The Helene Selvedge Jeans pattern has been a long awaited one. Over lockdown I watched Anna Allen’s Instagram posts closely as she shared pair after pair of amazing jeans, she was making herself. I knew she was planning to release them, but as usual wanted …
To get myself back into sewing again I needed a quick project, I chose the Twig and Tale Sunny Hat. It’s been a while since I’ve sewn anything, with a new baby I’ve been quite busy. She has just started napping for longer periods of …
I’m back with a bump! And it’s a big one… turns out as I get bigger none of my trousers fit, who knew! My love for fitted high waisted trousers, shorts and skirts has not worked out well during pregnancy. I knew exactly what I needed, comfy stretchy maternity leggings!
For this pattern I thought I would have to adjust an existing pattern, but when I went to the Makerist site I found a great maternity selection. For previous maternity garments I have made, I have tried to pick a versatile pattern that can be worn and used after I’ve given birth. But for the leggings I needed something tight that would cover my whole bump. That’s when I found the Makerist Maternity Leggings Pattern.
This pattern is great and super simple, it has just 2 pattern pieces. The leg piece and the yoke or belly band piece. Because it was so simple and also made of jersey I decided to go straight in with my real fabric and make any adjustments as I went along. I chose a plain black jersey with 4 way stretch. The maternity leggings pattern comes with a handy stretch guide that you can print out and use to measure the stretch percentage of the fabric. The leg panels are quite wide as they encompass the whole leg with just an inside leg seam. As it was stretch, I made everything on my overlocker, and it was a really quick sew.
I made a size Medium and have worn them from 4 – 7 month pregnant so far. I didn’t end up making any adjustments, at first the waist was a bit loose, but I knew I would be constantly growing and they would fit me soon enough. One thing with the pattern is that it didn’t mention how much elastic to add, or the width, so I just ended up guessing and using some elastic I had in my stash.
These Maternity Leggings are so high waisted they can basically tuck into my bra, absolutely perfect. But as I’m not going to be pregnant for much longer I’m not sure if I’d need another pair. I have considered making a pair of cycling shorts.
As usual if you want to buy anything from the Makerist website you can use my code ruby-rose-15 for 15% off
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Thanks For reading
Ruby x
The Anthea Blouse is here!! Again I have taken part of the pattern testing process for Anna Allen Clothing’s newest garment – the Anthea Blouse. A versatile pattern that comes with 2 different versions, dress and blouse and 2 sleeve lengths. If you’ve read my …
I recently took part in the testing process for Sewing Patterns by Masin for the launch of her new pattern, the Tulia Tee. This is a unisex jersey t-shirt with an oversized fit. It only has one view in the pattern but is open for …
Recently I was asked to be part of the pattern testing process for Anna Allen Clothing’s latest garment – the Pomona Pants. It is a versatile pattern that comes with 3 different views, shorts, wide trousers, and tapered trousers. I love Anna Allen’s patterns, they are just my aesthetic, relaxed styles that always have different views and are easy to hack. The previous blog post here featured the Demeter Dress, which I also helped test.
I feel like my sewing has generally improved so much due to testing patterns, I have to read the instructions carefully and follow along step by step.
When I agreed to test the pattern I had a holiday planned for the end of the week, which meant I had limited time to get the pattern made up and reviewed for Anna. I decided to make the shorts version so I’d have something new to wear on holiday. But of course, with Corvid 19 my holiday was canceled but I have a lovely pair of isolation shorts to wear!
As the Pomona Pants pattern has an elasticated waist Anna advised us to use the measurement chart and pick the size based on hip size, as our widest part still needs to fit through the waist, which stretches to the same size as the hips. So I decided on a standard US size 6, as generally my hips are a bit larger and my waist slimmer than average.
I chose to use this lovely vintage fabric that my mum found in the back of a cupboard. Because I was in a rush due to my booked holiday I decided to skip making a toile and start straight on the final version. I had so much fabric if it failed completely I had loads more. This pattern is a simple one, as it has no side seams and a grown-on waistband it is just one main pattern piece and then a piece for the pocket. Therefore it was a pretty quick make, and I completed it in under 2 hours. I love the run and fell style seams.
So size 6 called for 30 inches of elastic, I sewed the waistband and formed a casing for the elastic. I then fed the elastic through using a safety pin to create something to grip as I passed it through. This tool is also recommended for thread elastic and ribbons available here
Once threaded I pinned it together and tried it on. I then decided to take the elastic in and ended up taking about 3 inches out of it and now they fit perfectly.
One thing I would say is that as there are no side seams if you needed to make your own adjustments it would be a little trickier as taking in the inner seam is harder to do without messing up the crotch.
One of the design features I particularly like is the fake run and fell seams that have the 2 lines of topstitching. This looks great but the busy fabric I chose means it is lost. Since this blog post, I have made a version in plain fabric. This really showcases detail, you can see it on my Instagram here. Made using this denim with jeans-style topstitching.
I’d also like to try the trousers version, Anna Allen made a beautiful canvas version of the tapered trousers here. Also a lovely silk version here. The pattern is available now, you can purchase it on Anna Allen’s Website
I’d love to hear if any of you make the Pomona Pants or Shorts – send me links in the comments
Be sure to subscribe to my blog up on the right, you’ll then get not-so-regular updates from me. It really helps me create great content, I can’t do it without your support
Thanks For reading
Ruby
