Simplicity 9895, Hoodie

When my local fabric shop announced on Instagram that it had some plain black sweatshirt fabric in stock I was delighted. It seems such a simple thing to get excited about, you would think every fabric shop would have some plain sweater knits in-stock, but basics seem to be in demand, and just like you can't find a 32A black t-shirt bra in any Primark in the North of England, fleecey backed sweater material has proved elusive. 

The patten was a Christmas, or maybe Birthday gift. It was a toss up between the Simplicity 9885 and the McCalls 8365 - both hoddie patterns with panelled bodices, however the simplicty featured this relaxed, gathered bust which I preferred over the McCalls princess seams due to its relaxed-chic vibe.

With sweater fabric obtained after months being on the look out, I scheduled myself some time off work so I could relax into the world of making. I'd forgotten the sheer pleasure of being able to cut out plain fabrics on the fold instead of meticulously lining up geometric prints. this made for much quicker cutting than an anticipated. Top tip: Label up all the bodice segments, as they all look pretty similar and it doesn't take long before you're thinking which way round is this one? Is this a left or right piece? A front or back? 

Once cut out, you're straight into sewing. No interfacing or darts to line up, just some quick-forming gathers in the bust and the centre back pieces. I was a little worried the gathers would be lost in the softness of the fabric but I think they look really effective. I would perhaps move the bust gathers a little more towards the centre front next time, but once the hoodie is on everthing feels quite balanced. 

I spent a lot of time doing test strips with my overlocker, as there are a few areas where I was overlocking varying amounts of layers, each area needing a tweak of the overlocker settings to avoid carnage. 

My whole family have always loved collecting 'things', and this seemed to ramp up for my dad during 2020 when he was first diagnosed with dementia. I asked him once if he had any zip ties, with the intent of using them as boning in a corset top I was making at the time. The collection of zip ties lasted all year long, and as a result I had a mega stash of them to use as boning on my hoodie! Make do and mend! This WILL be my party piece if I ever make it onto Sewing Bee (shameless sob-story to feature also, thank you Pops). 

The boning in the bodice of the hoodie was labelled as optional, but I wanted to give it a go. the top stitching of the panels was already screaming corset-vibes. I am intrigued though to see how the hoodie would fit and hang without them. The pattern suggests placing the boning in and then sewing at the top and bottom of the channels at the 1.5cm seam allowance to stop the boning sliding out when you assemble the rest of the hoodie. I stitched all of the bottom sitches, THEN placed the boning in, just to keep the plastic out of the way of the needle for as long as possible. I have kept these stiches in, as they act nicely as reinforcement for the ends of the boning. 

I didn't press the side seams open, instead opting to overlock them together which I think was the right decision.  

Hemming could have been a hairy moment, as the pattern calls for folding along the 1.5cm hemline, then folding the raw edge into meet the fold line. I don't know if you've ever folded a snuggly-backed sweatshirt knit fabric, consisting of multiple bulky bodice panel seams, but I'll save you some time and inform you now that there is no way you are doing a narrow hem with it. So instead I overlocked the bottom raw edge then folded it along the 1.5cm hemline and top stiched. Of course, we hit an immediate issue trying to intersect each panel seam, as they now have the plastic boning encased, and although I probably could sew through it (flashback to the time I sewed through my ruler by accident which ignited a viceral fear of sewing through my fingernails), I didn't fancy breaking or dulling my needles. To hem then, I stiched in between each panel, stopping at each channel then starting again on the otherside. Fortunately this worked really well, despite it meaning that the hem sitching broke off at each channel. 

Sleeves slipped into the armholes nicely. The main fear was of course was stretching the cuffs to fit the sleeves, as the cuffs weren't appearing too stretchy. This was the only area I used a zig zag stich as I think it's the only area that would need to actually stretch. So I did a row of this that admittedly looked wavier than the Pacific, then overlocked the raw edges. When I turned the sleeves the right side out though I was overwhelmed with how professional the cuffs looked! 

Zipper time. The most time-cosuming and tedious part of the process. The pattern suggests a 20" open ended zipper, which you can then 'cut to fit'. Sure sure how hard can that be. Well. First apparent faux-pas, I had bought a lovely chunky plastic zipper, but to shorten a zip, it suggests removing the metal tab ends from the top of the zipper, removing the excess zip teeth using pliers, and then re-attaching the tab ends at the new 'top' of the zip. Ok well my zip was plastic, do you know what happends when you try and bend plastic? It snaps. So there was no chance of re-attaching the tabs once I'd painstakingly plucked off all of the excess teeth. Luckily, I had a spare old chunky metal zip knocking around which I could (just about) remove the ends from. So my hoodie zip now features trendy silver stops at the top and what's more, they do actually function! 

I've only done a handful of open ended zippers, I found this refreshingly easier than inserting dress zips which was welcomed at such a critical step in hoodie assemblage. I lined the edge of the zipper fabric up with the raw edge, I think this was slightly under the seam allowance, but it meant the edge would be hidden under the zip tape and it seemed to fit well when the zip was placed here. It also ensured the zip was placed straight! Using the zip foot it was easy to stitch a striaight line next to the plastic of the teeth, the hardest bit being at the bottom of the pull-side, where the chunky plastic stops stopped me from following the stitch line. Once both sides are sew in, the zip is flipped to the inside and topstiched in place. Next time: I would highly recommend pressing the fabric (careful not to melt zip teeth...) along the teeth where the fabric is folded back, as I found the fabric a little bouncey here and risked wavy topstitching if I wasn't careful. Not what you need at the most obvious, central point of the garment! 

Once your hem is done and your sleeves are in and your zip is inserted and functional, inserting the hood is the final, super satisfying and not-too-stressful step. There is a 3.2cm foldline around the opening of the hood- I stitched this with a long stitch to use as a guide, then folded the raw edge in to meet it. This process worked fine with a 3.2cm hem allowance, unlike the 1.5cm along the bottom. I pinned, pressed, tacked and then finally topstitched, catching the fold close to the edge on the underneath. The neck of the hood then fits nicely to the neck of the hoodie, matching your notches to the shoulder seams and the dots as you go around. I think some of my tailors tacks fell out and some of my notches seemed non-existant, but it was quite plain sailing as long as your fronts, centreback and shoulder placement is lined up. I then overlocked the raw edge (using my two-layer overlocking settings), and topstitched from the outside around the neckline to ensure the seam allowance lay flat. This also secured my little Handmade With ❤ tag in the centre back. 

Before you know it, you have yourself a hoodie! I must say, the fit is absolutely spot on! I graded between two sizes, smaller on top and larger on the bottom. The gathers also made it easy to blend the two sizes together. 

The overall effect is very chic, I can imagine wearing this over a crop top in spring whilst going to buy an over priced Green Goddess super-smoothie or something. Due to the shaping and cropped nature, it's not really a top layer to throw over a tshirt or anything any bulkier, though I can imagine making another without the boning and perhaps slightly longer and layering up with it. There's definitely scope to play with different colourways using the panels and the cuffs and different topstitching thread, maybe even some go-faster stripes in ribbon down the sleeves?

I highly recommend this pattern, I'm surprised I haven't seen more people make it to be honest. Option B is tempting too, swapping out the zip for hook and eye tape and featuring every Reynaud sufferer's favourite- thumb holes in the cuffs 🥰 Also big love to Hillsbrough Fabrics for stocking this sweatshirt fabric and for letting me know it was in stock. It was £10.99 a meter, and you could tell straight away by touching it that it was good quality. It was wonderful to both cut and sew with. I'm feeling pretty jammy that I have some left over (I bought 1.6m but think I could have got this cut out in about 1.2m). Hopefully I can find a tiny shorts pattern that lends itself to using up the rest of this fabric. 

Fab make, that came just at the right time before I lost faith in my sewing skills after a bit of a break from making anything serious over summer. Bring on the nect project!  

x

Location: Mount Pleasant Sheffield

Currently listening to: Crooks, The Slims

Simplicity 2860, Amazing Fit Trousers

I've been scared of trousers for quite some time. I've made a few pairs but I've always felt like I was cheating, big pleats and forgiving gathers. 

The Simplicty Amazing fit trousers were what I needed to tackle my fear. The pattern instructions include a lot of fitting tips, and the pattern is designed with fitting alterations in mind, for example the seam allowances are bloody massive and there is a seam in the centre back of the waistband to aid with pinching in or letting out as necessary. 

The toile I cut was a good starting point. It was a little loose on the waist and hips, so I increased the seam allowance but 0.5cm at the waist and a further cm from the hips onwards. I wanted to keep the legs straight, so I was careful not to over-fit at the hips. 

I was prepared to have to make some alterations in the lower back area as I am often needing to tackle a swayback adjustment, but I found the waist/ butt darts gave a good shape to my behind. 

The main fit issue was a found the trousers a little tight in the crtoch area. I did a bit of research and found I needed to deepen the curve in the crotch (which felt sort of counter intuitive as I associate increasing a seam allowance with making something smaller and therefore tighter), and alter the angle of the inside leg seams. This worked for giving me less of a wedgie but did seem to make the front crotch area a little overly spacious. But hey that's what toiles are for! Lots of messing about until the fit is good and the fun bit can begin! 

I may have over-deepened (is that a word?) the crotch seam, but it did work to my advantage - they ended up a little more high-waisted with that extra room which is exactly where I wanted to wear them. I had to be careful though, as any higher and I would definitely have had to alter the darts in the back to fit the curve of my lower back. 

Wearing them a little higher meant that I also had to be wary of the length! 2cm further up the hips meant 2cm higher up the ankle! Luckily there were no disasters, but I did make a slightly narrower hem to be on the safe side. I then blind hemmed by hand so as no stitching could be seen on the outside. 

I loved constructing the fly zip (even if constantly swapping to the zipperfoot was a pain!). I could have done with sewing the left side a little further from the zip teeth so that the tag sat a little more comfortably behind it, but if I wiggle it in after I've zipped up no one would know! Also I learnt when making my toile that the outside of the fly pieces need to be overlocked before inserting. 

One of the only downsides of this pattern, is there's no pockets! But I totally get that this means altering the fit is much more doable at any stage of making. 

What it lacks in pockets it toally makes up for with beltloop bonus points. It's very satisfying adding them into the construction of the waistband right from the off instead of fiddling about with them at the end. There's also the added comfort knowing that if for some reason they need a bit of help staying up you've got an extra safety blanket! 

Other satisfying features of the waistband include the hidden button and buttonhole inside the fly. I was sooo pleased with the buttonhole (new unpicker for smooth slicing and some fray stop before any threads started running). I bound the bottom of the waistband facing with a satin bias binding for a super neat finish. I fastened down with my neatest stitch in the ditch, which for the first time ever you cannot see from the right side and I did not need to unpick a thing. 

Finally, a little note on fabric choice. I would love to make million versatile versions of these trousers. I can see a plain black pair quickly becoming a wardrobe staple. When picking fabric though I need to be really careful not to pick something that creases easily (crease crotch is the worst), but not pick something so heavy or stiff that it chafes (also bad). If I keep the wide straight legs, cord might look a but juvenile (I've already lived through the 90s once thanks), denim would work but only if it had very minimal stretch so as not to alter the fit of the pattern. 

Really pleased with the time I put into altering the fit. I got these guys finished in time to start my new job. Meet your new boss. 

x
Location: Millhouses Park

Currently listening to: Somewhere They Can't Find Me, Simon and Garfunkel

Simplicity 8513, Bodysuit

 

Some patterns just keep on giving. Sometimes the simplest designs can lend themselves to being adapted in a million ways to create something fun and diffrent every time.

Simplicity 8513 is one of those patterns. Once I'd perfected the fit of the body (not too tricky as its a pettern for knits and therefore quite forgivingm - I just had to lengthen the body a little but shorten the chest above the front armhole notch #smallbustproblems), I could make easy design alterations to the neckline and sleeve length to keep from making the same garment over and over again.

This time I was using this very cute sausage dog print kindly gifted to me from Minerva. I pounced the moment I saw it and was SO stoked that no one else had claimed the fabric before me. It has the perfect amount of stretch and recovery - making it great for vests and t-shirts (maybe a matching knicker set....), so naturally I gravitated to this bodysuit pattern that I know and love. The quirkiness of the fabric makes it appealing for children and adults alike  - I can imagine some reallllly sweet baby clothes in this fabric (yep yep, I know, I've essentially made myself a babygrow here). The fabric is available in a few different colour ways. Aside from the monochrome being my go-to, I think this helps stop the print from being tooo Ceebeebies meaning I could get away with making something for me! I've not stuck my romper through the wash yet, but the fabric feels good quality and unlikely to bobble or fade in the wash (we've all been there, spend days or weeks on a project, complete a sassy make, within two wears it's already bobbling where your handbag rubs = heartbreak). 

So how did I change the pattern this time? There are two amendments I made:
Sleeves: I had a vision and I wanted to try something new, I thought tshirt sleeves would look cutest with the fabric - to make them more exciting I did my first ever bit of 'ruching'! This is an easy and effective way of changing up a sleeve, and can also be used to make sleeves look shorter, without actually cutting anything off the hem. 
To Ruche, I first drew a line 1.5 cm away from the raw hem edge (pre-hemmed) towards shoulder point (marked by a dot on the pattern piece). I drew the line about 4 inches long, but this could be loads longer if you want more ruching or have a longer sleeve to play with. I played around with different lengths of 4mm elastic against the line, stretching it out anf letting it ruche between my fingers to get an idea of how the gathers would look. I decided the elastic should be about 6cm long for my desired ruche, but cut 8cm so I had some to hold onto. I stretched the elastic out and stiched along the line I drew. Let go of then end and Ping! You've ruched! 

Second modification was the Neckline. I couldn't decide if I wanted a turtleneck, mock turtleneck or cowl neck, so I cut one of each and pinned them on to test. Having never done one before, I loved the idea of a cowl neck, however the floppiness of it seemed to distract from the neat silhouette I had created. There was somehting a bit more official about a tall neck, an almost formality that challenged the playfulness of the dog print. I think that's one of the things I really enjoyed about this make. The sexy meets cute, feminine but bold, applicable to either situation depending what you style it with. I used the pattern piece included in the pattern but messed around with the height of the neck, making sure I'd got them pooches lined up nicely in the centre.

My fave part of making this is always putting the leg elastic on. I had a quick peek at the sewing marketstall in Sheffield and they finally had some picot elastic in stock! I bought 2 meters and have about 50cm left after going round the legs. My top tip for applying this would always be not to stretch the elastic too much as you sew, as you want the edge to hold on to your body but not squeeze it.

Now, who's for hotdogs?

x
Location: Home Sweet Home
Currently listening to: Club Cougar, Nadine Shah

Simplicity 1370, Suede Mini Skirt

10 different outfits for the 10 different house viewings I attended before I finally fell in love with the house that became mine. 

It started simple, wear a different me-made shirt for each viewing to ascertain which shirt was indeed my ‘lucky’ shirt, and once that became clear, said lucky shirt would accompany me on all tasks and trips that required me to have a little extra swish and a little extra clip in my heels.

After about viewing number 7 I realised I was going to have to bring out the big guns. In the process of finding my lucky shirt and my dream home, what I actually seemed to discover was a load of unlucky shirts; some damp bathrooms, some spooky neighbours, some suspect rendering and a spider with legs longer than mine. I needed more than just a lucky shirt, so that’s when the suede skirt came into action.

I’d bought the suede on a gloriously sunny day of freedom, on a solo trip to Matlock. It must have been the hottest day of the year – fond memories of honeycomb flavoured ice cream, suncream and sunglasses- the tan line across my midriff from my crop top that day still faintly shows now, despite the autumn leaves turning to mush on the ground. I took a deep breath that day and felt summer fill my body.

What didn’t scream summer to me though was the burgundy suede I found at the Identity Store leather sale. Imagining the sweat dripping down the small of my back where my leather waistband would meet my skin made me feel a bit anxious, so it was no surprise I waited a month or so before unrolling the suede on the studio floor and having a look just how mini the mini skirt would have to be.

The pattern I used (Simplicity 1370) was a safe bet really. I had used it to make my skort so I could already anticipate the depth of the waistband and where exactly I was going to have to take the pattern in. I did make a toile as I had no intention of slicing through my Matlock booty without a tester. I found the zip could do with being about 1 inch longer to accommodate my er... booty, but when it came to it the shop didn’t have a burgundy invisible zipper in the length I needed so I opted for the length the pattern suggested, and vowed to cut down on the honeycomb ice cream.

I thought I was going to have to use a different fabric for the waistband lining but with some clever manoeuvring of my pattern pieces I just about managed to get the skirt to fit my fabric. I found a perfect match lining fabric at Hillsborough with a slight iridescence to it. There are no instructions in the pattern for adding a lining, but I did it in the simplest way possible – cutting the same skirt piece, making the darts into pleats or little ‘tucks’ at the raw edge to allow for a bit more wiggle room, attaching to the waistband facing and then it came to the zipper, turning wrongside out then stitching close to the zip teeth with a zip foot attachment.

As the suede was so thick, I did not add any stitch in the ditch around the waistband and the lining just seems to sit sweetly where it needs to. I thought the bulk was going to cause a few problems at the intersecting seams by the zipper.. It didn’t seem so happy the first few runs and I thought for longer than a moment that I was either going to a) break the zipper or b) toss it in the ‘never to be looked at again’ pile. It did seem to ease up though, so fingers crossed no zippy breakages are on the horizon for me.

The main issue sewing with suede is darts. I like to use a layer of pattern paper or tissue paper between the fabric and foot to allow the machine to glide more smoothly over the surface and not drag. It can be really hard to see your stitching line when you have another layer blocking your makings… just as I reach the dart point it ALWAYS seems to drag and stretch just a little! So frustrating! But it has spurred me on to make this skirt again in a woven to get those dart points perfected haha.

Instead of hemming I did a long straight stitch around the bottom as a kind of finish/stay stitch just to neaten things up a bit.

On completion of the skirt I teamed it with this McCalls 7472 Raglan shirt and went to buy a house. Happy dais.

X

Location: Loxley Valley
Currently listening to: Misery Loves Company, Mystic Braves