My cup of tea

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Pattern Emporium Be Mine Balloon Sleeve top with cap sleeves from the Pattern Emporium Spill the Tea tapered tie neck blouse, size AU8, 1 yard lilac airflow, mid neck, regular length, wide facing, no button loop, no front or back center seams, sloped-shoulder adjustment

I wanted to make a short-sleeve top to go with my magenta suit. I bought lots of polyester crinkle airflow woven fabric when it was on sale at Mily Mae and I thought the polyester lilac airflow would go well with the magenta. (Note, the airflow is advertised as non-stretch, but because of the crinkle texture, it actually does have a bit of stretch (which could, perhaps, allow sizing down a size). It’s actually fairly similar to the Surge Florence stretch woven that I used recently for a Spill the Tea top; the Florence is just a bit crisper.) I considered making another PE Spill the Tea top, but wanted something without ties. I love the look of the ties, but not futzing with them and having to keep them from getting in the way as I go about my day. I realized that the PE Be Mine Balloon Sleeve top has a very similar bodice to Spill the Tea and that the sleeves are interchangeable. The balloon sleeves are awesome, but don’t play well under jackets and sweaters (and there’s no point wasting a fabulous balloon sleeve under a sweater). So I thought I could get a more practical and layerable top for wearing with jackets and sweaters by putting the Spill the Teas cap sleeves on the Be Mine top bodice.

I cut a size AU 8 Be Mine bodice with a sloped shoulder adjustment and eliminated both the front and back center seam. I cut the regular length with the mid neckline and the wide facing. This was fairly quick to sew together without the center seams and no hemming, bands, or binding needed for the cap sleeves. The part that took the longest was the wide hem, which I think looks really nice on an untucked shirt and adds some weight to this light-weight fabric. But the wide hem is quite the process: it requires stitching, surging, trimming, understitching, folding, top stitching, and pressing between each of these steps. The simple hem option would have been much faster.

I’m pleased with how my top turned out. It looks good tucked or untucked, coming or going!

(Modeled here with Urban Wide Leg pants in magenta ponte.)

Double faux wrap dress

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Joanne faux wrap knit dress with flounce sleeves, faux wrap flounce skirt from Flared skirts ADD-ON, size P4, pockets modified so as not to attach to waist, made from 3 yards of 60-inch-wide ITY (2 yards black, 1 yard white).

I recently made the Sinclair faux wrap flounce skirt for the Valley Skater dress and liked the results. I have long wondered about combining this skirt with the Sinclair Joanne dress, which has a faux wrap top. I figured if I had the the top and the skirt faux wrap meet at the waist it would look close to a real wrap dress.

I made my first Joanne dress over two years ago, before I had a serger or a projector. It is an old Sinclair PDF pattern but it doesn’t actually have projector files. Fortunately, the A0 copyshop files work just fine as projector files. I copied the pieces for the flounce-sleeve top and the pieces for the add-on faux wrap flounce skirt into an Affinity Designer File and was ready to project and cut.

I had a vision for using a pair of coordinating fabrics for this dress that would highlight all the flounces. I selected coordinating black-on-white and white-on-black “heartstrings” print ITY from Surge Fabrics, which seemed perfect for the project.

I accidentally copied the wrong size Joanne top and didn’t realize it until it was mostly sewn together and I wondered why it was so big. So I took it apart and cut the pieces down to the correct 4P size. Other than that little mistake, the dress came together pretty easily. I took the time, as usual to add pockets. I modified them so they attach only to the side seams and not the waist and made them a little deeper and sewed the openings up a bit so nothing falls out.

Since I used ITY fabric that doesn’t curl or fray I was able to leave all the flounces unhemmed.

These two patterns pair well. I decided to add a 2-inch wide belt to help “sell” the wrap idea and make it look less faux. The pattern includes a narrow belt, but I made a wider belt by cutting two 2.5-inch wide strips across the width of my fabric and serging them right sides together with a small gap, turning right side out, and hand sewing the gap closed.

Overall, I’m pleased with the results. However, I’m a little disappointed that my coordinating fabrics actually blend together and the flounces are much subtler than expected. I still like it, but I hope to find coordinating fabrics with higher contrast and make another dress like this some day. Another fabric shopping opportunity!

From cheap jeans to perfect jeans shorts

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I was intrigued on mulltiple levels when I read Rory Evans NYTimes Wirecutter article about how she found a dupe of her $410 jeans and turned them into shorts. So first of all, these must be really special jeans to be worthy of paying $410 for them. I am often the goldilocks of jeans purchases, so I can respect Rory’s satisfaction at finally finding the perfect jeans, especially perfect jeans with enormous pockets, high rise, and barrel legs. I want jeans with a high rise but a short length, pockets big enough that I can store my phone vertically below my hip crease, snug at the waist so they don’t fall down but enough room in the seat and legs that they are comfortable to wear all day and sit in for long periods of time. But although I could afford a $410 pair of jeans, I’m not sure I could bring myself to buy them. And I don’t love the styling of Rory’s dream jeans as much as she does. So instead I wait until Lands End puts my current favorite $90 pair of jeans on sale for half price and then alter them myself to closer to perfection. My most recent jeans purchases from Lands End were a pair of barrel-leg jeans with inadequate pockets that I extended and a pair of wide-leg jeans with decent pockets that I had to take the hem up nearly three inches. The wide-leg jeans look great as long as I wear them with a belt. The barrel-leg jeans are more of a casual look but don’t require a belt at all. Both are comfortable and seem to be holding up well. In both cases I invested less than $50 and about half an hour of my time for alterations.

But what really caught my attention about Rory’s article was that she had also been on a quest for jeans shorts, which I can also relate to. I have a few pairs of jeans shorts that look good on but I have stopped wearing them completely due to a combination of their inadequate pockets and not being all that comfortable to sit in. Instead I sewed myself a couple of pairs of elastic waist shorts, which are really in no way a substitute for classic denim shorts. At this point I’m sure I have the sewing skills to sew a pair of denim shorts or even full-length jeans, but I haven’t taken that plunge yet and I know that it will be a time-consuming experience and I likely won’t get the fit right the first time. So when Rory recommended hacking the legs off a $35 pair of jeans from Amazon that were somewhat of a dupe for her beloved jeans, it was an idea I could get behind.

Rory purchased a pair of the EVALESS Baggy Barrel Jeans from Amazon, cut off the legs, and hemmed them to create her perfect jeans shorts with pockets big enough to hold her water bottle. I figured they were worth a shot and I could always return them before cutting them up if they didn’t fit. I ordered a pair in size 4, Beau Blue for $31.99. The price has since gone up to $39.99. When they arrived I tried them on and the fit was indeed almost perfect. They are made of 65% cotton, 33% polyester, 2% elastane (spandex) and are super stretchy. The waistband stretches so they fit like a glove, but the waist is firm enough that they don’t fall down, and the cut is roomy enough that they are pretty comfortable to wear. The denim is lightweight (good for shorts in summer) and fairly smooth. The jeans look pretty good, but there are some flaws in the stitching and they don’t have rivets or other features of high end jeans. I’m not crazy about the way the knee darts are sewn, but that’s ok because I cut them off. They come with four enormous pockets. They are ankle jeans, but since I’m short they are full length on me. (Note, I tend to wear a size 2, 4, or 6 depending on brand. 4 is the smallest size these come in and it fits me fine. I think a 6 would probably also work for a looser fit, but I like the fit of the 4. I would not go any smaller even if they came in a 2. Because of the stretch most people could probably wear more than one size.)

I decided to make shorts with a 6-inch inseam so I measured and cut the inseam at 7 inches. Then I folded and pressed them up 1/4-inch and then again 3/4-inch. I stitched them with a straight stitch on my sewing machine from the inside about 1/8-inch from the folded edge.

I tried on my new shorts and they fit great! The pockets are incredibly large too — with storage like cargo pockets but without looking like you’re wearing cargo pockets. I like the back waist darts and I’ve been told they make my butt look good. I might even get more in other colors and maybe even another pair to keep as-is and wear as pants.

(Shorts are modeled with my Pattern Emporium Spill the Tea top in Florence stretch woven.)

Flounced!

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Sinclair Valley Knit Skater Dress with faux wrap flounce skirt from Flared skirts ADD-ON, size P4, pockets modified so as not to attach to waist, scoop neck, without a waistband and bodice extended 1.25 inch, made from 2 yards of 60″-wide ITY.

I’ve had the idea for this dress in my head for a while. I bought the Flared skirts ADD-ON for the free Sinclair Valley Knit Skater Dress two years ago and initially used it to make three half-circle skirt dresses (two short-sleeve, one long sleeve). I followed up with a 3/4 sleeve full-circle skirt dress, and more recently a short-sleeve half-circle PETS conference dress. But I had planned all along to try a sleeveless Valley dress with a faux-wrap flounce skirt.

Inspired by Bernice’s sleeveless light blue floral faux-wrap flounce Valley Skater dress that appears in the pattern tutorial, when I saw this light blue ITY fabric last summer at Surge Fabrics, I decided to make the same dress. (Bernice’s fabric is actually a thin slub knit, not an ITY.) I bought the fabric in Summer 2024 and didn’t manage to make it before the end of the summer. I wasn’t inspired to make a sleeveless dress last winter. Now that we are heading towards the end of Summer 2025 I decided it was time to make the dress before another summer passes.

The design for the faux wrap skirt is pretty clever. I love the way the flounces are cut out as donuts with the inner edge attaching to the skirt hem. With this approach, there is no need for gathering the fabric to create ruffles. The main downside is that it uses more fabric this way.

This is an older Sinclair pattern and it is not written and tested as thoroughly as the more recent patterns. I found a few errors, including pattern pieces labelled 4 that were shown as being labelled as 3 in the tutorial. More critically, for view F (the flounce wrap skirt) the instructions say to cut two of piece 8, but in fact only one piece 8 is needed (which I didn’t realize until I was sewing it together and wondered why I had an extra piece). The instruction for overlapping and securing the panels for view D should also mention that it applies to view F. A diagram of the assembly with flounce would have been helpful too (although the diagram showing where to attache the flounce pieces on the bottom of page 14 is quite helpful). Despite these issues, the skirt went together fairly easily.

I added pockets to the skirt using the same pocket construction technique as I used for my other Valley dresses. I altered the pocket design slightly so it connects only on the side seam and not the waistband to prevent dragging the waistband down when I put my phone in my pocket. I also extended the bodice by 1.25 inches, as suggested, since I did not add a separate waistband.

I made this dress in a petite 4, my usual size for Sinclair dresses. I recently sized up to a petite 6 for a Valley dress in less stretchy fabric, but that wasn’t needed for this ITY. This was my first time making a sleeveless Valley dress and I was a bit skeptical of the very narrow shoulder seam for the sleeveless scoop neck. But I resisted the urge to alter it and was pleased to see it came out just fine after adding the neck and arm bands.

I followed the neck and arm band instructions but took a few extra steps to make sure they came out well. First I zigzagged over the edges of the bands after folding them so that the layers of the slippery fabric wouldn’t shift. Then I used the “quarter method” for marking and pinning the neck band. I then basted it on with a wide zigzag stitch on my sewing machine, removed all the pins, and finally sewed it on with my serger. I did basically the same thing for the arm bands, but did not use the quarter method since the pattern included a mark for positioning the shoulder seam.

Since the ITY fabric has a nice clean cut edge that doesn’t fray or curl, I decided not to hem my flounces. This saved time and gave the flounces a nice drape.

I finished the dress before lunch and then put it on to wear to our block party this afternoon in the street in front of my house. While I normally wear shorts and a t-shirt to this event, I couldn’t wait to wear my new dress, and it was pretty comfortable to wear in our hot and humid weather. I love the look of this dress from both the front and back! I was also pleased that despite the fact that the inner wrap is connected only at the waistband, it stayed suitably wrapped.

Cassie V2 top for woven fabrics, also works for stable knit

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Sinclair Cassie V neckline top and dress for woven fabrics made of 1.5 yards of 58” wide burgundy PyLos LiKnit, size 4p, long sleeves shortened by 2 inches.

I tested Cassie V1 but was traveling when the V2 pattern released and didn’t get back until after the testing period was over. So here’s my V2, better late than never.

Cassie is a v-neck pattern for woven fabrics. In the original V1 pattern the neckline crossed over, but too many sewists complained about gaping, so the final V2 was switched to a v-neck without the crossover, but including a pair of cute notches. I decided to try the pattern in PyLos LiKnit, a stable knit fabric made from 55% Rayon/45% Nylon. It has about 25% stretch horizontally, but minimal vertical stretch. I treated it as a woven when I sewed. I think it behaved pretty well for this pattern, although it has a little bit more thickness than a woven and it stretches a bit, so it made it harder to get sharp points in the notches and a crisp V. However, the stretch also made the top more comfortable to wear and easier to get on and off.

I cut out a 4p AB cup top with long sleeves and made no pattern modifications. I top stitched all the optional places where it was suggested. My original attempt at sewing down the neck binding was a bit off and caused the v-neck to be uncentered. Fortunately it was pretty easy to unpick and resew (although looking at the finished product now I realize it still isn’t perfectly centered… oh well).

After I sewed the first sleeve on I tried it on and was disappointed to see the sleeve hanging well past my wrist. I’m used to sleeves that are too long on me, but was surprised the sleeve was too long on a petite pattern. Since this sleeve is gathered and the band added before you sew it to the garment, there is no opportunity to check the sleeve length before it is finished. I went back and looked at photos posted by other sewists and noticed that most opted for the 3/4 length rather than the long sleeve. It looks to me like the long sleeves in this pattern just run long. The sleeve bands took a while to construct and I didn’t want to take them apart. So instead I unpicked the sleeve head and cut two inches off the top of the sleeve head. I was able to mark my cutting line by using a ruler to draw dots every inch or so two inches from the top edge of the sleeve. Then I connected the dots. I cut along the line and reattached the sleeves. This time it worked much better. (Warning for other sewists, unless you have particularly long arms, if you sew the long-sleeve version you will likely need to shorten the sleeves!)

Overall, I’m happy with this top. This is not a style I normally wear, and it may be more difficult to layer than my typical long-sleeve tshirts. But it goes well with both wide and skinny jeans as well as black dress pants, and it should not require ironing. I really like this long-sleeve version (now that I shortened the sleeves) but I also like the sleeveless and 3/4 length versions other sewists made.

There’s also a nice video on this pattern from Lifting Pins and Needles.

Cassie V1

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Sinclair Cassie V1 made of 43” of 52” wide dark sage cotton double gauze, size 4p, modified to remove gathers and wrap sleeve bindings.

My first time doing a pattern test for Sinclair I ended up being the pattern cover girl for the Linda pattern. I haven’t had time to sign up for a pattern test since, but when the Cassie top and dress was announced, it appeared I would have time to make it before heading out on a trip. 

Cassie is a woven pattern, and I don’t have a lot of woven fabric in my stash besides the 18 yards of cotton double gauze I bought on clearance last year and a lot of quilting cotton. I was worried that the quilting cotton would be too stiff for this pattern, so I went with dark sage double gauze. But I waited for other sewists to post some initial photos of their makes before cutting. I wasn’t sure I would like the fit of the dress, which appeared to be fairly loose, so I made the top version in a size 4P.

I initially tetrised the pattern in Affinity Designer to fit in 1 yard of 58” fabric before realizing that my fabric was actually 52”. At that width it takes more than a yard of fabric, but i made it all fit in 43″.

The pattern was released for testing with only partial instructions, as the pattern designer made some last minute changes. She updated the instructions a couple of times to add the missing information, but never released the full instruction set. As I worked on my top, I periodically checked the Facebook group for the pattern test to see whether new updates had been released.

The top has a crossover V-neck with cute notches. I wasn’t sure from the line drawing that I would like the notches and was tempted to leave them out. But I’m glad I kept them as they are a really nice and unique detail. The instructions for facing the crossover pieces was pretty easy to follow. The double gauze was a bit of a challenge because it is fairly fluffy and thus hard to get nice sharp points, but I made it work. I regretted trimming the facing to 1/8 inch (as instructed), as it made understitching the gauze more difficult — next time I think I would clip the curve but not trim.

Other sewists complained that the V-neck gaps open — this seemed to be a big problem for larger sizes. Besides the gaping problem, people were complaining that the top was too loose, and some who tried adding the optional ties did not like the look. In addition, there were some complaints about the cap sleeve being too pointy. I suggested that the pattern designer offer a sleeveless option to address the cap sleeve problem, a suggestion she adopted. The pattern designer polled testers about some possible changes and a couple days later posted some new line drawings while she worked on revising the pattern.

I could see from the new drawing that I would need to start over to make the revised design. So I decided to go ahead and finish the top I had started in the mean time. I sewed on the “skirt” and was not happy with the look of the gathered front and back, which looked to me like a maternity top. So I took it apart and cut the gathered pieces down so they would fit  in place without gathering. I also graded in the waist a bit and trimmed the point off the cap sleeves. 

As the top stitching on the neck facing stands out in the double gauze I decided to mirror the look by making a hem of similar width. I serged the bottom of the top, folded it up .25 inch and then another 1.25 inch, and top stitched it from the front.

The last bit to figure out was the sleeve binding. The pattern included narrow bias binding strips, but the instructions did not detail how to attach them. Having done this sort of binding before for double gauze necklines (on my purple Alva top and my orange Meet You There dress) I had a good idea of how to do the binding and I knew it would be difficult with double gauze. Therefore i cut wider bias binding (1.75 inch) and attached it wrapped around the armscye edges.

I finished my Cassie V1 top before leaving town, and even managed to do a photo shoot. It looks great with my matching PE Vacation Vibes pants, but also looks good with other pants and shorts. it was fun to try out a new pattern and be involved in the discussion of what worked well and what needed improvement. I uploaded photos to the Facebook group right before the pattern designer posted the V2 pattern, but making V2 had to wait until I got back into town a week later.

Photos below of my hacked Cassie V1. The final Sinclair Cassie pattern is now available, and as you will see, no longer includes the crossover front or the horizontal seam in the back. But it still has the cute notches on the neckline and now comes with multiple sleeve options. I’ll post the top I created with the final pattern next.

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Garment sewing index

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Wow, I’ve sewn a lot of clothes! To make it easier to find my makes, I’ve put together this index page. You can look for garments by type, or by pattern maker. You can also use the search box in the upper right corner of this page to find more specific items.

Garment types: accessories, cardigans, dresses, jackets and blazers, mens, shorts and skorts, skirts, tops

Pattern makers: Boo & Lu, Ellie & Mac, Love Notions, Pattern Emporium, Petite Stitchery, Sinclair, Styla

Accessories

Cardigans

Dresses

Jackets and Blazers

Mens

Pants

Shorts and skorts

Skirts

Tops

More double gauze Vacation Vibes

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Pattern Emporium Vacation Vibes Palazzo Pants, made of 65” of 52” wide dark sage cotton double gauze, size AU8 short, low rise, modified foxy pockets.

I’m still not going on vacation, but I made a second pair of Pattern Emporium Vacation Vibes Palazzo Pants. I made my first pair of Vacation Vibes last summer in purple cotton double gauze. That was my first time sewing with double gauze and I wasn’t sure whether to iron it or not. I found conflicting advice online and decided to go with those who advised against ironing since that seemed like the easy way out. However, I learned that if you cut and sew double gauze without ironing it, it stretches and grows quite a bit as you wear it. My pants ended up being too big. I had cut the high-rise version because generally I prefer high-rise pants. However, I’ve found that, as a petite person, PE high rise seems to be too high on me, and that was even more the case when I used double gauze. So after wearing them, I removed the waistband and about 2 inches from the rise before reattaching it. They are still too baggy, especially in the seat, but quite wearable and I do wear them (but I’m considering taking them apart and cutting them down further).

After sewing a PE Be Mine top (modeled with the pants in the photos in this post), I decided to make a pair of green double gauze pants to match. I had a little less than 2 yards of 52” wide gauze left from another project (I’ll post about that one soon) so I did some pattern piece tetrising in Affinity Designer and discovered I could get the pattern into 65” if I rotated it 90 degrees and cut the pants legs along the width of the fabric rather than the length. My gauze doesn’t appear to be directional, so this worked out ok.

This time I thoroughly pressed the gauze, sized down from an AU10 to an AU8, and cut the lower rise. I used the pocket opening line from the high rise so that the pocket opening would not be as low when I added the foxy pockets (I’ve done this with other PE patterns as well to keep things from falling of pockets). I sewed according to the pattern except for the pocket opening modification and adding a second row of topstitching around the pocket bag as a decorative design detail.

As I was sewing I discovered that despite my best efforts, I had managed to stretch the gauze as I was cutting it. This resulted in one of the pants legs being abut an inch shorter than the other. I evened them out before hemming, which meant I could not do the full 2-inch hem I had planned. I serged the hem, folded under .25 inch and then .75 inch and top stitched.

I think these fit a lot better than my pruple paints, although they are still a little baggy in the seat and the fabric slides around on the waistband a bit. I wonder if they might be better with a shirred waist band. Nonetheless, they look pretty good, especially with my Be Mine top. I also made a sleeveless top from the same fabric as part of a new pattern test, but I can’t show you until the new patten releases. These pants are very comfortable to wear and work with both tucked and untucked shirts. One of these days I will make a pair of Vacation Vibes in some other woven fabric.

Going to the tropics

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Pattern Emporium Going Places Fit-Flare and Fitted dress, made of 1.5 yards of tropical print DBP, size AU8 top graded to AU10, knee length ballet neck, sway back adjustment, pockets added

No, I’m not going on vacation, but I made a Pattern Emporium Going Places dress in a tropical print, and with some of the warm weather we’ve had lately in Pittsburgh, when I stand next to the flowers in my front yard I feel somewhat tropical.

I picked up this pattern a few weeks ago when it was on sale (it originally came out in 2019). This dress has both a fitted and flt & flare option and several different necklines (including a low cut “babe” option). But what is distinctive about this dress is that regardless of which option you choose, you have cute sundress straps in back that are designed to cover bra straps. I chose the ballet neck and flit & flare options, cut to knee length, with side seam pockets added (not part of the pattern). I used a soft and lightweight double-brushed polyester print that I bought on clearance last year from Milly Mae.

The fit & flare version of this dress is basically the same dress as the PE Wanderlust dress but with straps instead of sleeves and binding instead of a neck band. Having previously made and adjusted three Wanderlust dresses, I knew I would need a sway back adjustment, so I went ahead and copied the adjustment I already worked out for the Wanderlust pattern. I also had already worked out how to add pockets to this pattern. I decided to use the AU 8 for the bodice and then graded the waist and skirt to an AU 10. After sewing it together I decided it was too long and shortened it by 2 inches (I should have anticipated needing to shorten it as I usually shorten PE patterns by 2 inches). I turned under the hem 5/8 inch and cover stitched with off-white thread.

The dress is a pretty fast sew, but it took me a bit longer due to adding the pockets and sewing neck binding with my cover stitch machine for the first time. I had never does this binding technique so I practiced on scrap fabric, but once I figured it out it was pretty easy, although does take some (and a lot of pins) to pin in place before sewing. I opened up my Triumph suitcase and got out my cover stitch foot and used it for the first time.

The bra-strap covering straps are great, but they do take some work to position properly. The pattern instructions suggest where to pin the straps in place as a starting point, but they were set too wide and too long for me. I had to repeatedly shift them and try the dress on again, and I finally enlisted the help of an assistant who could more easily see my back. Once I was happy with the positioning I sewed them in place with my cover stitching on top of the cover stitching on the binding. The binding is a nice polished finish in both the front and back.

I’m very happy with this dress and my husband really likes it too. I like the fact that I can wear a sweater or jacket with it and wear it to work too. I’m looking forward to trying other neck options, and maybe a maxi version in some fancy fabric. The pattern can also be truncated to make a tank top, which I may try as well.

Spill the Tea

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Pattern Emporium Spill the Tea tapered tie neck blouse, size AU8, 1 yard polyester Florence stretch woven, regular length, plain back, shorter tie, center front opening raised 1 inch, sloped-shoulder adjustment

The Pattern Emporium Facebook group is filled with lovely Spill the Tea tie-neck blouses. I don’t own any tie neck blouses or even very many woven blouses, but I was intrigued by this pattern, especially the cute cap sleeve version. I normally shy away from any blouse that needs to be ironed or buttoned and has fussy collars or ties that I find always shift around and look sloppy when I wear them. This pattern doesn’t have buttons but I was a little bit uncertain about the tie.

I don’t have a lot of drapey woven fabric in my stash, but I found a couple of yards of medium weight 100% polyester Florence stretch woven in flourishing lavender than I bought last year from Surge, and decided to give Spill the Tea a try. The Florence fabric has a subtle crinkly texture and has a little bit of body but a very fluid drape. It doesn’t need to be ironed and it stretches a bit. The lavender Florence seemed perfect for this blouse, and it allowed me to get one more make with purple thread before changing the thread in my serger (my previous three makes were an Alva double-gauze purple top, Nori purple batik quilters cotton pants, and Be Mine purple double-gauze jacket).

I selected the regular length with the shorter tie and opted for the cap sleeves. I proactively added a 1/2-inch sloped shoulder adjustment and raised the center front opening by 1 inch (both adjustments that I tend to need). I finished the bottom hem by serging the edge and folding it under 1/4 inch twice and top stitching.

The Florence fabric is a bit slippery and made this pattern more challenging. It does hold a press, but takes some effort. The edges start fraying fairly quickly. I made a number of sewing mistakes that required unpicking and resewing, but in the end everything worked out ok. My good sewing machine is still in the shop so I’m using my backup machine, which adds to the challenge. When I sewed the front center seam, I don’t think I used a full 5/8-inch seam allowance, and thus when I turned under the seams and tried to top-stitch them at 1/4-inch, the turned-under seams were slightly too small. I should have serged those edges before turning them under to make sure the turned-under edge was more than 1/4-inch. I also accidentally sewed one of the cap sleeves on inside out (nobody to blame but me for this). The tie assembly is clever and a little bit tricky, and I managed to sew too far into the burrito and sewed the opening closed. But I recovered from all of these mistakes. I did take the advice to hand baste the cap sleeve edges together, and I was glad I did. I was also glad to have a serger to clean up all the fraying edges. With all those mistakes, the pattern wasn’t as much of a quick sew as it should have been.

Despite the mistakes, the end result looks great and has a very professional-looking finish. I really like the folded cap sleeves (no hemming required), and may used them on other patterns. It looks good both tucked in and untucked. We’ll see whether I end up liking tie-front blouses or not. I see from photos that people are wearing the tie sloppy, so I guess that’s the thing to do. I found if I folded it in half before tying it was a bit less sloppy. It also looks good untied. I’m unlikely to wear it tied in a bow.

Pattern Emporium has a blog post with lots of Spill the Tea blouses in different fabrics that was helpful. I also found the Lifting Pins and Needs Bow Tie Heaven video useful.

I don’t think I would sew with the Florence fabric without a serger or a pattern in which all the seams were enclosed. But I like this fabric a lot: drapey with body, a little bit of stretch, opaque, washable, and doesn’t require ironing. I will probably buy more and would like to try making some wide-leg pants with it (and possibly other tops or a dress).

Ok, enough purple for a while. Next up…. blue?

I’m modeling Spill the Tea with PE Walk Boldly pants in black ponte. My older daughter took the photos with my camera.

My husband photobombed me and brought me some tea so I could spill the tea in my Spill the Tea blouse

Be Mine Jacket Hack

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Pattern Emporium Be Mine Balloon Sleeve top with jacket hack, size AU8, 1.5 yards cotton double gauze, high neck, regular length, wide facing, no button loop, sloped-shoulder adjustment

I love the Pattern Emporium Be Mine Balloon Sleeve top pattern but find it difficult to wear under a sweater, and even if it fits, a sweater would hide the beautiful sleeves. So when I saw that sewist Livia Jonker-Yamada had hacked Be Mine into a jacket, I was excited to give it a try myself so that I could wear it over a shirt. I waited for Liv’s promised blog post with instructions, but it never came so I figured it out myself.

I started with the size AU8 pattern, which is one size smaller than the size chart recommends but this is an oversized pattern and sizing down worked well for me on my first Be Mine top. I could probably go down one more size for a more fitted top. I used the high neck option so that the neck opening would hit above a scoop-neck t-shirt. I added a half-inch sloped shoulder adjustment as I did on my first Be Mine. I decided to make this jacket from purple cotton double gauze since I still have a lot left even after making PE Vacation Vibes pants and a Sinclair Alva top and I thought it would coordinate with a lot of things in my wardrobe. The double gauze is a good weight for a light summer jacket, it has enough body to help the sleeves balloon, and once you’re done sewing it doesn’t need to be ironed. Having previously experimented with both ironing and not ironing gauze before cutting and sewing, I am firmly on team wash and iron now, despite the fact that ironing the wrinkles out of a couple of yards of double gauze is fairly tedious.

Most of the hack is pretty obvious: you follow the instructions for eliminating the back button, sew the back pieces together, and then you don’t sew together the two front pieces. The tricky part is what to do to have a nice clean finish on the jacket front openings. It looked to me like Liv split the neck facing and added vertical strips to it to face the jacket opening edges. I couldn’t work out exactly what she did where the front edges met the wide hem facing so I improvised a bit.

In the photos below you can see the split neck facing sewed to the merged back facing on its owned and pinned to the bodice. When I split the front facing, I made sure to add my 3/8-inch seam allowance to the split on both sides. The vertical facing is 1 3/4 inches wide and runs the length of the top. I decided to cut neck and vertical facing as a single piece to avoid the need for a joining seam. I used Heat n Bond Ultra Lightweight Fusible Interfacing and fused it to a piece of gauze before cutting out the facings. After I sewed the front and back facings together, I serged around the outer edges and also along the inner edge of the vertical pieces. That last bit of inner edge surging probably wasn’t necessary.

After I finished sewing on the neck and vertical facings I clipped the seam allowance around the neck as per pattern instructions and trimmed the corners to make it easier to turn them under. Then I understitched and top stitched according to the pattern instructions. It was impossible to understitch all the way into the corners, as you can see in this photo, but that didn’t seem to be a problem. I did the topstitching all in one go, from the bottom, up one side of the front, around the neck, and back down the other side of the front, pivoting at the corners. I used an edge foot for all the top stitching and under stitching.

Then I added the sleeves (hand basting the sleeve bindings so the gauze would behave), closed up the sides, and turned to adding the wide bottom hem facing. I split the front hem facing piece in half, adding 3/8 inch seam allowances to the inside edge of each piece. Then I sewed the front hem facing pieces to the back hem facing pieces and serged the top edge. I pinned the facing to the bodice, folding in the seam allowance. I sewed everything together and understitched following pattern instructions. Then I top-stitched just below the serged edge at the top of the hem facing. Finally, I was left with the unsolved problem of what to do with the unstitched 3-inch edges where the hem facing meets the bodice on the jacket opening edges. I decided to whip stitch that closed by hand, which seemed to have worked well.

I decided not to add buttons as I rarely button jackets (and I’m still a bit afraid of button holes). I’ve recently read that tie-front tops are quite fashionable right now, so I thought about adding ties, but decided I was unlikely to actually tie them (or wear them fashionably without a shirt underneath), so I left the jacket with no closures. As a result, it was a little tricky getting the neck openings aligned for the photographs, but they mostly stay in place.

The jacket looked neat and crisp, but since I will never iron it again I threw it in the wash to see how it would look crinkled up. When I took it out it looked great except for the center back seam, which didn’t lie flat because I forgot to top-stitch the seam allowances in place. After a quick trip back to my sewing machine to topstitch, the jacket was complete. That was yesterday, and today I wore my new jacket to work with the PE Heartlight skirt that I sewed last summer. When the outdoor temperature cools down a little I expect I will wear it a lot with wide-leg pants.

Pets dress for PETS conference

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Sinclair Valley Knit Skater Dress with half-circle skirt from Flared skirts ADD-ON, size P6, 2 yards Spoonflower modern jersey, short-sleeve, above knee length plus one inch, bodice extended 1.3 inch and no waistband, pockets modified so as not to attach to waist, “screwp neck” with cover stitching

After the success of my hot pepper dress for the PEPR conference, I obviously needed to prepare for the 2025 Privacy Enhancing Technologies (PETS) conference by making a pets dress. I searched for a knit fabric with at least three types of pets, but couldn’t find anything (I found all dogs or all cats, and some other options in quilting cotton).

Spooflower.com had some nice custom options with multiple pets, but most were too cute for the look I was going for — a nice pattern for baby clothes but not the vibe I wanted. I found “Pop Art Pets” designed by Susan Faiola and showed it to my husband and he thought it was great, so I ordered two yards in Modern Jersey, my favorite Spoonflower fabric. It’s 95% polyester, 5% spandex, feels like cotton with a nice drape and takes color well. It has a bit more than 25% horizontal stretch and less vertical stretch. I have been less impressed with Spoonflower’s cotton spandex jersey, as I find it feels almost rubbery when you print it with dark colors and they fade over time. When the fabric arrived in the mail I was quite happy with it. My husband pointed out that the dog in the fabric looked a lot like a dog we know named Daisy, so after I finished the dress I borrowed Daisy to take some photos.

I chose the Sinclair Valley Knit Skater Dress with half-circle skirt from Flared skirts add-on, a pattern I have made several times. The pattern is pretty fast and easy, and fits well without much modification. It actually fits like a glove, and as this fabric has less stretch than fabrics I’ve used in the past, I decided to size up from my usual P4 to a P6. Since I omitted the waistband I extended the length of the bodice by 1.3 inch. As I have done in the past, I modified the pockets so they do not attach to the waist to prevent the waist from being distorted when I put my phone in my pocket. I also found from past experience that I prefer a neckline in between crew and scoop, so I used my usual “screwp neck” modification. The fit of the dress is just about perfect!

I sewed almost everything on my serger and then fused and cover stitched the hems with a wide cover stitch. I used the same wide cover stitch on the neck band. This is the first time I’ve ever tried to cover stitch a neck band. I took it very slowly and it came out really well. I used my regular serger foot and it was a bit tricky to see the stitches; next time I need to try one of the feet designed for cover stitching that provides more visibility (I’m sure I have multiple options in my 29-foot accessory kit, I just need to figure out which one to use).

Nori (and Alva) for Lorrie

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Sinclair Nori Woven Peg Trousers, size P6, 2 yards batik quilting cotton, 2-inch elastic waist

Sinclair Alva Woven Dolman Style Top, size P2, A/B cup, 1 yard double gauze, shorter deep hem, cuffed arm holes

I’ve never sewn pants out of woven fabric, but I liked the peg-leg (almost barrel leg) style and pocket style on the new Sinclair Nori Woven Peg Trousers so I decided to give the pattern a try. I don’t have a lot of woven garment fabric in my stash, but the instructions said it worked with quilting cotton, and I do have a lot of that. I selected a fun batik fabric that I had several yards of, but I ended up needing only about 2 yards of it.

I cut out a size 6P and machine-basted it together to check the fit. I was very happy with the fit, but prefer a higher back rise. I reduced the seam allowance where the center back meets the waistband to increase the rise by almost half an inch (and I marked this on my pattern so that I will cut a higher back rise next time). Then I removed the basting and sewed the pants together according to the pattern instructions. Most seams were sewn on my sewing machine with a 5/8-inch seam allowance, then surged, and then top stitched. This process is much more involved than sewing knits, but it produces a nice finish.

I went with the 2-inch elastic option for the waistband. As there is no stretch in this pattern, the waistband casing is the same size as the top of the pants, and thus become quite gathered after you insert the elastic. To keep everything smooth, the instructions recommended adding three rows of stitching through the waistband. That was a little tricky to do while stretching the elastic and the stitching isn’t as consistent as I would have liked, but I got it done and it looks pretty good. It is also comfortable to wear. Here’s a photo with my shirt tucked in so you can see the waistband.

The pattern offers cuffed or hemmed options. I went with the simple hem.

The pants are very comfortable but don’t look sloppy. And the pockets are plenty big and I love them! I expect I will enjoy wearing these pants and will probably make more in other fabrics. I would like to try these in chambray and perhaps a lightweight stretch woven. It would also be fun to try a colorblocked version of these pants.

My Bernina 440 QE sewing machine has been giving me trouble for a while, and in the middle of this project I got so frustrated with it that I packed it up and got my old Viking 500 out from under the table, wound a bobbin, and used it to finish the project. There’s a reason I’ve kept it all these years. Now I just need to find someone in Pittsburgh who will fix my Bernina.

Next, I decided to make a purple Alva top to go with the pants (and lots of other things in my wardrobe). Recall that I bought 18 yards of cotton double gauze when it was on $3/yard clearance last summer. This top used up less than a yard of it! Before I started cutting I ironed a 3-yard piece of it, so now I need to find something else to make with the rest of the ironed piece.

After reading comments from other sewists on the small end of the size range that the Alva top runs large, I sized down to a P2 (normally I would make a P4 or P6 in Sinclair tops). I cut the A/B cup version with a small dart, but I’m not sure the dart is actually needed for those with small busts and it doesn’t hit me in quite the right place. I will try modifying the pattern to leave it out next time.

I sewed this top entirely on my regular sewing machine without using my serger (which was sad because I had to use my Viking, which is actually a fine machine, but doesn’t have some of the conveniences I have grown accustomed to). This pattern includes instructions for French seams. I’ve never sewn French seams before, but this seemed like an easy pattern to try them on. They are more work than serging the edges, but they do give a nice finish and weren’t that hard to do. I managed to do the collar binding more neatly than I did on my double gauze dress last month, largely because I followed the advice to hand baste the binding in place (that made it much easier).

I decided to use the deep hem option but wasn’t sure whether to go higher or lower. I cut the lower option. When I tried it on before hemming I decided I liked the lower option better so cut off the bottom two inches before hemming. I also debated plain sleeve openings or adding cuffs, and in the end added the cuffs for a more finished look.

Overall I’m happy with the Alva top, and it does go nicely with my Nori pants and the wide leg pants I made out of the same fabric. With this fabric, the Alva doesn’t drape all that well, and it tends to hang away from my body, especially in the back. This might be less of an issue with the longer hem length or a more drapy fabric.

Just Shorts

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Pattern Emporium Just Peachy stretch shorts, size AU10 with waistband adjusted to AU8, black Pylos LiKnit, length 3, mid rise, elastic waistband, back darts, stitched pockets (with pocket opening adjusted higher)

Sinclair Bondi 22 fitted t-shirt, aqua wide lush poly spandex, short sleeve, hip length, “screwp neck“

Summer is here and I reached for a pair of shorts to wear out of the house and couldn’t find any I liked. They were all either shorts I wear for playing soccer, shorts I wear for sleeping, shorts that don’t sit where I want them to at my waist, shorts that I find uncomfortable to sit in, or shorts with inadequate pockets. Clearly I need to sew myself some new shorts.

I used the Pattern Emporium Just Peachy stretch shorts pattern to sew up some black PyLos LiKnit shorts. I used this pattern once before to make grey cotton Lycra shorts that I mostly wear for PJs (the yoga waistband is super comfy but doesn’t stay put as well as I would like when I put my phone in my pocket. This time I used the mid rise with the elastic waistband option. I went with length 3, stitched pockets, and back darts. I adjusted the pocket opening to be higher (basically used the bottom of the high-waist pocket opening) — this makes it less likely for things to fall out of my pockets without the need to increase the length of the pocket bags. I stitched the pockets with a zigzag stitch. Next time I will try to cover stitch. I do love the way the look of the binding over the pocket opening edge.

I used the AU10 pattern with the AU8 waistband. I should probably have graded the waist of the leg pieces to match the waistband too — next time.

The rayon/nylon knit LiKnit fabric is very light and these are super lightweight shorts to wear and pack for travel. They look almost like linen shorts but are much softer and easy to care for. They also dry quickly when you get caught in a rainstorm (ask me how I know).

The shorts are modeled here with a short-sleeve 4p screwp neck Sinclair Bondi t-shirt in aqua wide lush poly spandex from Mily Mae Fabrics (which I made last year and may not have blogged). Normally I will wear the shirt untucked but leaving it tucked in here so you can see the shorts waistband and pocket details better.

Overall, I’m happy with these shorts and I have already worn them several times in the hot weather, including on a trip (they travel well!). They fit well but I personally would like them to sit a little higher at my waist, especially in front. Next time I make this pattern I would add a bit of rise, perhaps somewhere between the low-rise and high-rise line, and narrow the pocket bags so my phone will stay vertical.

Meet you there

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Pattern Emporium Meet You There dress, made of orange cotton double gauze fabric (washed and ironed before cutting), size AU10, knee length (with 2 long tiers, each shortened by 1 inch), mid neck, 1/2 sleeve, back ties, pockets (sewed down bottom of pocket openings)

I may have gone a little overboard when I bought several colors of “fluffy” cotton double gauze, 18 yards total, when it was on clearance at Mily Mae Fabrics for $3/yard last July. But it was really cheap and it is nice summer fabric and it will never go out of style, right?

I saw someone wearing an orange fluffy tiered dress during my travels last summer and it looked very cute and comfortable. I knew I had the orange fabric to make it and thought the PE Meet You There tiered dress pattern would be perfect. But I didn’t get around to actually making it until now.

I previously used some of the purple to make a pair of PE Vacation Vibes pants. PE patterns tend to run on the larger side, but these ended up being extra large on me and after I made them I had to cut off the waistband and resew it to remove some of the bulk. Part of the problem was that I didn’t press the fabric before I sewed it. There is a wide range of advice online about how to prepare double gauze for sewing. Everyone seems to agree that you should wash and shrink it, but some argue for pressing and others against. The anti-pressers argue that if you aren’t going to press the garment each time you wear it (and I definitely will not) then you shouldn’t press it before you cut and sew it. As I am definitely an avoid-ironing-at-all-costs sort of person, I decided to go with the no-press approach. But having tried this with the pants, I now see the folly in my ways. This fabric does, in fact, stretch and grow as you wear it, so pressing it before cutting gives you a more accurate size. I decided to go with a light pressing approach, both because I am too lazy to press three yards of fabric until it is perfectly smooth, and because, from what I read, that isn’t actually necessary and could also weaken the fabric. You can see in the photo below my unpressed fabric on the left and my lightly pressed fabric on the right.

The Meet You There dress has lots of options. I decided to cut a size AU 10 regular with the mid neckline, half sleeves, knee length, with pockets and waist ties. The knee-length dress can be achieved with two long tiers, and I shortened each by 1 inch to account for my short stature. That worked out fine, but I think next time I would achieve the same length by shortening the bodice by 1 inch and then shortening only one of the tiers, or perhaps even shortening the bodice by 2 inches and leaving the tiers as is. Because the gauze tends to unravel, I folded the hem under twice for a clean finish (which also shortened it a little bit). I thought the mid-neckline worked well for me. The low would have been too low on me. I think the high would have been fine, but I like the scoop neck styling provided by the mid neckline.

The instructions are great, with lots of nice tips. The instructions for the neck binding were very good, but double gauze is not a great fabric to work with when sewing narrow strips. I should have either been a lot more careful with it or used a tighter woven fabric for the binding (which is on the inside and you never see it so it doesn’t have to match). But I did the best I could, and with the help of my fabric glue stick I mostly got it folded under, but there are some edges sticking out on the inside.

The sneaky sleeve hem tip was fun, and did seem easier than the traditional method of threading elastic into sleeves. But the best tip was using clear elastic to gather the skirt tiers. I followed the instructions and used 1/4-inch light-weight clear elastic and ended up folding and marking it in eighths. I sewed it on using my regular sewing machine foot and a zigzag stitch. I followed the advice to sew everything on a sewing machine with a 3/8-inch seam allowance and then serge the edges to neaten.

I mostly followed the pocket instructions, but found that the pocket opening was too big and I thought my phone might fall out. So I sewed up the bottom two inches of the pocket opening.

I finished it last night and thought it looked pretty good, but wanted to see it in full fluffy crinkle. So I dunked it in the sink and tossed it in the dryer until it was only damp. Then I hung it up and went to bed. In the morning, it dry and beautifully crinkled, so I wore it to work. It held up well to the heat and humidity and was fairly comfortable. I like the way the crinkles give the skirt and sleeves some extra body. The half sleeves hit me just below the elbow. I think they would also be cute shortened by about 3 inches to hit above my elbow.

Now I just have to figure out what to do with my other 14 yards of double-gauze fabric.

Birthday shirt

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Sinclair Kai men’s t-shirt, size 38 with waist graded to 42, 1.5 inch shorter than regular length, 1.5 yards cotton Lycra

My husband loves to wear striped t-shirts shirts but finding good striped t-shirt fabric in anything other than alternating white/color stripes is difficult. I bought this yellow striped cotton Lycra fabric when I saw it about a year ago and finally got around to sewing it up last week. I used the Sinclair Kai men’s t-shirt pattern, which I used to make him a sage green short-sleeve striped shirt last summer and two long-sleeve shirts (plus the striped shirt I made him for our family photo shoot last December). He wore the sage shirt a few days ago and one of his friends was surprised to learn I made it and said it looked just like a shirt from the Gap. I used the size 38 short, graded from the waist up to a 42 width to give him a little more ease, and used the regular length hem shortened by 1.5 inches because he never tucks his shirt in.

I gave him his new yellow shirt as part of his birthday present. He seems to like it. It was also the right color for wearing to the Riveters game yesterday.

Swooning over ballooning

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Pattern Emporium Be Mine Balloon Sleeve top, size AU8, 1.5 yards woven rayon, mid neck, regular length, wide facing, no front seam or button loop, sloped shoulder adjustment

Ok, ignore the silly title, but do check out the lovely balloon sleeves I just made. I do adore them! As with many statement sleeves, they don’t play well with most sweaters (better break out the shawl for chilly days and over air-conditioned rooms), but who wants to hide fun sleeves anyway?

I’ve been wanting to make a Pattern Emporium Be Mine Balloon Sleeve top since it first came out a year-and-a-half ago, but didn’t get around to it until now. I even bought the fabric for it a year ago – a light-weight woven rayon floral from knitfabric.com (yes they sell wovens too). I don’t love that you’re not supposed to put it in the dryer (I did wash and dry it before cutting it so that if it does end up in the dryer sometime it has already been shrunk) and that it requires some ironing, but it was nice to work with and it made a lovely top. (Photographed here with my PE Urban Boldly mashup pants in orange LiKnit.)

I made the regular length with the wide facing option and the mid neckline (after much debate and staring at photos from other sewists). I omitted the front seam. I kept the back seam but omitted the button loop (thus the back seam is really not needed but it adds a little detail). I also did all the optional top stitching (there were too many colors in my fabric to pick one that would blend so I used white thread, which provides a little bit of contrast). After reading posts from a number of other women on the smaller end of the size range that they were sizing down because this over-sized top was a bit too big for them, I sized down from an AU10 to an AU8. I also added a 1/2-inch sloped shoulder adjustment, as that seems to usually make tops hang better for me. Otherwise, I sewed the pattern as written.

The top fits me very well in the size 8 (I’m glad I sized down). I’m short so I could potentially shorten the top a bit, but I think it works pretty well at this length. I often have to shorten sleeves, and these certainly come out longer on me than on many other people, but I actually like how the cuffs sit a bit lower on my arms. I’m also really happy with the mid neckline, which comes out as a scoop for me — the low neckline would have been very low on me.

As with all the PE patterns I’ve tried, the instructions for the Be Mine top are quite thorough and easy to follow. I’m not going to lie — the facings and sleeve binding are a lot of work. I used my serger and my sewing machine with three different feet! But if you take the time to do them right they come out beautifully. I didn’t do everything exactly right the first time: I started sewing a sleeve band on the wrong way and started sewing a hem facing upside down. But I recovered from these minor goofs and got back on track and I still got the whole top done in one Saturday afternoon/evening.

Now I need to figure out what fabric to try next (something with easier laundry requirements, maybe a polyester woven or a cotton double gauze). I would also love to try this as a jacket hack so I can wear these gorgeous sleeves in cooler weather.

Hot peppers for PEPR

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Sinclair Valley Knit Skater Dress with modified half-circle skirt from Flared skirts ADD-ON, size P6, pockets, upcycled from mystery polyester knit nightgown with low stretch

Back in 2018 Lea Kissner and I talked about the need for a new privacy conference over dinner. Lea noted that there wasn’t a conference where privacy engineering practitioners could meet and talk about the solutions they implement in practice. Most existing privacy conferences were targeted more at privacy researchers or privacy lawyers. Lea had worked as a privacy engineer in industry for many years and I had co-founded a privacy engineering masters program and also had experience starting and running conferences. So Lea convinced me that we should work together to start a new conference. In August 2019 we met in Santa Clara, CA for the first USENIX Conference on Privacy Engineering Practice and Respect.

PEPR 2019 went well and we had planned to continue PEPR as an annual event in the Bay Area, as that seemed to be where most of the privacy engineers are. COVID derailed this plan and PEPR 2020 was held entirely online. The USENIX Association (and every other organization that runs events) struggled through the pandemic and decided they could not afford to run PEPR 2021 online as well. So, the Future of Privacy Forum and Carnegie Mellon University CyLab stepped in to co-host an online PEPR 2021 event and I presented my talk “Illustrating Priavcy Engineering Concepts with Potty Talk” from my third-floor bathroom. USENIX ran PEPR 2022 as a hybrid event (I remotely presented a talk on the design of cookie consent interfaces from my kitchen) and then returned to fully in person in 2023 and has been running PEPR in person ever since, but unfortunately I was not able to attend in 2023 or 2024.

I decided that I needed a pepper dress to wear the next time I attended PEPR in person. Most of the pepper fabric I could find was quilting cotton. I could not find any knit pepper fabric that I liked. I thought about custom printing some pepper fabric, but never found a design I really liked. A week before PEPR 2025 I decided I really needed a pepper dress and scoured the internet for suitable fabric that I could get delivered to my home quickly. Again, I mostly found quilting cotton.

I noticed that pepper PJs in knit fabrics were readily available. So I decided to order a size XXL pepper nightgown and try to cut it up and turn it into a dress. Two days later, the nightgown arrived and I got to work figuring out what to do with it. The website claimed it was 95% polyester 5% spandex knit, but the garment tag said it was 100% cotton. It feels more like polyester to me and a drop of water beads on the top. It only has about 30% stretch so I’m not sure about its spandex content. The fabric features bright red peppers on a dark grey background with black outlines.

I decided to use the Sinclair (free) Valley Skater Dress pattern with a half-circle skirt from the add-on pack. I have made this pattern previously and it was pretty easy and I thought I could adapt it for this project. Because the mystery fabric did not have a lot of stretch and I know the bodice is very fitted, I decided to size up to a 6p rather than using the 4p size I had used previously. I extended the bodice by about an inch and a half as suggested when making the dress without a waistband. I cut the nightgown open at the side seams and projected the two bodice pieces onto it and cut them out, leaving the neckband and shoulder seams from the nightgown in tact.

Then I projected the sleeves onto the fabric from the nightgown sleeves and cut them out with the hem in tact so that I would not need to hem the sleeves. Finally, I had to figure out what to do about the skirt. The nightgown was not quite wide enough to cut out the pieces for the half-circle skirt. I decided to improvise and pivoted the sides of the skirt pieces in until the fit the fabric I had. I left the bottom hem in tact (and thus, not quite as rounded as the pattern called for) and I reduced the rounding on the waist and made sure it would fit the bottom of the bodice. I ended up with something closer to a one-third circle skirt than a half circle skirt.

I really wanted to add pockets to the dress but didn’t have enough nightgown fabric left for deep pockets. I decided to use scraps of cupro jersey from another recent dress project to make the pockets. This is a super lightweight and not very stretchy knit and it worked really well (although it would have been slightly better if it were dark grey to match to dress fabric) — now I want to use it for all my knit pockets. I followed the pattern for inseam pockets but extended the pocket bag a bit to make them slightly deeper. The pocket construction took as long as making the rest of the dress — reminding me of how much I hate assembling inseam pockets. The part I really struggle with is stitching the top and bottom of the pocket openings without catching any of the pocket bag on the outside of the pocket. After trying and failing on the first pocket I unpicked it and used my trusty glue stick to line up the pockets and then sewed them with my edge foot. It still took way too long!

After I assembled the pockets it was easy to attach the skirt to the waistband. Since everything was already hemmed, I added a label and I was done… until I looked at the back and noticed a lot of bunching at the waist.

I decided to add a simple swayback adjustment, and then I was really done.

And then it was time to accessorize! I ordered a bag of plastic pepper charms and added jump rings to turn them into pendants.

This morning we presented our UsersFirst framework at the PEPR conference. As you can see I was fully on theme with pepper dress, necklace and socks. And the pockets came in handy for the microphone pack.

Little black dress

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I decided I needed a little black dress — something versatile that could be dressed up or down. I wanted it to be a washable knit with pockets, fit well, and go with everything. I bought some beautiful lightweight, drapey but only a little bit stretchy black cupro jersey last year and had just enough for a short-sleeve Sinclair Alana dress. Cupro is 65% model and 35% poly. It is described as having 50% horizontal stretch and 25% vertical stretch, but in practice I think it has less stretch than that.

Alana is one of my favorite dress patterns because of its flattering princess seams and pockets that are both easy-to-construct and look great as part of the dress. As I have done with my other Alana dresses (this is my fifth one, but first with short sleeves), I graded the seams in at the waist to make it more fitted and extended the front and back facings to below my bra line. I made the short-sleeve, knee length version with with a regular neck in my usual size 4p, although given how little stretch the cupro has I could have sized up. I fused the hems with 5/8″ HeatnBond softstretch light hem tape and then cover stitched them.

The dress is very light weight and I expect it will travel well. I plan to throw it in my bag for all my trips this summer. I think it will look good with a sweater or blazer, dress shoes or sneakers.

Scrunchie Burrito

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I had a bit of leftover rainbow fabric from the skort and decided to make some matching scrunchies. I have never sewn scrunchies before, so I searched for instructions online. There are lots of instructions available and I found two that looked reasonable and gave them a try. The first one involved sewing the long end, threading in the elastic, and then layering the shorts together and sewing the loop closed with a sewing machine. This resulted in an ugly and not quite aligned seam, especially with the slippery stretch fabric I was using. The second technique called for hand sewing the end, which worked, but took more time.

I decided to look further and found a video and instructions for the burrito method, which allows you to make scrunchies with perfectly aligned seams and no hand stitching. This involves a bit of a geometry trick, as you need to make a donut and then turn it inside out. In the burrito method you cut your rectangle (I used a piece 4″ by 23″) and sew the short ends together to form a loop. You fold your loop in half, right sides together, folding in parallel to the seam. Then you fold the top layer in on itself and bring the bottom layer sides up around the folded in part and carefully stitch the long edge without catching the top layer. As you go you pull the top layer through until you have stitched almost all the way around the (inside-out) donut. You leave a small gap and then turn the whole thing rightside out. Then you thread the elastic in (I used 8 inches of .5″ elastic), sew it into a loop, and then close the hole in the seam. I did all the stitching on my serger except the final hole closing. I didn’t press or pin anything and it was super fast to make!

rainbow scrunchie