Enbee

I’ve only made this (or the recital shirt) twice, but I like to French seam everything, and it bothered me to have a raw cut at the vent, too. I found this tutorial – I haven’t flat-felled many things, so I’m not sure whether this method will work for that finish, but I thought I’d throw it out there. My first attempt at doing this technique with…[Read more]

I’ve resized it *up* successfully. I measured the difference between the sizes and followed the trend to redraw the next size up. It worked out just fine, so I suspect that sizing down would, too.

If you’re also interested in dresses with twirly skirts, the Building Block dress is twirly, and you can add additional fullness to it to make it even twirlier.

In general, I think skirts/skirts of dresses that are cut curved are going to twirl more than skirts that are gathered rectangles – see circle skirts as the extreme example. I’ve made a…[Read more]

What are you trying to enlarge?

At least for the O+S patterns, the pattern is sort of in three parts: there are the instructions themselves (comes first), the pattern pieces intended to be printed out on your standard home printer (after the instructions), and the large-scale pages intended to be printed out on a large-format printer (usually the…[Read more]

I don’t have experience making these shorts for kids at the upper end of the size range, but I have made them in knit with good success – that would provide a bit more ease. I think you could also fairly easily just widen the pattern pieces (maybe just the back panel, maybe both) and add a little onto the waistband.

Also again no experience yet…[Read more]

Chiming in to say I started digital patterns with O+S, and while I can see how it might throw you off if you’ve only ever assembled a whole-sheet digital pattern, I much, much prefer the O+S approach of individual pattern pieces instead. Storing the assembled patterns is much easier this way.

For your first question, I think the cut-on placket is a little easier than the set-in placket, although neither is really difficult. I think the main difference is that the cut-on placket is more formal-looking, and the set-in placket is more casual/matches the option for extra topstitching lines. For the 2nd, although I haven’t made this shirt…[Read more]

You might try Farmhouse Fabrics – they have a wide button selection, and at least in their MOP buttons have a range of sizes, including the small cuff placket size (I’ve ordered buttons from them for a Classic Shirt). Their search function on the site is not great, so you may have to go digging, but they ship quickly, and they have lovely stuff.…[Read more]

I’ve never used that fabric, but I have made the Field Trip Raglan out of a sweatshirt fleece with virtually no stretch, and that worked fine (I’ve made the school bus tee in a heavier, but stretchy, sweater knit, which also worked with no issues).

I find that the Field Trip raglan has a more generous neckline than the school bus tee, so I might…[Read more]

@macaronquilts, got it! And I can totally commiserate on the pandemic tax on brain power. Right there with you! At any rate, I agree with Nicole that there’s nothing inherently non-unisex about the Lisette pattern except possibly the length.

Chiming in – if you have a Big4 pattern that fits him, I’d just take the pocket from the Lisette pattern and add it to the existing pants. I’ve done exactly that for my husband, and it worked out well.

I think flannel would work fine, particularly for the jacket and pants. It might make for a somewhat stiffer/less drapey top or bodysuit.

I second this getting easier with practice – my first few neckbands on knit shirts were a certifiable nightmare and required several attempts, extra passes with the serger, etc. Now it doesn’t stress me out.

However, if lots of pins don’t seem to help you, I’ll note that I go the opposite extreme from Lightning – I only pin my knit necklines (and…[Read more]

There’s a tutorial on the site! https://oliverands.com/community/blog/2018/08/how-to-raise-or-lower-a-dart.html

I followed this when making a classic shirt, and it went smoothly. I went with the second method, which is shifting the whole dart down, but the tutorial covers both methods.

I can’t help with the zipper, but I too am eternally disappointed by the button selection at Joanns. I can recommend Farmhouse Fabrics for buttons – they have a wide selection of real MOP buttons and others, including some fun shaped ones. They also often run specials on buttons. One thing to note – they’ll charge normal shipping rates, but if…[Read more]

It’s *really* variable, and depends both on the pattern and on the person sewing.

For me (a slow sewist, limited time), it will almost always take me a couple of nights to make anything. Typically I’ll cut one night, sew the next night (or nights), and finish (hem, add buttons etc) on another night. So even for something super-quick to sew, I’m…[Read more]

Bah, trying upload again.

Good thing my mother knows I’m a procrastinator! The “baby” from my first post is now almost 18 months old, but I finished the shirt! I thought I’d close the loop on this post and thank people for their advice.

I made a muslin, Mom tried it on earlier this summer when we visited her, and I’m very glad we went through the trouble. She preferred a…[Read more]