Bottoms – Stitch Sessions

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.

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.

October 1, 2021January 25, 2023

Rompers, Dresses and Shorts – Oh My! With McCalls 7626

Nell, a Caucasian person, stands in front of a concrete wall. They are wearing a black corduroy romper with a long-sleeve brown and white shirt. They have one hand on their hip.

Hello friends. Since I took a big sewing break some months back, it occurred to me that I was happier whenever I got quite thorough use out of each pattern rather than making a single item and moving on. Part of that constant desire to move on was that I would get bored, doing the same thing repeatedly, but it was also certainly driven by a desire to consume the same way I saw others doing, churning out garments like there was no tomorrow. So as a result, I have put into practice a new method for securing second-hand patterns, where I don’t make a purchase unless that particular pattern haunts me and won’t leave my thoughts. I’d also like to use patterns that have different options on how I can construct them, and what I can do with them. This pattern for McCalls 7626 was the first to tick all those boxes, and although it was a little outside what I’m comfortable paying for a pattern cost-wise, I did end up getting quite a lot of value out of it.

April 3, 2021January 26, 2023

Overalls and Culottes with Simplicity 3866

Nell, a Caucasian person, stands in front of a wooden bench and concrete wall. They are on a slight angle to the camera, with legs crossed, and one hand in their pocket. They are wearing a brown shirt, and white culottes with floral patterning.

Hello!

Although I’m excited about all the things I sew, this pattern of the month is something of a special piece. Not because of the base pattern itself – although Simplicity 3866 circa 1961 is wonderful, but rather because of the fabric I had planned to use. This fun and comfortable summer piece came about because I had stumbled over a single curtain at the Op Shops which came from IKEA, and which happened to match two cushions I have in the house! The thought of matching the furniture had me in stitches, and I knew that if I was careful with the unpicking I could get quite a lot of fabric out of this.

March 2, 2021January 26, 2023

Making 1950’s Playsuits with McCalls 3616!

Nell, a Caucasian person, stands in front of a wooden bench and concrete wall. They are wearing a cactus print playsuit over a white, collared blouse with short sleeves. They have one hand on their hip.

Hello friends! It’s true that I am excited about each pattern of the month and can’t wait to share what I’ve learned while making them, but this particular pattern holds special meaning for me. I have a love of all things overall, romper, jumpsuit and playsuit – which I think comes as no surprise, and it’s been on my sewing bucket list for quite a long time now that I wanted to make some vintage playsuits which would be tailored to me. No cramped crotch, no awkward tightness about the thighs, and I would make them in fabric which doesn’t bother the skin! But patterns of even roughly my size range were either thin on the ground, or would cost so much it honestly wasn’t within my budget to buy them. This was where the miraculous find of McCall’s 3616, a circa 1956 bathing suit pattern, in PDF format by The Vintage Sewing Pattern Company came to my rescue! I purchased it on their Etsy website, after first checking there was some kind of scale marker to help me keep printing accurate.

November 28, 2020January 26, 2023

Jumpsuits and Pattern Hacking – Simplicity 6926 + The Tania Culottes and Vogue 7583

Nell, a Caucasian person, stands in front of a wooden bench and concrete wall. They are wearing a blue floral jumpsuit, and have pulled the legs apart to show the split.

Hello friends! I am so excited about this month’s blog post as it signals a change in the way that I am approaching sewing and sharing my makes on Ye Olde Internete. I recently made the decision to move to a monthly posting format on both Instagram and my blog, as I realised that this would suit me so much better and give me more space to thoroughly test each pattern. So each month I will be focusing on one particular pattern and testing a few different variations of it, depending on what I’m inspired to make with the fabric I have in my stash. However, this change was largely inspired by the fitting adventures I embarked on with the bodice of Simplicity 6926 – a vintage dress pattern circa 1975, which I picked up second-hand. It was a thoroughly enjoyable challenge and I learned so much from the process that it inspired this series, as well as my first ever video tutorial which you will find below!

October 8, 2020January 26, 2023

Jeans and Overalls with Simplicity 8447

Nell, a Caucasian person, stands in front of a wooden bench and a concrete wall. They are wearing a yellow knit top over a cream, tie-neck blouse, and high-waisted denim jeans that button down the side. They are mid-dance move with hands in the air and one leg raised.

Having completed two versions of this glorious, glorious pattern; I can now understand both the love for Simplicity 8447 and the love for sewing with denim. I had been fortunate enough to find a rather kind person who was willing to part with several meters of this glorious, dark denim – along with several other pieces from their stash, which I thought would be perfect for attempting to embark on a new adventure. It also meant that I could in fact get my hands on an otherwise prohibitively expensive fabric! I had no denim overalls, a piece I very much wanted to add to my winter and autumn wardrobe, and I was keen to learn how to sew with denim so that I could produce my own jeans. I had seen and heard very positive reviews of this pattern and so hunted out a secondhand copy for myself to try.