Tag: sewing pattern

Christmas Me Made Outfits 2024

by two.sewing.sisters, posted in Sewing Project

This year, we took our Christmas outfit game to a whole new level — well, more accurately, Audrey did. Every year, our family Christmas dinner is a chance to channel our Nan’s tradition of creating festive outfits for the whole family. It’s a nod to her legacy, and we’ve kept the tradition alive with something handmade for the occasion.

But this September, Audrey threw down the ultimate challenge. She casually said, “You know how you all wear matching outfits? What if ALL of us matched this year?” Game. On.

We dove into fabric hunting mode, shared a few options in the family group chat, and the clear winner emerged: a cheerful red and white gingham from Birch. Next up, everyone shared their vision for their Christmas ensemble, and we hunted down the perfect patterns on the Sewdirect Australia website.

What followed was a marathon of stitching: 10 garments, a mix of our tried-and-true patterns and some exciting new styles. By the time we were done, the sewing machines deserved a rest as much as we did!
Wishing you a Christmas as merry and love-filled as our matching outfits!🎅🎁✨

The Full Family Lineup

The full family line up of Nathan in McCall’s 6044, Audrey in Simplicity 9597, Tracy in McCall’s 8030, Lauren in Know Me 2076, Fergus in Two Sewing Sisters Bandana, David in McCall’s 6044, Robyn in Vogue 9237, Austin in McCall’s 6044, Amahli in Simplicity 9848, Erin in Know Me 2091 and James in McCall’s 6044

Ritchie line up

James in McCall’s 6044, Erin in Know Me 2091, Lauren in Know Me 2076, Fergus in Two Sewing Sisters Bandana, Robyn in Vogue 9237 and David in McCall’s 6044,

Taylors line up

Audrey in Simplicity 9597, Tracy in McCall’s 8030, Nathan in McCall’s 6044, Amahli in Simplicity 9848 and Austin in McCall’s 6044

The creative team

Audrey in Simplicity 9597, Erin in Know Me 2091, Amahli in Simplicity 9848, Lauren in Know Me 2076 and Fergus in Two Sewing Sisters Bandana.

Two Sewing Sisters

Erin in Know Me 2091 and Lauren in Know Me 2076

Photo Credits

Photographer: James Christie Media
Fabric: Red and white cotton gingham from Birch
Patterns supplied by Sewdirect Australia:
Nathan – McCall’s 6044
Audrey – Simplicity 9597
Tracy – McCall’s 8030
Lauren – Know Me 2076
Fergus – Two Sewing Sisters Bandana
David – McCall’s 6044
Robyn – Vogue 9237
Austin – McCall’s 6044
Amahli – Simplicity 9848
Erin – Know Me 2091
James – McCall’s 6044

Higgs and Higgs Sewing Kit Merchant and Mills Peg Trouser

by two.sewing.sisters, posted in Sewing Project

Higgs & Higgs is a family-run fabric store based in the UK, you can buy online or visit the fabric shop in Gloucester.  They have launched an exciting set of sewing kits and they invited use to give one a test run and we loved it!  We have spoken about how fabulous a kit is, there is no running out of anything, no worry if you had the right thing or enough of anything it is all at your fingertips.  

Patterns: Peg Trousers by Merchant & Mills

This is our first Merchant & Mills pattern and these Peg Pants were a great fit for us, we are already planning more. The ‘Peg’ pants/ trousers feature a fly front with generous pleats, angled pockets and turn-up cuffs at the hem. The pattern includes a lining piece for a half-lined finish for wool fabrics. Find the pattern on the Higgs and Higgs website here.

Fabric: Cotton Gabardine Fabric in Rust

If you asked us about what fabric we would recommend for a pair of pants, this is it! This gabardine is 100% cotton and 250gsm in weight which is perfect for trousers. We chose the rust colour but equally could have picked any from the range – check out the full-colour selection here.

Even as experienced makers with quite a stash it is such a joy and relief to know that we have everything we need to complete a project. This kit fits this brief so well and even included a fun satin for lining the pockets.

Finished Sewing Kit of Peg Pants

Fabric: Cotton Dotted Swiss Lawn in Rustic Orange Floral on White

The trouble with pants? Matching tops. So when the Higgs & Higgs team invited us to showcase their pants kit we knew it would be a two-garment project. We set about finding a matching fabric from their website to create a top that would compliment the colour tones of the rust. We found the adorable Cotton Dotted Swiss Lawn in Rustic Orange Floral on White and it was meant to be. Check it out here.

Wilder Gown by Friday Pattern Company

Once we found the matching fabric the last piece of the puzzle was selecting a pattern for the top. It was important that this was an all Higgs & Higgs project so we jumped onto their pattern pages and spied The Wilder Gown. We have made this pattern a few times and love the neck details and the loose, flowy bodice.

We did alter the sleeve to make it longer and placed an elastic in the hem to taper it into the wrists.  This is our personal style preference that we felt balances the lightweight top by having full-length sleeves with the weight of the pants fabric. 

Photo Credits

Pants Pattern: Peg Pants by Merchant and Mills provided as part of kit by Higgs and Higgs
Pants Fabric: Rust Cotton Gabardine Fabric provided as part of the kit by Higgs and Higgs
Top Pattern: Wilder Gown by Friday Company
Top Pattern: Cotton Dotted Swiss Lawn Rustic Orange Floral on White provided by Higgs and Higgs
Photos: James Christie Media

Peg Pants Kit

Melbourne Frocktails McCall’s 8282 Hand Painted Fabric

by two.sewing.sisters, posted in Events, Sewing Project

We’ve had a vision of painting fabric for a couple of years now, and Melbourne Frocktails was the perfect excuse to embrace our creative vision!

Pattern: McCall’s 8282

This image has an empty alt attribute; its file name is M8282_envelope_front__20381__93431.jpg

Erin wanted to create an off-the-shoulder look with a full skirt for this fabric.  We landed on McCall’s 8282 as our base using view B. This pattern was provided by Sewdirect Australia and is available here. 

Fabric: Hand Painted

For this vision, we started with a white cotton drill which we purchased from Spotlight.  We selected our colour pallette of fabric paints and combined some colours to give a vibrant tone.  To make sure we didn’t paint extra fabric and waste painted fabric we cut the fabric first.  This also allowed us to consider the placement of the paint and colour balance.  We nervously set about stamping the fabric.  Check out the video. 

Client error: `GET https://graph.facebook.com/v10.0/instagram_oembed?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Fp%2FDCOoApyPf5Y%2F&access_token=EAAG5hzKyxakBO8xZAEUE6IutH8eLyYZCXT4WbmtiYIRu7td8QN0E1ZCbgkMqM9DFWEZBg54R43Pzxlyvorj4oN2p25oIbvsE5OGyU5Jn6IB0qAtzFufhE9uZBjSBRZCrB5l9ti7WkI6xWayfObZAUdxvGLhZA2yJSlfk3en9I5UHIgfendMkGcMIM66e6CmYWfOX0gwVRwYxIuNUkm0Gr6SvpsBBfa5m3vEmriqMPLI9qKevZAnZBhBOPy060zVmffUtYZD` resulted in a `400 Bad Request` response: {"error":{"message":"Error validating access token: The session has been invalidated because the user changed their pass (truncated…)

Finished McCall’s 8282

Photo Credits

Pattern: McCall’s 8282 provided by Sewdirect Australia
Fabrics: White Cotton Canvas purchased at Spotlight hand painted by Two Sewing Sisters

Flying Fox Fabrics at Oaks Day

by two.sewing.sisters, posted in Events, Sewing Project

Last year we took part in Sew Gorgeous which is a special collaboration between Songlines Art, Flying Fox Fabrics & Papulankutja Artists.  You can see our make for this project here.  We loved the beautiful fabric designs from Songlines Art so selected a piece to create something for ourselves. 

Patterns: Know Me 2016, McCalls 8161 and Simplicity 8669

This was an absolute mash-up of patterns that started with the bodice of Know Me 2016 with a lengthen waist, the sleeves of McCalls 8161 and then the skirt of Simplicity 8669.

Fabric: Flyer Fox Fabrics

The cotton we selected from Flying Fox Fabrics was a beautiful blue and orange print by artist Jennifer Ngunyaka Mitchell called Kapi Tjukula meaning water and holes in rock.

The placement of this print was important, we only had limited fabric but wanted to ensure that there was a strong visual line down the center front of the dress. 

Finished Dress of Flying Fox Fabric

Photo Credits

Photographer: James Christie Media
Pattern: Bodice of Know Me 2016, sleeves of McCalls 8161 and skirt of Simplicity 8669
Fabric:  Kapi Tjukula Jennifer Ngunyaka Mitchell from Flying Fox Fabrics
Black Pillbox: Lauren J Ritchie Millinery

Vogue 1902 with Butterick 5951 in Cotton from Tessuti Valli at Oaks Day

by two.sewing.sisters, posted in Events, Sewing Project

The theme of purple floral continued for Lauren on Oaks Day at Flemington Racecourse this year.  The hero and starting point for this dress was the beautiful floral cotton she found when travelling in Florence earlier this year. 

Pattern: Vogue 1902 with Butterick 5951

We mostly have a me made wardrobe but recently we were looking through Myer and wanted to check out what Cue had in their latest collection. Lauren spied a few dresses with drape detail and knew this was a detail she wanted as part of her Cup Week looks. With the neck detail of Vogue 1902 in mind, she transformed it into a dress by added the A-line skirt of Butterick 5951 to it. This pattern was supplied by Sewdirect Australia.

Fabric: Purple and yellow Floral Cotton from Tessuti Valli

This fabric caught Lauren’s eye when she was in Florence and visited Tessuti Valli for the first time. The print was quite large and had vibrant yellow centres in the flowers. We had spoken quite a bit about what we wanted to create for the Melbourne Cup this year, focusing on natural fibres and styles we would wear repeatedly throughout the year. Due to how light this cotton was we lined it with a light pink cotton poplin weight to help support the fabric and make it more opaque.

Finished Vogue 1902

Photo Credits

Photographer: James Christie Media
Pattern: Vogue 1902 provided by Sewdirect Australia with Butterick 5951
Fabric:  Purple and yellow Floral Cotton from Tessuti Valli
Yellow Beret: Lauren J Ritchie Millinery

Vogue 1708 in Minerva Exclusive Electric Blooms Double Georgette Crepe

by two.sewing.sisters, posted in Sewing Project

When we saw the Electric Blooms printed fabric we knew it was the perfect party fabric for us.

Fabric: Minerva Exclusive Electric Blooms Double Georgette Crepe

This is a Minerva Exclusive fabric that comes in a few different types. This one is the double georgette crepe fabric in the Electric Blooms, it is a woven non-stretch fabric made of 100% polyester. We don’t usually work with this type of fabric —we tend to pick cotton fabrics over polyester fabrics. We were planning our outfits for the Oaks Day Luncheon, so it was the perfect opportunity to try something new!

Pattern: Vogue 1708

We had to hunt through the Sew Direct patterns to find the perfect pattern and landed on Vogue 1708. It is a jumpsuit pattern with v-neck, wide leg pants and a wrap top that extends to a cross over back and tie ends (which could be tied in either a knot or a bow).

Finished Activewear

Find out more here

Photo Credits

Pattern: Vogue 1708 provided by Sewdirect and is available on Minerva here. 
Fabrics: Minerva Exclusive Electric Blooms Double Georgette Crepe provided by Minerva

At the Oaks Day Luncheon at Crown in Melbourne both wearing Minerva, Lauren wore her purple Vogue 1723

Vogue 1802 in Purple Floral Satin from Tissus Coupons Saint Pierre

by two.sewing.sisters, posted in Events, Sewing Project

For a night at Government House for the Cup Eve reception Lauren chose to create a dress in a floral satin using the pattern Vogue 1802.

Pattern: Vogue 1802

Vogue 1802 is a loose-fitting, pullover dress that has a collar extending into ties in the back, slit opening at the neck, and side seam pockets.  We created view B with the long line and gathered tier. This pattern was supplied by Sewdirect Australia.

Fabric: Purple Floral Satin from Tissus Coupons Saint Pierre

When Erin was travelling in Paris earlier in the year she visited Tissus Coupons Saint Pierre and selected this purple floral satin. The satin piece of fabric came in a pre-cut length of 3 meters long. While not our usual choice of fabric type it was a great choice for this pattern. We lined it with a plain white fabric in the top section of the dress which also helps with the static in the fabric.

.

Finished Dress Vogue 1802

Photo Credits

Pattern: Vogue 1804 provided by Sewdirect Australia
Fabric:  Purple Floral Satin purchased from Tissus Coupons Saint Pierre
Wide brim hat: Lauren J Ritchie Millinery

Vogue 1884 in Toile de Jouy from Tissus Coupons Saint Pierre

by two.sewing.sisters, posted in Events, Sewing Project

This beautiful feminine fabric called for a classic style.  While not a typical Melbourne Cup Day look the need for a wide brim on this lovely spring day.

Pattern: Vogue 1884

Vogue 1884 is a fitted bodice with a wide square neckline, flared skirt with diagonal gathers under the waistline, side seam pockets and low cut back. This pattern was supplied by Sewdirect Australia.

Fabric: Toile de Jouy from Tissus Coupons Saint Pierre

When Lauren was travelling in Paris earlier in the year she visited Tissus Coupons Saint Pierre and selected this green and white Toile de Jouy. The cotton piece of fabric came in a pre-cut length of 3 meters long. The print featured the iconic style of scenery in the print. It called to be a very feminine style so was the perfect pairing for this dress pattern.

.

Finished Dress of Ellie Whittaker Fabric

Photo Credits

Photographer: James Christie Media
Pattern: Vogue 1884 provided by Sewdirect Australia
Fabric:  Toile de Jouy purchased from Tissus Coupons Saint Pierre
Wide brim hat: Lauren J Ritchie Millinery

Know Me 2016 in Ellie Whittaker Fabric at Melbourne Cup

by two.sewing.sisters, posted in Events

Do you spot a theme from Lauren this Spring Racing Carnival?  Purple Floral maybe. When we spied this Ellie Whittaker drill fabric it was definitely on the make list for Melbourne Cup Day.  The race day is hosted at Flemington Racecourse and is known for bright and vibrant colours. 

Pattern: Know Me 2016

Know Me #me2016 is a design by Beaute’ J’adore, it is a dress with a shaped waistline sloping up slightly at the front and lovely design lines in the tiers with gathers. Let us not forget about the scoop pockets in the skirt. It has a high round neckline, bust darts from the sideseam and finished with an invisible back zipper. This pattern was supplied by Sewdirect Australia.

Fabric: Ellie Whittaker Drill from Spotlight Stores

The gorgeous fabric is a cotton drill that features green leaves and lovely purple hydrangeas designed by Ellie Whittaker. We purchased this fabric a Spotlight Stores.

.

Finished Dress of Ellie Whittaker Fabric

Photo Credits

Photographer: James Christie Media
Pattern: Know Me 2016 provided by Sewdirect Australia
Fabric:  Ellie Whittaker Studio cotton drill from Spotlight Stores
Green Boater: Lauren J Ritchie Millinery

Butterick 6280 with Vogue 1647 in black and white from Super Cheap Fabrics

by two.sewing.sisters, posted in Events

Earlier this year when we were planning our Cup Week outfits we chatted about creating stylish pieces that were fun and comfortable to wear and this definitely fit the brief. 

Patterns: Butterick 6280 with Vogue 1647

This was a pattern mash-up of the sleeveless view of Butterick 6280 for the bodice transformed into a jumpsuit using the pants of Vogue 1647.

Fabric: Stretch Black and white from Super Cheap Fabrics

On one of our last fabric hunts, we came across this black and white stretch fabric on the clearance table at Super Cheap Fabrics and well, it came home with us. It does stretch in every direction, it makes for a challenging make BUT is super comfortable to wear.

Derby Jumpsuit

Photo Credits

Pattern: Bodice of Butterick 6280 with pants of Vogue 1647
Fabric: Black and White Gingham purchased at Marché Saint-Pierre in Paris
Millinery: Lauren J Ritchie Millinery