Have you come across Pattern Emporium yet?  It’s an Australian company, with an experienced designer creating pdf patterns that are current, easy to wear, straightforward to sew and have loads of options provided in each pattern.  I’ve sewn a few of their patterns now (most still unblogged) and have been impressed by all of them.

This is the My Embrace Cardi, sewn in striped wool jersey from Eliza’s of Sunshine.  From the website: The My Embrace Cardi is the latest trans-seasonal essential to hit the PE pattern collection. Whether you are wanting an easy breezy, lightweight throw over for Summer or a snuggly Winter warmer, the My Embrace will work all year round. It’s softly draped silhouette is perfect for a myriad of stretch knit fabrics & not only can it be worn open over your fave outfits but it can also be wrapped around the body like a warm embrace. So get ready to give yourself a loving hug in the My Embrace Cardi! FABRIC SUGGESTIONS: Sweater Knit, Waffle Knit, Hacci, Sherpa Knit, Rib Knit, Stretch Velvet, Double Brushed Poly, Merino Wool Jersey, Stretch Velvet, Viscose Jersey, Rayon Jersey, Bamboo Jersey, Modal Jersey, Poly Jersey, Soft Cotton Lycra, Boucle Knit, Ponte, French Terry.

Pattern Emporium have an extremely active Facebook group, where people share their creations.  They’re also extensively tested before release. I’ve seen many lovely versions of this cardi, in a variety of fabrics, lengths and prints. The pattern contains the following options:

• Sizes AU6-24 = US2-20.
• 3 Lengths: Maxi, Knee & Tunic Length.
• 3 Height Cutting Lines.
• 3 Sleeves: Cuff, Fitted Long Sleeve & Over Long Sleeve.

I decided to sew size 14 based on my upper bust measurement, cut the knee length option for a ‘short’ person, and used the fitted sleeve.

This should be a super fast sew. There’s only one main pattern piece, then the sleeve piece. Sew shoulder seams, make the sleeves, insert the sleeves, then hem the sleeves and jacket. SO straightforward! Except I took forever to hem the jacket. I wanted the hem to be super neat, as I knew the cardi would drape and swing and show the inside of the hem, so I used fusible tape to secure a narrow double hem before stitching it in place. For some reason that took me what felt like forever!

The black top underneath is the Style Arc Abigail top. I’ve blogged about this pattern before, so you can find more detail in those earlier posts. It’s a pattern that I will continue to return to; it works for my shape really well. I sewed size 12 in a random polyesterish knit that was in stash – it’s probably a dance fabric!

While this is a departure from my preferred colour palette, I feel comfortable in it as long as I have bright glasses and lippy! I’ll be sewing more of the cardis – and this is a terrific pattern if you’re sewing a gift for someone else, as the style is very forgiving fit wise.

I have such success with Style Arc patterns.  They have so many styles that are abolutely me! I note that they also have so many styles that are absolutely not me – it’s a good thing that there are many styles for many different people.

So, to Betty and Bob. Really, this pattern combination was a no-brainer for me; I think that I bought it as soon as they released it.

The Betty Woven Tunic, from the Style Arc website: This relaxed fit, square shaped tunic features a round neck, side splits and a hi low hemline. This tunic will see you through many seasons and become a favourite. Leave the sleeve elbow length or turn back the shaped sleeve facing to create a cuff. FABRIC SUGGESTION: Crepe, silk, rayon.

And the Bob pants: Achieve great style with this simple pant. The pattern for this pant leg has been engineered to create the balloon shape. Casual inseam pockets and elastic waist make this a must addition to your wardrobe. FABRIC SUGGESTION: Washed linen, light wool, rayon, crepe.

I started with the tunic in coral crepe from stash.  I find that some crepes are a bit shifty and not so easy to sew, so I made sure that I stabilised the neckline with a strip of iron on fusible stabiliser straight after cutting out.  This is a simple pattern – front, back, bias strip for the neckline, and sleeve facings. Very quick to cut out!

The neckline binding gives a lovely clean finish. The tunic is an oversized shape and style, which really appeals to me. I sewed size 12.

This is so easy to wear! Just slips on, the shaped sleeve facings are perfect, and the side splits with deep hems please me greatly.

The patterned top is sewn from viscose/linen from The Cloth Shop Ivanhoe. When I saw this fabric there was absolutely no way I could leave it in the shop! The drape is fabulous because of the viscose content, and the linen makes it extremely breathable and easy to wear. It was also delightful to sew.

Although the top is simple, it took me longer to sew than I had anticipated. The little details really do need to be done carefully – this is such a simple top that the construction and top-stitching needs to be particularly accurate. I’m pleased with my efforts.

So, to the pants! The yellow/chartreuse pair are in linen, also from The Cloth Shop Ivanhoe. You can see the interesting shaping quite clearly in these photos.

The chambray came from Drapers Fabrics new Fitzroy store. It’s beautiful fabric to sew and to wear – just the right weight for these pants! That reminds me, I’ve also sewn these pants in a heavier weight blue-grey satin backed twill remnant (not yet photographed) which shows the shape even better, but I’m not sure will be as easy to wear.

The pants were sewn in size 12, and I shortened the pattern about an inch and a half at the shorten/lengthen line before cutting out. The finished length is pretty much perfect on me!

So there you go, a couple of versions of Betty and Bob. I think this is an extremely versatile combination of patterns, and strongly suspect that I’ll be sewing them both up again at some stage!

This was one of my favourite sews of last summer.  I love pretty much everything about it!

This is the Style Arc Iris dress. From their website: This fabulous stylish shift dress is perfect for those summer months. The slight cocoon shape allows for easy movement and comfort. The neck and armholes are finished with narrow bias bands, so why not use a contrast colour or print to create your own personal look? The large angled pockets along with the wide hem and side splits complete this dress which will become a summer staple. FABRIC SUGGESTION: Linen, crepe, rayon, cotton.

Cocoon and swing shapes really do seem to work best for me. They avoid issues with my short back waist length, and also eliminate fitting issues around my waist and belly. I can just choose the pattern according to bust or high bust measurement – while still hopefully remembering to check the finished measurements – and away I go!

I really do love a line drawing for really seeing what a pattern is like.  I know that some people like photos rather than pattern illustrations; in an ideal world, I’d like to see both.  Photos of the finished item on a variety of body sizes and shapes is helpful, but the main thing for me is to see the shapes that the garment is made up of; the seamlines, design lines, and overall detail.  I seem to do a better job of visualising whether the garment is likely to work on me from a line drawing than I do from a photo.  That said, there are a few people whose blogs/instagram I follow that are a fairly reliable guide for me – if it works for them, it will probably work for me!  But a pattern cover photo of a conventionally attractive model (usually slim, tall and young) is not really helpful for me – although I acknowledge that it helps others.

There are no darts in the bodice shaping of this dress, but it still managed to accomodate my C cup boobs without much trouble. I would suggest that if your bustline is larger, it would probably be worth adding darts and doing a FBA. Often sleeveless woven garments have a tendency to gape on me around the neckline or armholes – this one fits incredibly well!

The neckline and armholes are finished with narrow bias cut strips, attached in a way that is similar to sewing bands on to knit garments. Having them cut on the bias allows for stretch and flexibility, while still being able to accomodate the curves they are being attached to and sit flat (after a good press).

The pockets are rather fun. They’re like a combination of side seam and patch pockets. I also like the wide hem – I reckon that a wide hem adds a touch of class to many garments.   You don’t see them as often in purchased clothing because they use more fabric – and therefore add to the production costs.

The only thing that I will change when I sew this pattern again is to shorten the dress a little. This is at pattern length, and I think that a shorter length works a little better on my shorter frame. I will do that by folding out some length from the pattern a little up from where the split is marked.

Isn’t that wonderful fabric, by the way! I’m pretty sure it’s linen, originally from Joy’s in Geelong, which has now closed. I really love this type of print. Size wise, this is size 12, without alteration. I generally sew size 12 in tops and either 10 or 12 in pants when I’m sewing Style Arc patterns, knowing that the types of patterns that I choose make my waist measurement less relevant than bust and hip measurements.

It’s so great when everything comes together – pattern, fabric, print, colours, fit and style!

My lovely cousin Freya had a birthday back in January, and my gift was the offer to sew her a dress.  We went and bought fabric and pattern, I did a toile, cut out the fabric…and it’s still waiting to be sewn up. Yep.  It’s now September.  Whoops!  But I did sew her this one in the meantime.

This is Simplicity 8231,  which is a collaboration between Simplicity and Sew House Seven (actually, the pattern is also available on Sew House Seven’s website as The Mississippi Avenue Dress and Top).  I chose the cap sleeved, longer length version to sew for Freya.

Now I’m trying to remember what size I sewed…I think it was straight size 14.  I eyeballed the pattern pieces and thought that they looked pretty small; I really didn’t think that they’d fit me, but Freya is smaller than I am, so I went with the 14.  Always remember when your’e sewing that although you might start choosing a size according to the measurements on the back of the pattern envelope, you really need to check the finished measurements (often printed on the pattern pieces) to determine what size to cut, taking your preferred amount of ease into account.

This dress is actually very easy to sew and quite straightforward to fit. The elastic in the back that extends around to the seamlines on the front allows for some variation in size. I can’t remember whether it was supposed to have a double channel for the elastic or a single one for wider elastic – either way, I think this looks pretty!

This fabric has been in my stash for some time. It’s a medium weight cotton, and the print is very Freya. It was very straightforward to work with, although the cut edges were a little prone to fraying.

The neckline was finished a strip of bias binding (made from coordinating cotton I found in stash – I generally make my own bias binding rather than use purchased). It’s so long since I sewed this dress that I can’t actually remember much about whether the centre front V was tricky or not – which suggests that it wasn’t tricky, because I surely would have remembered if it was!

I was very pleased when Freya sent me photos of her wearing the dress. It’s always a bit of a gamble sewing for someone else without them available to measure or to try on as I go! Anyway, it looks as though it worked out just fine.

So, I’d better hurry up and get on to sewing the dress that was originally promised!

My cousin Julie expressed admiration when she spotted the draped t-dress I sewed in December on my Instagram feed.  So I offered to sew one for her.

Who knows how many of these dresses I have made! I don’t think that I’m ever likely to stop – each version has had heaps of wear. It’s so great for summer, but can also work with tights and long sleeved tee underneath in winter if made from a slightly heavier fabric.

The fabric is a printed viscose knit from Spotlight. I really love viscose or rayon blends for this dress, because they work so beautifully with the drape. You really do need something that’s a bit liquid for the best results. It’s one main pattern piece – cut two, scoop the neckline a little more on the front, add a neckband. Straightforward, simple, and surprisingly effective.

I sewed the Large for Julie, then popped it in the mail. Fortunately it arrived right before a heatwave, and she obligingly sent me a photo of herself wearing it.  Posing for a blog photo is part of having a garment made to order!

The pattern can be found here.

And no, expressing admiration of something I have sewn doesn’t generally mean that I will sew one for you too!  I don’t know what came over me – it must have been the heat!

Hello there!  My poor neglected blog.  Thanks to the lovely readers who have emailed to check up on me – everything is fine, just lots happening!  As many of you know, I changed jobs at the beginning of the year.  I now do contract work, and it’s been busier than I had anticipated.  On top of that I finally upgraded my 12 year old Mac to a PC, and I’m still in the process of moving photos, music and other documents from the old to the new.  Cross platform transitions are not straightforward!  I’ve still been sewing, but there’s no way I’ll be able to get my blog caught up, especially given that I don’t have the photos moved from the old to the new yet.  However, I remembered a few older unblogged photos that were already uploaded to Flickr, so I’ll catch up with those!

This dress is McCalls 7742, sewn back in January. It’s perfect for really hot days.  McCalls describe it as ‘very loose fitting dresses have front and back yokes with gathers and sleeve variations’.  Well yes, they do.  And yes, it is very loose fitting.

I sewed view B, with the ruffles around the armhole.  I chose to sew size Small based on the finished measurements, and I’m glad that I sized down so much.  The fabric is vintage, and I had barely enough of it to eke out the dress.  I left out the side seam pockets, and the sleeve frills had to be pieced.

I used a lightweight white woven to line the bodice yoke in order to avoid show through of the print through the lightweight fabric. I like the little gathers at the centre back of the yoke too.

This is a really pretty print, with fabulous greens, and I quite like how this dress looks in these photos – but I nevere wore it. I took it straight off after the photos and gave it to a friend. I wasn’t sure if it was the sleeve frills, or the delicacy of the print, or it having too much white, but it just wasn’t me. Actually, I’ve removed the sleeve frills for my friend too – she found them too much for her frame.

But I wasn’t done with this pattern. I really liked the concept and the breeziness – especially in Melbourne summer heat when it feels absolutely baking. So I ferreted through my stash, pulled out some fabric that was more ‘me’, and sewed up another!

SO much better! It’s the same dress, same size, different sleeve treatment, different fabric. This double gauze comes from Thailand (via Notionally Better on Etsy)and it’s beautiful to sew and wear. Both this version and the previous one were sewn at pattern length – I’m 158cm tall (around 5’2″) so take that into consideration if you’re making this – it’s short!

Now I doubt that this style would be considered conventionally ‘flattering’ but I don’t care. This dress has survived a couple of wardrobe purges already, so it’s clearly striking a chord with me.  It’s also very easy to sew, and doesn’t have many pattern pieces.  Good for someone early in their sewing career too, as there aren’t as many areas to ‘fit’.

As with the previous version, I lined the yokes in a lightweight solid woven. Looking at the photo above reminds me that I did a fair bit of faffing around to get the checks lined up properly at the centre front and through the V-neckline. It’s not perfect though. Remember that if you choose to sew in stripes or checks that you HAVE to pay attention when you’re cutting out and sewing! Plenty of pins and dare I say it, even hand-basting, could be useful to get everything lined up. The sleeves are simple rectangles, folded up as cuffs. They had to be cut as mirror images to get the same stripe colour along the fold.

I had enough fabric to include side seam pockets in this version. I am not wedded to pockets in everything like some people – if I load them up they often pull the garment out of shape – but they do come in handy for a hanky (although let’s be real – more often it’s where a mobile phone gets put).

There are some other nice versions of this pattern out on the internet. Many have found the sleeve to be rather voluminous – I think it’s all about proportion, your height and frame, and the overall dress length too. I’d recommend this pattern though – make it work for you with the style and fabric combination that you feel your best in.