Blog - Page 3 of 5 - The Design the Stitch and the Wardrobe

Posted on March 29, 2015April 22, 2015 by Andrea Whitrow — Leave a comment

Boys Can Wear Pink Too

This post was originally seen here: http://patternrevolution.com/blog/2015/2/23/boys-can-wear-pink?rq=andrea

As soon as I heard about the Boys Can Wear Pink series being hosted by Handmade Boy, I knew I had to put in an entry. As Mum to 6 boys – pink is a colour that is rarely seen in my house…..and I guess, right there lies the basis of what this campaign is trying to target. Why can’t they wear pink? Well, as far as I’m concerned they can wear pink, green, yellow, purple or black if they so wish. I knew that 3 of my boys (Mr’s 16, 14 and 4) would point blank refuse to take part, and that’s fine, this is all about boys being able to make the choice without non-existant rules making the decsisions for them. 2 (Mr’s 6 and 3) would easily be talked into it and 1 is too young (10 months) to care either way.

I decided that a blazer and skinny leg jeans would be an awesome combination and seeing as Mr 3 and skinny leg jeans are never going to go together in the same sentence …..well Mr 6 got the gig. I chose the Blank Slate Blazer and the Peek-a-boo skinny jeans, they are both patterns that I had been keen to try out and I wasn’t disappointed, both patterns came together very easily and will definitely be on the favourites pile for future use.

The blazer offers plenty of options to personalise, due to wanting to showcase my fabric though, I kept details to a minimum. I always add pockets to boys handmade clothing when the option is there. I feel it gives garments a more finished and professional look. The jeans are fantastic and definitely an everyday wear item – although in direct contrast to my above comment about Mr 3, Mr 6 is a skinny minny and they were not particularly ‘skinny’ on him. He was so impressed with his outfit that he has asked if he can wear it to the next school casual day…who knows, maybe he will convert some more boys to the cause.

Posted on March 27, 2015April 22, 2015 by Andrea Whitrow — Leave a comment

The Bateaux Garden Dress

Part of the reason that I always seem to have the latest patterns before many sewers in Australia, is that I often put my hand up to ‘test’ the pattern. For those of you not in the sewing world it is a process where someone is chosen to sew each size (sometimes more than once), to check the fit on a model of the size ( or close to the particular measurements given on the chart) , clarity of instructions and general process.

The most recent pattern that I tested was the Bateaux Garden Dress from Winter Wear Designs.

I love it when designers make patterns that include older girls sizes. I always figure it is those girls that are missing out. As many of you know I don’t have any daughter’s, but I do feel for the mothers that have to buy clothing for any girl over the age of 6. It’s terrible! You can still find cute classy clothes for younger girls in the stores, but it goes drastically downhill for the tweens and teens. I’m not prudish or conservative by any means, so I’m not going on a rant about showing too much skin. Even the fabrics and prints used are usually awful. Offering clothing for 8 – 16 year old girls is high on my to- do list.

The Bateaux Garden dress by Winter Wear Designs is perfect. It’s fun, pretty, classic and comes with several options (different backs views, lengths and skirt types).

The pattern is available to purchase from the wonderful Suzanne at Winter Wear Designs:

https://www.etsy.com/au/listing/227710488/bateau-garden-dress-size-1-14-for-girls?ref=shop_home_feat_4

Or as always the complete garment can be purchased made to your measurements at my Etsy store:

https://www.etsy.com/au/shop/DesignStitchWardrobe?ref=hdr_shop_menu

Posted on March 26, 2015March 26, 2015 by Andrea Whitrow — 1 Comment

Sam Spade and The Maltese Falcon

This post was originally posted on http://patternrevolution.com/blog/2014/10/10/halloween-extravaganza-day-5-vampires-and-detectives

Every now and then my husband-like creature takes on a ‘fetish’of sorts…..no, not like that get your minds out the gutter, at the moment he is really into 1940’s, film noir type movies. At first I was reluctant to join in (some of his hobbies are just tedious) but decided to give it a go. We watched Double Indemnity, Key Largo and the Maltese Falcon. Humphrey Bogart is an actor that I had always heard about but had never seen him in action and I really enjoyed the movies. He is a very suave character, that and the 1940’s style just reminded me of my 2 year old. He is a boy that loves to accessories, vests, hats, ties you name it he loves to wear it it. So I decided that we could combine my love of these old movies with his stylin ways and dress him as Sam Spade (Humphrey Bogarts character in The Maltese Falcon).

I had seen the Peek-a-Boo ‘Little Gentleman’ range and toyed with buying it a few times but we never really had the occassion to wear such a dapper little outfit, so this gave me the perfect excuse. The Little Gentleman jacket was far easier to put together than it looks….I will be making more, and I just added a second row of buttons to give it that 40’s look.The vest again was super easy to construct and is fully reversible so I added a navy and white star print to the lining side so he can wear it as a casual piece with jeans.

Here is where I have to admit some cheating. Time just didnt allow for me to sew up the pants as well so he is wearing a pair that we already had but I do intend to make them so he has a lovely matching suit. I could have chosen to sew the Peek-a-boo Oxford shirt to complete the outfit, it truly is one of my favorite patterns but once again, time was agaisnt me. I found a great free tutorial to make his tie here http://www.sweetshopsewing.com/2014/04/16/free-mens-neck-tie-pattern-and-tutorial/ .We found some great vintage relics to decorate his desk and he had good fun plaing with them all as we did the photoshoot.