit of extra safety seam allowance but they turned out generous so ended up shaving off an inch or so from each side seam after basting up. Otherwise the fit is just perfect! I didn’t add length despite them appearing far more cropped in the modelled photo, but decided I liked them full length and didn’t want to lose the flared shape by chopping them off.

Thoughts: Love how these look and feel on. It’s just what I was picturing and will pair with loads of my tees. The linen is kind of loose and slubby and perhaps not the most suitable choice for slimmer pants, so I really hope they hold their shape over time. I’ve got a feeling this pattern will become a very adaptable TNT; I’d like to try it in denim for jeans sometime or with a pintuck down the centre-front.

McCall 8099 Lina Cargo Pants

In Finished items 2022, McCalls, Trousers on
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Pattern: McCall 8099 ‘Lina’, view B.

Fabric: Lightweight (and hard to photograph, apparently) polycotton corduroy, bought locally

Pattern notes: I bought this pattern in a recent McCall’s sale. I feel a bit ‘what is up fellow kids’ / teenage throwback making baggy cargo pants, but to be honest it’s pretty much because I have a new remote-first job and can’t foresee wanting to wear non-elasticated pants very often. They also feature six whole pockets, including some fun voluminous pleated bellows-style ones wrapping the side seams.

The sewing was straightforward and pretty fun; I referred to the instructions to form the bellows pockets and did my own thing otherwise. I decided to add a faux cut-on fly to give the front a bit more detail; I also added a hammer loop to one of the rear pockets and lowered the position of the pockets accordingly. Finally, the inseam of view B is slightly tapered; I decided to straighten this out as I wanted more of a straight-verging-on-flared leg look.

Fit notes: I made size medium after hunting down the final garment measurements on the pattern piece (I will never understand why the Big 4 don’t put this extremely useful information on the envelope or instructions sheet for easier reference, rather than burying it on one of the pattern pieces…). My current hip measurement is 38″ and the medium’s finished hip is 41.5″ so unlike most Big 4 patterns they’re not comically oversized: they feel relaxed but not loose.

Another irritating omission is that nowhere it’s mentioned that view B has a cropped hem, and this is hard to tell by comparing the view diagrams alone. I instinctively added 2 inches while cutting as they looked too short for the full-length pants I was after, and had to take a baby hem to keep them full length.

Thoughts: I think I’ll wear them a ton, purely because they’re so comfortable, pair well with my summer uniform of Birks and a tank (here with a very quickly whipped-up Blomma Tank – pattern available for free on Paradise Patterns’ email list), and make me feel like a grungy 14 year old again.

Style Arc Raph – 70s style collared tee

In Finished items 2022, Style Arc, Tops on
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Pattern: Style Arc Raph Knit Polo Top – semi-fitted polo style top with slightly open V-neck collared neckline.

Fabric: Oatmeal poly/viscose wide rib that’s been in my stash for ages.

Pattern notes: I haven’t used a Style Arc pattern for a while but I was in the market for this kind of top and generally trust their drafting, if not their instructions. It’s quite a challenging sew due to the precise stitching needed to get the collar and placket nicely set in, and the instructions indeed really did not help me much. It was hard to tell where to end the placket stitching so I didn’t have enough width to overlap them properly, hence the slightly distorted bumps I ended up with at the base.

It also took a bit of mental modelling to figure out which sides together to set the collar in – the instructions could simply have mentioned this and saved a lot of test-basting. I used a lightweight knit interfacing inside the collar and plackets, but only interfaced half the plackets and the under-collar to keep it lightweight and flexible.

The pattern includes a binding piece to cover the seam allowances inside the neckline, but it was getting quite bulky so I just graded down the lower seam allowances and topstitched the top collar SA down on top of them – this fabric doesn’t ravel and the stitches sink in so I think it looks fine.

Fit notes: I selected size 8 and bought the single size PDF as it’s a bit cheaper. It came out quite loose – as expected, as it’s semifitted and Style Arc usefully lists all of the finished measurements – but I wanted a closer fit so took in each side seam by about 1/2″ tapering to 1″ at the hem. I took about 2″ off the length at the hem. I also shortened the sleeves and finished them with a band, mainly due to fabric scarcity (I only had 1m, 1.6m is recommended).

Thoughts: I’d like to try this again, refining the placket insertion to get it perfect and perhaps using a terry type fabric for even more of a 70s look – I like this contrast collar version. I think I’ll still wear this one even though it’s not perfectly sewn.

Hubbading Faye with embroidery

In Dress, Finished items 2022, Indie patterns on
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Pattern: Hubbading Patterns Faye Dress, bought on Etsy

Fabric: A long-stashed mystery – I think it might be a linen-look cotton from Manchester’s Abakhan. It’s got a weightyish drape and a very nice washed-chambray effect finish.

Pattern & modification notes:

I’d been pinning a lot of dresses in this style (this one in particular) and was glad to find this pattern with the fairly-hard-to-hack diamond bodice detail. I first made it in a viscose lawn back in December-ish and took it on holiday to Mexico:

Back then I noted:

  • Made size 8. There is a lot of volume and ease built in which might’ve felt overwhelming had my fabric not been so light. It pulls on over the head easily.
  • Squished it out of only 2m where 3.5 is stated; I only had to reduce the sleeve length and slash-and-overlap some width out and cut the lining from another scrap to make this work.
  • Thought there could been a neater way to finish the lined bodice, or eliminate lining completely; I don’t really care for multiple layers in a floaty summery dress. While the given instructions are clear, it’s tricky to be accurate at the middle-point intersection and it’s slightly inelegantly topstitched to secure along the gathered diagonal seams.
  • Proportionally I wanted it a little bit longer – it’s an awkward on-knee length, I prefer a mid-calf midi.

I’ve been wearing it quite a lot and decided to make another to resolve these minor snags. For my second one I reduced the size further all over (pivoted some flare out of the bodice, shortened the back a bit, made the gathered skirt panels narrower). I added 5.5″ length (the maximum my fabric would allow) to the middle panels and eked the lower ruffle out of what was left of the yardage. Luckily proportionally I was pleased with how this turned out as well as having basically zero waste.

Inspired by another pinned garment, I jazzed up the neckline and hem with hand blanket stitch edging. I actually just turned a simple double hem all around the neckline which worked surprisingly well. The stitching is a bit haphazard but I do like the effect. I used a similar machine stitch to topstitch the elastic channels on the sleeves and left a little hem for a ruffly effect.

Thoughts: I’m just smitten tbh. It turned out exactly how I pictured and it’s all I want to wear right now.