January 2021 – Broad in the seams

January 24, 2021January 24, 2021

Sunday Plus-Size Pattern Roundup #36

Welcome to the plus-size pattern roundup for this week.

The roundup is ordered by the the largest size the pattern is available (starting with the largest first). You can see all of the posts that are part of the Plus-Size Pattern Roundup series here and you can see all the patterns from previous roundups which are available over a 60″ hip.

Number 1, Remy Raglan Top

The Remy Raglan Top from Sew House 7 is available up to a 61.5″ bust and 65″ hip.

This top is designed for woven fabrics, like lightweight linen.

Number 2, Jackson Tee and Pullover

The Jackson Tee and Pullover from Helen’s Closet is a new gender-neutral design, which is available up to a 60″ bust and 62″ hip

Number 3, Dress Shirt

The Dress Shirt from Merchant & Mills is available up to a 55″ bust and 57.5″ hip

Number 4, Darlow Pants

The Darlow Pants from In The Folds is available up to a 54 3/4″ hip

January 23, 2021January 23, 2021

Huon in Seersucker Gingham

Not my usual colour-scheme, this seersucker gingham was love at first sight, but I wish past me had purchased maybe 30cm more fabric!

The Muna and Broad Huon Shirt & Dress is currently 10% off for Huon Week (which finishes on the 24th of January)! You can use the code HUONWEEK for 10% off.

I’ve been rushing against the clock to finish this dress before the end of Huon Week, and house-sitting and other work almost meant that I missed my entirely arbitrarily set deadline! The hidden placket here removed a lot of stress and the buttonholes were actually the first thing I sewed here, and even though they were a little bit ugly, I just left them because they’re not visible on the final garment.

The darkest blue checks here have a subtle seersucker which adds a lovely texture to the dress in person, but which is a little bit imperceptible in these photos. If I’d had just a little bit extra fabric then I would have cut out the long sleeves. Because of fabric constraints I cut cropped long sleeves, and gathered them into a binding just below the elbow. The proportions looked really off, but I didn’t have enough fabric to cut the short sleeve bands. So, I tried fininishing the edges of the arm-hole with binding (looked ridiculous), and eventually ended up cutting out my short-sleeves so they have a seam at the shoulder (did you notice)?

I made Size E for this Huon, which matches to my bust measurement. I think that if I had my time over, I’d actually print the F or G (which matches better to my hip measurement) so I could be even more luxurious clothed in big-old-gathers.

Happy Huon Week!

January 23, 2021January 24, 2021

Online Fabric Shops in New Zealand

Here’s a little roundup of NZ fabric stores where you can shop online to buy fabrics appropriate for garment sewing! I’m always trying to buy as locally as possible, and shipping from overseas can be agonising (both in terms of wait time and cost), so shopping close to home (and in your own currency) is a great alternative.

I’ve made my favourite shops bold! These are shops that I’ve shopped with and would wholeheartedly recommend!

Updated: 24/1/2021

Ackroyd & Adams (based in Auckland)

They have a selection of different fabrics including merino and cotton knits, denim, cottons and linens

Angel Fabrics (based in Auckland)

They have a selection of knit fabrics suitable for underwear, dance wear, and swimwear.

AS Fabrics (based in NZ)

They have a small selection of fabrics (lot of polyester) which are leftovers from Annah Stretton’s factory. They actually charge more for postage the more fabric you order.

Backstreet Bargains (based in Hamilton)

They have a variety of fabrics at very decent prices. They have a system on their website for requesting samples, which you pay for, but I’ve also had luck getting free samples by emailing the store (either way, the samples are very small)

January 18, 2021January 18, 2021

Fat ramblings on this most worn Huon Shirt.

Muna and Broad is celebrating the Huon Shirt & Dress pattern until the 24th of January, and you can get 10% off the pattern with the code HUONWEEK until then. I thought that meant it was a good time to take some more pictures of my Atelier Brunette viscose Huon Shirt, which gets a tonne of wear.

There’s something about the Huon Shirt that makes me feel quite ‘elevated’, and although I initially thought I would mostly wear this voluminous top-half with more tapered pants, it most frequently gets paired with these natural linen Glebe Pants. Indeed, this is the exact outfit that I wore for my birthday dinner to a tasty local restaurant!

I know that there are a lot of ‘unwritten’ (and indeed people on the internet and in real life) espousing style rules, like if you’re wearing something wide on the bottom, then you need to wear something more fitted on the top to ‘balance’ your body. Often those style rules come from a place of fatphobia- wearing wide-leg pants and then highlighting your waist with a tight top can be a bit like saying ‘don’t worry, the pants aren’t hiding anything, look how thin I am right here at my waist’.

The more I wear this exact silhouette, the more it feels natural. Like getting used to a new haircut, you need to keep wearing the shape until it no longer looks foreign to you, and only then can you actually judge whether you like it. When I wear this relaxed combination I feel put-together, I feel like I am reflecting who I feel that I am, but I also also feel comfortable (I’m not constantly picking at or adjusting my clothes).

January 17, 2021January 16, 2021

Sunday Plus-Size Pattern Roundup #35

It’s that time of the week again!
The roundup is ordered by the size range of the company, and you can see all of the posts that are part of the Plus-Size Pattern Roundup series here. You can also see all the patterns from previous roundups which are available over a 60″ hip.

Number 1, Heather Blazer

The new Heather Blazer from Friday Pattern Co. is available up to a 60″ bust and 63″ hip.

The pattern has just launched this week, and is currently on sale.

Number 2, Dulcie Pinafore

The Dulcie Pinafore from Jennifer Lauren Handmade is available up to a 61.5″ bust and 62.5″ hip, and comes in cup-sizes C-F (with an F Cup being a 4 7/8″ difference between Full and High bust)

Number 3, Papao Wrap Pants

The Papao Wrap Pants from Ready To Sew are available up to a 59.4″ hip

Number 4, Victory Tank

The Victory Tank from Chalk & Notch is available up to a up to a 59″ hip and 58″ bust