Beginner friendly plus size sewing patterns

June 19, 2020June 28, 2020

Silk Noil Waikerie Shirt

The latest pattern from Muna and Broad is the Waikerie Shirt pattern, and this here is the collarless variation (View C) with short sleeves.

I’ve avoided buttonholes for pretty much the whole time I’ve been sewing (all my pants have elastic), even though I love shirts, and finding shirts that fit both my bust and my hips was one of my biggest issues when shopping RTW!

This Waikerie Shirt is made from moss coloured silk noil from A+R Fabrics in Australia, and I love the earthy/organic look and feel of the fabric, which feels really relaxed but also super-luxe at the same time!

Although I usually make Size 1 (our M&B sample size), this time I set my base size as Size ii and graded out at the hips to a Size 1. The split hem gives a little extra room, I’m definitely pleased that I graded out at the hip and am very happy with the final size and fit.

The idea of a collarless shirt intrigued me a lot and although a lot of the inspiration I found was from vintage 80s-90s sewing pattern illustrations, I’m pleased with how modern and versatile I think this view is!

The inverted box pleat is the standard back for Views B and C, and while I also lover the look of a box pleat, I love how the inverted pleat looks so elevated here. Of course, I’m already planning more shirts (including a long shirt dress version and a cropped version)!

June 16, 2020June 28, 2020

Waikerie Shirt Test

Here’s the happy face of someone who gave the automatic button hole on her very basic Brother sewing machine just one more go, and finally managed to end up with something consistent enough to risk trying on actual clothes! I finally put buttons on 3 shirts that were otherwise fully made, that were part of my testing for a forthcoming Muna and Broad pattern, the Waikerie Shirt.

This is the test version of the forthcoming [now available] Waikerie Shirt pattern from Muna and Broad which I made in heavyweight linen from Drapers Fabrics (now sold out).

The hems on View B (this one) and View C are finished with great looking mitered corners, there’s an inner and outer yoke. There’ll be some tweaks around the collar and neck in the final pattern so it won’t look exactly like this. I love that this shirt is exactly like the linen shirt I would have purchased for myself pre-sewing, if only it had been available in my size.

Size Details: In the test range I made Size aa as my base size and graded out to Size A just below the waist. The pattern sizes range from a 44-71.5″ (112-181.5cm) Hip and if the size range is too small for you, then we’ll grade the pattern up for you.

Fabric Consumption: I’m not sure exactly how much fabric I used. but the pattern calls for about 2.3m of 150cm fabric, and since I cut my fabric on the flat I usually manage to use even less fabric than called for.

I realised after making that I didn’t make the shirt with a solid plan for what I’d be pairing this bubblegum pink number with, so I’ll need to do some experimenting to see what’s possible but trying to style this has helped me get past some of my hangups about combining linen and tencel!

May 29, 2020May 29, 2020

Marsala Merino Pembroke

I cut out this Cashmerette Pembroke and sewed it up over the course of a couple of hours last night, after many months of thinking how nice it would be to have a merino turtleneck in exactly this shade (a perfect match for my marsala linen Zadie Jumpsuit)

This Marsala Premium Merino from The Fabric Store has been burning a hole in my stash and was purchased in anticipation of being used on the winning pattern from my ‘perfect merino turtleneck throwdown‘ back in April. I got some great feedback from Jenny from Cashmerette about some changes to the pattern for my next version, but since that required printing out a new version of the pattern (I never trace), I just went ahead and made exactly the same version as when I toiled the pattern.

I sewed a pretty ‘straight-from-the-packet’ Cashmerette Pembroke I sewed a size 20 at the bust, grading out to a size 22 by the hips. Although there was a lot of wrinkling in my previous version, this merino is a lot heftier and I like the end product a lot more than I did my test version.

Sewing knit necklines is my nemisis, so sewing on a turtleneck is the perfect way to skip that headache. I can definitely see myself making at least another couple of these in a few different colours, especially since I think they’ll be perfect for layering under summery linen makes.

May 17, 2020May 17, 2020

Nullarbor Cami

Nullabor Cami — A rayon Nullarbor Cami and tencel Glebe Pants

Today we’ve released our Nullarbor Cami and Dress Pattern for pre-sale!

Leila and I have got lots of patterns in the works right now, and this cami top and dress is one of them. There’s 3 views in this pattern: a cami cut on the straight grain, a bias cut cami and a bias cut dress and the great thing is that the pattern takes so little fabric!

I made this bias cut cami from 1 metre of a 150cm wide remnant! I’m also planning to make a bias cut dress which will only use 2 metres of 150cm wide fabric for my size.

The cami has bra-friendly straps, if you care about that kind of thing and I’m keeping my eyes open for remnants of fabric, whereas before I really thought there wasn’t much I could do with a metre of fabric!

I just popped together an email newsletter for the Muna and Broad subscribers, and they’ve received a discount code to get the pattern. Sign up here to get the code!

May 6, 2020May 6, 2020

Maai Design Willandra Pants

These Willandra Pants in deep-stash tencel from Maai Design is my third pair of Willandra Pants.

I actually won this tencel in a giveaway over a year ago, and I was so excited when it arrived and I waited and waited for the perfect pattern came along, and in the end I pushed away my thoughts about ‘pants shouldn’t be light colours’ (after all, my most worn pants are natural coloured linen Glebe Pants)! and cut in to this gorgeous fabric.

Fabric Use:
I think I had won about 2 metres of this fabric, but it was a very generous cut of fabric. I know I can squeeze a pair of these our of 2 metres of 150cm wide fabric (but I might need to piece together the waistband rather than cut it on the fold), so I’ve got enough of this fabric left for a wee scrap-buster project.

I’m using Me Made May to take daily outfit photos and I’ve pledged to wear no repeat outfits for the month. I’m excited to use the challenge to explore pairing my pants with different (and perhaps surprising colour combinations)!