Beginner friendly plus size sewing patterns

September 10, 2020September 10, 2020

Waikerie and Willandra plums

This Willandra Pants and Waikerie Shirt combos is one of my favourite (and most worn) outfit combinations.
Muna and Broad is celebrating a Willandra Pants this week as it seemed like a perfect time to revisit this pattern, which we unfortunately released right in the middle of lockdown- just at the time where nobody was thinking about sewing slightly elevated pants which are a little bit elevated and perfect for workwear.

Size Details: I sewed a Size 1 in the Willandra Pants (New Size F), and my Waikerie Shirt is a Size i (New Size E). Not all of the patterns in the range are available in the updated size range, but I included the conversion so that when they are changed over, this info will still be relevant.

Fabric Consumption: My View B of the Waikerie Shirt uses about 2 metres of 150cm wide fabric (so long as your fabric doesn’t have a right or wrong side or a directional print), and I squeezed these Willandra Pants from 2 metres of 150cm wide fabric. This was a tight squeeze with fabric tetris but I got away without needing to cut my pockets from lining fabric.

The Willandra Pants have a flat front and elastic back. They have a unique diagonal side seam which was inspired by RTW pants (which weren’t available in plus sizes). These pants feature a diagonal side seam which wraps around the body, and the pockets are built in to the side seam with a unique and tidy finish.

The Waikerie Shirt comes with multiple views- this one is finished with mitered edges and I changed the back from an inverted pleat to a classic ‘menswear shirt style pleat’- I love that style of pleat in shirts. Not pictured, the inside yoke is from white linen and I’ve popped a Stitch Collective label in there too!

You might not know that Muna and Broad has been my full-time job/main source of income for a little over 2-months now! It’s amazing to be able to work on this passion project (especially at a time when my health would make it difficult for me to work in an office every day)!

In celebration of our Willandra Week Muna and Broad email newsletter subscribers get a 10% off discount code and if you’re a Maker or Insider supporter on the Muna and Broad Patreon, you’ll have a 15% off discount code to use whenever the mood strikes!

September 4, 2020September 9, 2020

Huon Dress in Sister Mintaka

The Huon Shirt & Dress is the latest release from Leila and I through Muna and Broad– we’ve been talking about this one and going back and forth for quite some time so it’s great to finally have it out in the world!

Sandeep from Sister Mintaka let us both choose fabric for our sample garments for this release, and this fabric was an absolute delight. I love the bold colour! I think this slub has sold out since it arrived, but it has a great weight and is a delight to wear.

Size info: I made Size E, which matches to my bust measurement (but not my hip measurement). I knew there’d be lots of room, and since the side-seams are straight, it’s best to avoid grading out in the underarm, since it would change the shape quite a bit (especially if you were grading between multiple sizes). My current measurements are 47″ bust 40″ waist and 52″ hip

I like the drama of this dress as it is, but I’ve also experimented with belting it, which I like too, but which feels less ‘me’!

September 2, 2020September 2, 2020

Huon Shirt in Sister Mintaka

The Huon Shirt and Dress is the latest pattern release from Leila and I through Muna and Broad.

I’ve wanted a gathered shirt like this for the longest time but could never find the right pattern, and if I found something close then it was inevitably never in my size!

This top was inspired by French artist smocks, and much like our other patterns, it’s oversized and quite dramatic.

We were really thrilled to work with Sandeep from Sister Mintaka fabric on this release. Leila and I both got to choose the fabrics we wanted to make our sample garments from out of the gorgeous Sister Mintaka collection. For my shirt, I knew I wanted this viscose from Atelier Brunette- I find that the Atelier Brunette viscose fabric is a bit thin, but the colours here are gorgeous.

The gathered back of the Huon is where the real magic happens (for me, at least)- I love how the gathers lay and how they look. The pattern calls for lightweight fabric so that you get gorgeous gathers than hang nicely. This is especially dramatic in the dress version of the pattern!

The Huon has a hidden button placket which is constructed (and the buttonholes done) as part of the first step. I love this because even though I’m a bit more comfortable with buttonholes than I was 3 months ago- it really doesn’t matter if you make ugly buttonholes, or if they’re so ugly that you want to start again- just cut another placket. You could even cut the placket from totally different fabric because it’s entirely hidden once constructed!

This is something a little different from our other Muna and Broad patterns, but it’s so great to have it out in the world!

August 23, 2020August 23, 2020

Mustard Nullarbor Cami

The Nullarbor Cami and Dress is a pattern that I pestered Leila for for the longest time, because I knew it was a basic which was missing from the fat sewing pattern back catalogue. I knew because folks often emailed me to ask for recommendations and there weren’t many. There certainly weren’t many that were beginner-friendly plus-size cami patterns that were drafted with larger cup-sizes and bodies in mind.

The Nullarbor takes less than a metre of fabric in many of the sizes, and the dress takes about 2 metres of 150cm wide fabric at my size (I’m in about the middle of the size range). The pattern is finished with a facing, which conveniently tidies away the straps and ensures a neat finish all the way round.

Size details: I have a 48″ bust, 40″ waist and 52″ hip and made Size 1. I probably should have made the changes to the pattern for narrow shoulders, as I know that’s a common fit issue for me, but what I might do instead is to size down to a couple of sizes so that I’m choosing the size based on my bust measurement, instead of my hip measurement. This might bring the shoulders in enough for me, and also bring the underarms up a little higher. The fit of the cami is supposed to be very relaxed, and not at all tight or ‘close to the body’.

Fabric: I used a remnant from The Fabric Store of their Dijon coloured crepe, which was approximately a metre long. I bought it on a whim and then got it home and realised that I might well never be able to make anything from it for my body (plus size patterns are notoriously hungry). You could use even less fabric than suggested by making the facing from a different fabric, which makes this a great piece for leftovers. You could conceivably pop an extra half a metre in your cart when shopping for pants and make the cami from the leftovers (great for a faux jumpsuit).

Here, I’m wearing the Nullarbor Cami with canvas Sculthorpe Pants and my chartreuse linen Waikerie Dress (View C with added collar and long sleeves), which I’ve been wearing as a duster!

August 17, 2020August 17, 2020

Waikerie Dress View C

It’s still winter down here in New Zealand, but I braved the chilly weather to take some socially distanced photos!

This is View C of the Waikerie Dress from Muna and Broad with the collar added and long sleeves.

Size details: Size F is my usual size in Muna and Broad Patterns (was previously called Size 1), but I cut my Waikerie Shirt to Size E and graded out to Size F at the hips because I could, and because it made sense with my narrow shoulders. But, the Waikerie Dress pieces I cut in a Size F. To make the pieces work, my back pleat is just a little fuller than the pattern was necessarily intended for.

This dress has generous pockets and a great shape and I’ve really been enjoying wearing it as a duster outer over pants and tops! It works great as a versatile capsule wardrobe piece!

Fabric details: This is Charetreuse Linen from The Fabric Store. It’s no longer available online (they’ve replaced their original linen with Vintage Finish Linen or Heavyweight Linen options) but I found and purchased this in-store. I had some fabric left from 3 metres, but I cut on the open and with a lot of pattern tetris!

As a total aside, I don’t care for the look of the Vintage Finish Linen as it has a bit more drape, looks a bit less crisp and the colours are also less saturated. Overall it’s skewing away from the structured look you can still achieve with linen with a bit of heft and getting closer to something vintagey, which is not really of interest to me. They’re also no longer selling my favourite Marsala coloured linen- but I’ve found that the Rhubarb linen from A+R Fabrics in Aus is a pretty close match.

I love working with Leila to put these patterns out- this dress is exactly the relaxed linen dress that I wanted to buy, but couldn’t find and got in to sewing in order to make, before discovering that nobody was making relaxed patterns in my size either!

Although sometimes our ideas for pattern releases start from pretty simple impulses, like ‘we need a bra-friendly cami that takes not much fabric!’, to ‘what about a bralette?’, we’re also trying to fill our own wardrobes (and hopefully yours) with great-fitting patterns which fill a gap!