The Soothing Quilt - English Paper Piecing Update

I am so excited to share these photos of the latest update of my Soothing Quilt EPP project! To find out all about it, you can read my introduction post here. It has changed a lot since my last update back in August. I've added two extra rows since then and the colour scheme has changed so much with the addition of yellows and a few oranges. I love it, but I do kind of miss the original blues and purples! It's also getting a lot harder to attatch the pieces to - it's currently just over 1m² so as you can imagine it's no longer as easy to manoeuvre.

One thing that I do really enjoy is picking out new fabrics that I haven't yet used when planning the next rows. I love how the splashes of oranges and greens that orignally didn't quite fit are now beginning to tie in as the gradient expands. I also really like how colours that I would never usually pair together look really good side by side when part of a much bigger colour scheme.

I've been enjoying adding to this quilt bit by bit. For me, the whole point of EPP is to go slowly. The aim of this quilt is to provide a calm evening outlet so there is no deadline by which to finish it. I've never actually made a quilt before so I'm not entirely sure what to do when it comes to the quilting process but I'll see when I get there. 

I took this photo of the wrong side and I love it almost as much as the right side, it reminds me of a stained glass window. The only thing I'm not looking forward to is having to take all those papers out!

I'm going to keep adding to this until it's large enough to cover a double bed. I'm keeping it as a square for now, but that might change towards the end. I'm excited to see which colours are going to be added next from the Alison Glass Sun Print 2018 fabrics, hopefully some pink will appear soon!

Cropped Black Jumper

A black jumper is perhaps one of the most basic garments that can be sewn, but one of the garments that receives the most wear. I've been on the lookout for a fabric to make into a simple cropped black jumper for a while and this fabric felt like a good one to start with. It's a lighter weight sweater knit so not necessarily a classic fabric for a jumper, but the drape allows it to hang really nicely and it's ideal for when the weather is slightly warmer.

I tried to keep the design as simple as possible but I was keen to add cuffs to the sleeves to make the jumper seem a bit more finished. I made the sleeves slightly too long in order to be able to properly cover my hands with the cuffs if I want to during colder months. The proportion of the cropped jumper with the long sleeves is something else I really like too.

Despite it's simplicity this top promises, I hope, to be a regularly worn staple. I'm really pleased with how the shape of it turned out and I would really like to make a few more of these in different colours. I'd like to try it with a heavier weight fabric too to see how the fabric weight changes the style.

If you'd like to find out more about this top, head over to Minerva Crafts to read the whole blog post.

Black True Bias Lander Pants

I've finally made a pair of Lander Pants! I can't believe how long it's taken me to make these but I'm so happy I finally have. I bought this pattern just over a year ago and have been wanting to make it for longer still. I wanted to start by making a classic black denim pair, and now that I've made these I'm looking forward to making more in different colours.

To me, these trousers all came down to finding the right fabric. The pattern is a really simple shape and I think  the details such as the pockets and visible button fly call for a plain fabric. I really love how the black shows off all of these details, and it's also a really useful colour for trousers. I had black non-stretch denim at the back of my mind for months (I was actually hoping to find some in Tomato) but I don't go to fabric shops that often so it took me a while to find the perfect fabric. I actually pretty much stumbled across this one accidentally. On a trip to my local Fabric Land I saw that they had a lot of really lovely denims in stock. I immediately wanted to find something to make a pair of Landers out of and their black non-stretch denim was perfect. Oh, and it was only £4 a metre! £4! I should have bought the entire roll but at least I got enough to make the perfect pair of Landers.

My favourite detail is definitely the exposed button fly. It was actually a feature that I wasn't so sure about when I first bought the pattern, but over time it's something that I've come to like more and more. I've never sewn a button fly before but the instructions were very simple to follow and I love the result. I used brass jeans buttons which I think give a lovely contrast to the black. I definitely think I'll sew an exposed button fly again but probably never a hidden button fly, to me it just seems like an unnecessary annoyance compared to a zip fly if it doesn't add a anything to the design.

The great thing about this pattern is the pockets. I love them! I think trapezium pockets look great and I would love to make these with contrast topstitching around the pockets.

Fit wise I actually found this pattern to be really good. I was really surprised at how few adjustments I needed to make, I usually have to take a large wedge out of the centre back seam to account for having a sway back but these fit fine. The only thing I would say is that the waistband isn't curved, so I knew from the start that I would have to make the waistband smaller. I tend to do this by sewing a triangle at the side seams of the waistband, the seam is then covered by a belt loop. I took out about 1" at either side of the waistband when I was making them but still found them to be much too big at the waist so I had to take out about the same again. I think that was probably due to not taking any fabric out of the centre back seam but I was keen to keep that seam as it was seeing as it fit so well.

I'm so pleased to have finally made the Landers, it's such a brilliant pattern and I love mine. A final detail that I added is a Kylie and the Machine 'you can't buy this' label into the side seam. I got some for Christmas and they are just perfect!