I sit on some fabrics for ages, even when I love them.  I’m never quite sure whether it is because I am waiting for the perfect pattern, or whether it’s because I am enjoying imagining the myriad of items it could become, and actually sewing it up would eliminate the opportunity for further imagination.

This yarn-dyed striped linen was purchased in Chiang Mai on my first trip to Thailand (that must be about five years ago now). When I bought it I wasn’t even sure if it was destined to be something for me or for someone else in the family. Now we know – it’s for me!

There are so many great colours in that stripe – and really, the Style Arc Quinn patterns are the perfect choices.

From the Style Arc website: This is a great boxy shaped top. Use your creative skills with this style and mix textures, stripes or colours. Why not team it with the Quinn skirt for the perfect outfit? FABRIC SUGGESTION: Linen, crepe, cotton and silk.

I sewed size 12 (my usual Style Arc size) and it’s just a fraction more snug through the bust and belly than I’d like. My middle-aged spread is definitely spreading, and I need to keep that in mind when choosing size, although the 12 is still best for my shoulders, neck and upper chest.

I really like the bias strip inserts in this top – they work so well with the stripes! And as you can tell, I also made the skirt.

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he skirt was more tricky, for a couple of reasons. I’d actually avoided this pattern for a while because it had a fitted waist with a zipper and facing. My waist is about three sizes larger than my hips, so I generally avoid those patterns. Elastic is my friend! So after some consideration, I decided to convert the pattern to an elastic waist. I did this the easy way – I didn’t sew the waist darts at all, didn’t include a zip, and used wide elastic a bit like a facing. I can wriggle it over my hips without much fuss, and the elastic keeps it in place.

You can see the the photo above how the elastic is attached – overlocked to the top of the skirt, then turned to the inside.  I stitched in the ditch along the skirt seamlines to try to keep the elastic where it should be, and it does sit nice and flat during wear.

Because the skirt is linen there is just enough fabric give for wiggling in to it.  This would be difficult if your hip to waist ratio was greater than mine – eliminating the zip makes it that bit harder to put on.  But it works for me.

From the Style Arc website: Be creative with this stylish panelled skirt. Mix textures and contrast bindings or simply make it in a single coloured fabric, the choice is yours. The Quinn Woven Skirt pairs perfectly with the Quinn Woven Top. FABRIC SUGGESTION: Linen, crepe, cotton or silk.

The other tricky bit was getting the front to meet up nicely where the angled hemline panels meet.  To be honest, it’s a little while since I sewed this and I can’t remember exactly how I worked it out, but I did find that the diagrams, pattern illustration and my common sense together gave me a satisfactory result, rather than relying on written instructions.  If I sewed this in stripes again I would switch the direction of the lower front panel that comes to a point, so that those stripes ran around instead of down. Otherwise, in my opinion this outfit has turned out very nicely!

By now you’ve figured out that I’ve only just started blogging what I sewed in January.  I really don’t want to let my blog lapse, for about a million reasons, and I won’t ever stop blogging, but sometimes it just takes a little more effort than I can find in me.  I started a new job in February, and as with any new job it is a little exhausting learning new processes and procedures.  I’m lucky – I’m working alongside people I’ve worked with before, doing types of work that I’ve done in the past – but it still takes a while to get into the groove.  Much of the work is done remotely from home, and I’ve traded off a permanent job for an hourly rate with flexibility (yay for having every school holidays with the girls). Overall it’s great, but I’m still in the early days of adapting to change.

One of the first things that I sewed for the year was the Papercut Patterns Pinnacle top. I bought the pdf pattern when it was on sale – I consider Papercut Patterns, like Named patterns, to be very expensive, and as a consequence I don’t own or sew many of their patterns. There was a lot that appealed to me about this one, and I admit that I was probably influenced by the number I’d already seen popping up on Instagram. My purchase was also influenced by the number of options – it can be sewn as a knit sweatshirt as well as a woven top, there are a couple of sleeve lengths, and there are two neckline options. I also really wanted to check out the construction and the shape of the pattern pieces.

So, to start. Sizing. I sewed straight size Small, despite measuring the Medium. And have you noticed something else in the two photos I’ve already posted? The second one (immediately above this paragraph) is the pattern exactly as drafted. See how long this top is(n’t)? I am only 158cm tall, and I have a short torso. This top really is designed for high waist bottoms or for those who feel much better about their bellies than I do.

So, what to do? I knew that I was unlikely to wear this top at this length. I rifled through my scraps – and there weren’t many – and managed to cut a band to add to the bottom. So that’s what I did! The width of the band was entirely dictated by the amount of fabric I had left. I think it added about 5cm to the length overall.

Oh, it’s looking crumpled in these photos! I really like this printed cotton/linen that my friend Kathryn gave me – it was lovely to work with and the print is subtle yet defined.  However, it obscures the lovely design lines.  It’s really worth sewing this pattern in a solid – which will definitely happen at some stage.

The fronts and the backs are cut in one – there is no shoulder seam. So there is a centre back seam, and by the time you get to sewing front fronts to the centre front inset, the fronts are on the bias. It’s interesting drafting! You really do need to pay attention when sewing the fronts so that you get the point nice and neat. It’s helpful if you’ve done patchwork in the past! You really do need the line diagram to have a better appreciation of the pattern.

I sewed variation 1 with the shorter sleeve option, in a woven.  I’m going to try variation 3 in a knit at some stage for winter, but will need to think hard about whether it will need lengthening or whether the bottom band in the pattern will be enough.  In regard to the V neckline – it’s a deep V, but I found it quite wearable.  However, that will depend a bit on the distance of your shoulder to bust point.  I have noticed that many people have raised the V, so take note of that if you are planning to sew this and prefer not to have a deep neckline.  I imagine that it also depends a bit on what type of bra you wear under it.  I am a boring beige cotton bra wearer, and it didn’t expose the bridge of my bra but certainly came down very close to it.

Hopefully if you zoom in on that photo you can see the seamlines a little better! The neckline facing is also stitched in place from one angled front seam around the neckline to the other angled front seam. There’s actually lots that I like about this pattern. It is simple – there are very few pattern pieces – but it’s clever. It is designed to be oversized, so choose the size that you want to sew taking the design ease and your own preferences into account. Consider the finished length, and the depth of the V neckline. Or just launch in, like I did, then adapt as needed!

Another of the Christmas gifts that I sewed for my Mum was the Style Arc Autumn dress. I’d sewn myself a version around a year prior, and Mum expressed interest in one for herself at the time.

I took these photos on an incredibly hot and dry day – you can almost see the heat radiating in the glare! Fortunately I sewed the dress from linen (from The Cloth Shop) which made it about as comfortable as you can be in those types of weather conditions.

I sewed Mum size 16, without alterations. This dress is a little shorter than her usual preference – although I think that it looks quite perfect at this length. Because I’d sewn it before, constructions was relatively straightforward – except for that large pleat at the back yoke!

From what I’ve read on blogs and instagram, pretty much everyone has trouble getting that pleat correct. I note that I think I have it as designed for Mum’s dress, but when I go back and look at how I did the pleat on my dress I reckon that I got it ‘wrong’ the first time that I sewed it. My tips: make sure that you have included EVERY marking. Have the pattern pieces close to hand. Study the illustrations. Pin the yoke to the ironing board to act as a width and marking reference. Pin the back piece just below it, aligning it with the yoke piece, starting at the outer edges until you get to the first markings. Then take it slow with the folds, patiently folding and refolding until all the marks line up correctly and the back piece is folded to the size of the front piece with all markings lining up as labelled. It does work in the end, trust me. But be patient!

In included the inseam side pockets – always handy for a hanky if you are Mum, or a mobile phone if you are me – and included all the topstitching as marked.  Construction was mostly on the sewing machine, with the overlocker used to finish seam allowances.  I hand-sewed the collar stand facing in place on the inside of the dress.

This dress has a number of details that make it a pleasure to wear. I particularly like the curved hemline, which works nicely with the slight fullness provided by the front pleat, as well as the back pleat. Note that the back pleat creates lots of room and airiness through the body of the dress, but the pattern piece narrows in again by the time it gets to the hemline so there’s not lots of excess there around your knees.

The lack of closures also makes this a very easy dress to wear – just slip it over your head and go!

When I sewed this for myself I wondered whether it would have benefitted from a high rounded back alteration – and I wondered whether I should have done one for Mum. It looks fine in these photos however. I’ll need to ask Mum how she finds it to wear.  I really love the colourway on Mum, and the fabric was definitely a pleasure to sew.  The more I sew with linen, the more that I love it.  This dress should be perfect for summer in the climate where Mum lives.

And by the way – Happy Birthday Mum!

I did a little bit of sewing for my Mum as part of my Christmas gift to her.  I’ve sewn the Style Arc Adeline dress for her twice before (you can see the previous versions here and here).  It’s a style that Mum really likes, so I sewed it again!

This time I used crinkle linen from The Cloth Shop. To my eye, in real life it’s actually more blue than grey, but I’m not sure what colour it will look like on your computer monitor.

I sew size 16 in this pattern for Mum, without any alteration. When I sew it for myself I shorten the pattern a bit, but Mum prefers more length. She’s around my height nowadays, but used to be a couple of inches taller than me.

I really like the wide facing on the curved hemline. It provides stability and to me is a fabulous style. The pockets are also terrific in this solid colour.

I’ve sewn this so often that there isn’t much more for me to say about the construction. Construction was shared between the overlocker and the sewing machine. I ensure that I use quality interfacing on the neckline and hem facings, and make sure that I use a gazillion pins to hold the facings where they should be before topstitching, which is especially important on this crinkly fabric.

I really like the way that the neckline sits too. It stays nice and close to the body. As you’ve probably figured out by now, Mum and I have quite similar body shapes, although she’s more busty than I am. The styles that work well on Mum tend to work well on me, and vice versa.

Feedback is that this is a very comfortable dress to wear in this very hot summer. I think that the fabric choice was perfect – the crinkles in the linen allow for movement and comfort, while the fibre keeps you cool. I love it when a dress that I sew works so well for the recipient!  I think that I’ve now sewn six Adeline dresses.  Oh my!

I first sewed the You Sew, Girl! Draped T-dress back in January 2011.  Yes, that was a while ago!

And wouldn’t you know it – this is my sixth version, the fourth in a stripe! You can see two of the other striped ones here and here (there was also a red/white striped version but I don’t think it was ever blogged). I’ve sewn it in a solid once, and in a print once. (And actually, since I wrote this blog post I’ve sewn a seventh dress, this time as a gift).

This fabulous stripe is viscose spandex knit from The Cloth Shop Ivanhoe. I needed 2.5 metres in order to be able to match the stripes along the edges. This is a one pattern piece dress – the front and the back are the same, then the front neckline is cut deeper. I cut a strip for the neckband a little less than two inches wide. When doing neckbands from stripes the finished neckband width really depends on the width of the stripes and what I think will look best.

As always I determined the length of the neckband by following the method described in Gillian’s tutorial. Construction was on the overlocker, with the hems finished by machine with a twin needle. I also twin needled down the neckband seam allowances to secure them.

I used double sided Vliesofix tape on the dress hem before stitching, and I think that it’s actually stiffened it a little too much and has made the hem a little wavy. That might ease up with washing. I sometimes attach a fishing sinker or washer to the inside seam allowance of the point at the side drape so that it falls nicely, but haven’t done it yet with this version of the dress and the folds seem to be draping as they should.

Stripe matching required lots of careful cutting – I cut one side of the dress, then laid it exactly on top of the fabric right sides together to line up the stripes accurately before cutting the other side. That had the added advantage of having the front and back all ready for the stripes to be carefully pinned together. Sewing this in a solid or print makes it a very fast dress to sew, by the way.

My dress is size Medium. It’s extremely comfortable to wear, and I think we all know that there will be more versions of this pattern in the future!