sewing – 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.

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 13, 2020January 25, 2023

Butterick B5748 – A reprint of a vintage dress pattern!

Nell, a Caucasian person, stands on an angle to the camera in front of a wooden bench and concrete wall. They are wearing a deep pink dress with a pink sunflower pattern and have one hand in a pocket.

Hello friends! I cannot even begin to explain how excited I am to be sharing this particular post! In all the time I have been focusing quite seriously on developing my skills in sewing, I had never once successfully made a dress. I think, similar to how pants and shorts are now my Everest, dresses were a fitting challenge I didn’t quite have the skills to unravel at the time. But having acquired two large pieces of fabric from a community stall event prior to all the shutdowns which simply told me they had to be made into dresses, I knew it was time to confront this challenge again. So when I stumbled over someone selling Butterick B5748, I knew this was going to be the pattern I would sink my teeth into. It’s a gorgeous reprint of a 1960’s pattern, with updated instructions and multiple sizes – which worked very well for me.

March 16, 2020January 25, 2023

McCall’s M6436 – Collared Shirts!

Nell, a Caucasian person, stands in front of a wooden bench and concrete wall. They are wearing a blue floral button-up shirt with a band collar, and blue jeans. They have one hand on their hip.

It’s no secret that I love button-up, collared blouses. My regular work wardrobe is comprised almost exclusively of collared shirts, cardigans, sweaters to be mixed and matched with black slacks. It allows me to sneak a bit of 50’s and 60’s style into my professional wardrobe, which pleases me to no end. So I am always on the lookout for more collared blouses when I am out hunting for secondhand goodies, and have gotten quite lucky over time in finding a few in very good condition. My current wardrobe is in fact comprised entirely of secondhand and me-made blouses now, which I consider quite an achievement. However, there is still something I am lacking. And that is the truest of staple blouses, the white collared blouse.

March 9, 2020January 25, 2023

Pattern Drafting – Peasant Blouse

Nell, a Caucasian person, sits on a wooden bench in front of a concrete wall. They are wearing a floral peasant blouse and black highwaisted pants.

As much as I love living Australia, being so far from some of the largest viable sources of secondhand fabric and patterns does mean learning to sew can get very expensive. For a lot of people I often hear that it’s prohibitively expensive, especially as very few stores allow payment plans for purchasing machines and tools. So it seemed natural to me that at some point I would need to learn how to do some pattern drafting in order to make the things that I couldn’t find a pattern for. And what better place to start than with my Holy Grail vintage item, the classic peasant blouse.

February 2, 2020January 25, 2023

McCall’s 2560 – Vintage PJs!

Nell, a Caucasian person, stands side on to the camera in front of a low cabinet full of homewares. They are wearing a white t-shirt, and striped pyjama shorts, and a knee brace. They have their hands on their hips.

It’s no secret that I love button-down shirts, the kind where the collar fastens with a button to get that close-to-the-neck fit. This is because I also love adding little things to an outfit, like a necktie, bow-tie or ribbon in order to create a bit of interest, and these require button-down shirts. However, it hadn’t occurred to me to extend this interest to sleepwear. I was in the habit of getting PJs secondhand, in particular getting full sets where I could. I love a matching set! However, the trend for modern PJs in terms of bottoms seemed to be either 3/4 length, or the shortest of shorts. Neither of which are great for me in the middle of summer.