Stitch Sessions

May 1, 2023May 1, 2023

Drafting a Tiered Circle Skirt – With Styles InSeams’ Calculator

Nell, a Caucasian person, stands in front of a blue couch. They are wearing a white peasant blouse and a pink tiered circle skirt printed with small flowers. They have lifted one edge of the hem and let it drop, and it has been photographed mid-air.

Hello friends! Having now completed one skirt pattern with the pinafore I shared in the last post, I could see how pattern drafting could become addictive. I wasn’t satisfied with how the last skirt turned out and the itch to perfect the pattern and test something new had set in with a vengeance. However, I wasn’t drawn to making a pleated skirt since I found one I adore at an Op-Shop and tailored it. I also don’t tend to gravitate towards gathered skirts. These don’t feel either comfortable or flattering on me. So it was with some delight that I discovered the amazing Styles InSeams had come up with the perfect solution in designing a circle skirt that wasn’t gathered at the waist, but which had gathered tiers below it for volume and flare. Not only had they come up with this wonderful design, but they also created a calculator to make it simple for others to follow along! Content warning: this post includes mentions of weight fluctuations.

April 1, 2023

Drafting a Pinafore (Circle) Skirt

Nell, a Caucasian person, stands in front of a white wall. They are tucking a strand of hair behind their ear. They are wearing a dark blue blouse and a grey and blue plaid pinafore skirt.

What do you think about when I say pattern drafting? Some rather clever people out there start sewing without ever using commercial patterns and instead make their own! Others like me might spend quite a while using commercial patterns before moving onto drafting. However, I think we can all agree that being able to draft patterns is a very valuable skill, and one well worth spending the time and effort to learn. It can help you with fitting and sewing commercial patterns too. Imagine being able to replace missing pieces, or having a basic blueprint of yourself that you can compare any new pattern against before you even sew it!

March 1, 2023

Simplicity 8701 – A Trousers Sewing Class, Part 2

Nell, a Caucasian person, stands on a colourful rug in front of a blue couch. They are wearing wool trousers, with a grey and black plaid pattern, and a black short-sleeve blouse. They have both hands in their pockets.

Hello friends and welcome to part two in my series all about S8701 . In my previous post I wrote about the design of the pattern and attempting to fit in in a trousers sewing class. For this post I want to focus more on what alterations I made to the pattern after the original fitting method didn’t work, what features I added, and what new techniques I learned in the process. I am a lot happier with this pair of trousers and feel so accomplished in all I learned making them. But these additions wouldn’t have been possible without the teacher’s help. As I mentioned before, our teacher for the class was extremely knowledgeable and she didn’t at all mind guiding me through more advanced techniques!

January 30, 2023February 1, 2023

Simplicity 8701 – A Trousers Sewing Class, Part 1

Nell, a Caucasian person, sits on a white chair facing the camera. They are wearing a dark blue t-shirt with capped, frilled sleeves and high-waisted black corduroy pants.

Hello and welcome friends, to another multipart blog post! Those who have been following along with previous posts will know that I am no expert when it comes to sewing pants. I don’t have a straight size figure, with current measurements registering a 14” difference between waist and hips, and a crotch depth of over 12”. Yet even so, I LOVE pants. Over the course of writing this blog, I’ve challenged myself to improve my fitting technique and produce bottoms of all lengths that will both fit me and be comfortable. I thought that signing up for a proper sewing course around trousers might also benefit me, so I saved up and took part in a multi-week course when it became available in my local area.

December 2, 2022December 2, 2022

The Trudy Turtleneck – Wardrobe By Me

In this photo, Nell, a Caucasian person, kneels on their blue couch. They are wearing a white turtleneck shirt with a grey-brown, red and white striped cardigan that they are pulling up over their shoulders.

Hello friends!

It’s not an exaggeration to say that I’ve done a truly ridiculous amount of sewing over the past few months. Oh boy, does my body know about it. After this, I will be taking a much longer break to allow myself to recover! However, in the interests of pushing myself to learn new skills I’ve begun learning about pattern drafting. Not being mathematically inclined, what I was promised was a rather simple exercise became several weeks of effort. All of which I am excited to share once I get a few more bits and pieces sorted. I also sat down to perfect a PDF pattern I had bought a while ago, but hadn’t managed to fit at the time. Then, because I love to over-complicate things, I also signed up for a beginner’s short course on sewing trousers, and decided to learn how to sew stretch fabric on my overlocker. Lucky for me, I had fabulous results all across the board.

November 9, 2022January 26, 2023

Loretta Shorts – Charm Patterns – Part 3

Nell, a Caucasian person, stands side-on to the camera with one leg extended. They are wearing brown corduroy shorts and a light brown patterned Adrienne Blouse.

Hello friends!

In a perhaps not-so surprising turn of events, I decided that I should to circle back to the Loretta Shorts pattern whilst hip-deep in several other makes and one sewing course. This did mean that my next post would be late, because I already had a lot on the go. But I decided it was worth it! It didn’t seem fair to have done such a long series of reviews on the pattern without having done the shorts version as it was intended. Whilst reorganising my fabric stash, I was further encouraged by the discovery that I had not one – but two pieces of suitable fabric for this very purpose.

October 1, 2022January 25, 2023

The Loretta Shorts – Charm Patterns – Part 2

Nell, a Caucasian person, stands side on to the camera in front of a white wall. They are wearing a long-sleeve blue shirt and highwaisted wide-leg black pants. They have one hand in a pocket.

Hello friends! For this post we are continuing on with part two of my adventures in making the Loretta Shorts, by Charm Patterns. In the last post I covered the general design elements of the pattern, and some trickier elements of their construction such as the pockets. In this post I’m going to be focusing on the fit of the pattern, what issues I faced and how I tweaked it to be more comfortable, how I removed the waistband, and how I transformed the shorts into both culottes and pants. Let’s get right to it!

September 1, 2022January 25, 2023

The Loretta Shorts – Charm Patterns – Part 1

Nell, a Caucasian person, stands side on the camera in front of a white wall. They are wearing a black and white striped shirt with a grey yoke, and denim culottes. They have one leg out in front of the other and their hands in their pockets.

Hello friends!

The last couple of months have been quite challenging when it comes to sewing. I tested a number of different patterns, attempting to either learn new skills through them, or to add specific pieces to my wardrobe for regular rotation. However, I had an unprecedented number of failures with each that left me feeling quite frustrated. I made a minimum of three attempts per pattern, and it seemed that for each fit issue I fixed, another two would spring up. I suddenly had a lot of sympathy for Heracles and his battle with the Hydra! However, out of this wild mess rose two garments which I am rather proud of, and since I am attempting to make my blog posts a little more detailed in terms of construction advice, I have decided to split this post into two parts while I share in my own Sewing Labour.

July 1, 2022January 25, 2023

Comfortable Shirts with the Wardrobe Builder T-Shirt

Nell, a Caucasian person, stands in front of a white wall facing the camera. They are wearing a black and white striped V-neck shirt with long sleeves. Their fingers are lightly knotted in front of them.

Hello friends! Having spent so much time challenging myself to upgrade my skills with the Dickey Collars pattern, I was keen for a simpler series of makes as a bit of a palate cleanser. In circumstances like this, I turn to stretch fabric. It’s not something I claim to be an expert at sewing, but I love how comfortable and simple it is to pull on something that doesn’t require ironing or buttons. The Wardrobe Builder T-Shirt pattern by Wardrobe By Me has been an absolute winner for me in that regard. After I put some tweaks into place, it’s become such a staple that I test the bodices of other patterns against it to ensure comfort.

April 3, 2022January 25, 2023

Accessorising with Dickey Collars by Designer Stitch

Nell, a Caucasian person, stands in front of a white wall facing the camera. They are wearing a grey knit sweater and a white peter pan dickey collar. One hand is holding their hair aside.

Hello friends!

Having finished McCall’s 8035, I was once again filled with the itch to stitch. However, as the next pattern I was interested in making was a vintage skirt pattern, it required lengths of fabric that I simply didn’t have to hand. And since I am trying not to over extend my budget, I instead looked at what sort of fabric I did have – which was a lot of leftovers from other makes, and thought hard about what I could whip up that would be practical and useful. I scoured Instagram for inspiration, and came across several posts for a rather vintage looking dickey collar as based on the Designer Stitch pattern. This pattern give quite a lot of bang for your buck, offering several different collar variations, and since I know for a fact that I’m not all that good at collars, buttonholes or button placement I thought this could be an opportunity to improve those skills.