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Make by TFS Fog Tee
I’ve been thinking for a while about alternative necklines which let me skip inserting a neck binding- even when it goes well, it can so easily have not gone well. So when I spotted the Make by TFS Fog Tee on Sara from @fabric_scraps, I thought ‘that’s what I’ll do’!
Since Sara and I are basically measurement twins, I did not overthink the sizing and simply made the exact same sizes she did for her Fog Tees– size 22 at the shoulders and bust, blending out from the underarms to a Size 28 for the hip.
I used a lightweight merino that I got for a steal, my intention being that no matter how the toile went, I could approximate whatever the toile revealed into something that was suitable for wearing around the house to stay warm this winter. I shortened a couple of bits: 3.5″ from the sleeves and 1.5″ from the bottom hem. I never know if the really long sleeves are an issue with the pattern being straight graded from one size (so the plus sizes end up with very long arms) or if I just have short arms…
I probably could have taken more off the bottom hem, but skipped it thinking ‘I’ll probably half-tuck it so hopefully it won’t matter’, but I can see now from the photos that the excess length is just giving more fabric to pool in my centre back, exacerbated by the fact I probably could have used some extra room through the belly. I don’t think it’s so obvious from the front though, and I do like the way there’s drape lines across the front (I know that’s probably because of a hollow upper chest, but I’m going to call it a happy accident.
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Cosmos Sweater
Sometimes my sewing moves at the glacial pace of bureaucracy, and the proof is here in the Cosmos Sweater from Sew House Seven. On 18th May 2021 I toiled this pattern and then emailed Peggy from Sew House 7 for some fit advice- she responded quickly and then I… did nothing for almost-3-years-to-the-day when I tried on the toile while tidying a box of toiles and fabric leftovers.
2024 is the year of me not overthinking, hopefully all things, but particularly sewing. And 2024 me thought ‘actually, I don’t mind that toile at all’ and so here’s a version of the Cosmos which isn’t made from polyester ponte.
My current measurements are 43″ high bust, 48″ full bust, 43″ waist (smallest part, close to my underbust), 54″ low hip and I’m 57″ at my roundest point (around my belly). I’m quite narrow-shouldered and really the increase between my high and full bust is really more an increase in the size of my ribcage than a big cup size.
For my 2021 toile I chose a Size 18 at the top, blending out from just above the sleeve notch so that by the time I hit the side-seam I was at Size 26 (which corresponds to my hip measurement). I thought about changing that for this new version, and instead just did the exact same thing again. It’s slightly more confusing to think about how that size blending works with the raglan sleeve than it is with a normal sleeve.
Initially, I was quite annoyed at how sewing the bottom band on with my overlocker had distorted the seam- a little unintentional lettuce hem effect. It improved somewhat with a liberal application of steam with the iron, and I reminded myself of my ‘not overthinking in 2024’ plans and moved on.
My initial thoughts on the fit, back in 2021, was that the raglan sleeve didn’t really work with my narrow shoulders and that there was far too much excess fabric through the front and the back. There kind of us, but I quite like the look and I really like the way that the sleeves hang (not the warmest sleeves but I like the way they swish about). I’ve been wearing this sweater almost every day since I finished the sleeve hems (not all day, but just when the chill factor requires an extra layer), and I’m really enjoying how cosy my neck feels without feeling impeded.
Here’s to not overthinking.
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Good Tiemes Tee
I had seen it pop up on Instagram and I had to try it, the Good Tiemes Tee from Forest & Thread. I’m wearing it here with my Ecovero Whitlam Skirt!
I nabbed this khaki marle viscose knit from Backstreet Bargains and it’s not really stretchy enough for any of our M&B knit top patterns, but the colour was a real winner so I decided to use it to test out this pattern. I tried to buy more as soon as I mostly finished this top, but there’s only 1m left and I even called them to see if there was more in store than was listed online (but there wasn’t).
One thing I’ll flag is that while I have tucked the front of the top in here, it’s quite short through the front (much more so than the back would suggest). It’s not really an issue in this very high-waisted skirt, but I can see getting some upper belly out if I reached for something in my non-ultra-high-waist pants.
I used a 3X at the top and through the sleeve, grading out to a 5X at the very high hip. The size of the neckband wasn’t an issue for my small noggin, even though the fabric wasn’t very stretchy, but it maybe would be a problem if I was more precious about my hair than I am right at the moment.
My narrow shoulders have struck again though, and if I was to make this again I think I’d reprint the pattern going down quite a few sizes- you can see on the sample photos that the curve of the yoke of the tee should wrap around the shoulder acromion, whereas on my tee I’ve got this empty space where my shoulder should be, but my shoulder was ages ago.
I think also there’s something slightly funky about the neckline on me- which is a shame because I LOVE the look of the high neck- I think it could be that my upper shoulder and maybe my upper back/low neck has more flesh than the pattern expects and it’s lifting the top up slightly so that it has room for me.
In conclusion
Having said all of this- I’ve already worn the top out twice in the evenings when I wanted to look extra nice- once with this skirt and another time with my newish pink Willandra Pants (a bold but excellent colour combo that deserves to be photographed!).
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Maroon Alistra
The Alistra Dress was envisaged as combining the great fit of our knit Whitlam Skirt and our knit Tarlee T-shirt, but it’s not a dupe of either patterns.
All of them have curved centre-back seams which either encourage booty hugging, or eliminate the pooling in the small of the back, wrap around the very typical curved upper back/lower neck or all of the above.
I’ve made 3 Alistra Dresses- one black one with the funnel neck, and one pink and red colourblocked Patreon Pattern Bonus one and one pink ribbed one that didn’t even make it to the blog because it looked so Pyjama-y to me.You know I have lots of feelings about black (wish it looked good on me, never manage to style it when I do get it into my wardrobe), and I really love the pink and red one but I feel like the casual look of the cotton knit makes this feel less dressy than I want it to.
This stretch viscose spandex is 50% off at The Fabric Store and is a great example of differing descriptions of stretch. I would describe this as a 4-way stretch (8% spandex and lots of give and recovery), but the website lists it as a 2-way stretch (which is how I would describe 100% merino jersey…. so, a knit that isn’t very stretchy (especially vertically)). This is definitely very stretchy… too stretchy as it turns out.
My plan was that the viscose would give a fancier look to the dress, a little bit of extra drape so that it would be great for evenings out. I’ve decided that I really need to shop fabrics in person, because I have 0% ability to predict how a fabric will work for my face when looking at pics online. Fortunately, this one was available in store so I went in and took a draped selfie in natural light- my goal for 2024 is to only sew things that make my eyes look very green. Unlike all of my previous versions, this colour is in my colour season and makes my eyes pop (although it’s not really coming across like that in the photos).
I made a Size G at the bust blended out to a H through the high belly and hip. I think that was probably a mistake when I first chose those sizes, and has remaining a mistake through 4 iterations of the dress. My bust measurement has fluxuated quite a bit recently and I probably need to print the pattern with a Size E or Size F at the bust.
I forget that the Alistra pattern isn’t exactly the Tarlee T-shirt, which has the perfect length sleeves for me. Here, the sleeves are much longer and because I have to shorten them quite a bit, it leaves them a bit baggy at the opening (compared to the rest of the sleeve) if I don’t also slim down the forearm. I removed 5″ from sleeve (which would have otherwise covered my whole hands) to make it bracelet-ish length (I really like the sleeve-length of this tee) and slimmed down the sleeves from the underarm to about 2″ in from the seam near the wrist opening (so 4″ removed in total). Probably that was too much.
I also removed 1.5″ from centre front of my neckband pattern piece and then a smidge more when I was cutting the pattern piece out. Next time I’ll remove extra as I still have some extra fabric in the centre of the neckband which is exacerbated by my concave chest and narrow shoulders.
The outcome
I was sewing this up for an evening outing, but I didn’t end up wearing this as I hate it. It didn’t end up looking elevated like I’d hoped, but quite nightgown like. The fabric is lovely and stretchy but the stretch and the weight pulled the dress down so it’s extra long (and strangely longer on one side, so I guess my grain was slightly off during cutting). I chose the best pictures for the blog, but the soft knit draped over everything meaning you can see the texture of the lace on my bra, the line of the fold-over elastic on my undies, and every other texture it can possibly cling to on its way down.
The positive is that this was a very quick project and the fabric was on sale, and it will likely become a very lovely t-shirt (hoping the shortened length will mitigate some of the bad behaviour of the fabric)! Longest blog post ever and saddest ending to date?
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Fat flat shoes: mary jane ish
I’ve been exploring and cataloguing fat flat shoe style as part of my ‘Fat Flat Shoe Style’ blog series here on my blog, in a Pinterest Board of fat bodies with flat shoes (separated into different styles of shoes), and I’ve been sharing more outfit pics on Instagram using the hashtag #FatFlatShoe
Today we get to these strappy little mary jane-ish shoes from Ziera which I nabbed 2nd hand from Facebook Marketplace.
Would we call these mary janes? I’m not sure what other category they’d fall under, and I’ve started a board on Pinterest for them, so you’ll have to tell me quickly if you disagree with my categorisation.
They’re a brown leather with a little stacked heel (is that the phrase) and they tie with a matching lace over the fit. The relatively open top style and the interchangeable orthotics make it easy to customise the fit so I get more foot space in the shoe (often an issue when I try to buy shoes).
They were the shoe I reached for when I was rediscovering my love of my early Willandra Pants recently- the plum and the brown is a lovely combo, but the extra fanciness of the Willandra and this slightly delicate shoe? A happy combo.
These wool Glebe Pants are a dusty pink shade that I love- they go really well with both this gingham Torrens and the cute brown shoes, but I feel like the fabric hangs and bunches in a way that makes them look bad. They are a great match for my ridiculous glasses though.
What I imagine for these shoes is that they’d go well with dresses and more delicate outfits- the kind of outfits where you think ‘either this needs a heel or needs to be entirely subverted with converse’. Of course, I haven’t photographed that for you, so you’ll just have to imagine it!
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Hot pink Willandra
I’ve whipped up a new pair of M&B Willandra Pants in Fine Cloth Company hot pink tencel because I fell in love with the pattern all over again when I took some photos in my ancient plum Willandra earlier in the month.
I’m wearing them above with pink lemonade linen which I made into a Waikerie Shirt with built-in breast pockets. This is the first time on the blog for these ballet flats- a shoe style that I felt pretty confident would never turn up in my wardrobe again. My Pinterest Fat Flat Shoe exploration got me thinking about ballet flat shape. These hot pink numbers slipped into my cart to experiment with pairing them with M&B patterns when taking sample photos for the website. I suspect you’ll see them pop up more.
Above, I was pleased to find that this tencel is a nice match for this candy apple linen and bubblegum pink linen (also from TFCC) Torrens Box Top. It’s a very bright combo, and it’s nice to find another pair of pants that I like this colourblocked top with (I keep almost getting rid of this top, and then I keep removing it from the ‘to go’ pile).
Below is a mocha linen hacked Waikerie Shirt which I have a really hard time pairing with shoes. No idea why- I guess the shade of brown is perhaps at odds with many of my brown shoes? It’s pretty classic Jess to have such stresses.
I printed out a new pattern to make these as my 58″ hip now puts me in M&B’s Size G. My Size F Willandra Pants still fit fine, but it’s nice to have the extra room especially through the rise. I’d love to try out a fancy dark brown or green Willandra next- maybe as office pants?
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Ancient Willandra Pants
I pulled out these ancient plum Willandra Pants during a wardrobe clean this month and remembered how much I enjoy these fancy pants.
These plum Willandra were made before I had a rotary cutter and an overlocker, so the insides are zig-zag finished and I did a bias bound edge on the pocket bags. I love the way they hang- the way they drape makes them look like they have a very narrow leg, but in reality there’s a nice amount of room in there.
These are a Size F and the hem is a bias finish to get a bit of extra length for my proportionally long legs. Technically I’m a Size G on the M&B size chart now, so it’s good to know that there’s some flexibility on the sizing.
I’m wearing these here with a tencel Waikerie Shirt that Leila sewed and I won during a wardrobe clearout of hers. I sometimes feel like it’s hard to pair tencel with anything other than tencel. Undoubtedly I’m overthinking it, but that’s a pretty natural state for me.
I’ve been musing on officewear recently, which isn’t something I’ve had much to think about for a few years at this point. It’s totally normal to think about retraining and drastically changing your life as you enter the 2nd half of your 30’s, right? So with 2024 being the year of returning to paid, probably full-time work (Muna and Broad and my ChCh sews printing have been my main work for the past 3 years), I’ve got a complicated mess of thoughts and feelings:
- How do I feel about my wardrobe in general?
- I don’t feel any of my previous musings on colourschemes are true anymore- so what is true for me?
- I’m so drawn to so many different things and I’m slowly trying to decipher the difference between liking something and wanting to wear it myself (colours, styles)
- Dress codes are so often more strictly enforced on fat bodies- I’d say my general style is pretty modest and I wonder if that’s a preference or a reaction to anti-fat bias?
- How would I like to present in a workplace, given that my sewing skills could now whip me up shirts and other nice things that I would not necessarily have had the skills to sew last time I worked in an office.
No answers yet, only questions!
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Plums and cream
This is another outfit blast-from-the-past with two makes from times-gone-past paired together for the first time.
This natural fibre blend creamy gingham Torrens Box Top never got the wore it deserved and these plum Willandra Pants have recently been rediscovered- I keep forgetting how great those drapey legs look.
This is also the first photographic outing of these cute flat shoes with a little delicate tie up the top. I’ve been wearing more ‘podiatrist approved shoes’ since my ankle break a year-or-so-ago, and I nabbed these ones 2nd hand for $50! I had ‘office workwear’ in mind when I purchased them, but also since I’ve decided that it’s likely I’ll never wear anything other than flat shoes again- these feel like something a little bit ‘fancier’ without being a heel.
If you’re also onboard with the flat shoe lifestyle, you might like my ‘Fat Flat Shoe’ Pinterest board which has heaps of excellently dressed fatties wearing various kinds of flat shoes (ordered by shoe style)!
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Black Sculthorpe
It’s a bit of a blast-from-the-past to be only just now adding these Sculthorpe Pants from 2019 or 2020 to the blog, but I really do feel that they deserve their own space and explanation: these are my favourite pants that I hate.
This black canvas has worn in and washed up a treat after being initially quite hefty and unforgiving. I love the way the fabric makes the pants LOOK- the hefty fabric has really made them just hang and sit really nicely. I love how this fabric has essentially just removed many of the drag lines that lighter-weight fabrics were giving me. I think they LOOK great.
But, I don’t really wear black. I feel like my shoes don’t go with black. I feel like none of my tops really go with black. I love these pants but they so rarely get worn because they’re black. When I think about remaking them in a different colour, I worry that much of what I love about them is their blackness, how you can’t see any detail, how they’re essentially making no statement. Can that be replicated with another colour? Black is so ubiquitous!
And, sure, they looks cute here with this bright colour-blocked Torrens Box Top (which I also never wear) and that’s why it deserves a spot on the blog- but I won’t be rejigging my whole wardrobe so that these black pants work for me.
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Whitlam Skirt trio
This is a little ode to the Muna and Broad Whitlam Skirt- a pattern I didn’t know I needed, and that I would not have predicted would become my go-to ‘make me feel good’ garment!
Above is one of my original Whitlams, made in squiggle-printed ecovero jersey from Spotlight (no longer available). The grey was a revelation because it was so easy to pair with other colours in my wardrobe! This guy has so much wear that I’ve got some of this fabric put aside as a backup to replace it when/if it ever gives up.
I wear it with a coral linen Waikerie Shirt, with my Mocha Waikerie hack tucked in, with Atrax’s of various shades, with cropped Waikerie Shirts, and less so as a matching set!
Since the squiggle fabric made me a fan of the ecovero jersey, I also made 2 more Whitlam in ecovero from spotlight (these 2 prints are still available)! I’ve been calling both of these fabrics ‘young people fabric’ because both feel very ‘mid-twenties’ to me, but I hoped that I’d still get lots of wear from them anyway.
My prediction was that the brown swirly one below would be easier for me to work into my wardrobe because of the colour, but I’ve actually found it really difficult and I feel like with this golden cotton silk Torrens Box Top is the only some-what successful combo that I’ve managed!
While I do love the comfort of the Whitlam, the main reason for the love is that I feel great in it! I love the way it hugs through the back, and doesn’t cling up under my belly overhang in the front. I’m not going to use the F word to describe the fit, but it’s very nice to have a pattern that I feel like accounts for the shape of my body, instead of just being a graded-up tube.
I might describe my current wardrobe situation as ‘early mid-life crisis’ and you might counter with, ‘but when are you not proclaiming a wardrobe crisis Jess?!’ I think I hate pink now, so I’m having lots of ‘well, what do you actually want then?’ thoughts. Stay tuned to see whether a plain-coloured Whitlam Skirt in a colour that’s going to make my eyes pop is actually the answer to my problems.
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Broad in the seams 