My Modern Marx-Etzel Trousers
I’ve been making the trousers from the book Bog Fashion. Read about this interesting pattern in last week’s post. This is where we left off last week, a pinned-together pair of trousers with an enormous waist: I’ve spent the past week thinking about how to manage the wide waist and finish off the trousers. No-one…
Read MoreMaking the Marx-Etzel Trousers from Bog Fashion
For Christmas I received the book Bog Fashion – Re-creating Bronze and Iron Age Fashions by Nicole DeRushie, and it was such an interesting read I finished it in two sittings. The book describes textile finds from bogs and other sources in Northern and Western Europe, and then shows how they might be re-created. Patterns…
Read MoreCelebrating 10 Years of Blogging
Tomorrow The Craft of Clothes blog turns 10! This blog has notched up 462 posts including this one. I thank you all for reading, commenting, lurking, and contributing to this friendly part of the internet. You may be interested in how I came to start a blog. It was a year before The Dressmaker’s Companion…
Read More5 Ways to Wear a Beret
The Louvre Beret is a low or zero waste pattern, first published in TAUKO magazine last year. The copyright has now reverted to me, and the pattern is now in my shop. Please enjoy 25% off for the next month. Louvre has a YouTube sewalong – in the first few minutes I give a little…
Read MoreNew Pattern: Cotton Time Coatigan
Hello All, I have a new zero waste pattern, published in Japan’s Cotton Time magazine. It’s a coatigan – a kind of relaxed coat, combining the structure a coat with the softness of a cardigan. This opportunity arose via Mirai Pattern, who license and translate my zero waste patterns into Japanese. Cotton Time has featured…
Read MoreA Pocket Story
Since last week’s post about the ROO pocket in TAUKO magazine’s Pockets issue, some really fab examples have popped up on Instagram. As part of TAUKO magazine’s celebration of pockets, I thought it would be fun to share a pocket story. Here’s mine: When I was a child, my Dad who was a life-long pocket…
Read MoreNew Pattern: ROO pocket
New year, new pattern. I’m excited to introduce a new pattern in TAUKO magazine, which has just come out. The theme for this issue is Pockets, celebrating pockets as a statement of style, function, and freedom. There are some really interesting and clever patterns in this issue, all of which can be viewed here. My…
Read MoreWrapping up 2025
Season’s Greetings Everyone, and welcome to the last post of 2025. The blog is now on holidays until late January-ish. The Craft of Clothes Christmas staff party was on the weekend. It was only me there, as I’m the only staff. Catering was a breeze, no boring speeches, and the chickens provided the entertainment. The…
Read MoreDream Jumpsuit Finished + Free Pattern
The jumpsuit I aspired to own as a teen is now complete, and I love it! I first saw this jumpsuit as a teen in the 1980s, when no-one wore onesies, and always wanted one. At the time, I didn’t have the confidence to sew one nor the $ to buy. But here we are,…
Read MoreDream Jumpsuit Progress Update
Last week I embarked on a project to re-create a jumpsuit that I saw once in my teens. Since then I’ve cut out a jumpsuit and run it up on the machine. It wasn’t without problems – I made the crotch 10cm too high and nearly cut myself in half trying it on. Otherwise things…
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