Sinclair Soho Relaxed Dolman top, 4p cut on the fold, cropped 6.5 inches above top length and banded, 3 inches shifted from bodice to sleeves, sleeves shortened and cuffed with Sinclair Crew pullover tall cuffs, wider v-neck band, Versailles brushed hacci color blocked with sienna, nutmeg, peat moss, and teddy bear.
I bought five colors of the Surge Fabrics Versailles brushed hacci sweater knit when it was on sale last year because I love it so much. It is 95%Poly/5%Spandex, soft and cozy on the inside, has a smooth sweater look on the outside, a nice drape, good stretch and resilience, and a great weight (200 gsm). It is comfy to wear and very easy to sew with. I’ve used it for a scoop-neck PE Sweet Cheeks sweater,v-neck PE Sweet Cheeks sweater for me, and another for a friend, and a Sinclair Joanne faux wrap dress. I’ve had the pile of Versailes sitting in my sewing room for a while and with all the colors stacked together I keep wanting to use them all at the same time to make a color blocked sweater. I’ve had a vision of this in my mind for several months, but hadn’t fully worked out the details until this week.
I thought about using the Sinclair Crew pullover pattern as I did for my family holiday sweater project, but the sweater in my vision was a dolman sleeve or drop shoulder design, not too oversized. After hacking the Sinclair Soho relaxed dolman sweater last week, I knew I could hack it into the color block sweater I imagined. For last week’s sweater I merged the sleeves and the bodice and added tall cuffs from the Crew pattern. This time I kept the sleeves but shifted three inches from the bodice to the sleeves so that the sleeves would begin above the elbow instead of below the elbow (which is how they sit in the first Soho sweater I made from a green rib sweater knit). I shortened the sleeves and added the Crew tall cuffs again. I also shortened the bodice by 6.5 inches before adding the band, same as I did last week.
I had five colors of the Versailles fabric and had to decide how to place them. I knew I wanted to use the teddy bear, sienna, and nutmeg together, but adding both the rosey mauve and peat moss seemed to be too much. I decided I would use one or the other, but not both. I think either would have been fine, but I eventually settled on the peat moss, rather than the much lighter mauve. My vision was to use a different color for the front and back and to have them meet a third color at the sleeve. I decided to do the two sleeves different colors and then make the cuffs from the opposite colors. I used the back color for the v-neck and the front color for the bottom band.
I switched out the Soho narrow v-neck band for the PE Sweet Cheeks wide three-piece v-neck band to make it work with my unruly rib knit last week. I didn’t think I would have the same problem with the Versailles, but I liked the idea of the wide band. So I decided to try to use the Soho band but just make it wider. It is supposed to be 1.8 inches wide and I cut it 2.8 inches wide. I followed the same instructions and first basted it in place just be sure. It worked perfectly and I ended up with my desired 1-inch wide v-neck band, which has a nice sharp 90-degree point and the heft I was looking for to balance the color blocks.
Everything was serged except for joining the short ends of the bands, sewing the point of the v-neck, and basting the neck band. As everything is banded, no need for hems and I decided not to topstitch anything. Thus, this sweater came together pretty quickly once I stopped obsessing over which colors to put where.
Earth tones are not my usual palette, and I don’t normally wear this much brown, but I really like this combo and it looks exactly like I imagined it would! I even had the perfect pair of shoes to match (these are the only brown shoes I own). I also really like the fit and drape of my cropped Soho, and it fits my shoulders without any adjustments. Note that in the photos here, I am wearing a long-sleeve t-shirt underneath because it is cold outside, so it clings just a bit to the undershirt, but you probably didn’t notice.
Love Notions Muse blouse, straight bodice, tiered sleeves, size small, shortened bodice and sleeves, from 2 yards or light sage Tess Cey.
In January, I applied to be a pattern tester for Muse, a new top pattern from Love Notions Sewing Patterns. I have sewn a few of their patterns, but never tested a pattern for them before. I wasn’t invited to be a part of the main testing group, but was invited to join the later “finals” testers group. This group gets the revised pattern after the first group has already tested it and is assigned a size and features and asked to sew up and photograph the near-final version of the pattern.
Unlike past pattern testing I’ve done that uses a Facebook group for communication, Love Notions uses the Basecamp project management system. There is a section for sharing documents, another for uploading final photos, a to-do list for changes that need to be made to the pattern or instructions, and discussion boards. One of the fun aspects of pattern testing is communicating with and getting feedback and advice from other sewists. It is also nice to see the issues I’ve found with a pattern taken into account as the pattern evolves into the final version.
When I joined the Basecamp group, I could see there had already been a lot of discussion about certain aspects of the pattern and these had been addressed in the revised pattern. I also saw advice about trimming seam allowances and setting in sleeves that was not yet in the pattern instructions but that I could apply immediately.
The new pattern is called “Muse” and it is a woven blouse pattern that can be made with regular short sleeves, balloon sleeves, or tiered sleeves. It can be sewn with a straight bodice or a skirted bodice, optionally with a balloon hem. It is cold and snowy in Pittsburgh, so I asked to sew the long-sleeve version. I’ve also not loved the look of most skirted woven tops on me, so I requested to sew the straight bodice. I was assigned to sew size small, according to my measurements.
This pattern was designed for someone who is 5’5″ (as are most women’s sewing patterns that don’t come in petite sizes). The instructions recommended shortening the bodice by .5 inch for every inch shorter than 5’5″ you are, so I shortened it by 1.5 inch. The instructions didn’t offer advice about shortening the sleeves, but I know from past experience that I usually need to shorten sleeves by about 2 inches on most patterns. I asked in the Basecamp group about how to do this on the tiered sleeve and was advised to remove 1 inch from each part, which seemed to work fine.
I used a light sage polyester woven “cey” fabric called Tess Cey from Mily Mae Fabrics. I bought it when it was on sale for $3.75/yard. (Apparently, CEY is an acronym for continuous environmental yarn and refers to a type of polyester fabric made with sustainable practices that tends to be soft, drapey, and wrinkle-resistant.) This fabric is a little slippery to work with. It is not a stretch fabric, but it does have a little bit of mechanical stretch. It doesn’t tend to wrinkle, but it does hold a crease when pressed with an iron. I used about 2 yards of fabric.
Some testers described this pattern as a “quick sew.” I did not find it quick (and others also disagreed with that description). I think I spent between 5 and 6 hours on it. The main reason it took so long was that the collar construction instructions were confusing and it is a multi-step process. Now that I know how to do it, it would go faster next time, but it will still be an involved process, with inner and outer interfaced layers, top stitching, and stitch-in-the-ditch or hand stitching to finish. Sewing the point of the V is tricky because once you sew past the point in the fabric you no longer can see your 3/8 inch guide on your sewing machine. I ended up marking the stitch lines around the point in pencil so I could see where to stitch. I didn’t cut the facing around the v-neck 100% symmetrically and this was evident when I initially top-stitched the V. I removed the stitching and did it again and it looked a lot better the second time. Next time I will double check the facing before I sew it on. I pinned the collar pieces together backwards and the pieces didn’t fit together right. But I realized my mistake and repinned before sewing. The final version of the pattern instructions are a bit clearer on the process. It still takes soe effort but it is a really nice finish. The final version also now has a ruffled neck option.
The height and sleeve adjustments worked well for me. The tiered sleeves were pretty easy to construct and look nice. The pattern called for 5.5 inches of elastic at the wrist of each sleeve. I used 7 inches instead for more comfort, and could probably have gone even bigger. The final version of the pattern has adjusted the elastic lengths based on tester feedback, but it’s always a good idea to wrap the elastic around your wrist and adjust as appropriate for you.
I often do broad and sloped shoulder adjustments on fitted tops. I didn’t do that on this one because it seemed like more of a loose fit, but in hindsight, I should have at least done a broad shoulder adjustment, as the fabric at the shoulders pulls slightly. Other testers mentioned the shoulders were tight so the final version of the pattern has about 3/8 inch more room in the shoulders. I’m not sure about a sloped shoulder adjustment as that would require adjusting the bust dart, which was already set slightly too low for me. I will at least adjust the point of the dart up a bit next time or possibly leave it out altogether.
My complaints above are all minor issues that, especially with a print fabric, most people will probably not notice on the finished garment, which I think looks great! I’m sure I will get a lot of wear out of it and enjoy wearing it once the warm weather returns someday.
I cut out the bodice and sewed together the center seams (in the past I cut on the fold and omitted them) and then attached the ribbed V-neck. The center seam didn’t lie that flat with the bulky fabric, and when I top-stitched it down it was a little lumpy. The thin v-neck did not work well with the Banff rib and stretched out quite a bit. All of this would have worked fine with a different fabric, but it was not great with the fabric I was using. I thought about ways to save it, and I could have made it work, but I didn’t think I would be completely happy with it. I finally decided that since I had enough fabric left, I would make some modifications and try again. V1 goes into the scrap bin and will get turned into something else later.
The second time around I cut the front and back bodice each as one piece without the center seam. The sleeves are extended 7.5 inches and the bodice shortened by 6.5 inches from the top length. Instead of the v-neck that comes with Soho, I used the v-neck from the Pattern Emporium Sweet Cheeks sweater size AU6, which I had used before with the Banff. Since there are only two pieces, the bodice was very quick to assemble. The v-neck takes some time to get right. The bottom band and cuffs (the tall cuffs from the Sinclair Crew pullover pattern) went on pretty easily. I used my sewing machine for some v-neck basting, to sew the three pieces of the neck band together, and to join the ends of the cuffs and bottom band. Everything else was serged. The double-knit is the same on both sides, but the rib-knit is brushed on one side. I made the kelp sweater with the brushed side out, this time I turned it the other way for more define ribs.
So, in the end, this was a mashup of three different patterns plus hacking the sleeves. I’m quite happy with the result. I like the roomy, but not oversized fit of the bodice, which provides more shaping. It is a bit of an unusual sweater sleeve with seams on both the top and the bottom. It would also be cute to add a stripe to the top or to use different colors for the front and back.
Rivet Patterns Senna Raglan Dress in size 6, high scoop neck, 1 inch above knee length half-circle skirt, sleeves shortened 1 inch, graded in at waist, from 2 yards brushed back polyester/spandex sweater knit.
I had never tried a pattern from Rivet Patterns before, but when they recently came out with an upgraded raglan dress pattern, I decided to give it a try. The Senna Raglan Dress is a standard skater dress, but with raglan sleeves (sleeves that have a diagonal line to the collar rather than set into the shoulders). This version comes with a choice of a gathered or half-circle skirt, three necklines, and optional inseam pockets. Some of the testers made cozy sweater knit versions that inspired me to make a Senna sweater dress to wear during our current frigid weather.
I tend to stock up on sweater knit when it is on sale, but I only want to sew it during sweater season. I found a lovely brushed back polyester/spandex sweater knit last Fall that was knit from blue, white, and charcoal variegated yarn. The front is smooth, and the back is very soft and fuzzy. It is 250 gsm with 50% horizontal and 25% veritcal stretch. The brushed back makes the fabric fairly thick and very cozy. I bought two yards, with plans to make a sweater, but I figured out how to tetris the Senna dress pattern to fit in 2 yards (the pattern suggests that at least 2.5 are required for the version I wanted to make).
I was between size 4 and 6 on the pattern size chart. Because the fabric is so thick, I decided to cut a size 6, but in hindsight a 4 would have fit better. I shortened the sleeves by 1 inch and cut the half-circle skirt 1 inch below the above-the-knee length, which I’ve found on me usually results in a skirt right at the knee — my favorite length. I cut the high scoop neck.
This pattern was pretty fast and easy to sew together, and the sweater knit was easy to sew on my serger, despite the thickness. I sewed the whole thing with black thread, which is what I already had on my serger and sewing machine. I thought about switching to blue, but the black actually blended better than anything else. There isn’t actually much stictching that you can see on the outside other than the sleeve hems, bottom hem, and top stitching at the waist. The pattern instructions are fairly terse, but pretty clear. This is a knit pattern with a 3/8-inch seam allowance, which is not my favorite, though, as it requires trimming 1/8-inch off your seams as you sew.
I did run into a problem with the neck band though. My sweater knit has some spandex in it and is appropriately stretchy, but it does not have great recovery, especially around the edges. It started stretching out around the neck as I was sewing it, and the neckband stretched a lot as I was folding it in half and pressing it. I realized I should have stabilized the neckline with stay stitching before I sewed the bodice together and that I needed to do something different with the neck band. The obvious thing to do was to make the neckband out of some other fabric with better recovery. I thought about looking through my stash for something in navy that might work, but I really wanted a band that matched the sweater knit fabric in the rest of the dress. I once had a similar problem with another sweater dress, but I didn’t fully realize it until after I sewed the neck band on and saw that the whole neck was too stretched out to be wearable. I saved it by threading some elastic through the neckband, but it never did lie perfectly flat. I thought maybe I could improve on that solution this time by sewing elastic to the neck band before I sewed it together. While I was looking for suitable elastic I found my 1-inch ultra-light fusible knit stay tape and thought that might do the trick. So I cut out a new neck band (1.75″ wide and 24″ long) and fused two 24″ strips of stay tape to the back. Then I joined the ends and folded it in half lengthwise and pressed. I could see it was now a much less stretchy band, but it had a little bit of give — hopefully enough to fit the slightly stretched out bodice. I used the quarter method, as advised by the pattern instructions, and pinned the neck band to the bodice neck. I could see I was going to have to stretch the neckband more than it really wanted to stretch, but I decided to try it anyway. I basted it with a zigzag stitch on my sewing machine, stretching as I went. Amazingly, it worked. After checking to see that it looked ok, I sewed the neckband on with my serger, trimming only about 1/16″ as I sewed. Then I pressed well, and voila, a well-fitting neckband that was not stretched out. This sweater knit definitely did not want to be a neck band, but where there’s a will there’s a way!
I’m a diehard pocket fan, but I have to admit that sewing a good set of pockets takes time and makes the project take a lot longer than it would without the pockets. I was intrigued by the pocket construction on this dress, which was a little bit different than what I’m used to. I actually hoped for a miracle and to discover that this was the secret way to make pocket construction less painful, but alas, it was not. The difference here was only sewing the pocket opening to the dress at first, and sewing the part of the pocket bag above and below the opening later when sewing the front to the back. I still had difficulty sewing at exactly the right place when I sewed front to back, and I still had to unpick a bit, but it all worked out fine in the end. The pocket bags are large, as I like them.
The pattern suggests adding 1/4-inch elastic at the waist for stability. I decided to do that, but used clear elastic threaded through the slot on my serger foot for easy attachment. I took their advice and folded the seam with the elastic up towards the bodice and topstitched it in place to encase the elastic.
I finished the dress right before bedtime, tried it on, gave it a twirl, and it was…. just ok. It was fine, but didn’t look as great as I had expected it would. The waist wasn’t sitting smoothly. I thought, maybe I should make a belt for it. I went to bed, and the following evening tried it on again. This time I figured out the problem: too much ease at the waist. Actually, too much ease everywhere, but a problem mostly at the waist. I probably should have cut a 4 instead of a 6. I went back to my sewing room and basted a seam from the top of the pocket opening to the waistline and then up about 3 inches above the waistline, taking it in about 1 inch at the waistline. I did this on both sides and tried it on. What a difference it made! I cut the fabric about a quarter inch from the basting line and then surged it. The dress looks so much better now. The waist is smooth and it hugs my curves a lot more.
The next morning when I dragged my photographer out to snap some quick fashion photos in our snowy driveway before work, I styled the dress with my new tall, warm snow boots and some fleece-lined leggings. Then I put on my coat and walked to work. The dress was cute, cozy and comfortable all day.
Greenstyle Bianca Pullover in size E, hip length shortened by 1 inch, sleeves shortened by 1 inch, kangaroo pocket, 1.5 yard spruce Polartec stretch sweatshirt fleece.
I wanted to make a fleece loungewear set similar to what I’ve been seeing from retailers lately. I started with the fleece wide-leg pants, and then debated about what top to make. I knew I wanted a sweatshirt-style top, but I wanted it to be a bit oversized, but not too long, and I wanted it to have a kangaroo pocket. I liked the fit of the Greenstyle Surge top I just made, although I didn’t want it to be quite that oversized and I wanted a different neck. So I took a look at the other Greenstyle top patterns and decided to try the Bianca Pullover. There’s a nice blog post with lots of Biancas on the Greenstyle website.
The Bianca pattern uses a different odd size scheme than Surge. This time my measurements suggested I was somewhere between D and E. Given the bulky nature of my fabric and the fact that the kangaroo pocket looked too small in the D size, I went with E. The only changes I made were shortening both the sleeves and the bodice by 1 inch.
Bianca was pretty easy and quick to sew, but the instructions were rather minimal. For an experienced sewist, this was fine, but the pattern might be more intimidating than it needs to be for beginners because it doesn’t explain what type of stitch to use where, when you should top stitch, etc. I decided to use a shallow zigzag (1.8 length, 1.1 width) for all my top stitching since this is a pretty stretchy fabric and I don’t want my seams to pop. The pattern specifies a 3/8-inch seam allowance, so I trimmed 1/8-inch as I serged most of the seams. This works, but I prefer knit patterns with 1/4-inch seam allowances so trimming isn’t necessary. I ended up sewing the neckband on with 1/4-inch seam allowance and not trimming because I didn’t want to make the neck band any narrower than it was already.
I’m very pleased with how the top came out, and I love how the complete lounge set works together. It is super comfy and cozy, and I even went outside in the snow for a photo shoot (we got over a foot of snow the day before). I will probably make more Biancas. It’s a great drop shoulder top that looks and feels roomy, but not enormous. For less bulky fabric I might go down to size D (but might keep the size E kangaroo pocket). It has options for a hood, side pockets, and for sewing with and without bands. Most commercial sweatshirts with kangaroo pockets also have hoods and I love the fact that when I sew my own clothes I can make it the way I want it with a kangaroo pocket and no hood.
Here’s a photo of a fleece lounge set from a retailer and some more photos of my lounge set.
Pattern Emporium Urban wideleg pantssize AU 10, low rise, graded in at waist, modified contour waistband with sewn-in elastic, shortened by 1.5 inches, jeans pockets top-stitched down, 1.5 yard spruce Polartec stretch sweatshirt fleece
Two years ago, I bought some purple Polartec stretch sweatshirt fleece from Surge Fabrics and liked it so much that I subsequently bought three yards each of charcoal, denim blue, and avocado Polartec sweatshirt fleece when Califabrics got some designer deadstock in. The fabric is very soft and cozy on the inside, with a smooth finish on the outside that resists pilling and abrasion. The fabric has a lot of stretch, which adds to the comfort and makes it suitable for a lot of knit patterns. When the fabric arrived, I was disappointed that the denim blue was more green than blue and the avocado was the shade of green that avocados eventually turn when they’re a bit past their prime, or, more charitably, the color of green olives. I made a Pattern Emporium Sweet Cheeks sweatshirt from the purple fleece and a pair of PE Urban Tapered Pants from the charcoal fleece. I love them both: they are cozy, warm, and comfortable. Later, I made a pocket hood scarf from most of the rest of the purple fleece (with the fluffy side on the outside). I had planned to make some coordinating loungewear out of the denim blue and rotten avocado, but every time I looked at these fabrics, I was disappointed that they weren’t the colors I was expecting. But alas, it is cold outside this week (actually for the rest of the month), and I really want some cozy loungewear, so I decided that I would just accept that the denim blue was actually dark teal or maybe spruce, and go ahead and make a lounge set. I auditioned several threads to coordinate with the spruce, and found my blue threads were all terrible matches, so I settled on a green thread. So spruce it is!
Once I accepted that I had 3 yards of spruce fleece to work with, I decided that it is actually a lovely color and I was excited to figure out which patterns to use to make my lounge set. I started with the pants and in my next post I’ll write about the top.
I chose the Pattern Emporium Urban wideleg pants pattern, which I have made many times before, in purple, black, grey, and magenta ponte. These are easy to sew and I love the back darts. I’ve tweaked the pattern in a bunch of different ways, but have settled on the size AU 10 with a low waist (which is more of a high-waist on me) with the waist graded in and the waistband adjusted to be a contoured waistband with 3/8-inch elastic sewn in. I also like to extend the crotch seam a tad (but forgot to do it this time). I use the jeans-style pockets but raise the pocket openings and cut them straight instead of curved. I also cut them 1.5 inches shorter than the pattern and this time I gave them a 1.75-inch hem.
The Urban pants pattern actually works great with this fluffy stretch fleece fabric. The only bit that didn’t work so well was the pockets. The jeans pockets are folded to form a pocket bag, so you end up with three layers (two pocket layers and a pants layer). That was too bulky with this fluffy fabric. I should have used one of the pocket styles in which you sew one layer of pocket either inside or outside the pants leg. Rather than take them apart, I top-stitched the pockets down after assembling the pants, using two rows of very narrow zigzags a quarter-inch apart (1.8 length, 1.1 width on my Bernina). It would have been much easier to do this with only 2 layers instead of 3 and to sew it down before assembling the pants, but it worked out ok and I think it looks just like the pockets I’ve seen on pants being sold at retailers. My Triumph in cover stitch mode could also have done the topstitching and = would probably have been an even cleaner look, but it would have been difficult to do after the pants were assembled and would have required rethreading and converting the Triumph to cover stitch mode.
I’m very happy with how these pants came out, the color is great, and they are super cozy and warm! Now, on to the top….
Greenstyle Surge Sweatshirt, size C2 regular length, sleeves shortened by 2 inches, in 1 yard black Polartec Windpro ribbed fleece.
When Kayla Tarey hacked the Greenstyle Sav’s sweatshirt pattern into an oversized sweatshirt suitable for a heavy, low-stretch knit, I wanted to try it too. Kayla used Surge Fabric’s Polartec Wind Pro ribbed sweater fleece, which is 100% Polyester, 380gsm, with 25% horizontal and 0 vertical stretch. It has a 2×2 rib knit on the front side and soft sherpa fleece on the back. This seemed perfect for a cold-weather sweater. The folks at Greenstyle turned Kayla’s hack into the Surge Sweatshirt pattern, making it much easier for everyone to copy this style. The pattern works for a variety of knit fabrics, but because it doesn’t have a neck band and the bottom band and cuffs don’t require a lot of stretch, it works fine for heavy 2-way stretch fabric that doesn’t have a lot of stretch. I had 2 yards of black Wind Pro and decided to try it out.
I projected the pattern and cut it out. Kayla had suggested checking the projector calibrations on the fabric because it is so thick. I measured some of the projected pattern pieces with both one layer of fabric and two and noticed only minimal differences between the size of the projection on the fabric and on the cutting mat without any fabric. I also found the fabric cuts quite easily with a rotary cutter.
GreenStyle has unusual sizing, and the size chart for this pattern said I was mostly a size C2, but a B1 at the bust. This was my first Greenstyle pattern so I wasn’t entirely sure what to do, but as this is supposed to be an oversized pattern and the fabric is hefty, I decided to go with the bigger size. I debated grading parts of it down or shortening it, but ultimately decided to only shorten the sleeves with my usual 2-inch adjustment. Amazingly, I was able to cut the whole thing from just 1 yard of fabric! I think this is because the drop sleeves are actually pretty short since part of their length comes from the width of the bodice. Now I unexpectedly have an extra yard of this fabric to make a sweater for someone else.
Most of the sweatshirt came together pretty quickly. The pattern has a 3/8-inch seam allowance so I trimmed 1/8-inch off with my serger as I sewed. My Triumph serger was able to sew and trim the heavy fabric without a problem. I used my sewing machine to join the seams on the bands and cuffs. I basted the bottom band and the cuffs to the shirt with a long zigzag stitch after stretching them (just a little bit) and pinning in place. I was able to easily serge the bottom band through three layers of fabric, but the cuffs were too bulky to get under my serger foot. Perhaps I could have made it work if I switched to a smaller foot (I have all the feet so there was probably something that would have worked), but I decided to just sew them with a zigzag on my sewing machine. The neck band construction looks complicated but is actually pretty easy, and is sewn on a sewing machine and finally attached with a serger. It has a cute little notch on one side that nobody will ever see because my hair hides it, but maybe if I wear a ponytail, it will show.
The finished shirt is definitely oversized, but not too oversized. It is very warm and comfortable. I find a lot of turtlenecks and cowls uncomfortable, but this neck band stands far enough away from my neck that it doesn’t bother me. I almost didn’t make this shirt because I didn’t want a high neck. I debated trying a V-neck, a quarter zip, or a scoop neck with facing, but eventually decided to just make the pattern as written, and I’m glad I did.
If I were making this out of a lighter-weight fabric I might go down a size or two, and I might also try this a few inches shorter, or use the pattern for the cropped version and make it a few inches longer. The pattern also has optional pintuck accents that I did not use. I think it looks better without them. Or maybe I would try the Greenstyle Bianca pullover pattern, which is less oversized, has a similar shape, but comes with neck and pocket options. It’s going to be cold here for a while and I have more cozy fabric in my stash, so let’s see!
I made this shirt yesterday and wore it to work today. I walked to work in single-digits and with a coat on top it did the job!
Joanne faux wrap knit dress with long sleeves, size P4, knee length, pockets modified so as not to attach to waist, made from 2 yards Sienna Versailles brushed hacci.
I saw an ad for a Merino wool wrap sweater dress in “terracotta” and was inspired to make my own, except in a faux wrap style (easier to deal with) and in a faux wool (easier to wash). And while I was at it, knee length (rather than midi length) and full length sleeves (rather than 3/4). I used two yards of Sienna Versailles brushed hacci, which I’ve used before for a Sweet Cheeks sweater. It is 5%Poly/5%Spandex, 200gsm, with 50% horizontal and vertical stretch. It is super cozy because it is brushed on the inside, which gives it a polished finish while being very comfortable to wear.
I selected the Sinclair Joanne faux wrap knit dress, size p4 knee length, which I’ve made before in ITY with flounce sleeves and as a “double faux” with a faux wrap skirt. There are other faux wrap knit dresses from other pattern companies, and maybe someday I will try one of those, but it is a very well-constructed and easy-to-follow pattern that fits me perfectly with no alterations, so why change?
I made this one exactly according to the pattern, except I modified the pockets 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. I made the long sleeve version for the first time — the sleeve length is perfect. It is a fairly tight-fitting sleeve, so for a lower stretch fabric, I might cut it a little wider. I hemmed the sleeves with two rows of shallow zigzag. I skipped the hem tape and then regretted it. So I used my favorite knit hem tape before I zigzagged the bottom hem.
I made a simple narrow belt by cutting a 3″ strip across the width of my fabric, folding it horizontally, surging, turning it right side out, and sewing down the open end.
I wasn’t sure how this pattern would work in a sweater knit, and was especially worried that I would have to add a waistband to support the pockets. But it worked fine as is — I didn’t even have to add elastic to the waist. I used 1” fusible knit stay tape to reinforce the side seams around the pockets. Anyway, Joanne makes a great sweater dress!
I used to love wearing denim jackets, which seem to go with just about everything, but I’ve found their collars increasingly uncomfortable. So the thought of a collarless denim jacket in a bit dressier blazer style was appealing. Unfortunately, I seem to have already given away most of the discarded jeans in my household and those that I could find were either full of holes and paint spots or ridiculously skinny and thus had very little fabric to work with.
Last fall, when I was visiting my daughters in Boston, we went to a thrift shop and I asked them to help me find three pairs of inexpensive jeans I could cut up. I looked for jeans that were less than $10 a pair, medium-weight, slightly stretchy denim, in large sizes. I collected a pile of jeans that met these criteria and sorted them from lightest to darkest. Then I selected three pairs with distinctly different shades of blue that went well together. They were $6 each and with the $6 coupon I picked up on my way into the store, I paid a total of $12 for all three pairs.
I didn’t get around to working on the jacket project until New Year’s Day. First, I spent a lot of time debating the color placement and where to place each pattern piece. I decided to go with a symmetrical color arrangement and place the pieces from the darkest in the center to the lightest on the sleeves.
I previously spent a lot of time working out adjustments to the size 4 hip length version of the jacket pattern to fit me better. These worked great on my grey and magenta ponte jackets so I used the same pattern file I had already prepared with all of these adjustments: small-bust adjustment (performed by redrawing the inner curve on the side-front pieces to have less of a contour and then shortening the center front pieces to match the length of the new curve), sloped-shoulder adjustment (3/4 inch), round-back adjustments (two 5/8-inch adjustments near top and bottom of arscye), back neckline lowered by about 3/4 inch, bottom hem and sleeves shortened by 2 inches. The only thing I did differently was using the jeans pockets rather than the pattern pocket pieces and using the normal pattern facings rather than the wider facings I used previously. There’s always a risk that a pattern fitted with one type of fabric won’t fit right when cut from a very different type of fabric. Thankfully, my denim version seems to fit pretty much the same way as the ponte.
I carefully cut out all the pieces, making sure to pair pieces from the left and right legs of each pair, cut at approximately the same height on the leg. I accidentally cut one of the front side pieces too short and wasn’t going to be able to cut a piece of a similar color at the full size so I just cut the missing part and spliced them together. I knew most of this seam would be under a pocket and hardly noticeable.
Rather than using the pocket design included in the pattern, I decided to use the rear pockets from one pair of jeans. I carefully unpicked them and removed all the top stitching. Unpicking pockets from jeans is mostly easy as they are attached with a chain stitch that easily unravels – except for the corners, which are thoroughly attached with a bartack and require some effort and a bit of elbow grease to remove. I ended up using most of the legs of all three pairs of jeans. There is still a little bit of leg fabric and seat fabric that might be used for other projects that can use smaller pieces.
I also spent some time studying the stitching on different brands of jeans and denim jackets to see what color top stitching thread is used and where the top stitching is placed. I also read some blog posts on jeans anatomy. Some jeans match the top stitching to the denim color, others use a light yellow gold, and still others a more orangy gold. I’m sure there are other variations too. I observed that most jeans top stitching is done in two parallel lines, and generally as a chain stitch. Of course, it can’t be done everywhere because once you close both sides of a pant leg or sleeve, it is no longer possible to topstitch. Thus, one side is topstitched while the leg or sleeve is still open and the other side doesn’t get topstitched. I noticed that jackets don’t usually have topstitching on the side seams, but there is no practical reason not to do it so I decided to do it anyway.
I threaded my sewing machine with 30 weight polyester topstitching thread in a golden orange color that I thought would nicely “pop” against the blue denim. After some tests on denim scraps, I decided I would use the topstitching thread for piecing as well so as to avoid lots of thread changes. I set a slightly longer-than-normal stitch length of 3. I did not opt for chain stitching as that would have required lots of resets on my serger. I found I could achieve the parallel topstitching lines by stitching very close to the seam with my edge foot with the needle shifted 3 clicks, and then a quarter inch over using my quarter-inch quilting guide foot. I threaded the serger with four spools of regular polyester overlocking thread in a similar color as the topstitching thread.
The pieces of the jacket were easy to sew together and the topstitching looked awesome. It took a while as I stitched most seams four times: first I joined the fabric with a 3/8-inch seam allowance on my sewing machine, then I cleaned up and overlocked the edges (without trimming fabric, just stray threads) on my serger, then pressed the seam with steam, then I sewed the two parallel lines of topstitching. It was a lot of work, but also somewhat meditative to sew.
The facing pieces were more problematic. I debated whether the fusible interfacing was needed and also whether I should make the facing out of denim or a lighter fabric. I eventually opted for denim with the fusible interfacing, as recommended in the pattern instructions. I cut the facings as the pattern specified and did not make them wider as I had with the last two jackets. I had previously had trouble using non-stretch interfacing with stretchy ponte knit fabric. This time I didn’t think that would be a problem since I was using woven fabric. However, the denim I used has a bit of stretch. I don’t fully understand how it happened, but after fusing the interfacing onto the facings and sewing the three facing pieces together, the facings ended up slightly longer than the jacket front pieces they were supposed to attach to. I decided to sew them on anyway and figured I could trim the bottoms. But I noticed as I was sewing with the interfacing side on the bottom, the jacket was stretching to match the size of the facings. But I could see if I was not careful it would stretch too much. With some careful flipping and a bit of unpicking I was eventually able to get the jack front and facings to match each other. This was a complete trial and error approach and not the ideal way to do it. There are some very thick layers where the interfaced pieces join. I’m still not sure what approach would have been better, but probably not what I did. Nonetheless, it all came together, I was able to iron it all flat, and it looks fine. I top stitched across the shoulder seam, which helped hold the facing in place. The pockets also ended up holding the facing down and so far I haven’t had the problem I had with the ponte jackets where the facing doesn’t lie flat and requires gluing.
I followed the pattern steps a bit out of order and sewed the whole jacket together before I started working on the sleeves. The order really doesn’t matter and I just wanted to be able to try it on without the sleeves and see how it was coming together. The sleeves went together easily. I topstitched the outer sleeve edge. I was also able to easily set the sleeve heads into the armscye without any need for ease stitches. I sewed a 3/8-inch seam on my sewing machine and then overlocked the edges of the armscye. I then topstitched all the way around the armscye. I hemmed the sleeves by folding under 1/4 inch and then again at 3/4 inch and top stitched.
The final step was adding the pockets. First I topstitched the top edge of the pocket where they had been previously topstitched (but I had removed all the thread). I tried on the jacket and pinned the pockets where I wanted them. Then I took off the jacket and measured carefully and repositioned slightly so they would be symmetrical. I followed the dark line from where the previous top stitching had been and top stitched a pair of parallel lines around the pocket edges. Then I pressed everything again and I was done!
The topstitching thread is heavy, and a bobbin doesn’t hold a lot of it. I had to reload my bobbin twice. I also used a lot of steam when pressing my seams. I lost track of how many times I had to refill my iron. I managed to get through the whole project without breaking a needle, which was good because I was using my last topstitching needle.
I’m really happy with how this came out and I know I will wear this jacket a lot! I’m modeling it here with my Boo & Lu Blizzard dress, but it also looks great with pants, and even jeans.
Pattern Emporium Walk Boldly pants with high rise and modified yoga waistband from PE Urban pants and jeans pockets with a straight diagonal opening from 2 yards black ponte designer deadstock, AU10.
My daughter loves her Pattern Emporium black Urban/Walk Boldly mashup pants! She asked for another pair and I delivered. These are pretty much the same as the ones I made for her in the past, except this time I used a super smooth designer deadstock ponte fabric (all ponte fabric is not created equally). I also accidentally cut the regular wide leg line rather than the extra wide walk boldly line on my pattern. I didn’t have enough of the deadstock ponte to recut it, and I didn’t want to make one leg out of the bit of regular black ponte I had leftover from the last ponte pants I made her. So I spliced on the extra boldness. It’s kind of like a tuxedo stripe. It looks fine and she doesn’t care. But she does wish I wouldn’t insist on taking her picture every time I sew her a new pair of pants.
My daughter who now won’t wear any pants I didn’t sew for her, bought herself a cheap woven-polyester, black, tiered maxi skirt on Amazon. It didn’t take long before she inquired whether I could make something like it for her, but not so cheap looking. I asked her to measure the length and circumference of the cheap skirt and take a look at the black fabrics in my stash. She thought the black cotton double gauze would work, which is great because I still have a lot of double gauze I purchased when it was on clearance two years ago.
I have previously made tiered skirts from quilting cotton by sewing together gathered rectangles of fabric. I thought I might actually use a pattern this time. I looked at tiered skirt patterns from my favorite pattern companies and purchased one that I decided not to use because it was based on curved rather than straight skirt pieces. I went back to my rectangle approach and used the pockets and gathering instructions from the Pattern Emporium Meet You There dress. I used this dress last year to make a dress from orange cotton double gauze, and really liked the instructions for gathering the tiers using clear elastic.
Gathering a large length of fabric using the traditional method of sewing long basting stitches, pulling the threads, and trying to distribute the gathers evenly is time consuming. With the elastic method, you cut your elastic just a bit bigger than the tier you want to attach your gathers to, and mark quarters and eighths. Then you mark the quarters and eighths on your big piece of fabric. As you sew you stretch the elastic and match the marks on the elastic with the marks on the fabric. When you let go of the elastic, it contracts and the fabric is perfectly gathered. Buy the pattern for a better explanation of this. I like to have marks every few inches, within what fits on the extended bed of my sewing machine. So for the largest tier I ended up splitting the quarters into thirds, and thus I marked twelfths rather than eighths.
I decide don the size of each rectangle based on the desired length and circumference. I made the bottom tier an inch longer to support a 1-inch hem and I made the top tier an inch longer so I could fold it under 1 inch and insert elastic. Here were the dimensions I used for two rectangles for each tier (6 rectangles total):
top tier: 14×22 middle tier: 13×35 bottom tier: 14×56
Each tier is roughly 1.6 times larger than the one above it. You don’t want a ratio much bigger than that or you will end up with an enormous bottom tier. I could have started with a wider top tier and reduced the ratio, resulting in more gathers at the waist, wider hips, and less gathering below — and still achieved the same bottom circumference.
I gathered and sewed the front and back separately, added the pockets, and then sewed the front to the back. Then I folded under the waistband and threaded in elastic. And finally, I hemmed the bottom.
In December, while travelling, I ventured into a mall for the first time in a long time, probably since last December. I don’t live near a mall that is all that convenient, and I think I’m just about over malls. I spent a lot of time wandering around malls in high school, and mall walking when I lived in New Jersey. Now I shop online or in neighborhood stores and make a large fraction of my clothes anyway. But the reason I mention all this is I found myself in a clothing store in a mall with one of my young-adult daughters as she was debating what size to buy in a plain white t-shirt when neither size she was considering fit her quite the way she wanted. I looked at the cotton Lycra t-shirt and sighed. “I could make you one of these that would fit you exactly the way you want,” I told her. So she left the store without the t-shirts.
A week later, I showed her what cotton-lycra fabric I had in my stash. Sadly, I had no white, and not enough black for a shirt. But I had just enough sage green (left over from a cropped t-shirt for my other daughter) that I thought I could eke out a shirt for her. I discussed her shirt preferences and adjusted my Sinclair Bondi classic fitted t-shirt pattern for her. I cut a size 4 regular crew neck one-inch-above-hip length and graded it in from the bottom of the armscye to the hem for an even more fitted fit. After trying it on she asked for further grading. The end result fits her really well. Next time (after I order some black and white CL fabric) I will do a broad shoulder adjustment and then the shoulders will fit even better. She also asked for the crew neck opening to be raised half an inch, which is just her personal preference.
My daughter suggested I try a different fabric for her lightweight flowy pants and selected a 190gsm black athletic brushed poly jersey from Surge. The fabric is pretty stretchy, with 75% stretch in both directions. I was about to cut the Walk Boldly-Urban mashup again when she asked if I could make them with even wider legs. So I downloaded the Pattern Emporium Palazzo Pants pattern for stretch knits and decided to give it a try in the subtle flare version with the high waist and yoga waistband. She wears a size AU10, which the pattern says takes about 2.5 yards of fabric. Unfortunately, I had only two yards on hand, but since the stretch is the same in both orientations, I was able to rotate the pattern 90 degrees and lay out all the pieces on 2 yards of 58″-width fabric.
The Palazzo Pants pattern has many of the elements I’ve come to expect in other PE pants patterns. I love the fact that this pattern has so many options: both the yoga and elastic waistbands, high and low waist, multiple types of pockets, and two levels of flare. I typically mix and match elements from the Urban Pants collection and the Walk Boldly pants. It’s nice having everything here in one pattern. This pattern is similar to the Urban Pants/Walk Boldly combo, but with a lot more flare in the legs and no back darts.
I sewed the pattern as written with only one change: I stitched a row of 1/2-inch elastic inside the yoga waistband before I folded it in half. I find that if you put stuff in your pockets, the yoga waistband tends not to stay up on its own and needs the elastic for reinforcement. I could just use the elastic waistband, but I like how the elastic is stitched down and doesn’t twist and the band itself is less bulky. But both styles are nice. I cut the regular length of the pants and gave them a generous 2-inch hem to keep the stretchy fabric from dragging on the ground and getting stepped on (a 1-inch hem would have looked fine based on her height and the shoes she usually wears). I overlocked the bottom edge, folded it under, and sewed the hem with a shallow zigzag.
My daughter and I are both pretty happy with how the pants turned out. I’m sure I will be making these again. The subtle flare is quite flared enough. I usually raise the pocket openings of PE pants and I forgot to do that on these — I would probably do that in the future and might also add interfacing to the top edge of the pocket opening to keep it from drooping. (Pants modelled here with the color-blocked Sinclair Crew sweater I made her in a cropped version.)
Bonus picture below on New Year’s Eve. My palazzo-pants-wearing daughter is also wearing an Ellie and Mac Lakeisha top I made her two years ago.
Sinclair Bondi classic fitted t-shirt 6p, screwp neck, broad and sloped shoulder adjustments, bishop sleeves with long cuff, 1.5 yards 160 gsm 2-way stretch dark grey polyester crushed velour.
I bought a yard and a half of dark grey polyester crushed velour last winter and thought it might make a nice dressy top. It’s a medium-weight 160 gsm all polyester with no spandex. I didn’t notice until I got it out to sew it that it was only 2-way stretch, not 4-way stretch.
Most knit patterns I own (and most that my favorite pattern makers sell) are designed for 4-way stretch knits. These are knits that stretch BOTH horizontally and vertically. They are in many ways easier to work with than 2-way knits that stretch only horizontally (or occasionally only vertically) and tend to be easier to fit and more forgiving. When sewing a fitted knit shirt, it is obvious that we want some significant stretch in the horizontal direction to go around the body. But it is also helpful to have at least a little bit of vertical stretch so that the top doesn’t get stuck and ride up around the bust. A lot of vertical stretch can be problematic on a dress as the waistband may get pulled down and the dress may not be able to support pockets. A loose-fitting garment (a typical cotton t-shirt, for example) doesn’t need stretch to fit, since it doesn’t really even try to conform to the body. Some garments get around lack of stretch by adding seams and darts to help the garment contour to the body. Generally, patterns designed for woven fabric do this.
So, I wanted to make a somewhat fitted top out of my 2-way stretch velour, and none of the fitted top patterns I own claim to be suited for 2-way stretch fabric. (Actually, one of my patterns claimed it was for 2-way stretch, but that turned out to be an error in the pattern description that I caught because all the photos of garments people made with the pattern seemed to be using 4-way stretch fabric. A lot of people assume 2-way stretch is stretch in 2 directions, but that’s actually not how the term is used.) I considered using a woven pattern but after too much overthinking I finally decided to throw caution to the wind and use my favorite Sinclair Bondi classic fitted t-shirt pattern and just size up one size. Actually, this was not a completely reckless thing to do as I have made a lot of Bondis and I have a good sense for how it fits and how to customize it for me. I recently had problems using a low-stretch fabric with a different knit shirt pattern, but sizing up one size seemed to make it work.
The crushed velour was a bit slippery to work with, it shed silver dust all over the place as I cut and sewed it, and the edges curled a bit. The fabric listing said to iron it only on the wrong side, but I recklessly ironed it any which way I could to get it to behave, and it doesn’t seem to be any worse for the wear. I positioned the pattern carefully so that the fabric nap would all go the same way, and when wearing the garment, it would feel smooth when running my hands from top to bottom. My youngest daughter recently ranted about how much she hates it when the nap runs the “wrong way,” and she doesn’t like the feel of the rough fabric against her skin. I wasn’t about to make that mistake!
Sizing up one size seemed to have done the trick and made the 2-way fabric work quite nicely with my 4-way stretch pattern. The shirt is comfortable to wear and mostly stays in place, especially when tucked in. The sleeve cuffs want to bunch up, probably because the nap is going the wrong way on the inside of the cuff — I suppose I could have turned them the other way and violated my daughters’ rule on the outside, or maybe added a seam so the nap would go the right way on both sides.
Anyway, it was good enough for my New Year’s Eve outfit, and I could even wear another shirt underneath since the weather was frigid. I also wore my Sinclair Cleo palazzo pants (also in stretch velour, but this one is a 4-way stretch). My daughters suggested I wear it with the chain belt I’ve had since high school, which apparently is fashionable again.
Sinclair women’s Crew pullover, hip length with banded bottom and tall cuffs – two in size 6P and one in 6T plus 4T cropped version, brushed cashmere rib
Sinclair men’s Crew pulloverhip length with banded bottom in size 38 short, 38 regular, and 34 short, brushed cashmere rib
Last year I made my son and his partner a pair of matching raglan shirts in two colors of Monaco rib knit from Mily Mae Fabrics using the Sinclair Demi and Tao patterns, and I had left over fabric so I made my daughters Sinclair Bondi shirts to match. It made for a nice family photo.
This year I planned in advance to make matching color block sweaters for the whole family. I bought 14 yards of brushed cashmere rib (220 GSM 68% Poly/28% Rayon/4% Spandex) from Mily Mae Fabrics when it was on sale for about $4 per yard. As it turns out, 8 yards would have probably been sufficient for the seven sweaters I made, but I didn’t know what color combinations I would use and you never know.
I selected the Sinclair Crew pullover top this year, which comes in both men’s and women’s cuts. I made one of each for myself and my husband and then went into assembly line production mode, cutting out several at a time and sewing each step on the whole bunch before I went on to the next step.
I made the Sinclair women’s Crew pullover, hip length with banded bottom and tall cuffs – two in size 6P and one in 6T. I also improvised a size 4T cropped version that was 4 inches shorter than hip length and graded to size 0 at the waist (for my college-student daughter who only wears cropped tops). I also made the Sinclair men’s Crew pullover hip length with banded bottom in size 38 short, 38 regular, and 34 short. I did not make any modifications to the pattern except for the cropped version.
This is a pretty easy pattern to sew, and with all the bands there was no hemming involved. These bands stretch gently to fit the fabric they attach to, no gathering needed. The fabric I used was also pretty easy to work with and I was able to sew everything together without any basting.
I made each sweater with a different color combination, and I also played with different approaches to color blocking. Mine has each sleeve a different color. I like them all, but I think my favorites are the ones with different color fronts and backs with the third color for the sleeves.
We did a crafty Christmas gift exchange at work, where we were each randomly assigned a colleague to make a gift for. I couldn’t ask my gift recipient for her size, as that would spoil the surprise. She is a lot taller than me, but my guess is she is otherwise a similar size. I decided I couldn’t make her anything too fitted without knowing her actual size, so I selected the Pattern Emporium Sweet Cheeks Roomy Sweater. This is a very oversized pattern. My correct size according to my measurements is AU 10. I made an AU 10 sweater in a heavy fabric, and it is a super comfy oversized sweater that would probably be fine sized down a size or two. I also made one sized down to a size AU 4 in the cropped length in a lighter weight brushed hacci sweater knit, and it fits just fine. I decided to size down only to an AU 8 for my friend and make the hip length. I also shorten the sleeves for me but I made the full length sleeves for my tall friend.
I love the Versailles brushed hacci sweater knit because it is brushed on the inside and feels very cozy. I bought more yardage in several colors last Fall when it was on sale for about $5 per yard. I decided to use the rosey mauve color (basically a pale pink) for my friend’s sweater.
My friend was surprised that I made something that fit her without measuring her, and especially that the sleeves were long enough. My friend is wearing it in the photo above. Here you can see it on a hanger and me trying it on.
I am ridiculously excited about my latest project: a children’s picture book about privacy called Privacy, Please! You can check it out and order a copy at privacypleasebook.com.
The idea for the book
Let me tell you about how this book came to be…. I decided to write this book about a year ago, in Fall 2024. The Privacy Engineering masters program at CMU was planning an International Data Privacy Day 2025 event at the Carnegie Library in Oakland, and I asked the librarians if I could read privacy books to kids during a preschool story time. The librarians agreed, but did not have any suggestions for privacy-related picture books to read. They suggested a book on limiting screen time, and I found some books on bodily privacy and other very narrow aspects of privacy. I suggested a story for 7-12 year olds about the harms of surveillance, The Eyemonger, written by privacy law scholar Daniel J. Solove. The librarians thought it would be too long and too scary for preschoolers. I reached out to Dan and other privacy professionals in search of a book on privacy four younger children. But nobody had any good suggestions.
Back in 2014, I had worked on a project in which I asked people to draw pictures of what privacy means to them. I visited schools and community events, asked my friends, and even bought some drawings from crowd workers. I built a website called Privacy Illustrated that now has hundreds of these drawings. A few years later, my students systematically analyzed the drawings and wrote a research paper about the trends they observed. I’ve tagged the Privacy Illustrated drawings with some metadata about their content and the age of the artists. So while I was pondering picture books about privacy, I took a look at the drawings from some of our youngest contributors to see what privacy meant to them.
Kindergarten students with their drawings of privacy at CMU Children’s School
I saw drawings of young children in their rooms, snuggled under blankets, hiding from their siblings, playing with friends in a private space, and enjoying privacy in the bathroom (interestingly, many adults also drew bathroom pictures!). I saw that privacy was a concept that young children seem to begin to understand in preschool, and I wanted to write a book to help them make sense of it.
As a parent of three (now young adult) kids, I’ve also observed that young children sometimes need a “time out” and that they can benefit from some private time to themselves. Giving them the words to ask for privacy rather than waiting for it to be imposed on them can be helpful. I’m hoping that the examples of how the characters in the book achieve privacy can stimulate discussion between children and adults and help young children find appropriate ways to achieve privacy in their own lives. I also hope that the adults reading this book to children will find something to take away from it!
As a privacy researcher who often focuses on online privacy issues, I thought about including these in the book. However, I realized that young children have limited online interactions, so I was tempted to leave online issues out altogether. But I also realized that some mention of online privacy issues could help prepare children for going online, and it could be useful in educating the adults in their lives to think about online privacy issues. In the end, I touch only lightly on online privacy, but in ways that I hope will be relatable to young children and that may lead to more conversations as children grow.
Workshopping early drafts
I wrote the text for a first draft of a book in which a young narrator talks about privacy at home, at school, and out in the world. I found images from the Privacy Illustrated collection to illustrate some of the pages, and then tried using some generative AI tools to fill in what was missing. I quickly realized that to get the sort of look and feel I was after, I would need to hire an illustrator, but the images that I had were useful as a placeholder to start getting some initial feedback on my draft. I showed my draft to my young adult children and other family members and they were all enthusiastic about it. I shared the draft with some friends who have young children, and even borrowed a couple of children to read it to, and reviews were positive.
I printed out my book draft and put it in a loose-leaf binder to read on Privacy Day at the library. I also brought The Eyemonger to read. The children and parents enjoyed both books. I discovered that preschoolers will sit through The Eyemonger, and those I read to did not find it scary at all. While the adults thought the character who looks like a dinosaur with 1000 eyes was rather creepy, my young audience thought he was kind of cool. That said, I think the older kids learned more from the Eyemonger book than the younger ones, and they seemed to be pretty engaged with my book. The parents I talked with were all very impressed with my book and encouraged me to finish it and get it published. The kids seemed to like my book, and seemed to especially like the animals in the book. But one child told me it wasn’t a real book because it didn’t have a properly illustrated cover. I decided to keep working on it and turn it into a “real book.”
Here I am reading an early draft of Privacy Please to children and parents at the Carnegie Library in Oakland.
I reached out to the Carnegie Mellon Children’s School (the lab school at CMU where my three kids all attended preschool and kindergarten) and asked if I could workshop my book with their educators. They agreed, and I was delighted to spend an hour with them a few weeks later. The teachers gave me some great feedback about the flow of the story. They suggested adding some specific phrases children could say to ask for privacy. And they reminded me that young children are limited in the amount of privacy they can realistically achieve because they are almost constantly under adult supervision. This is especially true in preschools, which often don’t have bathroom doors. The teachers shared some of their approaches to offering privacy to children while still being able to supervise them. I made substantial revisions to the book after my session at the Children’s School.
I made several other changes to the book based on feedback from multiple people. I shortened it a bit, reducing three outdoor privacy scenarios to one, removing a page about parents wrapping gifts in private, and tightening up some of the wording. In early drafts, the protagonist’s dog finds privacy in a dog house, but a friend pointed out that these days, dogs are more likely to find privacy under beds, so I updated the book accordingly. I originally included a page about superheroes going into phone booths to put on their costumes, but today’s kids have never seen a phone booth, and apparently, superheroes can now put on their costumes at the touch of a button. Nonetheless, I just couldn’t let the superhero costume concept go, as it was inspired by an adorable drawing from a five-year-old who explained that Spiderman needs privacy to put his costume on. In the final version the protagonist, who wears a purple cape throughout the book, hides in a closet to change into a superhero costume.
A kindergartener drew this picture in 2014 and explained, “Spiderman needs privacy to hut his costume on.”
Pattern Emporium Walk Boldly pants with low rise and modified yoga waistband from PE Urban pants and jeans pockets with a straight diagonal opening from 2 yards black butter scuba, AU10, shortened 2 inches
I’ve made several pairs of mashed up Pattern Emporium Walk Boldly pants with modified yoga waistband from PE Urban pants, mostly for summer in light-weight LiKnit. When I heard about Mily Mae Fabric’s butter scuba I wanted to use if for some wide leg pants, but I didn’t manage to order any before it sold out. so when they restocked I grabbed some black butter scuba (and other colors too). The fabric is 50% Rayon/42% Poly/8% spandex with a decent amount of 4-way stretch. The right side of this fabric is brushed and has a soft, buttery feel. The wrong slide is smooth and a bit shiny.
When I cut out the fabric with my rotary cutter, it skipped in a few places and when I pulled the pieces apart, it created small runs. They’re hard to see but I know where they are, and next time I will be more careful and probably use a fresh rotary cutter blade. The runs did make me a bit concerned that the fabric could have a tendency to snag or pill, but I’ve washed it and worn the pants twice and so far so good.
I cut a size AU 10 with the waist graded in and shortened by 2 inches (and then hemmed 2 inches). I also lengthened the front and back crotch a tad. I added jeans-style pockets but instead of a curved pocket opening I cut the opening straight on a slight diagonal. The pocket openings sag a bit. I probably should have fused some interfacing to the top.
I cut the low-rise and made a contoured yoga-style waistband, effectively turning them into high-rise pants. I sewed 3/4-inch elastic at the top of the waistband between the layers and understitched it down. I used the scuba for both the inner and outer pieces. It is nice and soft with good recovery, but would not have been firm enough without the elastic (since I put stuff in my pockets and that tends to drag the waistband down). I might use a firmer athletic knit for the inner waistband in the future (as I have done on other pants).
These pants are very comfy to wear and have a nice drape: really nice dressy secret pajamas! They have a good weight to them without being overly warm or heavy, but warm enough to wear comfortably in ~40 degree F weather this week. I’m modeling them here with a PE Sweet Cheeks sweater in Versailles hacci sweater knit. I think they look good both tucked and untucked, and I’ve already worn them to work both ways.
Pattern Emporium Allure Bell Sleeve Top with plain sleeves size AU10, Wanderlust high scoop neck, hem shortened 3.5 inches, sleeves shortened 1 inch, 1.5 yard of 43″-wide ginger-red wool jersey knit.
Size AU 10, screwp neck, sloped shoulder adjustment, hem shortened 3.5 inches, short sleeves, <1 yard dusty olive cupro jersey.
Size AU 12, screwp neck, broad and sloped shoulder adjustment, hem shortened 3.5 inches, sleeves shortened 1 inch, <1 yard dusty olive cupro jersey.
I was quite pleased with my double-bell-sleeve Pattern Emporium Allure top, but wanted to try it with simple sleeves. The pattern comes with bonus plain sleeves that are slightly shaped for elbow curvature.
I have previously made quite a few long-sleeve knit shirts using the Sinclair Bondi pattern, which I like quite a bit and I think fits me really well (especially after I made a few minor adjustments). However, it is fairly fitted and I don’t think it works as well for fabric that doesn’t have a lot of 4-way stretch (although that hasn’t stopped me from using it with less stretchy fabrics, sizing up a size). For example, I noticed a lot of drag lines in the back when I used it with a low-stretch light-weight wool. Allure is semi-fitted, slightly less fitted than Bondi, so I thought it might work better for low-stretch jersey fabrics. When I put the two patterns on top of each other I could see that the Bondi size 6 and the Allure size AU10 are about equivalent. The Bondi is more fitted in the waist, flares out more at the hem, and is wider across the bust in the front. I normally make Bondi in size 4P, but size up to a 6P when using low-stretch fabric.
First, I made a plain-sleeve Allure in size AU10 from a lightweight 150 gsm, ginger-red hand-washable wool jersey knit fabric from Knitfabric.com. The fabric was advertised as having 25% stretch in each direction, but it seems to me it has more like 50% horizontal stretch and <25% vertical stretch. I used about a yard-and-a-half of 43″-wide fabric. I cut the hem about 3.5 inches shorter than the regular length, which is a good length on me for wearing a shirt untucked (which is mostly what I do), but long enough that I can tuck it in if I want to. I also did a sloped shoulder adjustment and shortened the sleeves by 1inch. I wanted a scoop neck, but knew from my previous Allure that I wanted it a little higher. So I used the front neck line from the Wanderlust dress high scoop neck and adjusted the size of the neckband accordingly. I hemmed the bottom and sleeves with a shallow zig zag stitch on my sewing machine after first folding and pressing it with knit stay tape.
I mostly liked the way this came out, but found the neckline still a little too low and wide in the front and too low in back for my taste. so for my next top, made from dusty olive cupro jersey from Surge Fabrics, I raised the front neckline about .75 inch and brought the sides in about .5 inch. I also brought the back neckline in about .5 inch and raised it to the same height as the back of the crewneck — similar to the “screwp neck” that I like with the Bondi pattern. I used less than a yard of 58″-wide fabric. This jersey cupro is 180gsm and advertised as having about 50% horizontal and 25% vertical stretch. The vertical stretch seems to me less than that. The fabric color is almost grey — the olive is very dusty. None of my green threads were a good match for this fabric so I ended up using steel grey. The curpo fabric is 65% modal and 35% poly and does not require any special care. It has a very silky feel. I coverstitched the hem, sleeves, and neckline with the steel grey thread.
The neckline came out exactly the way I wanted it on this one after I futzed with the length of the band (I basted it on, decided it was too tight, removed it and cut another one 1.5 inches bigger). But overall the top was too tight. I learned from past experience with a cupro jersey dress that it doesn’t stretch much and fits tight. The sleeves were uncomfortably tight on me. But I thought it would still work in this semi-fitted pattern. But it was too tight and had lots of drag lines. And when I raised my arms and put them back down the shirt stayed bunched up around the bust. It took less than a yard of fabric and I had started with two yards, so I decided to give this one to my daugter and try again.
It fit my daughter fine but the sleeves were too tight on her and not quite long enough (she is taller than me) so I turned them into short sleeves.
I made another Allure from the dusty olive cupro, this time size 12. I also added a .75-inch broad shoulder adjustment, in addition to the sloped shoulder adjustment — an adjustment I usually make with Bondi too. I used the screwp neck, shortened the hem by 3.5″ and shortened the sleeves by 1 inch.
This time the fit was very good. However, you can still see some drag lines at the shoulder, I think due to the lack of vertical stretch. I will definitely size up if I use this fabric again.The cupro fabric is an easy-care soft and silky fabric and has a nice drape, but it also seems to stick to itself and doesn’t smooth itself out without help, as you can see in these photos. We got the last photo below after a lot of smoothing. I think this is lovely fabric, but it doesn’t seem to work that well for a semi-fitted t-shirt. I think it works better in a dress because there is weight pulling it down. I think it would also work better with princess seams, in an oversized style, or even with a woven pattern. This one will be fine as a layering piece under a sweater or jacket.
At a Halloween party at work last year I got the idea of dressing up as Belka, the white standard poodle who roams around our office. I have been mulling this over in my mind for a year (am I obsessed?) and now finally my vision is a reality.
Originally, I was going to sew the whole costume, but I had trouble sourcing poodle fur fabric in a knit that would be comfortable to wear. I discovered I could buy inexpensive PJs/lounge wear already made in a suitable fabric. Actually, my first purchase of “white” lounge wear turned out to be off white with a cropped top, so I had to try again. The second attempt was about perfect, except the pants were too long and lacked pockets. I hemmed the pants and was able to use the hem I cut off elsewhere in the costume. I thought about adding pockets, but eventually settled on wearing a running belt with pockets under the loose-fitting top.
I spent way too much time pondering buying some white fluffy sneakers but ultimately decided I was unlikely to ever wear them again so I could just wear my regular white sneakers. Then I pondered how to make dog ears, tail, and possibly paws, and looked to the Internet for inspiration. I purchased a piece of white long-pile sherpa fleece, recommended for teddy bears. I looked at various hat patterns and ultimately decided that a hood might be better.
I had previously made a Sinclair Mojo Hood Scarf and noted that the pattern had instructions for adding ears to it. I decided to make just the hood part (not the scarf) and extend the cat ears from the pattern into dog ears. I cut up an old white t-shirt to prototype the hood. It seemed like it might work so I cut ears and hood pieces from the sherpa fleece and sewed the hood together with my serger using the t-shirt pieces as lining. It went together pretty well, but I was uncertain about how to keep it on my head. I considered adding the scarf after all, but then realized I could use the hem pieces I cut off of the pants as a turtleneck and attach them to the hood. After some trial and error and a bit of fine-tuning, I got the hood assembled. The ears don’t have quite the drape of real poodle ears, and my husband and I debated whether I should add a stiffener so that they would stay up. We agreed that the ears were cuter when pulled away from my head, but that isn’t actually how the dog in question looks.
I decided I needed a dog collar, so I ordered a buckle and strap kit with polyester webbing. I made a dog tag out of a piece of cardboard and some duct tape, and added a D ring that could attach to a leash.
The trickiest bit was the tail. I cut out a tail shape from two pieces of the fleece, sewed them together right sides facing, turned them inside out, and stuffed them with fleece scraps. But I got stuck on how to keep the tail attached to my backside, protruding out at a 90-degree angle and pointing up, not down. Gravity was not my friend here. I experimented with adding a piece of coat hanger for stiffness and attaching the tail to a piece of 1.5-inch elastic around my waist. Ultimately, I kept the coat hanger in the tail and also built a harness for the tail out of elastic and covered it with fleece. Two pieces of white elastic wrapped around my hips to keep the harness in place. The long top hides the elastic. It isn’t perfect, but it mostly works. If I were doing it again I think I would have started with a metal wire frame with a base and tail protruding at 90 degrees and then covered that with the fleece and attached it to the elastic.
Belka
I think the costume worked pretty well and was even reasonably comfortable to wear. I wore it all day at work and while walking around my neighborhood watching the trick-or-treaters. My students and colleagues enjoyed it and Belka didn’t seem to mind. Several people asked me whether she was confused by it. I think she was at first, but as soon as she sniffed me she knew it was me and she was unfazed.
