Kalle Shirt in Cotton and Steel “Mochi” Speckled Navy Lawn

It may not be the best for cool fall temperatures, but I love my new Kalle Shirt from Closet Case Patterns.

I made myself a little batch of sewing projects to transition from summer to fall, which seemed like a good idea when it was still warm.  It seems like less of a good idea now that it’s cooling off, but I’m committed!  And I have no regrets when it comes to this shirt.  I love it.  I have a little confession to make, though.  When I was trying to figure out what to wear the shirt with, I fell for the color combination of these thrifted pants with the shirt.  In my mind, this outfit was going to be AWESOME and would take the sewing and fashion world by storm!  Hahahaha!  It’s sort of a silly outfit with the wide shirt and wide pants and makes me look a little pregnant (I’m not), so THAT didn’t turn out quite like I planned, but these pictures took a long time to take, and there’s no turning back now, so here we are.  I suppose I ought to know better–most of my worst fashion moments come when I think I look super amazing.  A bit of “Pride goeth before a fall”?  😉  OR, on the flip side, “You have to risk big to win big”?  Haha.  Whatever!  Here we go!

Despite the calendar saying October, two days after I finished sewing this shirt, we had 80 degree (Fahrenheit) weather, which is nice and warm, and I got to wear it to work with my sparkly linen shorts.  Perfect!  Part of what I love so much about this project is the fabric it’s made from.  My first plan was to cut up a linen tablecloth I have but don’t love.  I had been thinking about repurposing that tablecloth for a while, and then I saw Linda’s shirt over on her blog, Elle Gee Makes, and it was just the push I needed to actually do it.  Unfortunately, no matter how much pattern and fabric puzzle-piecing I did, the shirt just wasn’t going to fit on the available fabric.  So, I turned to my stash.

That’s when I saw this speckled Cotton + Steel lawn, a part of Rashida Coleman-Hale’s “Mochi” collection.  I had originally purchased this fabric from Pintuck & Purl to sew up a shirt pattern from the 1980’s, but I reassigned it to the Kalle.  It’s such a great fabric with so many different colors.  Also, I loved splatter paint designs as a kid, so there’s that.  😉  If you aren’t familiar with lawn, it’s a smooth, plain-woven fabric that is great for making shirts from.  It feels finer and thinner than most quilting cotton and is crisp rather than drapey.  This particular one is made from cotton.

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Let’s talk design details.  This pattern has a lot of options with three lengths and different collar, back pleat, and button placket options.  You can even optionally buy a PDF pattern for long sleeves.

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I chose the cropped shirt (View A), which I lengthened by three inches, in a straight size 14.  My measurements would put me in a 12 bust, 14/16 waist and 16 hip, so I guess I chose the 14 to split the difference and avoid having to grade between sizes, even though that’s what I usually do.  I’m happy with how this turned out, though, so I think it was a fine choice.  As for the other options, I chose the band collar, back box pleat, and hidden button placket.  One bonus:  the relaxed fit of this shirt meant that I didn’t have to do a broad back adjustment.  That’s rare for me.

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I did have several moments of confusion while sewing this pattern.  Unlike some patterns, however, I could tell that this was because I was learning new techniques, not because the instructions were bad.  This was my first hidden placket, for instance, and I sewed my buttonholes through only one layer of fabric instead of two at first.  Luckily, I figured it out and managed to fix it, so all was good.

After sewing the side seams, there is a suggestion that you could flat fell the seams.  If you want to do this, you would have to change things up a bit since flat felled seams are typically made on the outside–or you could just make them on the inside.  I chose to serge my seams because I’m still trying to get used to my serger and one of my goals is to actually USE it.  So far I only have black and white serger thread, so I used black here (as you can see below).

When it came to attaching the facing, rather than topstitching it into place, I just made sure my top thread and bobbin thread were the same color and I stitched from the underside to make sure I was catching everything.  Unlike my normal practice, I didn’t choose contrasting thread for topstitching–I just used navy throughout, which hides a lot of mistakes!

The only other area I got confused on was attaching the sleeve cuffs.  I think the instructions could be a little bit clearer in this area.  I was very confused, so I turned to the sewalong online, which differs from the instructions after the second point.  I found that easier to follow, so I printed the information off and put it in my instruction booklet for the next time I make this.

And I do hope to make this again at some point.  I’m interested in trying the tunic length with the popover placket.  It will have to wait until at least next year, though, as I really like the look of the short sleeves, and would want to do that again.

Even though the weather is turning cold now, I’m really glad I got this in.  I love this shirt in this fabric, and I’m excited to wear it.

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Open Wide Zippered Pouch from Noodlehead

And now for something a little bit different…

I don’t always sew Christmas presents.  It can be hard to know what people will like, and I don’t want to invest time into something that isn’t a sure thing.  That’s why, this year, I decided to make a few zippered pouches.  These are not clothing or decor, and they are very, very functional, and can be used to store whatever the recipient wants.

I haven’t made many bags, so I’m not as tuned in to that area of the sewing world, but I knew from what knowledge I did have, that if I wanted to find a tutorial for a bag with great instructions, I should look at Anna Graham’s blog, called Noodlehead.  So, off I went, and found exactly what I was looking for:  the Open Wide Zippered Pouch.

After the initial tutorial post, Anna went back and updated it with two more size options so you can make small, medium, or large pouches and, as the name indicates, these pouches open wide when you unzip them.  They also stand up, thanks to interfacing and boxed corners, and stay open so you can see what’s inside.  I had never considered these options before, since the zipper pouches I use are store-bought and of the flat variety.

I made both pouches in the small size.  They were easy to make and didn’t take long at all.  I got all my fabric and zippers at Pintuck & Purl–just quarter yards of each fabric I wanted to use.  The printed fabrics are Cotton & Steel quilting cottons and the light blue solid is a lightweight denim from Art Gallery Fabrics.

I sew a lot of clothes but I have found that there are always new areas to explore in the sewing world.  So even if bags are fairly new to you, as they are to me, you can handle this.  I would definitely make these again, and I’m already planning to try out another of Anna’s pouch tutorials this year.

These pouches were well-received and are already in use, which makes me happy.  I recommend Anna’s tutorial to you if you are looking for something like this.  Here’s my question for you:  do you have any favorite bag patterns?  I’m not planning on switching away from garments, but I might try a few bags this year.

Recommendations

• I’m reading The Secret Lives of Color by Kassia St. Clair, and it’s so interesting.  This is a great book for someone who only has little chunks of time to read.  She talks about a myriad of colors, and each entry is only about two or three pages, so you can learn a lot of fascinating color history, even if you only have 5 minutes here and there to read.
• I tried Cremont cheese from Vermont Creamery earlier this month, and it is SO GOOD!  I highly recommend this one if you are a cheese lover.
• I just started listening to the Awesome Etiquette podcast from the Emily Post Institute after hearing about it on the Love to Sew podcast.  It’s definitely not about picking apart the behavior of others, but focuses more on how we can care for others with our actions.  It’s nice to hear and think about positive, uplifting things.