Free pattern: wraparound skirt

Free wrap skirt pattern skirt worn by Liz

Hello All, Here’s a pattern for a 6-gore wraparound skirt.  It has a generous wrap and is very suitable for one-way prints.  It would also look good in a plain fabric with topstitched seams. If you’ve never drafted a pattern before, this is a good one to start with because it’s straight forward and easy-fitting. …

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Blast from the Past: PVC clothing

During the school holidays, my daughter and I thought we’d make a pencil case from a pattern in a children’s activity book.  The pencil case is shaped like a shark with a clever zippered opening for the mouth. We searched around for some suitable fabric, and I remembered I had some silver PVC fabric offcuts…

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An Autumn Outfit

Japanese cardigan and featured skirt

As curling columns of smoke and the buzz of chainsaws announce the settling of autumn in our part of the world, I sat outside and sewed a skirt to go with last week’s Japanese cardigan. It’s my own basic A-line skirt I’ve used several times before.  It has a waist facing, centre back invisible zip,…

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The Japanese cardigan

Cardigan front view modeled by Liz Haywood

An intriguing construction and silhouette motivated me to make this cardigan from the Japanese pattern book She Wears the Pants by Yuko Takada. The title suggests a book of trouser patterns, but it’s translated from She Wears Mannish Style and features mainly tops and pants with an androgynous “menswear for women” look. I liked the…

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