For the past couple of years I have tried to sew garments that I can get a lot of versatile wear from. I love making unique, one of a kind pieces but at the end of the day I must have a basic wardrobe back drop to pair those unique pieces with!
Here enters patterns like the following three...
Megan Nielsen Flint pant:
I was a pattern tester for Megan this fall and sewed her pants up in a drapey poly/lycra suiting from my stash. I was unsure about the volume of these pants but after putting them on and taking pictures I loved them. They are so comfortable and my very favorite feature is the waistband closure. There's no zipper, the closure in incorporated into the pocket and is so clever.
I am 5'5" and was a little skeptical about the length of these, they turned out not quite long enough or not quite short enough based on your perspective but in the final draft Megan ended up shortening this length by a couple of inches based on tester feed back.
The pattern includes a shorts version and a version with a cute tie at the waist, I am hopeful that I can complete a pair in rayon for this summer. I think they will be super comfortable and with the high waistband I can wear shorter tops without the dreaded belly flash potential!!
This is a simple tee, and the pictures pretty much do the talking. Its longer in length, a touch too long for my taste so I will probably shorten in the future but that is such a simple fix it hardly warrants mentioning.
The fabric is from FabricMart and was one of the wonderful pre-cut rayon/lycra lengths. If you haven't discovered their pre-cuts, you might want to check them out. They are so affordable and I am always in need of inexpensive knits for my girls.
Lisette Butterick 6183:
I am a fan of Liesl Gibson's Lisette Butterick patterns and this is another great one. I made this top up in a left over length of ponte that did not have a lot of stretch. It is a great fitting top. I made my usual grading between sizes changes and thats it. The pieces go together beautifully and the instructions so good.
Butterick 6260:
One more thing to mention. I am pretty proud of how my March project for Fabric Mart turned out and wanted to include some of those pictures here.
I did a big write-up over on their blog which included stripe matching tips and you can find that HERE.
This was a project that took a lot of hours but was worth it in the end. I learned a lot about the guts of a semi tailored jacket in the process and made up some of my own rules as I went. I highly recommend Palmer Pletsch's "Jackets for Real People" if you are new to tailoring. They have a super practical, logical approach to the process which I so appreciate.
The pattern is Liesl Gibson's Butterick 6260 and its worth noting that this is a VERY fitted jacket so you may want to muslin it first. I usually have to do a narrow shoulder adjustment for all major pattern company patterns but for this one it was unnecessary with the very fitted cut. There are lots of fitting lines in the bodice of the pattern so that helps in fitting your waist.
Well that's a quick round up from me on a few pieces I've made!
Thanks for reading!
Elizabeth