Papercut Soma swimsuit review plus a guest visit from the Cottesloe

I had always planned to make another Soma Swimsuit (available here).  My first run through was in 2017 and it appears, shockingly, that I forgot to blog about it.  Gosh so much potential whinging, wasted!!  Also it seems lately that Papercut are taking many of their older patterns out of print as they no longer have this on their website.  It seems to be available by some stockists.

I made a size XS, and the fit was good. 

The idea on a remake: I wanted to make another suit and from that, measure the gaps and redraft pieces to basically replace all the fold over elastic and bra strapping (I'm not sure why I had to make another one to do this, but that was the idea.)  I bought this fabric something like 2 years ago with this pattern in mind, but couldn't quite settle on a background colour.  I wear my other version of this suit quite a bit because it has a back clasp and I need to take my suits off in a carpark with cold fingers, and so I finally gathered the bits and committed. 

While it does come together relatively quickly, this is not a fun sew.  The bottom chest FOE struggles to reach over the layers (I managed to use extra wide stuff on my first suit, but on this one I had to really stretch it to cover.)  There are spots on the sides where you have five relatively shifty layers that you have to sew, and my machine behaved accordingly (thread nests and broken needles.)  I made it worse by sewing the pants outer layer together inside out and I had to give up and just cut a new one, I couldn't break the overlocking and salvage the pieces.  (Luckily I have a huge piece of this star fabric!)  I didn't follow the instructions for the bottoms this time around - you are meant to use swimsuit elastic and fold over twice.  I overlocked everything together cleanly then added a waistband instead. 

This suit also uses a bunch of bra strapping.  I never have much bra strapping, and definitely not all in one practical colour, so in both of these suits, half of my bra strapping is, er, bra channelling, of which I have a strange, massive stash. 

I recall feeling the same way about my first version: if you don't look too carefully at the insides, it's totally serviceable!  Since I know it will go into high rotation in my surfing wardrobe, I'm happy.  But the idea of spending more time with this pattern, even to redraft away the annoying bits, is becoming less interesting as I have discovered the Cottesloe swimsuit pattern, which takes an hour to make including cutting, is totally adorable, and honestly I would prefer to just make a simple suit these days than faff around creating something crazy.  I have made 2 Cottesloes and I plan to retrofit them with swimsuit clasps.  I will also probably make 2 more because I have way too much swimsuit fabric. 

After seeing that there are nearly no reviews of this swimsuit in rotation, I sighed a great sigh of sadness as I really didn't plan in life to be a swimsuit model, and committed to some IRL photos.  I'm going to swallow up all the defensive things here and just say you can tell which suit I feel the best in:

 

The first (black) version was thrifted from some polyester top, with heavyweight black swimsuit lining.  It's held up pretty well in the 4 years since I made it, but really it's only gotten into heavy wardrobe rotation in the past year.  

The bra strapping can occasionally be annoying on the sides as it comes around to the back clasp, and on the front side where it reaches into my armpit a bit.  The crossover front is a feature I quite like despite the narrow FOE holding it together.  It also hides ok under clothes which is good as sometimes I spend a lot of time checking for surf and then give up and go grocery shopping instead. 

The dart on the front does create a pointy boob shape, and as you can see, my white bottoms with the added on waistband are tighter than using elastic. 

 

Since the Cottesloe has snuck in here:  I cut a size 4 in the Cottesloe, and I only used my overlocker - cut a lining exactly the same and sewed them together, flipped right side out then added the bands - for both top and bottom (learn from me and DON'T forget to burrito the top!!)  I care not at all that my lining slips out just a tiny bit - I used actual lining fabric on the jungle print because I had it handy, and I think using swimsuit material makes it a bit firmer and probably wouldn't do that. 

 

Go forth and make your own swimwear, and strut that stuff unapologetically!

Cool stitches Eva top review

I saw this top on Instagram and was intrigued.  I've never done an exposed stitching top, and on the designer it looked pretty neat.  So I went for it! 

You do actually pay money for this top, and there are ACTUALLY no instructions.  In fact, I had to text the designer to find out if there are seam allowances and then stalk her instagram to find out they are 3/8".

Good news is that the pattern layout in A0 is really neat and clean. No wasted paper here.

I had to go through a few iterations to get this to fit at all, and it remains pretty unflattering.  I think I did not realise that you should make this top out of a ribbing knit, not out of standard knits.  I do plan to do another one - maybe a tank or tee version with a normal neck, because really I don't like turtlenecks.  

Version one, size XS which is my size on the chart (which is on the pattern print out.) Pretty horrible! 

 

Sized up to S, and gosh, it's too big and still horrible. I know the stripes are bad - this was 100% a muslin.  I realised that what I needed to do was lengthen the top rather than make it bigger. 

 

Version 3 is XS and is my final iteration in merino.  I would wear this for outdoor activities when I plan to be cold - maybe as a snowboarding baselayer.  I don't think I would wear it as a fashion item.  

So maybe another version as lately I'm swimming in rib knits. But the initial enthusiasm has really faded. I don't think the booby outline thing suits my shape since I have so many ab muscles my torso is quite thick, and I think overall a pattern that isn't free should come with at least basic instructions.  On the other hand, I wonder if a very stretchy fabric would make this pattern shine - and I am totally delaying trying to flat overlap the pattern pieces and coverstitch them instead of overlocking, but I feel like that needs to be attempted.  So we shall see. 

Closet Core patterns Poufs x 4 (and more!)

For some reason I have talked myself into making a quilt. It's because my best friend Tessa made the most gorgeous quilt known to man and I must have one for myself.

These poufs were all about getting rid of scraps and having a nicer place to lounge about on my floor.  I also wanted to see how bad I am at sewing things together when I only have 1/4" SA and it Matters.

At the end of all this I thought I should be a bit more prepared for precision piecework.  The 1/4" foot arrived (it was delayed for about 3 months due to lockdown).

I went totally crazy cutting.  I ended up cutting out 4 poufs worth.

Pouf number 1.

Pouf number 2, which is for me.

Filled with all my hoarded scraps and it's not near full.

top number 3, I think this was the best one

Top number 4.

I did gain some accuracy as I went along, and learned a few tricks, but overall it is difficult to sew together fabrics that have different stretch characteristics and even my fourth pouf top is far far from perfect.  I completed 2 poufs and then I ran out of interfacing, plus I wanted to try using piping on the final two and I didn't really have any. (Then I changed my mind because I wanted fat piping and I couldn't find any.)  I was pretty relieved to get these done by the end of it, nothing like a project that sits on the floor for months.

Also I had been hoarding all my scraps since December to put in my two poufs (the other two are for friends) and I could not believe how much space was still empty in that first pouf in April!  It was barely full when I put all available scraps in, and took another few months of scraps to fill.  The second pouf is currently storage for clothing. (It's good at that!)

I was a little sad that it's hard to make these perfect but my pouf has been on the floor and is in really active use and even though it's sometimes been a bit squashed, as somehow I can't get the stiffness others seem to manage - the imprecision in the different pieces lining up doesn't really matter.

For precision - use upholstery fabric and use all one type, without a loose weave.  Use heavy interfacing, the stuff that feels like paper. And don't overlock anything.  When I overlocked edges my pieces ended up quite different sizes!  But anyway, this is meant to be a unique statement, and my poufs certainly are.   I didn't realise quite how much until I moved house and it ends up that these poufs are basically the best ever pieces of mobile furniture...so I made two more half poufs (and with piping)!  Stopping here!  Also, the piping does look good but whoa it was such a pain, and just like the bigger poufs, I cut and then delayed because I didn't find these very much fun to make.  Lately it seems that the more I want the finished item, the less I like the process.  (I'm looking at you, Quilt.)

Pattern Emporium Pleats to meet you pants

 My friend Tessa recommended these to me as I wanted to try out some new lounge pants. It took me ages to find the right fabric as in my mind it needed to be very drapey, and the pleats/darts mean it does take up more than a scant meter of yardage.  

Finally found a winner - viscose from The Fabric Box in Auckland.  It's a metre of fabric but just barely wide enough.  Well.  I shortened the legs 1" at the thigh lines in order to have enough space to cut out the waistband.  I figured I'm short, I might as well shorten them.  I've never shortened at the thigh lines before, that I can think of, but knees are always in the wrong place on RTW so it seemed sensible enough.  

Tessa assured me to choose my size by the measurements, so I cut a size 10.  There is a lot of info about final measurements which I did not really pay attention to so it's hard for me to tell whether I could have been forewarned about just how much ease is present.

 

Thank god I did shorten them!  They are a fine length now, though I could shorten a bit more if I wanted.  They are very drapey and, well...VERY drapey.  My first instinct with this pattern was to use a drapey woven and I still think that might be better.  I don't think the fabric has to stretch anywhere at all.  It feels a bit precariously loose on as I don't like droopy crotches in pants I'm going to wear out, but I see it looks pretty great in the pictures.

I was very grumpy while I was making these, which means I had little patience for annoying quirks.  The most annoying of those quirks was: not sewing down the pleats at all, you just sew across the top.  Really everyone: sew down your pleats 2-3 cm.  It will make your life easier and the pleats will look neater.  

The other most annoying feature of this pattern was the layout of the instructions.  Luckily other than a quick glance to check the direction of pleat folding, there's not much instruction needed.  Which is good because the instructions are *IMPOSSIBLE* to read.  They are laid out 2 pages across on a pdf, so you have to enlarge to 200%, scan across, at which point the page gets lost.  I really cannot state how important it is for instructions to be written on single pages in a vertical, not landscape orientation.  Maybe other people use tablets or something to read their instructions??  I would hesitate to buy a pattern from this company that required closely following instructions because my memory of being annoyed is pretty strong.  

Despite that, and despite the careful work needed to maintain 1/4" SA (which I kind of disagree with because I think it takes away an element of safety that a SA of 3/8" provides) - these are lovely pants which exactly match the pictures.  The pockets are just barely deep enough, the pleats create nice shape, the back darts are fantastic.  It took maybe 2 hours to make these.  I'm glad I waited for just the right fabric. 

La Maison Victor Charlene sweatshirt

 SURPRISE win!!

I wasn't going to blog about this because it's just a sweatshirt.  But I think that La Maison Victor doesn't get that much press because of being a magazine.  And this pattern is stellar.  I borrowed the magazine from a knitting friend over a year ago and traced everything I thought I might like.  The actual plan was regarding a different shirt entirely, but I liked the look of this and have a scrap of velour that would be neat as a sweatshirt - sadly I can't find ribbing that suits it and it must be done with ribbing, not self fabric bindings.  Because of that, I didn't sew up the pattern at the time.  I added my seam allowance and everything.  It's size 34.

My friend Tessa is obsessed with sweatshirts right now and that's what inspired me to pull this out.  She wanted it so I traced it for her.  I have followed her obsession and acquired a bunch of sweatshirting and ribbing, which has been a bit of a learning curve - I'm not used to the stretchy characteristics of ribbing! 

 

So I made this from very bright yellow sweatshirting. I decided it was just too safety-uniform-yellow and gave it to Tessa. The waist ribbing is really tight, I plan to cut it a bit looser next time, and I can of course shorten the top a bit, no surprise. The surprise is the elegance of the neckline cut, just a bit boatneck, and the sleeves which are wide but the fantastic cuffs control them. It seemed totally ridiculous to gather the cuff end of the sleeve when you add the cuff but it totally works, like magic.  I loved this fit!  I immediately cut out my precious Japanese wool...hm, what is this stuff?  wooly sort of sweater knit, kind of.  Not much recoil in it and there are a few holes which either are from washing or were in the fabric to begin with, but make me think it's a bit fragile.  I had to wait for my bindings to arrive because I ordered two colours to choose between.  

I shortened by about 1" and did lengthen the waist binding, but I still think it's a tiny bit tight at the hem and too blousy for my taste, I suppose I'll need to keep working on that.  I'm tempted next to make it in a lighter weight fabric, and extend the size of the bottom binding even more.  Autumn is the time to make all the long sleeved shirts but I can never tell until the middle of winter which ones have become winners.  

I can say about this - because it is roomy through the shoulders and easy to pull on, it's really perfect for sweatshirting and sweater knits that are very warm and don't breathe much.  It gives you a little air circulation space while still being warm!

Peppermint mag x Elbe Textiles Bardon no. 2

 All the summer dresses were successes this year (Bardon, Summer fling, and Marcel) and I wanted to make a second version of each of them. I am, however, running out of summer too fast (it's over!)  I'm slowly relinquishing my plans to next year when I get excited about dresses again, but I managed to sneak this one in before getting distracted making sweatshirts and loungepants.  

I adore my first Bardon though it is somewhat oversized.  I was inspired to size down and make another one, seemed like nothing could go wrong.  I had made size C because of the problem of the high bust.  You're advised to use the high bust measurement instead of the bust measurement to choose your size.  Wellllll that never works for me, my high bust consists of loads of feminine muscles, so it's the same as my bust, though distributed differently.  

So this time, size B.  Same shortening: 1" off the bodice, 1" off first tier, and 2" hem.  Again I lined the bodice rather than using bias tape. The fabric is viscose and is almost certainly Dolce & Gabbana. (I bought it from an Etsy store in Ukraine, so you never know, but the quality of the print was convincing enough.)  Though in my head I often conflate viscose and rayon, the difference between my two fabrics was striking. The black rayon star print fabric is drapey and cool with a pretty tight weave, holds its shape, and has a very smooth face. This pomegranate viscose has a soft, nubbly face, a loose weave, and behaves horribly.  It was difficult to cut, and shredded fast.  As I discovered later it also stretches!

I didn't have enough to line the bodice with the same fabric, for better or worse. I used a lightweight silk cotton.  I was really happy that this adds some structure - but once the dress was done I realised how much the bodice had stretched out, as the lining was now something like 2" narrower than the dress.  I spent about a day panicking about whether I'd be able to hand sew it down.  Luckily I had been planning to do it by hand anyway, and I learnt a big lesson as I did which is that hand sewing can fix a lot.  The stitches kind of just gather the seam allowance of the bodice where I united them, meaning that there are a few more gaping spots than I would usually have, but it supports the bodice a lot and I think even with those inner gaps, it's going to be quite secure. If I'd been able to use the same fabric I would have had the trade off of less structure support, but an easier time getting the pieces to match up in that final moment. 

 

Overall the dress feels very long compared to the other one - the bodice seems long, the pockets seem low - and it may be a bit low because of the viscose stretching, but when I put them on one after the other, it is definitely smaller than my black dress.  Maybe the black one feels smaller than it is because it's oversized and hangs away from my body, whereas this one really is smaller and flows closer to me.

Though I suspected it would settle unevenly I didn't hang the dress overnight before hemming. Live on the wild side!

I'm happy about this dress...with caveats.  As an end of summer item I hope I do have chances to wear it before it's too cold.  I kind of hope it shrinks a bit in the wash but I also have the sense that it's a very fragile dress that won't last long (the black version felt like a workhorse wardrobe item, indestructible, machine washable, etc).  I was really committed to using this fabric for this dress and now I wonder what might have caused me less heartache with the fabric stretching out - I think I'll always stay stitch the bottom of my bodices from now on at least.  I can't think of anything else I would have wanted this fabric for, but it did make me think about dresses with less weight to them.  

The day I did all the hand sewing, the weather got hot and sunny and I wore it all day - I think it's also hard to love two versions of one pattern - you have to let them be different items that happen to be sort of similar - they are never exactly the same!  But I started to love this one for its own strengths and I'm really super glad I sized down - the bodice fit is really spot on.