I’m posting a little out of order here since I sewed these before the broderie anglaise tee! I’ll start off with the Bob trousers since I actually made these first – at the start of June, but then it was far too hot to actually wear them for a photoshoot…
Red ramie Bob trousers
If you recall, I’ve sewn the StyleArc Bob trousers twice before – first in brown linen, and then again in black linen. The black linen was far too thin and those wore out way too fast, but the brown Raystitch linen lasted much longer (such great quality!) but even they have been declared dead after multiple patches on the inner thighs and hips.
They surprisingly still fit well, apart from being a little too tight in the hips (goes to show how oversized these are when you can gain 20+ cm and they still fit!), so I didn’t bother to print a different size – instead, opting to adjust the pattern I had. I used the full belly adjustment in the Cashmerette book “Ahead of the Curve” to add 2cm to the front pieces (4cm total) because I didn’t want to spend the energy printing off a whole new size when most of the pattern still fits.
I stocked up on my favourite ramie fabric when Textile Express had a sale – this time in burgundy, 3m at £14/m (20% off of that, so £33.60 in total). I’ve stopped counting the number of times I’ve used this fabric for trousers and shorts – it’s just the perfect bottom weight fabric and wears like iron. I adore it.
I’d previously added a bunch of length to the legs of these, and taken length out of the front crotch, so those alterations were already here too. The only other pattern alteration I did was to extend the inseam pocket up to the waistband seam so I could anchor it there. I find this makes the pockets hang more nicely (when I remember to do this).
This is a very straightforward pattern to sew – the uniqueness is all in the subtle drafting. This is a great workhorse pattern and it brings me back up to three trousers I can fit into (along with the Bellevue jeans and my khaki Pietras).
My only change to my usual trouser sewing technique was that I only anchored the elastic inside the waistband at four points instead of all the way around inside – this is so I can more easily remove and tighten the elastic as I lose the Long Covid weight in future. 🤞
Naked ladies Block Tee
While I was buying the above ramie in the Textile Express sale, I couldn’t say no to this cheeky fabric! It’s got cartoon naked ladies all over it, and is 100% cotton, bought on sale for £5/m (so a tenner total for the top).
I used the Paper Theory Block Tee pattern here, which I’d made once before (but it’s now a bit too tight). I printed out a new size (size 20), which the largest on my old version of this pattern – but it now goes up to size 28.
This is quite a boxy woven tee pattern, where the sleeves join the front and back in square, inset corners. I’m very proud of my inset corners here, awfully sharp, thanks to some targeted interfacing and judicious marking.
I remembered I didn’t like the neck binding technique in this pattern so I widened the bias neck band piece and sewed on a narrow bias edge instead.
This didn’t use the full 2m that I bought, so I’ve got enough leftover to use for pocket linings and things for future projects where I just need to insert a bit of whimsy!
I’d been saving this project to sew while I watch videos and chat to friends during the annual Sewing Weekender, and it was a perfect easy project to sew while I chatted with Sue and Elizabeth and watched some videos!
