Contemporary Sewing Patterns for the Modern Maker
If you have been sewing for even a short time you’ve probably realised that this hobby is not a source of cheap clothing. I think many of us start sewing with the idea that we’ll be able to knock out handmade wardrobes that cost significantly less than ready to wear, and though that’s sometimes true, usually it isn’t. Except that today it is – and I’m very excited to tell you the story of my $1 Opal pants !
Like basically everyone else, I’ve been social distancing for a few weeks now, and with all that extra time at home I’ve found myself sewing more. A little bit here and a little bit there. I’ve decided to use this strangely quiet period of life to finish off all those projects that I’ve had planned for ages, or only gotten halfway through. And this special top is the first make as a result of my staying home and sewing efforts!
This fabric is so cool and I’ve had it for quite some time just waiting for the courage to cut into it. It’s a raw silk open weave, and the texture is unbelievable. I’ve never seen anything like it before! It’s soft and spongey and delicate and I am more in love with it than a person probably should be with fabric hehe.
I took my time with this make and thought really carefully about pattern choice and all the finishes as I knew it would be a challenging sew. I decided on a River top as I knew a loose fit garment with mostly straight seams would be a good fit for this fabric. Every step in construction has included it’s own unique challenges and I’ve really enjoyed figuring out how to tackle them all.
I thought i would share all about the process of making this top incase you ever want to use a fabric like this and are wondering how best to handle it!
It feels so good to sit down and write a blog post today. I’m coming off the back of a couple of weeks of very intense sewing leading up to our lookbook photoshoot for our Curve range, and I feel like I’ve spent almost every waking minute behind a machine. I love sewing, but it was a bit much i must admit. It feels good to write again! Our shoot was an absolutely amazing day and I can’t wait to share the images with you all. We shot 57 samples on two gorgeous models, and have been working towards this shoot for over 9 months. It was a lot of work, but so so so worth it. These photos will help show the details of our Curve range better and just from peeking over our photographers shoulder during the shoot i’m exciting for how everything looks! I’ll make sure to post here when they are live so you can check them out. It’s so hard to wait!
Anyway, until then, back to my Wattle skirt! This is View C of the pattern, the pleated skirt. We made it as part of the testing process from a really lovely cotton chambray from Materialise in Perth. I got the end of the bolt and we only had just enough fabric to squeeze this skirt in. I really love that feeling when you squeeze a make out of what doesn’t seem like enough fabric. Why is that so exciting?! Is this the sewing equivalent of living on the edge?!
I’ve been wearing a lot of shorts or midi length garments for the last few years and not much in between that length, so I have really enjoyed wearing this above the knee skirt. The say a change is as good as a holiday, and it’s amazing how a slight change in skirt length is really refreshing.
Here I’m wearing it with my pink knit River top. I’ve gotten so much wear out of this top. It has definitely become that top that I throw on when i’m not sure what to wear because it just seems to go with everything.
I’m looking forward to sharing the results from our photoshoot in a few days!
XOXO
photography by Bronnie Joel