Willandra Pants – Broad in the seams

September 28, 2020September 28, 2020

The new Torrens Box Top

You’d think that after more than a year of trying to photograph my makes, I’d be a bit better at posing or doing a good face- fear not! I’m here to prove that I’m just as un-photogenic as ever before! It probably doesn’t help that I’m always trying to have a conversation with my photographer- I popped out with a sewing friend and took some pictures of this re-drafted Torrens Box Top before heading out for a coffee!

Here I’m wearing my current favourite ‘leaving the house outfit’, my plum Willandra Pants (blogged here) and new viscose Torrens Box Top!

The Torrens Box Top got a thorough redoing when we updated the sizes recently! The neckline has been tweaked the most and the top is also a little longer. The shirt now sits perfectly in our block now and folks at the upper sizes should experience a little extra room around the hips! Even with my narrow shoulders, the neckline is still bra-strap (or Banksia Bralette strap) friendly for me, which I’m very pleased about!

Size Details: All my previous Torrens Box Tops are made in the original Size 1 sample size, but I took the opportunity to size down in line with my bust measurements, instead of my hip measurements. I made a straight Size E (which would have been a Size i in the old size chart), and my bust is 47″ and the widest part of my hip/belly area is fluctuating between 52-56″ depending on the day.

Fabric usage: I can’t say exactly how much fabric I used for this as I cut it directly from the roll, but I generally use a little over 2 metres for my sleeved Torrens Box Tops! You could use a little bit less by making the short sleeve version, and cutting your neck facings from lining fabric could save a little extra fabric if you’re caught short.

Also, these shoes are my latest love! They’re from Sevilla Smith, a business that I’ve admired from the longest time. I ordered two pairs of shoes, this being the largest (and the right choice for my feet). I find that I have a hard time finding shoes to fit when shopping in store, and because the back of these shoes doesn’t contain anything to stiffen them up, they don’t rub when wearing!

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!

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)!

May 5, 2020May 5, 2020

New Willandra Pants from Muna and Broad

The Willandra Pants are the newest pattern that Leila and I have released as Muna and Broad! These pants are our ‘fancy work pants’ and call for fabric with lots of drape.

Apologies for the over- edited photos, but I tried to lighten the pictures up so you could see my side-seams as the diagonal side seam which wraps around the body is kind of the highlight here (in addition to the extra-fancy look).

I made these pants in Maroon colours MeetMILK sanded wash tencel which I purchased from Studio of Sewing in Auckland, New Zealand. The fabric, as the name suggests, has a lovely sandwashed look and the texture is really dreamy to wear.

The tencel wasn’t slippery to sew with and it didn’t fray or stretch over my hems. That’s great news because the diagonal seam means the edge of the pants is mostly on the bias, and over-handling could lead to a lot of stretching out.

Size details:

I have a 56″ hip and I make a Size 1 in the Muna and Broad pants patterns (conveniently our sample size. These pants are definitely the most fitted of any of our pants, and I also made sure the elastic was super tight back there, as there’s nothing worse than gapey pants.

I love that these pants have the same excellent fit for me, straight out of the packet. I didn’t make any changes to the pattern other than adding bias tape around the edges of my pocket bags for some extra fanciness.

Fabric Usage:

I was able to squeeze my Size 1 pants out of 2 metres of fabric by the pattern pieces out with the fabric on the flat (not folding the fabric over to cut out two mirrored pieces at once. You could potentially achieve the same results by folding the fabric in the opposite direction to usual- one of the leg pieces is much wider than the other, and depending on your size, I think it would be a struggle to fit those across the width of the fabric