Category Archives: Indie patterns

Worship Jeans

In Finished items 2023, Indie patterns, Jeans, Uncategorized on
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Pattern: Daughter Judy Worship Jeans

Fabric: Navy-grey (gravy?) slight stretch pinstripe denim from Cloth House

Pattern notes: Per the pattern description: “classic five-pocket rigid jeans pattern. Slim fit through the hip and thigh with a pitched straight waistband.” I made view A, the straight leg. I was looking to replicate a RTW pair of rigid straight leg jeans that I love but aren’t the most comfortable for all-day wear, and had heard good things about the Worship’s mobility and ease (see thecrookedhem’s pinned story for a cool breakdown on crotch pitch and such).

It’s my first Daughter Judy pattern and I was pretty happy with the package: the PDF has size layers and assembled smoothly and I followed the instructions which are well written and illustrated. The fly instructions are particularly unlike any I have tried before – you essentially keep the front pieces separate for as long as possible, then lap and topstitch the seam below the zip right at the end – but made for a robust and neat result.

I used one my machine’s decorative stitches for some of the topstitching: not sure on this aesthetic decision now they’re done but it was fun to sew. I used leftover tana lawn for the pocket bags. The button is temporary, I’ve ordered some new jeans ones.

Fit notes: I cut size 4 which is slightly over my current measurements for safety, but then due to both that and using a slight stretch denim ended up sewing the side seams with a larger seam allowance. I also took an inch out of the leg length at the adjustment line before cutting.

I don’t think I’d actually change much if there’s a next time: there’s a risk of overfitting and losing the intended wearing ease and range of motion, especially if cut in a non-stretch as intended. I especially like the pitched waistband, which dips down in the front – although, being straight-cut, it does gap a little bit in the back: a compromise I’ll accept.

Final thoughts: I like them! There’s something in a combination of the fit and this beautiful-quality denim that makes them feel RTW in a way that my prior homemade jeans haven’t reached (though I do still wear older jeans like these and these, 5-6 years later).

I’m not sure my wardrobe needs a bunch more jeans right now as the pandemic really shifted my tolerance for hard pants, but I have some lovely cord also from Cloth House that these could be cute in, or a light-wash / ecru pair for summer perhaps.

Two-tone Atlas Wrap Dress

In Dress, Finished items 2022, Indie patterns on
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Pattern: Sewing Patterns by Masin Atlas Wrap Dress. A bit of a Black Friday impulse purchase having seen many pretty ones made up and thinking it’d be a handy festive season dress.

Artful mockups of fabric choices

Fabric: Tencel Linen in Josephine and Black from Merchant & Mills – originally bought a while back for pants, but I really don’t need more pants. Having mocked-up and consulted with Josh, I decided it’d make a good colour-blocked Atlas rather than buying a new print (this was my second choice, which I’ve now got earmarked for a Vikisews Rosalyn…)

Pattern notes: Oh, it’s a fun one, lads. All those meaty, meditative details to contend with, which I was exactly in the mood for: full stand collar, continuous-bound-placket cuffs, an intriguing-shaped pattern puzzle for the front-wrapped skirt which incorporates the tie and a nice diagonal drape.

The instructions are very nice: all the key info is easily to hand and the steps are sensible but thorough and chatty, which was fun to follow. Restoring my faith that indies can still be high-quality and interestingly-designed from time to time!

It took me most of a leisurely Sunday to work my way through, a large part of which was making sure I’d cut the appropriate pieces out of brown vs black to make my two-tone idea work (no errors made, amazingly). Most of the front pieces are single-layer anyway but I sliced the back and collar bits up the centre, added SA and pieced them back together to be completist about it all.

Fit notes: I made a size B graded to C from waist to hip, with no other changes. The fit’s pretty nice – the bodice is intentionally long so it blouses and the skirt is quite slim. The only thing that’s a tiny bit uncomfortable are the lower arms and cuffs which are pretty snug; I can only just fit my (admittedly giant) hands though with the buttons done up.

Final thoughts: I’m pretty sure I dig it! I’ve been keen to try mini-length skirts again for winter since I don’t like wearing midis with tights and coats, although I’m not sure the slightly austere colour story here really reads ‘festive party’ after all: I’ve bought this stuff to maybe make another.

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.

Pomona Pants

In Finished items 2022, Indie patterns, Trousers on
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Pattern: Anna Allen Pomona Pants. I bought the pattern last October and just got round to trying them.

Fabric: A cotton gingham vichy and cotton jacquard, both from Simply Fabrics which seems to be one of my favourite fabric sources at the moment.

Pattern notes: Following a similar theme to Anna’s other pants patterns, these are drafted with no side seam, so there’s just one huge pattern piece (besides the pocket). This makes it a bit trickier to fit onto some fabrics: I couldn’t make it work with my original choice of stash fabric but with a bit of jigsaw-laying-out it does fit onto 1.5m of wide-enough fabric with satisfyingly little leftover.

Fit notes: For the first gingham pair I made size 6. I actually used the tapered-leg view B since I’d had it copy-shop printed but added 2″ to each inner leg from mid-thigh to get more like the wide-leg view. They turned out more oversized than I expected from the modelled images which look more fitted, but perhaps they were made in a stiffer fabric. I also felt like the rise was too high and rather than ankle length are full-length on me, which I thought suited this pair so I kept it.

For the second pair I cut the pattern down to a 2, took 0.5″ depth out of the crotch, 1″ off the leg and additionally took in the legs by about another 0.5″ once I’d tried them on. I cut two pockets and sewed them wrapping around the sides.

Finally, rather than make the regular elastic channel I overlocked the elastic directly onto the top edge, folded it to the inside and zig-zagged down: this prevents any risk of the dreaded twisting.

Thoughts: I’ve been wearing both pairs rather a lot since finishing them: they suit the mainly-work-at-home life well. I don’t find the fit perfect due to the unusual draft and probably don’t need more pairs for a bit, but I may try in future with a stiffer fabric.

Vest and pants: a self-draft & Vikisews Britney

In Fabric, Finished items 2021, Indie patterns, Pattern hack, Trousers on
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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.

Checkered Tudor wrap hack

In Finished items 2021, Indie patterns, Tops on
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Another rather Instagram-influenced make here, the Stitch Witch Tudor blouse ‘wrap hack’.

Stitch Witch is a relatively new indie with a great name and aesthetic – it’s nice to see someone with a unique romantic/historical design vibe. The wrap hack is an add-on to the original blouse pattern which features a straight button-up front. My first impression was that it was quite difficult to navigate all the PDF files and figure out which to print. I ended up looking through the main pattern file and excluding the regular front pieces from my print out.

Basic add-on instructions are included for the hack, however I didn’t have enough fabric to cut double the fronts and self-line the top as suggested so went my own way with a single layer and narrow-hemmed edge instead. This works fine as my fabric doesn’t have an obvious wrong side. The instructions are a bit light on getting nice finishes too, especially where the sleeves meet the bodice. I used French seams throughout so at least there are no raw edges but I’d prefer if the abrupt seam finishes were concealed somehow.

I made the cropped length in size 8 C cup – it was a bit difficult to pick a size as I don’t think the finished measurement chart applies to the wrap version, plus the cup options aren’t given different measurements, so I went mainly on body measurements. I reduced the tie length by a few inches as the piece wouldn’t fit on my 44″ wide fabric, otherwise no fit modifications. I have a bit of excess in the chest which means I probably should have picked the smaller cup size version and it is quite cropped so have to wear high waisted pants (these are RTW).

The fabric is a block-printed Indian cotton from Rohiyan on Etsy. I like that the grid lines are imperfect and therefore meant I didn’t feel bad not obsessing over getting things perfectly aligned and matching. I like sewing with Indian cottons, they soften up nicely over time though do tend to bobble a bit – my favourite jumpsuit is getting a bit threadbare after three years of much love.

Despite these minor usability issues with the pattern, I did have fun sewing this and I love the finished top. It feels a little bit fancy/skimpy for daytime but great for goin’ out.