My style-prediction for southern hemisphere summer is ‘European Summer Holiday Vibes’. Breezy, woven, natural-fibre clothes which have a slightly fancier edge. Think things you could throw on over togs when heading to the beach, but which are nice enough to wear to sunny afternoon drinks.
The kind of clothes you’d pack for a summer vacay on the European coast. Think Daniel Craig’s seersucker two-piece swimsuit from Glass Onion, Aubrey Plaza’s wardrobe in White Lotus (particularly this vintage dress and this striped shirt). Neutral coloured linens and crisp shirtings, pleated pants but relaxed shirts, there’s matching sets and plenty of elastic-waisted wide-leg pants.
The striped shirt is the obvious starting point, and I saw it coming when I set up this Summer Stripe Pinterest Board. Crisp shirting in vertical stripes (lots of white and cream as the neutral shade).
No exact dupe patterns but Quincy from Jennifer Lauren, Naomi from StyleArc, Wildwood Wrap Dress or Melba from Muna and Broad all have aspects of the inspo.
I think we’ll be seeing a lot of relaxed-fit shirts in fun summery prints (probably with matching pants or shorts).
I love to find an exact fabric match- it’s much easier with prints than it is with solid fabrics. Use this cotton shirting for an exact fabric match with Romey from Sew House 7, or Huon from Muna and Broad
Whether it’s excellent straight line holes or broderie anglaise holes, what says summer more than fabric with holes in it?
Make a shirt or a shirt dress (lots of links above) or a boxy top like Augustina (free), Torrens (extended sizes), or Square Neck Top,
If you’re thinking about sewing big shirts, this is the roundup for you! This season I’m feeling inspired by relaxed fit, natural fibre shirts- they’re 1 part fancy and 1 part sun protection!
Let’s kick off with the Oversized Shirt from The Assembly Line- it’s all in the name! You can also purchase a pack of different shaped collars separately.
Available up to 139cm (54″.5″) hip
For Big Shirt Energy, the Lobethal Shirt from Muna and Broad. This lets you skip making a collar and has excellently sized pockets.
Available up to 182cm (71.5″) hip (but will grade up if sizing is too small to include you for no extra cost)
The Cornell Shirt from Elbe Textiles is a casual, oversized shirt with drop shoulder and a grandpa collar which is designed for unisex wearing.
The Olya Shirt and Shirtdress from Paper Theory Patterns has a great oversized look and fancy breast pockets that are cleverly constructed into the front. I feel like everyone who makes this raves about the clever drafting which makes this an especially fun sew to sink your teeth into.
Available up to 146cm (57.5″) hip
The Bloom Shirt & Dress from Make by TFS has 3 collar options, which includes some very unique collars!
Available up to 159cm (62.5″) hip but will grade up or down if you’re outside of their size range.
The Ellworth from Merchant & Mills is an An oversized, boxy shirt with a dropped back hem and half placket.
Christchurch-makers are headed to see the Barbie Movie this Saturday, so what better time to round up some patterns & fabric to replicate some looks!
The Upton Dress from Cashmerette gives you a wide range of sizes and cup-size options on a princess seam dress and Sew Over It has a few vintage-vibe dress patterns. Charm Patterns has a Patreon-only pattern which is an exact dupe for this dress!
Be just Ken! Embrace fringing on a cowboy-style shirt with the Patsy Blouse from Charm Patterns. It comes in 2 size ranges, sleeved and sleeveless options, and many other options too.
Elbe Textiles’ Serpentine Hat is great for making your own summery hat!
Embrace nautical T-shirt vibes with Tarlee T-Shirt (up to 64″ (162cm) from Muna and Broad, Concord T-Shirt (up to 62” (157cm) bust) from Cashmerette, or the Gable Top (up to 62″ (157cm) bust) from Jennifer Lauren Handmade, or a free t-shirt from Closet Core (up to 60″ (152cm) bust).
Duplicate this puff sleeve dress with the Cloud Dress from Sewing by Masin, the Gracie Wrap Dress from Chch-based (I think) The Bold One, or ZW Soft Blouse from Birgitta Helmersson.
As of July, quite a few single-use plastic items have been banned by the NZ government (read more here: https://environment.govt.nz/publications/plastic-products-banned-from-july-2023/). Single-use plastic tableware and cutlery, single-use plastic drinking straws, and single-use plastic produce bags will no longer be available.
Maybe you had already come up with your own solutions to avoid reaching for the single-use plastics, but if not here’s some DIY solutions, like sewing your own reusable produce bags!
Reusable veggie bags
You can absolutely sew your own reusable produce bags- if you’ve got an overlocker, they’re super quick!
You can also sew a set of opaque produce bags (maybe an organic cotton, if you’re so inclined)- if they’re heavier than those sheer fabrics, write the ‘tare weight’ (the weight of the bag to deduct from the product at the store) onto the bag with a permanent marker and let your cashier know.
You can see that this one has room for a reusable straw, so you can avoid double-handling and whip up this 1 set to carry everything!
If, like me, you were using those single-use produce bags for multiple uses- storing your produce in the fridge in them… then it’s time to look for an alternative!
I also spotted these french terry produce bags which are designed for you to wet and then store things in! Could be an interesting use for leftover sweatshirt bits!
Want to get printing?
Email your PDF pattern files through to hello@chchsews.com to get started. A0 printing is $6 per sheet.
‘The Alistra Dress is a body skimming, long sleeved column dress designed for larger bodies.’
Grove Coat
The Grove Coat from Twig and Tale can be purchased in Size ranges 0-22 or 14-38 (up to a 72″ or 183cm hip).
‘The Grove features a unique darted saddle sleeve, and a beautifully-faced pleated lining. A generous hood to keep raindrops and wind off, deep pockets for stashing treasures, and a relaxed comfortable fit that is ready for adventure.’
Helmi Blouse
The Helmi Blouse from Forget Me Not Patterns comes with a Peter Pan collar and ruffled stand collar, and has a bishop sleeve in several lengths. There are bust and back darts to give tailoring and small, medium and full bust fits to help dial in the fit.
Johari Shirt
The Johari Shirt from Liam by Ruby is an oversized drop-shoulder shirt with an exaggerated collar and sleeve cuffs that button into tucks.
We heard this was a juicy sew for confident makers because there’s no notches to help with the collar application!
Emmie Tee
The Emmie Tee from Dunedin-based Jennifer Lauren Handmade is a relaxed tee with a grown-on sleeve.
‘Emmie comes complete with two bodice versions – plain or slashed, as well as two different bodice lengths and a long sleeved pattern piece for those of us heading into the cooler months.’
[A] ‘playful voluminous silhouette and raglan sleeve, gathered at the neckline and cuff… a cuffed full length sleeve, or an elasticated short sleeve… The pattern can be cut as a dress, finishing at mid-calf, or as a top, finishing at low hip’
Want to get printing?
Email your PDF pattern files through to hello@chchsews.com to get started. A0 printing is $6 per sheet.
It’s been chilly down here in the South Island- the perfect time to sew a sweatshirt! I whipped up a matching set over the easter long weekend (peep them here), and realised that I’d never given you a roundup of all the sweaters living in my head!
Blueprints for Sewing
The Stadium (left in green) and the Geodesic (right in orange), both are available up to a 60″ (152.4cm) bust and 61″ (154.9cm) hip.
I recently made a Stadium and used the included lettering templates to add some merino felt lettering to the front of my sweater. The felt came from The Felt Factory (here in NZ) and you can watch some of my process here.
Talvikki Sweater
The Named Clothing Talvikki Sweater is an elevated funnel with a high-low hem which is available up to a 50″ (128cm) bust and 53.5″ (142cm) hip.
Delicious ponte in NZ?
Ponte or ponti de roma fabric is a soft and sturdy double-knit material which can make for an excellently elevated sweater. Usually with great structure and quite resistant to pilling, it’s most often found in polyester form. You can occasionally find ponte which is mostly rayon/viscose, or sometimes even the holy grail of ponte: wool ponte!
The Ready To Sew Jocko Pullover has a similar high-low hem to the Talvikki but with a few different neckline options.
It’s available up to a 48″ (143cm) bust and 50″ hip (129cm)
Maggi
The Melilot patterns Maggi Unisex Sweater is a raglan sleeve sweater which is available up to a 62″ (158cm) bust (same in hip since this is a straight-up-and-down Unisex design)1
Sweatshirting in NZ?
I’m never not hunting for natural fibre sweatshirting in NZ, and I’m a bit of a purist- I really don’t want any polyester in my sweatshirting. If that sounds like you, then here’s some links for you!
Most of my sweater knits from from the Fabric Stash from factory NZ Facebook page. I can’t link you to specific fabrics because limited pre-cut fabrics get launched Monday-Wednesday each week. There’s not always sweater knits, but when it comes it comes all at once.
Enid Sweater
The Jennifer Lauren Handmade Enid Sweater is designed to look like a cute vintage knitted sweater, but which will be much faster to make!
The Enid is available up to a 49″ (124.5cm) bust and 53″ (134.5cm) hip
More Sweaters
LB Pullover from Paper Theory (up to 57.5″ (146cm) hip)
Cloud Sweater from Make by TFS (up to 62.8″ (159.5cm) hip)
Marlo Sweater from True Bias (up to 59.5″ (151cm) hip)
In which I find RTW garments and recommend patterns and/or fabrics to duplicate it!
The dupe in this means duplicate rather than to be tricked by. Although, I suppose if the pattern and fabric match I recommend is a good enough match then you might trick people into thinking you purchased this exact look, thereby duping them?
Since then, I’ve spotted even more RTW garments that use it! I really like it as a shirt- especially the relaxed camp collar paired with silk! If you’re looking for shirt recommendations check out all my shirt roundups! I would dupe this with my go-to Waikerie Shirt but you could also use Helen’s Closet’s Gilbert Top.
The silk top above has a knit neckline, so it’s kind of like a woven t-shirt. Dupe it with Merchant and Mills’ woven Tee Shirt pattern (which has a knit neck) or skip the casual neck with a woven shell top like Cashmerette’s Montrose Top or Grainline’s Scout Tee.
I’ve made a point to include some pointelle since I’ve been seeing a lot of it popping up recently. OTY Fabrics in NZ has some cute pointelle fabric and there’s a $12 per metre merino with subtle pinholes from Nick’s Fabrics in Auckland.
It’s getting towards cosy time and if you’re not keen for a self-quilting extravaganza then you can duplicate this quilted outer with pre-quilted fabric!
Mornings are getting chillier down here in Christchurch, and there’s pears and apples and walnuts falling almost everywhere on my daily jaunts out-and-about with the dog. What a great time to roundup some autumn-inspired blog posts from years past!
Big Pocket Patterns
I purposefully mention nature’s bounty as we head into autumn- I keep finding blackberries and walnuts on my walks, but you really do need some big pockets (and several of them) to capture everything.
What better time of the year to be quilting an outer layer?! The project will keep you cosy while you’re sewing it and then you’ll be wearing it in time for winter!
Will the shacket still be the perfect look for this winter? Even if they’re not in the shops, they can still be on your body through the power of sewing!
After soaking my fabrics for 20-minutes (more info on that here), I cracked on with the next steps!
Set up the equipment
It helped to have everything set up so that once the soaking was done, I was ready to go.
The corrugated cardboard collars needed to be taped to stay in its circular form and it would have been more useful if I had cut them higher so that they acted as a barrier for even more ice.
I used 1 bag of ice, which I had crushed on the ground (still in the bag) to separate the ice cubes as much as possible. I could/should have used more to totally cover the fabrics. If you sprinkle the powdered dye directly onto the fabric then you get powder dye spots rather than the renaissance cloud texture of the ice dye.
Note: I did not use gloves for any step because I’m a rebel, but the inside of my fingernails are still showing the dye colours… You should also use a mask while handling the dye powder.
The fun part: dyeing
Of course, the best part of this project is sprinkling the Procion MX powdered dye onto the ice!
Wearing a mask, sprinkle your Procion PX dye over the ice with a spoon. You can add multiple colours, but remember that neighbouring colours will blend together as they melt. That may or may not make colours that you enjoy.
Keep your colour-theory in mind when choosing colours to put onto the same fabric, as the blending of your colours could give you muddy browns which might not be what you were aiming for.
Colour splitting with the dye powder
Once of the luck-of-the-draw things about ice dyeing is the colour split that happens! You can see in the pictures below that there are spots of yellow and blue and pinks and burgundy- this is from a selection of colours that were all pinks and warm blacks and browns. Basically, each powdered dye is made up of lots of other colours of powder, and within a burgundy dye pot you might get specks of yellow and blue and other colours (you know, because of that whole primary colours making other colours thing)!
So, although I guessed some colour combos that I thought would be nice together, it was also quite nice to watch those sub-colours popping out as the dyes split. I think this happened more when the powder touched the fabric directly (instead of melting with the ice), so you can lean into it if you would like.
Time to wait!
Then you need to wait patiently for your ice to melt. Keep your ice out of the sun though as having it melt too quickly can change affect your results! I waited overnight for my ice to melt and came back the following morning to take the next steps- stay tuned!
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