Vogue V9302 Culottes
I recently had the pleasure of having a few days off work, with nothing planned other than to relax and unwind while the kids were at school. “Relax and unwind” naturally translates to “frantically plow through all my ‘life admin’ so I can get on with sewing all the things”, and I wasted the first day flitting about between plans to sew about twenty different projects.
Unable to commit to a project, I decided to head to my local fabric store for inspiration. I was remarkably restrained, and bought three cuts of suiting (along with matching lining and zips). One of the fabrics I picked up immediately reminded me of some windowpane checked culottes I’d seen on Pinterest recently. Those culottes were made from a gorgeous grey and black windowpane, but I felt like this navy, burgundy and white check would work just as well.
Continue reading “Vogue V9302 Culottes”SOI Cocoon Coat (two ways)
The final few months of 2018 have been quite hectic for me, and I haven’t been able to eke out as much sewing time as I would have liked. However, I am very pleased to have finished two items before the end of the year – a couple of Sew Over It Cocoon Coats!
Mimi-G Simplicity 8749 Trousers
This month I made Simplicity 8749 trousers for another Minerva Crafts Blogger Network* (“MCBN”) post. You can read about the project and the beautiful fabric on the MCBN website here, and I thought I’d give you a bit more detail here about my approach to fitting the trousers in this post.
Opium coat (Deer & Doe)
About a month ago, I started seeing mentions here and there of the horrendous winter we are apparently likely to have this year in the U.K. “FOUR MONTHS OF SNOW” screamed one headline. I mean, that’s a third of a year! “Right!”, I thought to myself, “we’re going to make a coat”.
Initially I had planned on using a different pattern, and a fabric from my stash (yes, it includes coating fabric – nothing to see here). I spent about a week preparing that pattern, researching interlinings, and reviewing various resources on tailoring and structuring outerwear. And then, out of nowhere, I saw a post about the Deer & Doe Opium Coat. I loved it – hello, have you seen those pockets?! – and downloaded the pattern immediately.
My sewing patterns
Well, hello!
It has been a while since my last blog post – and I feel like every post opens with this sentence (2018 hasn’t featured many blog posts so far!) – but this time I have good reason.
Over the spring/summer I was chipping away at a little project… Inspired by lots of lovely messages I had received over the last year or so in relation to my self-drafted fully lined pencil skirt (and other projects), I decided to start selling my own sewing patterns, which are now available at Pearson and Pope!
I wanted to do it properly, which involved working with professional pattern graders / pattern cutters, and enlisting a fantastic group of pattern testers who gave me lots of helpful feedback on the instructions and any pattern issues. A talented friend of mine helped me with photos and design, and before I knew it, Pearson and Pope was up and running!
This project is very dear to my heart. I have a demanding day job, and children, but have found it so rewarding to put my patterns out there in this way and have been blown away by the response and lovely comments received so far. Now that it’s live though, I can get back to planning some slightly more relaxed sewing, and dusting off this blog, so watch out for more regular posts!
Michelle
