Category:

Dressmaking

SEWN: Peppermint Paddington Top upcycle

written by Kate

The Peppermint Paddington Top is the latest freebie from Australian lifestyle Peppermint Magazine. Every time they release a new issue they also have a new (free) sewing pattern and they team up with different pattern brands. The Paddington top is made by Sarah-May of French Navy Now. Sarah has been around for sometime, if you’ve been in Instagram land for a few years you might have heard of the Calyer pants, Orla dress, Stellan tee…

As usual, I only blog when I have something to say about a pattern so here goes!

Peppermint Paddington Top pattern details

First up is the line drawing. Key features: raglan puffed sleeve; elastic at the sleeve hem; button back; neckline finished with facing; boxy shape; cropped length.

Line drawing of the Peppermint Paddington top — Peppermint Paddington Top line drawing

Fabric: you can make this in any light or medium weight woven with good effect. Something like poplin will give you a more structured look, viscose will drape more and the sleeves will be more subtle. My fabric is two bits of tablecloth I excavated from my mother in law’s stash. She said she remembers buying it whilst on holiday in Suriname many moons ago! If you are eagle eyed and want to inspect closely you’ll notice that the blues are different shades and the reds are also ever so subtly different.

Things to look out for

Length is cropped

If you’re a “tucker” you’ll need to lengthen the top. With a finished back length of 43cm for the smallest size (which is what I made), the Peppermint Paddington top isn’t really designed to be tucked. I should have paid more attention to this and lengthened it by at least 7-10cm. But silly me didn’t read the description on the pattern and simply went on IG pictures.

Sleeve hem will have wrinkles… unless you put in a facing

The sleeve hem is curved. You create an elastic channel by folding over by 1cm, then 4cm. If your fabric presses well the 1cm is no problem. The extra 4cm however is not ok in terms of puckers. In the instructions, Sarah suggests putting in lines of gathering stitches and using a lot of steam. I went with it but I wasn’t able to achieve a wrinkle free finish. See the picture. Not that it really matters because it is elastic so it will “wrinkle up” anyway, but still slightly annoying.

Sleeve piece from the Peppermint Paddington top in a checkered fabric

An alternative that would have worked better would have been to draft a sleeve facing as an elastic channel. If I hadn’t been quite so lazy I would have done that.

Back button closure is optional

My button stash doesn’t really exist so I tend to avoid them for spur of the moment sewing. I thought the simplest thing to do would be to sew up the centre back, leave a gap at the top and close it with a hook and eye. Can you tell I was going entirely on autopilot here because “that’s how I normally do it” when I could easily have just sewed up the whole centre back without any closures. I am dead pleased with my check matching though, can you spot the seam?!

Back view of checkered top by Time to Sew — Pleased with my centre back check matching

In the end I decided I didn’t want the hook and eye so I took it off, sewed up the back seam. I didn’t fancy recutting the facings though so I just sewed on a label on top.

Label gifted to me from my friends Sally @modistasewing. By the way do you like my rainbow overlocker thread?!

And by doing the above it basically became …..

Style Arc Hope

With a raglan puff sleeve, high neckline and a boxy shape. Which I have made before and liked. Had I thought about this at the start when I already knew I didn’t want the button back, then I may not have made the Peppermint Paddington top. Adapting the Hope dress to achieve a similar effect would have been a simple case of shortening the sleeve to above elbow and lengthening the bodice. Here’s the Hope

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But I get distracted by shiny new patterns and I love to try new stuff. Even if I’ve already done a lot of work in fitting old patterns and it would be a simple case to hack it, I seem to be very good at forgetting about it. What about you?

For more of my sewing makes click here

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Till next time

Kate

June 16, 2021 0 comment

Dressmaking Opinion pieces Sewing

Blogger / Instagrammer marketing and income in sewing

written by Kate

Marketing via social media and blogs – with the use of “real” people (vs. paid models for example) – is prolific in the sewing world (and fashion, beauty, and a lot of other industries). To the point where the odd discussion about whether this kind of work should be paid in cash, as opposed to in-kind, seems to be becoming commonplace.

As someone who works with sewing companies and is semi-regularly approached for “collaborations”, I wanted to write my ideas on this. Back in 2018 I went to a talk by a new (now defunct) agency which aimed to improve the blogger/brand relationship. The feeling I got from that was generally speaking we should work more towards payment because bloggers were using their PR work to make a living. Alas, in 2021 there is no universal agreement on standard practice for blogger / Instagrammer marketing. It really is down to you as to what you want to do and are happy with.

By the way, related to this is what is considered advertising and transparency around “gifting”, I wrote about that here. Ever since I spoke to @thecamdenstitch about it, I’ve been in the camp that a gift is not a gift unless nothing is expected in return. And whilst every country has different specifications, the rules have the same purpose: your audience must know when you are posting an ad. Don’t want to do disclose? Then in my opinoin, don’t take the product in the first place!

Types of blogger / instagrammer marketing in sewing

Typically a blogger / instagrammer is given a product as part of a collaboration, asked to make something and then post about it. Examples:

Fabric stores give fabric to individuals in exchange for posts on an individual’s channels, or on the website of the individual or fabric store
Pattern companies give patterns to individuals for giveaways or because they launched new products

I call this payment “in-kind”. So the blogger/Instagrammer receives a product in exchange for publicity, without payment in cash. Pattern testers often put up posts of their test makes for the pattern they received to test. That is a different matter, I’ll come back to that later.

Why is payment usually in kind rather than cash?

I have some theories around this. The first theory is that a majority of bloggers/instagrammers who do advertising work don’t do it as their main source of income. In which case, receiving products is like a bonus that your hobby costs less than it otherwise would. I know a grand total of 2 full time bloggers/instagrammers that sustain themselves with this kind of marketing income (I am not one of them). Of course, there will be more, but having been around sewing and IG a fair bit I don’t think it is a “normal” thing in sewing.

A fabric I received for PR purposes from Minerva. If you’d like to see what I did with it scroll down or head to my post here on the Minerva site (no affiliate link).

My second theory is that a lot of the social media marketing we see is for smaller sewing businesses. A lot of bloggers/instagrammers know the owners or staff of these businesses personally, and want to support them. So it can feel like a nice favour. Also, it is entirely possible they actually can’t afford to pay.

For example, there can be a lot of cost in running a pattern brand. The actual pattern drawing is the fastest part. Grading, instructions, sampling, testing, marketing. And if you do paper patterns, then it’s even more work. Preparation for the home sewing market is hugely time-consuming, the market is already saturated. I’d bet that making a pattern ready to sell could take as long or even longer than getting ready to manufacture ready to wear.

Also if you think of the relative low cost of a sewing pattern, you can imagine the volumes you need to sell to make a sustainable business model. Assuming it is a business that people use to pay their staff and bills (rather than just their side hobby). If you want to know more about costs, you can read the Just Patterns income report here where Delphine outlines the financial realities of being an indie pattern brand.

Thirdly, everyone likes to have recognition for a job well done. Whilst the idea of chasing internet popularity is something often shaken off as being a bit of a silly goal (maybe because we’re scared of not achieving popularity?) we generally like to have likes and comments, right? And be reposted and given air time makes us feel validated. This kind of opportunity is exactly what working with these companies can do. Combined with product that didn’t cost any money, often that’s enough.

By the way: I think internet popularity is a perfectly valid goal. As long as you are clear on what it would bring you. Is it so you get approached by companies and feel validated that your skills are good enough that they want you as an ambassador? Or is it because you yourself have a product to sell that you want to promote to others? Do you really just want product that you don’t fork out money for? Etc.

If we combine the points above + the ready availability of volunteers who are hobbyists, it doesn’t feel to me that there much of an incentive for businesses to pay monies for this kind of marketing.

Should marketing in sewing be paid in cash rather than in kind?

This is the big question. Discussions around payment in monies for blogger/instagrammer advertising has been around for years. We’re still not at the stage yet where everyone gets paid cash for the advertising they do.

Whether that is right or not right is something you can decide for your situation. For the moment, my main consideration: is being a blogger/instagrammer your job, or do you want it to be?

Is it a job?

If you think your work is worth more than payment in-kind and this is your job, then in my mind you need to ask to be paid for your work. Especially because this is not like being a fashion blogger. It takes a lot longer to be making content if you have to actually make the thing yourself. That’s before you even think about photos. Whether you get the cash payment that you want is another matter. It depends on whether the brand thinks that exposure via your channels is worth paying for. If you have 100 followers and a brand new blog, it’s probably unlikely. For brands to pay, they’d have to be certain that they would actually get some kind of return, i.e. sales conversions from your posts. Else there’s no point, right?

Just Patterns Stephanie Skirt in yellow printed fabric by Time to Sew — I made this Stephanie Skirt (from Just Patterns) because I felt like it. Other things I make for working with Just Patterns are labelled as such.

Are you a hobbyist?

If making and posting stuff to your channels is your hobby, then payment in kind might be absolutely fine for you! The key word here is voluntary. No one is forcing you to do this. You do it because you love the product that is on offer and you like the company. You volunteer because you are fine with the parameters that are set by the company that is giving you the product. There is an acceptance that there is no monetary compensation for your time to make the thing (maybe you get paid in patterns, fabric, or a shop voucher).

Don’t get me wrong, I love it when brands say “this is a paid job” and I get to send invoices for my work. But the jobs I have that pay actual money are for technical editing and tutorial work, not as a blogger. But I also accept that a lot of brands don’t have the money to pay. Particularly if they are just starting out (see above points on this).

What do brands usually ask for?

I think the parameters are usually pretty reasonable. That is, for me as a volunteer for whom blogger marketing is not my main income. For example:

Participate once a year
No pressure to make something on a regular basis if I don’t want to
Timeframe to sew works with my sewing plans / timetable
No contract to sign, no hidden costs to pay, no ramifications if you can’t make the agreed deadlines.

Thus: if I like something, I can choose, it fits in with my sewing plans and I have time to do it, I like the brand … then I’m good to go.

However, there have been other cases I’ve heard of where companies apply more comprehensive rules. Such as requiring you to purchase things from them on a regular basis. That totally wouldn’t work for me, but for others it might be fine.

Finally:

Pattern testing and pattern promotion

To me, these are not the same thing, but they often come hand in hand. We’ve all seen the posts: “I made this as part of a pattern test and it’s great!” But testing is actually providing feedback on fit, design, and instructions (and you don’t necessarily make the final pattern). The primary function of testing is not marketing – it’s just convenient to use it for marketing purposes. And unless something turned out really badly, I suggest you’re likely to have something nice to say if you had input into the process.

I asked around a few friends why they like to test and their comments were: they like a free pattern; they like having previews of patterns; they like having some input into the design process; it helps them sew better because they get to ask questions.

There seems more of a trend where pattern testers are paid a stipend. This covers things like fabric and printing, and maybe time. This is a good thing – I think that this incentivises testers to provide constructive feedback. But whether the amount is good enough is for you to determine.

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So there we have it. In the absence of any consensus on cash payment, I think we have to decide what’s right for our own situation. And whether it’s something we are happy to be involved in it. No right or wrong!

Till next time,

Kate

May 19, 2021 3 comments

Dressmaking Fabric info Sewing

SEWN: Fibre Mood Aila in sustainable (ish) fabric

written by Kate

Seeing as it’s Fashion Revolution week again (my post about it is here), it seemed fitting to be writing about sustainable-ish textiles from which I made my Fibre Mood Aila. It is partially recycled cotton chambray and because there wasn’t enough, I dug through my stash and came up with this offcut of broderie anglaise. The shirt is a pattern from the new issue 14 of Fibre Mood, available here.

Disclaimer: I work as a freelancer and Fibre Mood is one of my clients. Links to Fibre Mood are affiliate. I bought the fabric myself but I did not buy the pattern. I am not obliged to blog about this make or even make it at all. Of course opinions are my own and I try to give you what I like and what I don’t like, but as you can imagine there is always going to be subconscious bias.

Fibre Mood Aila shirt pattern

Simplified construction

If you’ve never made a button up (or down) shirt before, this is a good pattern for you. The construction is simplified but you still get to practise a collar and a machine rolled hem (I have a tutorial on how to do this coming up real soon). What makes it simple?

There is only one outer yoke. In a “shirt shirt” you would expect to see an outer and inner yoke.
No sleeves to set in, they are grown on, i.e. form part of the front and back pieces.
Sleeve hems are simple double-fold hem, as opposed to cuffs.
No separate button placket – it is part of the front piece and you simply fold over twice and stitch it down.

If you’re an experienced sewist then this pattern is a speedy sew for you. But it will fall short when it comes to beautiful finishings (lack of inner yoke, I’m looking at you). However, nothing you can’t fix if you decide that you like the shape and style of the shirt.

Buttons

The pattern calls for 11mm buttons but I only had 15mm mother of pearl ones in my stash. The size of the button placket is fine in terms of using bigger buttons. The collar stand is probably a teeny bit narrow for 15mm but I’m never buttoning up my top button anyway, so minor point.

Fit and length

The pattern description says this is oversized. Check the finished measurements to see what you like. I already know that I like my semi-fitted shirts to be around the 90-95cm mark in terms of ease (my bust is 82cm). The smallest size XS has 112.5 as the finished bust measurement so I chose that over the size S.

Length-wise the Fibre Mood Aila is fine for me to tuck in because I quite like high waisted trousers and skirts. If I was to tuck into something else then I’d probably want it lengthened by 3cm just in case.

Let’s see the blouse in motion!

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Fabric for the Aila

The plain fabric is 100% cotton, approximately half of it recycled from yarns spun from old t-shirts. The other half is organic cotton. It was woven in Enschede (a town in The Netherlands) – you can read the interview with Annemieke from Enschede Textielstad here – and my first experience with this kind of chambray. It was quite different from any chambray I’ve encountered previously. Not sure if it is due to the t-shirt yarn or something else, but here is what I noticed:

Super soft to the touch after washing, and soft drape. The closest comparable substrate that is commonly available I can think of is double gauze.
Frays like crazy the moment you even look at it.
Different colour on the right side (twill weave side) than on the wrong side. You can see the twill weave clearly in the close up below. The wrong side is much creamier and the right side whiter. It didn’t quite come out on the pic but the wrong side is the same colour as the broderie.

Close up of sleeve of Fibre Mood Aila, a white button down shirt.

For the Fibre Mood Aila I personally think it’s ideal to choose something with some kind of soft drape. Of course you can do it in something structured like poplin but the sleeves will stick out a bit as they are “grown on” (i.e. no separate sleeve piece, it is just an extension of the front / back / back yoke). By the way, I do like the sleeve length. Not too short and not too long for me.

The contrast yoke was a bit of broderie anglaise offcut from many moons ago. So long ago I don’t even know what I used the bigger piece for originally!

Some less ideal things to live with

I had to cut one of the fronts on the cross-grain because I didn’t have enough fabric (I had 1m for a size XS. Should really have had at least 1.35 as per the instructions). The white of the broderie doesn’t match the chambray perfectly – but I can’t be expecting any whites to match really can I?! That would be wishful thinking. Also, my broderie piece wasn’t long enough to accommodate the back yoke so there is a centre back seam on it which isn’t my ideal look. I probably would like the gathers at the back to be fuller as well, they don’t look “intentional” enough for me. It would be an easy fix – adding 1.5cm to the CB piece to give total extra 3cm of gathering would do it I reckon.

Side / back view of Kate wearing Fibre Mood Aila, a white button down shirt.

Styling

I’ll admit that when I put the shirt on half done I was thoroughly unimpressed. But I decided to plough through anyway. And when it was actually finished with the buttons on, I suddenly did a 180 and thought it was flipping great! Here’s a couple of pics showing how I might wear it in future if it’s not jeans and a belt.

Flatlay of Fibre Mood Aila, a white button down shirt, with a blue skirt, brown belt, and pink and orange sandals — The blue skirt is Fibre Mood Alix. You can see me wearing it here!

Flatlay of Fibre Mood Aila, a white button down shirt, with a sunhat, ballet flats and jeans. — Sunhat is me made (Elbe Textiles Sorrento bucket hat). And someone told me ballet flats are in fashion again with jeans, so let’s do it!

Feeling inspired to make an Aila yourself? Here’s the (affiliate) link to the pattern.

That’s it for now, till next time.

Kate

April 21, 2021 0 comment

Dressmaking Sewing

Indie sweater patterns ideas + Just Patterns Tyra tee hack

written by Kate

Indie sweater (and tee) patterns are everywhere. But actually, how many patterns do you own? You can do a lot with just ONE pattern, if you hack away at it. Don’t have a TNT (Tried’N’True) sweater yet? Or do you have an idea of what you’d like, but not sure what or how to choose? Read on and you’ll see my list of ideas. For today I want to tell you how I hacked the Just Patterns Tyra tee … it’s become 2 sweaters + 2 tops, so the pattern has become a workhorse for me.

Black Just Patterns Tyra sweater by Time to Sew worn with a gold necklace stack and mom jeans — Worn with my secondhand mom jeans, bought from Vinted (my favourite platform for second hand clothes)

Do you like to hack? Does anything hold you back?

Often I don’t hack patterns first time round, mostly because I want to see what the pattern maker had in mind. And there are so many patterns out there, there are very few things that my imagination sees for which there isn’t a pattern. But simple changes to a pattern can be straightforward. Extending a sleeve, a small change to a neckline, put a zip instead of buttons and so on.

Just Patterns Tyra tee hack inspiration

My inspiration for this make was Lorraine @the.sewcialite, with her delightful black sweater in merino wool. I almost bought the same pattern she used! But, my sewing peeps convinced me that I didn’t need to … because I could just modify an existing pattern and not worry about having to fit another one. Here’s Lorraine’s picture (posted with permission)

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A post shared by Lorraine W. (@the.sewcialite)

Features of the sweater

So first I examined what it is I like about the jumper:

Boat neck
Drop shoulder
Elastic cuffed long sleeves
Loose without being extremely oversized.

Indie sweater pattern ideas

If this list is what you were looking for in this blog post, here it is. These are some ideas of basic patterns that you can play with – I’m sure there are many more patterns out there!

They all look like they have a decent amount of ease (i.e. room in the body) and no funky stuff going on (i.e. no neckline flaps, hoods, pieced sleeves etc.). Which makes them a good base to try hacking different styles. I don’t think there’s any need to buy ALL the basic patterns – just start with 1 (maybe choose a brand you already like), tweak it, and you’ll get your TNT.

Oversized, drop shoulder:

Just Patterns Tyra (the one I’m using- I’ve hacked it into a sweater before, see here)
Paper Theory LB Pullover
Sew House 7 Toaster Sweater (also a raglan option)
Sew DIY Ali sweatshirt
Megan Nielsen Jarrah Sweater
I Am Patterns Apollon
Papercut Patterns Array (which is what Lorraine has)
Tilly and the Buttons Nora
Helens Closet Elliot

Set in sleeve

These options have puff built-in at the shoulders, and look more semi-fitted than oversized.

Fibre Mood Daniella* (it’s a dress but slice it off for a jumper)
Tilly and the Buttons Billie
Hey June Sheridan sweater

Raglan sleeve / semi fitted

Fibre Mood Mika*
Fibre Mood Erin*
Grainline Linden
Sew House 7 Toaster Sweater (also a raglan option)

*affiliate links

How to choose one?

In a sweater, I like a really decent amount of ease. With bust size 83cm, I’ve learned that my own preference is a finished bust measurement of around 105-110cm (i.e. ease of at least 23cm).

A useful thing to do is to measure a jumper you already like and compare that to the finished measurement chart on a pattern. Then you can size up or down accordingly.

Kate is sitting and wears a black jumper, gold necklace stack and jeans

Pattern hacking details

I’ve hacked a sweater version of Tyra before. And I have two Tyra tees in cotton jersey. All 3 are based on the same pattern which had a finished bust measurement of c120cm. These were beta tests and more oversized than the final version, see them all here. 120cm+ for a tee verges on going for a swim in my clothes, but if it’s a sweatshirt I think I got away with it anyway. For reference this is the first Tyra sweatshirt I made. It’s a lot looser than the all black one.

Just Patterns Tyra tee hacked into a sweatshirt, made with fleece backed sweatshirting. — Just Patterns Tyra sweater hack – made with fleece backed sweatshirting

Pattern details and modifications

OK, now going back to the all black version …

Size: 34, which has a finished bust measurement of c110cm. My other versions of the Just Patterns Tyra tee were equivalent to the final size 38.
Sleeve length: On the sleeve pattern piece, I lengthened it so the distance from the shoulder notch of the sleeve to the hem is 45cm. This includes a 2cm seam allowance to accommodate an elastic width of c8mm. The 45cm was a guesstimate – I was actually going for full-length sleeves and I fell a bit short, whoops. I have bracelet length sleeves instead.
Width of the bottom of the sleeve: I measured the Fibre Mood Carole dress pattern which has an elastic cuff (see the one I made here). The bottom of the sleeve measured at 56cm and the recommended elastic length was 20cm with a 3cm overlap. So I just widened the bottom of the sleeve pattern piece to 56cm.
Neckline: to make the boat neck kind of shape, I measured 2.5cm on the pattern piece from the top of the shoulder seam. Then raised the CF by 2.5cm. Redrew curve. Done. Repeat for the back.

Fabric

This is a very interesting loose wool knit on one side, and cotton jersey on the other side. It’s two layers joined together, kind of like a double gauze but with different substrates on the two sides. I bought 1.5m of it 6? years ago when I had the idea to make a turtleneck dress. My style has shifted significantly since then. I was really into novelty prints and fitted clothing. Now I’m back to solid colours, and I intensely dislike wearing anything with a fitted silhouette! Unfortunately, the wool knit side of the fabric is pilling like crazy, and I’m less fond of that. Can you tell? And I only prewashed it!

Close up of the Just Patterns Tyra Sweater in black — Sweater form of the Tyra tee made in some kind of sweater knit

Styling

I love this jumper with the vintage gold necklace stack which I got from my fave London based vintage store Retold Vintage. It makes me feel elegant! In these stay at home times, I find myself wanting to wear all the nice things + jewellery so I don’t feel like a slob. This version of the jumper has an interesting enough texture to look a bit fancy (i.e. not sweatshirt fleece) and black is easy to style.

Just Patterns Tyra tee tops

Then I liked my black sweaters so much I decided I wanted to have tops as well. Both of these are in woven fabrics instead of knits. A mustard seersucker, and a double gauze one with the gold dots (Atelier Brunette fabric, but you knew that already right?!). Both 100% cotton, with an elastic cuff. Here are the results!

Kate wears a yellow top (Just Patterns Tyra tee) with an XL grid pattern with a summer hat and a basket of flowers — Elastic cuff Tyra tee

Kate wears a scarlet top (colourway amaranthe) in double gauze with gold embroidered dots. Fabric from Atelier Brunette.

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I’m really pleased that the 4 hacked versions of the pattern all have quite a different vibe to them, and I’m not sure which is my favourite. The double gauze one gives me a little ironing problem at the cuff but it just requires an extra couple of minutes to sort out when I iron. I must say I’m not * quite * done with this pattern yet.

Are you feeling inspired to hack away at your patterns? If so, I’d love to hear what you have planned or have done!

Till next time

Kate xx

March 25, 2021 2 comments

Dressmaking Sewing

2021 plans and Just Patterns Tatjana trousers in wool

written by Kate

Do you make sewing plans? Mine are always super loose, ideas on a postcard if you will. For 2021 I have decided that this is the year of fashion, starting with these Just Patterns Tatjana trousers in wool. Basically, I mean I’m going to try my best to get dressed properly and wear and make clothes that are designed to be for exiting the house. Even if I’m not leaving the house!

2021 is the year of less loungewear

My mister will tell you that I am typically the queen of loungewear (“house clothes” as he terms it). Especially in the colder weather. I really only like to get dressed when I leave the house! But for the foreseeable future, since we’re continuing to be home a lot, and I’m working from home, there’s less moments than usual for me to go out.

So that would mean I’m wearing loungewear all day long, and I have stopped feeling ok about that. The other day I was in a hoodie and leggings for most of the day and I got changed at 9 pm to go and spend time with my sewing machine. Call me totally mad, but I felt better about it!

Just Patterns Tatjana in wool by Time to Sew - brown wool trousers accessorised with a green beret — Tatjana trousers in wool, worn with vintage knit top and vintage beret. Necklace was a birthday gift.

I won’t rule out making sweaters and things which could double as loungewear, but I’ll be trying my hardest to wear it with things to make an acceptable “out of house” outfit. And on my blog / IG, hopefully I’ll be showing a few more outfit repeats as I figure out how to mix and match?

Just Patterns Tatjana trousers – wool version

My first version of the Tatjana trousers was in Tencel™. If you’re curious the pics and details are here. I really like these so I was curious to see how they would be in wool. As I type I have a third pair in the making, in corduroy!

Fabric choice

I searched a long time for wool that was the right weight, blend, and with a nice neutral-ish colour. A blend was my preference to lessen the scratch factor. This deadstock wool blend (this is 50% wool / 40% cotton / 10% polyester) from Meter Meter came up. When it arrived I promptly found myself in a sewing panic – I thought I’d ordered 1.5m but turns out I ordered only 1m! After a calming cuppa and a chat with sewing buddies, I measured the piece and it was more like 107cm. I put it in the wool cycle of the sewing machine and hoped for the best.

Shrinkage was 5cm and it shrunk to 102cm. But there was zero shrinkage across the width which remained 150cm wide. So luckily I was able to get all 4 leg pieces out of one width of fabric after playing some tetris and cutting on a single layer. The leg was shorter than I’d like and I thought in the worse case I could put in a hem facing.

Pattern and construction modifications

These were purely due to lack of fabric:

No back welt pockets
No pocket facings
Waistband cut on the cross-grain
Hem allowance is a very un-elegant 1.5cm instead of 5cm.
Waistband of 4cm instead of 5cm.

By the end of it, there was basically just a few odd-shaped scraps left. No room for error or re-cutting! Happily, this is a TNT so it came together pretty fast. Before I forget – let me mention I like to tuck my tops in. If you’re not into that, then you might want to split the waistband in two, add seam allowance, and use something else for the inside so the wool doesn’t scratch your waist.

The binding is leftover scraps from a silk top, and the pockets are from the offcuts of the Fibre Mood Holly dress. It’s viscose so not stable like cotton but I like that they are nice and thin. Red zip from my stash. It actually all looks rather colourful inside – for a closer look, check out my 15-second video Instagram reel here.

Styling the Tatjana trousers in wool

When I first put on the trousers I thought I might have been going a bit too retro. But when I look in my cupboard I found a lot of options which would go nicely with it. 4 out of 7 are me-made, 2 are second hand and 1 very old RTW.

Brown trousers on a rack with a selection of colourful clothes, and two pairs of shoes — Selection of tops to go with the brown trousers

I’m happy to report these are currently my favourite winter trousers, mostly due to the wool! For extra warmth, I wear tights underneath and it doesn’t feel restrictive. I also had fun testing out some outfits (even if the raspberry top is not seasonally appropriate. So here are some more photos to finish off. And yes, I was pretty tired when I was taking photos. Lockdown is getting the better of me and my energy levels are not super high at the moment.

Just Patterns Tatjana in wool by Time to Sew, side view

Just Patterns Tatjana in wool by Time to Sew, worn with cream sweater and Liberty scarf — Worn with red vintage Liberty silk scarf and cream cashmere jumper (second hand)

Just Patterns Tatjana in wool by Time to Sew, worn with raspberry linen Fibre Mood Ida top — Worn with Fibre Mood Ida top (affiliate link) in raspberry linen

Till next time,

Kate xx

January 19, 2021 5 comments

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