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Droma Skirt, patterned
The Droma Skirt is the latest pattern release from me and Leila and Muna and Broad. As always, M&B email newsletter subscribers have 15% off this week and Patreon Insiders and Makers have 25% off all patterns at all times.
Fabrics & sizing
I nabbed this bargain cotton/linen from Fabric Box thinking it would be a handy fabric to toile in, but then I quite liked the soft muted colours and thought it probably deserved more than life as a toile.
I thought I did a really good job of aligning the pattern across the back seam (it’s the little things) but I was reminded that there’s always an extra faff when you work with fabrics that aren’t just plain colours (and corduroy. Corduroy is also a faff). The print being pretty omni-directional meant that there was no issue cutting this on the crossgrain (some of the sizes call for that due to the width of the pattern pieces).
I made a Size G for my current measurements: 44.5″ at my waistband hitting spot and 57.5″ hip
Deep in my Pinterest Skirt inspo hunting period I also ended up simultaneously reading about and watching YouTube videos about something that I now can’t remember the name for but which essentially boils down to ‘outfits which blend items of perceived purpose/perceived fanciness’. Below, my experimentation on this theme: red mesh mary-janes are a bit fancy and the skirt could be too, but the oversized Lobethal Shirt and sports hat is almost ‘baseball jersey on a sports fan’ (not a sports fan).
It’s not groundbreaking stuff, but an interesting personal experiment in subverting intent (while also being sun smart)!
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White Droma Skirt
The Droma Skirt is the latest pattern release from me and Leila and Muna and Broad. As always, M&B email newsletter subscribers have 15% off this week and Patreon Insiders and Makers have 25% off all patterns at all times.
Inspired by RTW skirts that didn’t include our size (and were out of our price range), the Droma is a midi-length A-line skirt with back darts, large unflappable inseam pockets, and the deepest hem yet (finished with a delicious facing).
Fabrics & sizing
I used a shirting-weight white washer cotton purchased locally for this skirt after seeing lots white skirts with deep hems on Pinterest. It was a bit too sheer for a skirt so I did a lazy half-lining with a creamy cotton voile (which you might be able to spot) where I cut on the crossgrain so that the bottom edge of the lining is selvedge (aka, no hem needed on that bottom bit).
I made a Size G for my current measurements: 44.5″ at my waistband hitting spot and 57.5″ hip
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Sporty Glebe
I’ve spotted a few cool looking wide-leg pants online which have sporty stripes down the side, and I was particularly smitten by a pair of brown linen pants with stripes (which I haven’t been able to find again), so while I was looking to see whether I could buy any RTW pants like this in my size (spoiler alert: I couldn’t) I zoomed up close and realised that they had just sewn twill tape on, which was something I absolutely could do myself to pants that actually DID fit me!
And so these pink linen Muna and Broad Glebe Pants got racing stripes! This 15mm natural-coloured twill tape sewed down the side seams after a rough iron. Thanks to the wide-leg, it was pretty easy to add the twill tape to already constructed pants (I started at the hem and sewed my way up), but I might even experiment with adding twill tape to new pants next time!
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Sliced Atrax Top
I had a plan to rescue a knit dress by using a fabric slashing technique I had seen in Instagram where you layer fabrics, stitching them on and then cut the extra layers open.
I thought I’d better give it a go on a smaller item before I commited to a whole dress, and I’m really glad I did because this guy is heavy and maybe a bit warm, and my hand got so sore cutting all the little sections open.
I deconstructed this an un-loved Muna and Broad Atrax Top and layerered 4 layers of cut up t-shirts on top (don’t worry, they were all stained and un-donateable), then eventually reconstructed it with the back piece un-slashed. It would have been cooler to keep going but my appetite for the project had waned as my hand had gotten quite sore from hours of snipping seams open.
I think the resultant top is quite artsy, and may well be something I’d wear out to something a bit cool (like the cinema, it’s always too cold in there)! Worn here with a ribbed knit Muna and Broad Whitlam Skirt which doesn’t actually have a lettuce hem, but does look quite crinkly in the photos! -
Silk Newry Dress
The Newry Top and Dress is a relatively new pattern from Leila and I at Muna and Broad, and I recently had a fun event which warranted sewing a silky dress for the occasion!
I whipped up a Size F, View C Dress version of the Newry, using this $12p/m self-check black silk from The Fabric Store (which I’ve bought in various colours over the last couple of years because who can turn down silk at that price?!). I lengthened the skirt portion, skipped the pockets, and gave myself a less voluminous skirt by using 3 widths of the fabric instead of using the pattern-pieces provided. I had 5.7m of this fabric and have close to a metre left.
I used my overlocker instead of messing around with french seams (the shock! the horror!), but did use silk organza for the facings. Leila had used some kind of phrase like ‘different layers of Xray’ to describe her dreams of a sheer silk garment, and I love the idea so copied it but I actually find the orgaza a bit scratchy, so I do have some regrets.
Although I put myself in a time crunch which made me pretty impatient with this this fabric which wasn’t super well behaved (why have I never taken the time to work out how a walking foot works?!), I was taken by the idea of showing the Newry in a drapey fabric!
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Cooper Barrrel Jeans
The Cooper Barrel Jeans are the latest pattern from Leila and me through Muna and Broad and we’re celebrating the release with 15% off both the new Cooper and our Eileen Barrel Pants with code TEAMBARREL
I was skeptical about my need for a medium-rise, dropped-crotch barrel jeans pattern, but I’ve had this pair of Coop for at least 37 weeks at this point (which is a lengthier-than-usual wear-test run into a pattern release), and they’re my go-to for when I want to feel a bit cool, but not overdressed.
Although they’re both subtle-barrel patterns, I don’t really find the Eileen and the Cooper to be very similar- they’re really fulfilling totally different functions in my wardrobe.
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Cream Eileen Barrel Pants
The Eileen Barrel Pants are the latest pattern from Muna and Broad, and email newsletter subscribers get 15% off all pants patterns during launch week.
I’ve been stockpiling this creamy 10oz herringbone denim from Miss Maude in NZ since September 2021- a pandemic purchase that really needed *just*the*right*pattern to inspire me to cut into it.
The Eileen Barrel Pants finally spurred me to it! I had 2.5m of this fabric and had enough room to play with the herringbone direction (horizontal on all the pockets), and there’s still a little pile of leftover fabric on my cutting table which I feel deserves some special treatment.
While my camo Eileen are not drapey, by any means, the extra heft and structure that this 10oz denim brings to the shape of the Eileen feels *chefs kiss*.
Also made in a Size G, I’m wearing my creamy Eileen with a cotton/silk Torrens Box Top which I can tell is one of my oldest versions thanks to the internal sewing- a delicious creamy and caramilky combo!
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Eileen Barrel Pants
The Eileen Barrel Pants are the latest pattern from Muna and Broad, and email newsletter subscribers get 15% off all pants patterns during launch week.
With a slight barrel shape, a dropped crotch, generous patch pockets (front and back), a faux-fly, and a great darted back, the Eileen Barrel Pants hit that nice spot of being barrel, without screaming barrel (you know?).
I made a Size G, which I’m just on the cusp of hip-measurement-wise, and I probably wouldn’t sneakily size down to a Size F (although I do still wear a lot of my Size F M&B bottoms with no issue) because the back darts mean that these are the first M&B elastic-waist pants where the finished waist measurement is smaller than the hip measurement. I don’t have an issue pulling my pants on and off because I’ve got quite a lot of soft tissue that’s very movable.
Perfect for showing details on a pattern, this $37.50NZD worth (2.5m) of stretchy camo cotton drill has un/surprisingly turned into a pair of pants that I’m loving this winter.
As you might be able to tell if you zoom in above, I failed at pattern tetris and ended up having to piece my back pockets from leftovers, I quite like the detail in the end (although I don’t get to see it very often).
The ankle-length on these makes it quite easy to pair them with shoes (my kryptonite), and when the weather is warm enough, I love them with this lilac Galen T-Shirt (mostly because I feel like it solidifies the playfulness of these pants, confirming that I am indeed not going hunting in them)!
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Unconventional pairings
Earlier during Me-Made-May, I posted about working through my wardrobe with my stylish friend, who suggested a lot of outfits that I wouldn’t have thought of (and also dismissed some of my more ridiculous pairing anxieties, like that shiny fabrics like rayon and matte fabrics like silk noil didn’t work together!)!
A lot of the outfits were built around the barrel leg jeans (a forthcoming M&B pattern) and some pink Calzuro clogs which I bought on a whim because they were on clearance in my size in pink. After our day of going through my wardrobe (and chatting about shoes), I grabbed these red mesh mary-jane shoes and these brown adult-size schoolgirl sandals.
I wrote more about this for the Muna and Broad Patreon, but one of my main takeaways was to experiment with blockages: trying to rid myself of those beliefs that don’t serve me (shiny and matte fabrics not working together, for example).
I haven’t done much about that yet, but this week I paid-it-forward, playing the part of ‘boyfriend’ in a re-enactment of this challenge from Beepworld, who had her boyfriend choose random items from her wardrobe to make outfits from (but which especially prioritised pairings that weren’t obvious pals), for that same stylish friend.
What a fun activity for seeing your wardrobe in entirely new ways! It’s not like you have to wear the combos out of the house, but there might be some fun new possibilities without the need for making anything new!
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Teal Galen
The new Galen T-Shirt is the latest M&B pattern! Email newsletter subscribers have 15% off during launch week, sign up for the M&B email newsletter and the discount code will automatically be emailed to you.
This teal is a really gorgeous colour, and has a really nice sheen on the ‘right’ side (the ‘wrong’ side is kind of like polo shirt fabric). I LOVE how this tee looks, the colour of it, the pairing with the ribbing neckband… But it’s a terrible fabric with polyester which feels plastic on (and sucked all the moisture out of my fingers while I was sewing it up)!
I’m wearing this here with my ecovero knit Whitlam Skirt- my Whitlam Skirts are my go-to for when I’m going out and want to feel fancy!
Save 15% on all M&B T-Shirts
Email newsletter subscribers have 15% off during launch week, sign up for the M&B email newsletter and the discount code will automatically be emailed to you.
The code will give you 15% off the new Galen T-Shirt, our popular Tarlee T-Shirt, and boxy Hyde T-Shirt.
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Broad in the seams 