Hello jumpsuit! When we saw the options for the Rosella Design by Schultz Apparel the thinking went; the fun of a pant, that ability to decide on an outfit in just one garment, sold!
Pattern: Rosella Jumpsuit by Schultz Apparel
The Rosella Pattern (find it here) comes in three design options, a pinafore dress, a jumpsuit and a playsuit. It has a fitted bodice, V-neck at the front, waistband and a fully lined bodice that is paired with a full skirt or straight leg pants.
We created view C which was the shorts with a higher V neck and bodice darts. We chose a light printed cotton for a Summer style.
The tradition of family Christmas outfits continued this year. We took to the beach in Apollo Bay in our matching Christmas print to celebrate together. We hope you had a safe and happy festive period with your loved ones.
Jocelyn Proust Christmas Wombats
This year we went for a modern Australian print by Jocelyn Proust. The cute Australiana print features grey wombats in red Christmas hats on a pale blue background.
We found the fabric at a Boxing Day sale last year (with luckily enough fabric left on the roll!). The blue background and Australiana print were perfect, as it was different from the traditional red themed fabric from previous years. We didn’t plan what patterns we were going to make when we purchased the fabric but still managed to fit our five garments out of 12.5 metres.
Lauren and Erin
This year we made two of our favourite patterns we discovered in 2020. Lauren was inspired by the ruffled version of the Flora Dress we had made recently and it was a great sleeveless option for a warm Australian Christmas Day. Erin made a dress version of the Schultz Apparel Ottilia Top adding a gathered skirt to the originally waisted top.
Robyn and David
For Dad’s shirt, we used McCalls 6044. We have recently changed the men’s shirt pattern we used for Dad, and we are really happy with the change. This pattern has more shape through the body, curved hem and front placket detail.
Earlier in the year, we made Mum and blue Kingfisher version of Vogue 1511 with the long sleeves. As it is one of her favourite dresses to wear, we decided to use the pattern to make a short sleeve version fit for summer.
James and Erin
James dove into the matching family Christmas outfits and took on the challenge of making his own shirt! This is his third garment having only made 2 pairs of pyjama shorts before tackling his first collared McCalls 6044 shirt.
We watched Schultz Apparel tease us with fun tops. Sharing them to her socials, they were adorable! We know we declared our top phase had come to a close and it was going to be dresses for a while. But then the Ottilia Top appeared. It has all the great features of a Schultz Apparel Pattern; amazing sleeves and clever construction. Usually we are apprehensive about wrap tops due to cup size and it not sitting well around the bust but we were excited to give this pattern a try.
Ottilia Top Details
Ottilia Top is a short wrap top with short vintage inspired puffy sleeves and an extra-long belt that can be tied multiple times around the waist.
This pattern is suited for light to middleweight woven fabric such as a cotton, linen, viscose, tencel or polyester.
We made it in a green and white striped cotton fabric we found in our stash. We don’t remember where it came from but based on the colours it is likely something Nanny picked and we are lucky enough to be able to stitch it up.
Constructing the Ottilia Top
The instructions are easy to follow to construct this folky style dress. The tiered skirt is constructed by joining together gathered rectangles. Instead of needing to print pieces for the rectangular pieces, Schultz Apparel gives the measurements for the rectangles. saving on printing and cutting time (not to mention the environment through the saved pieces of paper!).
The sleeve is constructed with two layers, the other fuller body and stabilising under layer. Initially we cut both out of the striped fabric but because of how strong the stripe as you could faintly the stripe in the under fabric. We recut the lining in a white cotton so
How to line something that has a facing
You might have heard us say before what a fan we are of lining garments. There are a few reasons for this. It gives it a better finish, less exposed seams inside of the garment. It also means that the pressure is not on the outside fabric to side flush again the body and appear flat. The lining provides some extra structure.
Not all garments are lined, some just have facings. This is still a great way to finish a garment, it provides clean edges and they are shaped pieces that follow the contours of the outer shape, they mimic the outer layer. It might feel rebellious to divert from the instructions, it does take confidence to know where you are heading with the garment but it can definitely be done. Here is a bit of guide as to how we go about it.
Cut all of the pattern piece as the instructions say, all the bodice pieces and facing.
Cut the bodice pieces in your lining fabric – the same as the outside
Stitch the pieces together to create the outer shell, lining and facing.
Finish the edge of the facing. We over lock ours in a matching thread.
Attach the facing on top of the lining.
You are looking to create to make two shells; the outside and the lining.
The lining should be right side up with the facing also sitting right side up. Think of them as becoming one.
Bag out the lining and the outer shell.
Put the right sides together and stitch around the neck line. Cut back the seam allowance and under stitch.
As this is a top around the hemline.
Leave the armholes open.
Pull the bodice right side out through the open arm holes.
It will now look like this.
You are back to following the instruction booklet
Finish the sleeves.
The Ottilia has a lined sleeve to help hold the puff shape.
Tack the head together using the gathering stitch
Pin the sleeve into place and stitching
Finish around the armhole. We over locked the seam allowance.
This will finish off the garment. Enjoy wearing it!
This is what it looks like inside out.
Finished Ottilia Top
The Ottilia Top absolutely lived up to the dream! Can we say again how good Schultz Apparel sleeves are?
The top is easy to put on, again no fastenings. The wrap fits through a key hole provided in the instructions. The fit is great, our worry about wrap tops and dresses was not needed here. We made an elastic waisted skirt with ruffle to wear with it.
For us the next time we make it we will lengthen it around 3cm so it reaches the waist. It gives us the option to be able to wear it work. Don’t get us wrong, we love the striped version! But it is more casual than what we could wear to the office.
If you have been feeling inspired by the Minna or Begonia how about a hybrid? It is definitely going on our make list. Check out Schultz Apparel mash up on her Instagram.
We were really excited when we finished our Minna dress for Schultz Apparel that is had such a great sleeve, and then we saw the Begonia! Another great sleeve again! Thank you for Schultz Apparel for including us in the testing team for this new style.
Begonia Dress Details
The Begonia style has a top and dress option. They are a loose fit, with a V-neck at the front and a deep V-neck with gathering at the back. The optional belt pulls the waist create the fitted silhouette and highlights the two tiered ruffled skirt. The silhouette is balanced with a short puffy sleeve.
This pattern is suited for light to middleweight woven fabric such as a cotton, linen, viscose, tencel or polyester.
We made the dress version with the v neck back from the top style as we wanted a easy to wear style and not worry about bra lines being seen.
Micro Dots in Burgundy from Fabric Hoarders
Fabric Hoarders is a small independent fabrics stores based in Echuca which is a small town on the Murray River in North Victoria. They have a wonderful range of cotton and liberty fabrics in their online store. We have partnered with Fabric Hoarders and its business owner Leanne to share with you their great selection of fabric.
For the Begonia dress we chose to use a burgundy and white cotton from the Micro Dots range. It is a sweet print with a repetition of the small white dot.
The fabric print is available in a rainbow of colours on the Fabric Hoarders website and is purchased in 25cm increments.
Check out the cutting video to see how great is to snip and tear this cotton woven fabric.
Constructing the Begonia Dress
The instructions are easy to follow to construct this folky style dress. The tiered skirt is constructed by joining together gathered rectangles. Instead of needing to print pieces for the rectangular pieces, Schultz Apparel gives the measurements for the rectangles. saving on printing and cutting time (not to mention the environment through the saved pieces of paper!).
The sleeve is finished with a double roll hem and the casing for the elastic is made from a bias binding. We folded the ends under and butted them up against each other lining this up with the under arm seam and threaded an elastic through to pull it in around the upper arm.
Finished Begonia Dress
The Begonia dress easily slips over the head and is drawn in at the waist with the tie. It could be worn either way depending on your own style. The weight of the dotted cotton sits well and holds its shape in the gathered sleeve.
Constructing this dress was quite easy as it does not have any difficult fastenings such as a button or zipper. This means it would be great for a beginner sewer.
Schultz Apparel has released a stunning new pattern called the Minna Dress. Their style is strong and feminine designs with features including large sleeves and fitted bodices inspired by vintage designs. Minna is no exception and she is devine! We really enjoyed being part of the pattern testing team for this style.
Minna Dress Details
The Minna Dress has a fitted bodice, statement sleeves that gather into a cuff, and a full skirt. This pattern includes three bodice options, three sleeve options, and three skirt options. The designs can be mixed and matched depending on your style. The design is not lined but uses a facing to finish the neck edge.
The pattern is designed to be made in a woven fabric including cotton, linen and wool.
We made Design A which has a boat neck, buttons at center front, long sleeves and flip cuffs. It has a slightly gathered circle skirt.
The fabric we used was a block wax cotton that Lauren purchased when visiting London. It was from African Queen Fabrics located in the Brixton Markets. You purchase fabric by the piece that comes 120cm wide by 5.5 meters in length. This was the perfect amount for us because of the way we needed to use the pattern placement to make sure the key parts of the printed landed correctly on the pattern pieces. Schultz Apparel do not suggest that you need this much fabric, it is best to check the instructions for their recommendation about the style you make.
Constructing the Minna Dress
The fabric print placement on the cuff
The pattern suggests user an under arm invisible zipper. This is difficult to get in and out of for a garment that has sleeves. The style does not have any detail or collar in the back that would be interrupted by a center back zipper so we opted to do this instead. We hope it will provide a little bit more longevity to the make instead of straining the underarm seams trying to get in and out of an underarm zipper.
This design is not lined and uses a neck facing to finish around the neck and button area. It is a neat finish however we are also working on a version with the flat front which we chose to line the bodice of as the fabric was not as stable. We did this by cutting the same bodice piece in a lining fabric and omitting the facing pieces.
Keep and eye on your seam allowance – it is 2cm for the pattern. If you are use to sewing with other patterns your default might be 1.5cm so make sure to check the instructions in case it varies.
Finished Minna Dress
The Minna dress is such a sweet style. We really liked the fit of the bodice. It is easy to wear as even though it has a wider more open neckline there is no need to wear a strapless bra with it as the neckline is really well placed. The instructions are quite good, keep an eye on how to finish the cuff for option A, it is a little difficult to finish the curved split cuff. The shape of the sleeves is fantastic and provides a strong statement.
