There’s nothing difficult to sew in the Russafa jacket pattern, but it’s alsways nice to have a little extra help. So if you were hesitating to sew this pattern, this is perfect for you.
If you have any question, feel free to send me an email at info@paulinealicepatterns.com.
Are you ready for part 2 of the RIOLA skirt tutorial? After making the bound opening, sewing the front pleat, the pockets and the sides of the skirt, it’s time to make the waistband, complete with a clean and pretty seam allowances finish, and attach it to the skirt.
We really like to share these video tutorials with you as we know you might need some visual help or a little motivation to sew the Mila jumpsuit & dress pattern. As usual, we’ll cover all the steps to make the Mila pattern, this time focusing on View B, the dress version. But the construction is almost identical for the jumpsuit!
Have fun watching it and let us know if you have any questions…
The Serra jacket pattern was released last February. It’s a unisex and casual jacket with raglan sleeves, fully lined. The pattern includes 3 different versions: a parka with lots of pockets, a short athletic style jacket and a trench coat, all of them with hoods.
For the presentation pictures of View C, the trench coat, I wanted to use some checked or tartan fabric. I found the right one at The Sweet Mercerie and started to get overwhelmed by the matching it would require. But in the end, it wasn’t too bad!
I’ll show you how I did it. The most important steps are the preparation ones. Hopefully this will help you if you’re planning sewing a tartan Serra (or any jacket) for fall.
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HOOD
FRONT
BACK AND COLLAR
SLEEVE
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TRACE THE PATTERN PIECES
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To trace the pattern, you’ll need :
Trace on pattern paper the pieces noted above, adding the following details:
You’ll need to double the pattern pieces that are placed on the fold of the fabric. It’s easier to match the pattern if you cut your pieces flat (on the fold, the fabric might move more easily).
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TRACE THE PATTERN PIECES ON THE FABRIC
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For that step, you’ll need :
Before tracing the pattern on fabric, you’ll need to determine the dominant line of your fabric. This is the line that shows the more when you look at your fabric from far away. It miht be obvious but sometimes, you’ll need to choose one and stick with it. For example, my fabric has a beige background and some brown, green and yellow checks. For me, the dominant line was the yellow one.
Now let’s start the funny part…
If you have a huge table, use it. If not, the floor will be perfect. Spread the fabric on a large surface, as one open layer.
FRONT
GUN FLAP
FRONT FACING
BACK
STORM SHIELD
The storm shield is supposed to place on the fold. You’ll need to double it and trace the entire piece.
COLLAR STAND
SLEEVE
Raglan sleeves are not easy to match. You’ll need to determine where you want the lines to match and where it’s ok if it doesn’t. For me, the most important place is the front, from shoulder to above the chest.
HOOD
The main pieces to match for the hood are the back hood and the front facing. Place the center of the back hood (11) on the grainline of the fabric, placing the center line between two dominant lines.
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Once these pieces have been traced and prepped with the dominant lines marked, you just need to place them on the fabric. Sometimes, you won’t be able to make all the lines match, make sure the most visible areas are matching, that’s the most important. For example, I want the front of the sleeve to match the front piece, even if the back will not match entirely (and the under sleeve will not match either but that’s ok as it’s not going to show).
If you want more help, you can watch Marie-Gabrielle’s lesson on pattern matching at Artesane (sorry, only in french – but for a similar class in English, you can try Bluprint’s Perfect pattern matching).
Last summer, we released the Vera shirt pattern: a loose shirt with an asymmetrical hem. We’ve seen amazing versions on social media, and some of them modified as a dress. We loved the idea and decided to make a casual shirt dress for the summer. We have added a large pleat in the back, two big pleated pockets on the hips, longer sleeves and ties at the waist so it can be ajusted.
Fabrics: Blue and red stripes cotton poplin Lanterne & Céleste. / Cahier d’Écolier gauze. / images: Coralie marabelle. / Le Mont Saint Michel.
We wanted to work with various fabrics to give it a patchwork vibe and play with the grafic look of the shirt. We selected Amandine Cha’s organic fabrics (mainly cotton poplin and gauze) as they look and feel great.
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1/ Lengthen the front and back pieces. Trace an horizontal line about 20 cm below the armscye on the front and back pieces. Cut along the line. On a piece of paper, place the top and bottom pieces 30 to 35 cm apart (make sure the centers match). Tape the pieces to the paper and draw a line to meet the top and bottom at the sides and centers.
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2/ Lengthen the front facing to same way.
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3/ Once the front, back and front facing pieces are lengthened, we will widen the back piece with an inverted pleat. Place the back piece on paper and trace a line parallel to the center back 2 to 4 cm away. Trace around the new back piece.
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4/ Lengthen the sleeve. Trace a cutting line 10 cm above the hem. Cut and place on paper 10 cm apart. Tape and draw the new sides from the armscye to the hem.
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5/ Draw the pleated pocket.
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6/ Make the waist ties. Trace a rectanle 8 cm high 1 m wide (if you want longer or shorter ties, feel free to change the length). Add 1,5 cm seam allowances around the ties. Cut 2.
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7/ Place the pockets and ties placements on the front pieces as indicated.
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BACK
> Coudre des plis: plis plats, plits creux, plis ronds
POCKETS
TIES
HEM
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The Fashion Revolution movement is taking place this week, on the anniversary of the Rana Plaza factory collapse on 2013. Fashion Revolution believes in a fashion industry that values people, the environment and creativity. Feel free to check their webpage to know more about their mission and how you can participate too.
On our side, we want to take part in this revolution, even if it’s just with a little tutorial. We’ll show you a fun and creative way to use patchwork and upcycling to make new clothes. Why ? Because we buy way too many clothes (and fabric !). And to produce these fabrics, people and the environment suffer as a result of the way fashion is made, sourced and consumed. We thought it would be a great idea to use used clothes to make a new Denia blouse.:)
To make this sewing project, you’ll need the following:
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1/ Choose the shirts you’re going to use based on weight and drape, but also colour, texture and patterns. Select 3 to 6 different fabrics. Stripes, checks, florals, dots, plain colour… don’t be shy and experiment to create a unique patchwork.
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2/ Cut the shirts along the seams and keep the big pieces : front, back and sleeves. You can keep the yoke, collar, cuffs and pocket if you want to add cool details or for another project. Make sure the fabrics are pressed before cutting. Cut the principal pieces into rectangles as big as possible.
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3/ Prepare the patchwork. Play with the different fabics: take the rectangles and place them together to see what combination you like best. It can take some time to find a balance between the fabrics: drawing a sketch can help you with the composition as well as making samples of the patchwork.
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4/ Sew the patchwork. With right sides together, sew the smallest pieces together 1 cm from the edge. Press the seam allowances to one side and topstitch them. Continue sewing this block to the next fabric rectangle until you have pieces big enough to fit the pattern pieces.
If you have a serger, use it to finish the seam allowances. You could also use a zigzag stitch or bind the seam allowances. I have left the seams raw but the topstitching will prevent them to fray too much.
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5/ Place the pattern pieces on your blocks and trace them. Once the pieces are cut, you can staystitch around them to make sure the patchwork seam allowances stay in place. Then, you just need to follow the instructions to sew the Denia blouse.
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Do you repurpose fabric or old clothes to sew new garments?
We are very excited to share this video tutorial with you today! While working on the Lliria dress pattern, we thought it would be such a great idea to offer a more visual help for all of you who don’t feel secure enough to try this project. Sometimes, we just need a little bit of extra help to tackle a new challenge.
So get your Lliria dress pattern, your fabric and your sewing machine and enjoy watching our video tutorial!
If you have any question, feel free to ask in the comment section or send us an email at info@paulinealicepatterns.com, we’ll be happy to help. And don’t hesitate to share your Lliria dress with us on social media with the hashtag #LliriaDress.
Once again, the wonderful team of Artesane share the second part of the trousers adjustments with us! Thanks so much!
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Now that you can alter the legs of a trousers pattern in your sleep, let’s focus on altering a more difficult area : the crotch.
1/ BEFORE STARTING
MATERIAL
Material needed :
HOW IS MADE THE CROTCH OF A PAIR OF TROUSERS ?
The crotch of a pair of trousers is the curved seam that goes from the waistband center front to the waistband center back. It is made of two parts : the rise (the less curved part) and the curve.
You can alter the rise or the curve, or both at the same time. However, we recommend starting by altering only the rise of the crotch as it’s easier to adjust and most of the time, it’s enough to modify the few issue you might have with the inseam, seat or waist area.
WHICH SOLUTION FOR WHICH PROBLEM ?
I’m very happy to welcome the lovely girls behind Artesane today on the blog for a special post. In case you don’t know Artesane, it’s an online community platform with video classes and tutorials on sewing, knitting, crocheting, bag making, embrodery, pattern making… and many more to come. I am very greatfull to Artesane to have given me the opportunity to teach a sewing class for them on how to make a tailored jacket and I hope to repeat this amazing experience with them. Classes are only available in French for the moment but be sure to check their inspirational site just the same.
Thanks to Artesane for sharing here a great tutorial on how to alter a trousers pattern. That will be very useful for the Port trousers pattern! Let’s start!
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TROUSERS ALTERATIONS
If there’s one type of pattern that’s difficult to standarize, it has got to be trousers. Everybody has got different body types and it’s quite rare not to have to alter a trousers pattern. That’s why we often have a favorite store-bought trousers brand or model ! It’s not easy to find a ready-to-wear model that fits perfectly at first try.
The best thing would be to make a muslin for every model that you like and think could be a go-to pattern.
Once this pattern is altered and fitted, you’ll have a tailored trousers pattern and will be able to use it again and again !
1/ Before starting
Material needed :
How is made a pair of trousers ?
Trousers are made of two legs, a waistband and a type of closure (a fly for example).
Each leg is made of a front piece and a back piece. The back pieces is usually bigger than the front one. The back crotch is longer and curvier (that’s where our bum goes !).
Before starting any alteration, you need to add five reference lines on your pattern :
Once you’ve added these lines to your pattern, it’s time to alter the trousers leg (there’ll be a second post on how to alter the crotch as it’s a vast subject).
So apart from the crotch adjustment, once you’ve made your muslim, you can see various type of issues :
– your trousers are too long o too short ; you have thus to lengthen or shorten the trousers leg ;
– your trousers are too wide or too small around the waist ; you have to adjust the waist ;
– your trousers are too wide at the hips or on the contrary, they’re too tight and uncomfortable ; you need to alter the trousers at the hips ;
2/ Lengthen or shorten the trousers legs
The technics used to lengthen or shorten a pattern piece are the same for any kind of garments. But still, let’s have a little reminder.
HOW TO SHORTEN A PATTERN PIECE ?
1/ You need to determinate how many cm you need to remove. Above the shorten/lengthen line on the pattern, trace a parallel line at X cm.
2/ Folding the pattern piece, overlap the two lines.
3/ Tape the fold close.
HOW TO LENGTHEN A PATTERN PIECE ?
1/ Cut the pattern piece along the shorten/lengthen line.
2/ Place a new piece of paper below the two pattern pieces. Determinate how many cm you need to add and spread the two pieces apart X cm (make sure the lines stay parallel).
3/ Tape the two pieces to the paper and join the two pieces together.
WHERE TO PLACE THE SHORTEN/LENGTHEN LINES ON A TROUSERS LEG
Now that we’ve seen the techniques, the important thing is to know where to apply them. Indeed, if you were to lengthen a trousers leg at the wrong place, there’s a good chance the general shape will get distorted.
1/ If the shortening/lengthening is small (up to 3 cm), the line has to be placed just above the knee (line 1).
2/ If the alteration is more important, it needs to be made in two places. Divide the length you have to add or remove from the leg in two. Then draw two adjustment lines above and below the knee (line 1 & 2).
If the alteration is minimal, you can do it at the hem line.
3/ Widen or tighten at waist
The secret of a great waist adjustment resides in distribution ! The more you distribute evenly the cm you have to add or remove, the less you’re going to change or distort the shape of the trousers. And this is even more true if the adjustment is important ! You’re going to add or remove the cm needed on both sides of each front and back leg, meaning at 8 different places !
HOW TO WIDEN THE WAIST ?
1/ You need to determinate how many cm you need to add at the waist.
2/ Divide by 8. The end result is X cm.
This adjustment applies to both the front and back pieces (make sure you don’t forget one of the two pieces!) :
3/ Place some paper below your pattern piece.
4/ Extend the waist line on both sides of the pattern piece. Add X cm to both sides (see diagram below).
5/ From these marks, trace the new stitching lines joining gradually the existing ones. The key is to draw progressively the new line so that we don’t get any « bump ».
HOW TO TIGHTEN THE WAIST ?
1/ You need to determinate how many cm you need to remove at the waist.
2/ Divide by 8. The end result is X cm.
This adjustment applies to both the front and back pieces (make sure you don’t forget one of the two pieces!) :
3/ At the waist line, remove X cm on both sides of the pattern piece (see diagram below).
4/ From these marks, trace the new stitching lines joining gradually the existing ones. The key is to draw progressively the new line so that we don’t get any « bump ».
4/ Widen or tighten at hips
Again, the secret of a great hip adjustment is in distribution ! The more you distribute evenly the cm you have to add or remove, the less you’re going to change or distort the general shape of the garment. And this is even more true if the adjustment is important ! You’re going to add or remove the cm needed on both sides of each front and back leg, meaning at 4 different places !
HOW TO WIDEN THE HIPS ?
1/ You need to determinate how many cm you need to add at the hips.
2/ Divide by 4. The end result is X cm.
This adjustment applies to both the front and back pieces (make sure you don’t forget one of the two pieces!) :
3/ Place some paper below your pattern piece.
4/ On the exterior side of the leg, we’ll extend the hip line a few cm. Add X cm (see diagram above).
5/ From this mark, trace the new stitching line joining gradually the existing one from waist to hem. The key is to draw progressively the new line so that we don’t get any « bump ».
Be careful, if the trousers have a straight leg, you have to join the new hip line to the waist but you should extend the leg in a straight line to the hem, parallel to the previous stitching line.
HOW TO TIGHTEN THE HIPS ?
1/ You need to determinate how many cm you need to remove at the hips.
2/ Divide by 4. The end result is X cm.
This adjustment applies to both the front and back pieces (make sure you don’t forget one of the two pieces!) :
3/ On the exterior side of the leg, we’ll remove X cm to the hip line (see diagram above).
4/ From this mark, trace the new stitching line joining gradually the existing one from waist to hem. The key is to draw progressively the new line so that we don’t get any « bump ».
Be careful, if the trousers have a straight leg, you have to join the new hip line to the waist but you should extend the leg in a straight line to the hem, parallel to the previous stitching line.
With these techniques, you’ll be able to adjust the legs of your favourite trousers pattern (length, waist or hips) ! We’ll see how to adjust the inseam and the crotch as well as how to alter the seat very soon.
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THANKS ARTESANE!
Today, let’s learn how to sew a fly front zipper on your Port trousers. Sewing the zippers on trousers is often one of the most feared step but it really shouldn’t. With this step-by-step photo tutorial, you’ll see it’s actually quite easy!
1. These are the pieces you’ll need to install the zipper:
-Fronts x 2 in main fabric
-Fly facings x 1 in main fabric and interfacing (some patterns have the fly facing included in the front piece, like the Sorell trousers for example, and this tutorial is going to be easier to apply in this case).
-Fly shield x 1 in main fabric and interfacing
-Zipper 15 cm (6″) long (it can be longer as in this tutorial)
2. Finish the center front seam of the front pieces with serger or zigzag stitch. Repport your marks on the front pieces.
3. With right sides together, pin the front pieces together at the center front seam.
4. Stitch from the inseam to the dot mark with a 1,5 cm (5/8″) seam allowance.
5. Interface the fly facing piece.
6. Finish the curved seam.
7. Pin the fly facing to the left side front piece (when you wear the trousers) with right sides together.
8. Stitch together from the top edge to the dot mark with a 1,5 cm (5/8″) seam allowance.
9. Open the fly facing. Trim and press the seam allowances toward the front.
Place the zipper face down (with the teeth toward the fabric) over the zipper facing, with the zipper ribbon touching the front seam. The zipper end should arrive just above the dot mark.
10. Stitch the left side of the zipper ribbon to the fly facing. Turn the facing in and press lightly.
11. Interface the fly shield piece.
12. Fold it in half lengthwise and stitch the bottom edge with a 1,5 cm (5/8″) seam allowance.
13. Turn the fly shield inside out, press and finish the edge with a serger or zigzag stitch.
14. Press the right side front piece (when you wear the trousers) 0,5 cm (1/4″) toward the inside.
15. Baste or pin the zipper to the folded edge.
16. Baste or pin the fly shield to the zipper.
17. Stitch very close to the folded edge throught all layers (front, zipper and fly shield) from the top edge to the dot mark.
18. Pin the fly shield out of the way so that it won’t get caught when we sew the fly topstitch.
19. Close the zipper (but don’t cut it yet). Place the trousers front correctly and draw the topstitching line (you can use the front pattern piece or the fly facing as guide).
20. Stitch the fly topstitching throught both layers (front and fly facing).
21. Unpin the fly shield and place it over the zipper. Pin in place again.
22. Make bar tacks to reinforce the fly: one at the bottom of the topstitching line and one at the curve. This time make sure you stitch through the fly shield as well.
23. There you go, an easy way to insert a fly front zipper!
Tip: wait until you attach the waistband to cut the zipper!
Method 1.