Sew Reporter – 21st March
It’s Sunday and Spring is in the air! The daffodils are in full bloom here in the UK and we’ve seen lots of you making sewing plans for the warmer weather. This week we’ve been busy adding lots of new patterns including plenty from Fibre Mood and new releases from I AM Patterns and Charlotte Emma Patterns. Regular visitors will also be pleased to hear that we’ve made a few changed to the website including sending much nicer confirmation emails for your orders (thank you!) and most usefully out of stock email notifications. If you see any pattern out of stock you can now add your email for an alert and as soon as we update the shop you’ll receive an email notice! Hope you have some lovely sewing plans for this weekend but for now be inspired by our round up for the week.
Manju shares her latest make, the Vogue V7975 jacket, on her blog sewmanju. She interfaced the entire jacket before sewing it up as it’s made from this gorgeous Linton Tweed. She also shares some helpful fitting notes at the end of her blog.
Fiona at Diary of a Chainstitcher recently tested the new Leo Dungarees from By Hand London. They have a slouchy oversized fit with plenty of leg room and ideal lockdown attire, although Fiona is looking forward to taking them on holiday with her.
This week Mimi G has wowed us with her DIY zebra print dress using Vogue Pattern V1672. The dress is fully lined and works so well in a drapey fabric, such as the Tencel used here.
Rowena shares a review of the The Heroine Jeans from Merchant and Mills. Leaving off the cuffs, these jeans are fitted to the waist with a straight, generous leg. The fit and topstitching on the look great!
Helen from Helen’s Closet shares one of her handmade gifts with us this week, the Fairfield Shirt by Thread Theory that she made for Sam. Top marks for the plaid pattern matching!
Vanessa from Sew Filled to the Brim follows up on her Hug Hoodie from Madeit Patterns with another great wardrobe staple, the Gothenberg Top from Itch to Stitch. With just eight steps in the making process, you’ll have this whipped up in no time!
Ruth shares a review of the Joan Jacket from The Patterns Room. She saw it featured in our newsletter a while ago and made the collarless version plus the optional patch pockets in a boiled wool and lined with a spotty viscose. A great jacket as we head into Spring.
Emily from Self Assembly Required makes another I AM Patterns pattern this week, the Merlin Coat. It’s made with a black and red check and lined with pre-quilted deep red satin. It’s cocoon shape means it’s got plenty of ease and closes with just a single button. In the lining Emily cleverly adds another welt pocket, you can never have too many pockets!
All the way over in New Zealand, Oh Sew Fearless makes these impressive pair of Carolyn Pajamas from Closet Core Patterns. This palm print tercel lawn is just dreamy and co-ordinated beautifully with the optional piping.
There has been a lot of excitement over the the pattern collection from Papercut Patterns in the last week but we also have lots of other new pattern releases for you to browse in our shop!
Do you already have a specific design in mind? Or do you need some help finding the perfect pattern for your fabric? You can search all the patterns in our database using our sewing-specific search tool.
This week we share the next in our series of matching patterns with the latest high street trends! Head over to our YouTube channel to watch Kate talk through some of the great pattern matches we’ve found and tips on how you can recreate these looks for your handmade wardrobe.
Alexis Bailey shares her six steps to building a sustainable handmade wardrobe. Balancing the ethics of sourcing fabrics along with making your garments live for as long as possible are just two of the steps in this useful blog post of ideas.
If you are looking for a good Spring wardrobe staple, then the Marlo cardigan is it. The sewing community got very excited when this pattern was released by True Bias and we can see why, big buttons, patch pockets, it’s what pattern dreams are made of! The pattern includes 2 different versions, is oversized with a dropped shoulder and deep V-neck. This is a pattern you’ll make over and over again. Check out what these wonderful makers think of the pattern by clicking on their photos.
This blog post is a revelation, who knew we had all these sewing tools at home already! The Closet Core team have put together this super helpful blog post, which shows what substitutes you can find around the home for lots of sewing tools. For example, don’t have tailor’s chalk? use some soap shards!
Making, mending, slow fashion and sustainable crafting… is Rebecca’s description on her Insta profile and it describes all the wonderful makes she shares perfectly! Based in East London, you can find Rebecca @revansmerritt and here is one of her recent makes, the Vogue Patterns V1563.
Charlotte Emma Patterns is a new designer in the shop this week. You may recognise Charlotte modelling her first pattern here as she co-organises The Sewing Weekender with us and also the very popular SewBrum meet up each year. This year Charlotte is keeping herself busy with launching sewing patterns and her first pattern is the Barberry Coat. This slim fitting jacket has a clinched in waist and exaggerated hemline in an inclusive size range of 4 – 36. The instructions are really comprehensive so even if you haven’t made a jacket before, there is help every step of the way with this pattern.
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