Silk Medlow Robe

The Medlow Robe is the latest pattern from Leila and I at Muna and Broad! I knew I was going to be making this up in silk, which I assumed would be tricky to cut out, tricky to sew, and tricky to photograph…. No pressure!

Not sure if you can tell from the pictures below, but I actually had a relatively pain-free experience, and I’m THRILLED with the results!

Pattern details: Okay, so I’m obviously biased here since I get a say in what the pattern looks like, but some things that I love about the Medlow include:

• The back neck has a curved seam (same as the Belmore Jacket) which lets the neckline sit flush with my rounded back neck/hump and stops cool breezes from entering- Genius!
• DEEP Pockets are a delight for hankies (keeping it real), your phone, snacks.. They’re deep enough to carry actual stuff.
• The waist-tie is sewn on at the back. I don’t know about you, but I’m forever losing un-attached waist ties. Or dragging them on the ground, tripping on them, accidentally draping them into the toilet.. Well, this is not a problem here.
• The long length of this robe adds to the luxury- I could absolutely fold myself up on the couch and arrange the robe over my legs so that I was entirely covered, but it’s not long enough that I’d be dragging it in mud if I was somehow outside and near mud. You could shorten it if you want something shorter, but I’m not really sure why you’d want that.

The Medlow is available in the standard M&B sizes, 40-64″ (102-162cm) Bust and 41.5-71.5″ (105-182cm) Hip, and Leila will grade up if the sizes are too small to accommodate you, etc. etc.

My measurements: My current measurements are a 54″ low hip and I’m 57″ at my roundest point (around my belly). I am relatively short through the body, and have narrow shoulders compared to my other measurements.

Size details: I made a Size F, which is the usual size I make in Muna and Broad patterns. Although I have narrow shoulders and could get lost down the rabbit hole of grading between sizes in order to militantly adhere to the size chart, I just make the size that accommodates my hip.

Fabric details: This is silk that was given to me by sewing buddy (and long-time photography collaborator), Naomi (4 metres of it, no less)! The fabric was only just wide enough to accommodate the two front pieces cut mirrored and I ended piecing together one of the pockets, and also the waist tie.

I was really worried that this would be slippery to sew, that my machine would chew on it, and that I’d have tension issues. Actually, the matte silk gripped to itself nicely when sewing, so it was actually a delight to work with. I used a brand-new Size 70 needle, and only had tension issues on 1 sleeve (life isn’t perfect). The whole robe did keep slipping off my table while I was sewing, but some folks on the ‘gram suggested towels and non-slip draw liners to help it stay put (not tested, just passing on the news).

I’m wearing my very luxurious and slinky Medlow Robe with my Spinifex PJs (read about them on the blog)! It’s possible that if you print with ChCh sews and come round to collect your patterns on a Saturday morning, I might be greeting you at the door like this!