Category Archives: Sinclair Patterns

Secret and not-so-secret PJ pants

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Sinclair Helen stretch pants with a yoke and contoured waistband, 6p in 1.5 yard black ponte with front and back pockets and in 1.5 yard light yellow urban rib with front pockets.

When Sanna Sinclair announced she was looking for pattern testers for a pull-on ponte pants pattern, I had to sign up. This is my most-frequently worn type of pant. Most of my ponte pants are wide-leg, so was eager to try this straight-leg version. This style also includes a back yoke for shaping instead of back darts.

Sanna introduced a new collaboration platform for this test, which I found somewhat frustrating to use, but hopefully will improve over time. Other than the platform glitches and confusion, this pattern test was fun to do and the pattern was very fast and easy.

I decided to make a muslin before cutting into my ponte fabric. I have about 5 yards of a yellow floral polyester urban rib fabric that an online fabric store sent me by mistake with my order. Of all the surprise fabrics to find in your order, this was not one I was particularly excited about. I call it the “ugly fabric.” It is not actually that bad, but it is not a fabric that I would have bought. so I decided I might as well use it to practice. I cut out a pair of Helen 6p pants from the rib fabric and basted them together. Since I wasn’t planning on actually wearing these pants I didn’t bother with pockets or elastic. However, the fit turned out to be quite good so I decided I would finish them later and turn them into PJs.

I moved on to making a good pair from black designer ponte fabric. I sewed both the front and back pockets on this pair, and shortened them by 2 inches when I cut them out. Otherwise, I followed the pattern as written. I found it to be easy to follow and overall a quick an satisfying sew. The order of sewing the pant leg seams is a bit difference than what the Pattern Emporium knit pants patterns call for, but this way seemed to work just fine. The pattern advises using a piece of 1-inch elastic in the contour waistband. I did that and the fit is good, but when I don’t tuck in my shirt it does slip a bit. Next time I think I will grade the waist to a 4p. The pockets were not that hard to make and I think both the front and back are a good size. However, I don’t love the shape of the rectangular back pockets and the front pockets gape open a bit, despite stitching clear elastic between the facing and the lining at the pocket opening. This was discussed during the fit test, and the final V2 version offers an alternate back pocket shape and changes the angle of the front pocket opening — both great improvements.

I took photos of my black V1 pants for the finals as I didn’t have time to sew up a V2. Taking photos of black pants is actually really hard to do, and it was really cold that day. I’ve worn these to work multiple times. I think they look great on, and they feel like secret pajamas. Modeled here with a wool Bondi long-sleeve shirt.

This week I returned to the ugly fabric PJ pants. I removed all the basting stitches, laid the pieces out on my cutting table, and projected the V2 pattern onto them. I trimmed the legs to match the minor changes that were made to V2 and also added the front pockets, because even PJs should have pockets. I recut the waistband pieces with the top graded to size P4, and I cut out the front pocket linings and facings. In a couple of hours, I had the whole thing sewn back together, this time with elastic and front pockets. The fit is very good, and I’m sure I’ll be wearing these a lot around the house. Modeled here with a magenta Bondi. The V2 fit is even better than V1, and the front pockets are great. I also love the back yoke on these pants: they make my butt look great! I look forward to making another pair in ponte or other office-worthy fabric and trying the new back pockets and the faux fly (which I usually skip, but I’ve seen it on pants made by other testers, and it is super cute).

Color blocked Soho

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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 (2/3 yard), nutmeg (1/3 yard), peat moss (1/3 yard), and teddy bear (3/4 yard).

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.

Faux wrap sweater dress

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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!

And here is a comparison with the inspo dress.

Sage green fitted t-shirt

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Sinclair Bondi classic fitted t-shirt 4, crew neck, short sleeves, graded in from armscye to hem, less than 1 yard of sage cotton-lycra.

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.

Shiny shirt

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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.

I cut a Bondi in size 6p with my usual broad and sloped shoulder adjustments, screwp neckline, and graded in from waist to hem. I used the bishop sleeves from the puffed sleeve add-on pack and extended the cuffs.

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.

Crews for the whole crew

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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 pullover hip 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.

Woof!

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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.

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!

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.

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, Greenstyle, Love Notions, Pattern Emporium, Petite Stitchery, Sinclair, Styla

Accessories

Cardigans

Dresses

Jackets and Blazers

Mens

Pants

Shorts and skorts

Skirts

Tops

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.

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.

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.

Her uniform

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I asked my college student what she wanted for her nineteenth birthday and she asked me to make her another pair of her favorite black LiKnit “flowy” pants (PE Urban Boldly pants similar to mine, but adjusted for her taller height).

While I was at it I made her another cropped Bondi (size 4R but graded the waist to a size 0 and then graded the back waist even more, bottom cut at the horizontal waist line shown on the pattern) out of leftover cotton lycra fabric from a shirt I made my husband.

I made her a pair of pants just like this when she went to college, and another pair with the same pattern but in black ponte. I don’t think I have a photo of the ponte pair. She has apparently been wearing these two pairs of pants and the Cleo palazzo pants I made her on repeat all year. In fact I had to rehem two pairs of pants with frayed hems from dragging on the ground and reinforce some threadbare spots.

Short-sleeved Bondis

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Bondi is my most-made pattern, and now that I have it adjusted to perfection, I’m making even more. I made two short-sleeve, screwp-neck, 4p Bondi shirts in one evening. I made one from a yard of seafoam and off-white pencil stripe stretch modal jersey that I bought last Fall from Cali Fabrics because it matched my seafoam pants perfectly. I made the other one from a yard of green frost ITY from stylishfabric.com (the color looks like avocado to me) that I ordered last year while collecting greenish fabric options for my daughter’s prom dress. I was in the middle of a lot of light green sewing so I decided to knock these two out before I took the seafoam thread out of my serger.

I cut the striped shirt out carefully and used my fabric glue stick to match the stripes. I was also careful with my placement of the blue stripe in the neck band. I think it came out better than my previous attempts at striped shirts.

I fused all the hems with HeatnBond Soft Stretch and finished with a cover stitch (which did require changing the thread after all, but I did this last after I was done with all my seafoam sewing). I’m still not great at cover stitching, but each time I do it I try to read some tips or watch a video and I’m slowly getting better at it. I can setup my Triumph for cover stitching pretty quickly now, and I have now mastered the technique of pulling the top threads to the bottom at the end so they can be easily tied off. I also realized I was using the wrong table attachment (the hazard of having too many accessories?) and that was making it harder to sew over seams.

Adjustment!

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I’ve spent the past few months pondering back and shoulder adjustments and trying them out. While making my first Wanderulst dress I realized I needed a swayback adjustment to remove the extra folds of fabric at the back of my waist. But I also noticed that my shoulders slope down quite a bit so I tried a sloped shoulder adjustment as well in my second and third Wanduderlust dresses.

I also noticed that my Sinclair Bondi t-shrts and sweaters didn’t look as good in the back as they did in the front. Here’s one that I made recently in size 6p from rayon/poly/spandex plum sibley brushed sweater knit from Surge Fabrics. The fabric is super soft and stretchy and it fits reasonably well but you can see some minor issues in the back.

Then I made a Bondi sweater with the sloped shoulder adjustment from a washable wool with only about 25% stretch. I noticed that I have more significant drag lines under my arm pits in the back, probably due to the fact that this fabric is not very stretchy. I posted photos in one of the online sewist Facebook groups and someone pointed out to me that my shoulders are both sloped and broad. I set up my cell phone behind me transmitting its camera image to my laptop so I could study my back, and tried on a bunch of different tops and jackets so I could see what was going on.

I made a Bondi t-shirt in size 6p with both sloped and broad shoulder adjustments (and bishop sleeves) from an aqua wide lush poly-spandex fabric from Mily Mae. This was better, but the drag lines were not completely gone.

After studying the black ponte Onyx blazer I made a few months ago, I eventually noticed that the top of the shoulder seam was not actually at the top of my shoulder and had a tendency to slip down my back. I realized that when I pulled my shirt or jacket forward to get the shoulder seam where it belonged, it tended to bunch up around my neck. And this is why I find it uncomfortable to wear most jackets with collars! I thought perhaps what I needed was a forward shoulder adjustment, which involves basically taking the top of the shoulder from the front pattern piece and moving it to the back. I went into Affiinty Designer and moved an inch of the Bondi tshirt pattern (already adjusted for sloped and broad shoulders) from the front to the back and cut out another tshirt. I didn’t take a photo, but the results were not great.

I decided to stick with the sloped and broad shoulder adjustment for my next Bondi in size 4p, made from purple (looks like magenta) monaco rib poly/rayon/spandex from Mily Mae. I think it came out pretty well, despite some minor back issues. I think I’m done adjusting the Bondi for now.

Magnificent Magenta

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I bought three yards of a beautiful magenta ponte fabric from Mily Mae last year because I love the color (it matches the highlights in my hair) and I love working with this kind of ponte (67% Rayon/28% Nylon/5% Spandex). I thought about making a dress out of it, but eventually decided on a magenta suit. I already have a (store-bought, me altered) purple suit, but I don’t have a pink suit. Magenta is on the more purply side of pink, which means it can be interpreted either as pink or purple.

Unfortunately, magenta doesn’t seem to quite match either pink or purple threads, so I had to order several threads online until I found a close match that I could use for top stitching that would blend into the fabric. None of the Gutermann or Coats & Clark threads I ordered were quite right, but Amann Saba all purpose poly wrapped poly core thread tex 30 color 1059 did the trick.

I used the Boo & Lu Onyx blazer pattern for my magenta suit jacket, with the same modifications I used for my hip length grey ponte version with pockets. I had hoped to get the facings interfaced and catching in the top stitching properly this time, but still ran into problems that required extra gluing and fusing to resolve. I still feel there must be a better way to make the facings, and if I make another Onyx maybe I will figure out what it is.

I used the Pattern Emporium Urban Wide Leg pants pattern to make magenta pants to go with the jacket. I haver previously made three tapered and three wide-leg pants with this pattern (plus a few mashups with this pattern and the PE Walk Boldly pants). I made these size AU10 low-rise (which ends up being high-rise on me), with the waist graded in and the waistband modified to be a contour waistband lined in athletic knit and with elastic added. I added front jeans pockets with straight pocket openings.

Last winter I also bought some super soft purple 86% Poly/12% Rayon/2% Spandex Monaco Rib fabric from Mily Mae, and it turns out to be almost the exact same color as the magenta ponte. Why they don’t call them both by the same name is a mystery to me, but regardless, I clearly needed to make a rib-knit sweater to go with my suit. I used my favorite Sinclair Bondi classic fitted t-shirt patten in size 4p hip length with a screwp neck, adjusted slightly for a broad and sloped shoulder. I cover stitched the hems, using the magenta thread spool and a bobbin wound with the same thread for the needle threads.

The whole outfit looks great together, and I will wear it as a suit with my matching magenta booties! I expect I will also wear the pieces as separates. Although this is a color I wear year round (I also have a cashmere sweater and a winter parka in this color), to me it is really a spring color.

April update: I couldn’t resist some magenta jacket photos with the magnificent magnolia trees in front of my house!