Designer Stitch 1st Anniversary!

Its the first birthday for Designer Stitch PDF Patterns! Its hard to believe that so many beautiful patterns have been created in just a single year. There is so much to celebrate!

Here is a quick look at some of the Designer Stitch patterns that I have sewn up over this past year:

Gypsy Dress:

Megan Skirt:

Kiera Skirt:

I chose to sew up the Alyse Pants for my stop along this Blog Tour, mainly because I needed new pants. It seems that all my favourite pants that I made last year have been worn to death and replacements are needed, so I have been looking for a pants pattern that can work for everyday wear, but is still stylish enough to make me feel well dressed. So, I present to you, the Alyse Taper Leg Pants:

The Pattern

The Alyse Pants come in three different styles:

* Slim Leg
* Taper Leg
* Wide Leg

I made the Taper Leg version. I chose this version because its in the middle – just simply that. Although, now that I’ve sewn up this version I think I may need to make a slim leg pair as well!

All three versions of the pants feature the same styling features, sizing range, and are all designed for stretch woven fabrics. The difference between each pair is the fit of the legs.

Lets talk about the details:

The pants have a yoke with a facing that makes for a very neat waistline. The hip pockets have a very cool shape, and are very generous in size – but only on the inside! I chose not to top stitch my pockets, after pressing, they sit quite nicely without the top stitching, and on this print that top stitching would not stand out as a feature, it would disappear, so I left it out, but I would probably add it in for a solid colour.

The pants are fastened at the side with a centred zipper. Ann provides really good instructions for achieving a nice looking zipper – this is something that I was never able to achieve until Designer Stitch showed me how! It takes a little bit longer to get it just right, but it is worth it to have a garment that looks professionally finished that you feel proud to wear.

There are no belt loops or other fussy details on the waist of these pants. They are a clean and sophisticated style, and are intended to sit neatly on your upper hip. I’ll admit that I am in between sizes and I went with the larger size, but I probably should have gone with the smaller size, I will do so for my next pair.

The only modification that I made to this pattern was to cut a chunk off the length – I’m only 5’3. This pattern has markers showing where to make adjustments for length, so that was an easy thing to do.

The Fabric

So, my newfound love for vibrant prints continues! I’ve really enjoyed adding some colour into my wardrobe recently (see my Kiera skirt above, and my floral rockabilly dress or lemon dress for example). I have a tendency to want to sew only black things, but I’ve been venturing out of my comfort zone, and thoroughly enjoying the results. A good sewing pattern helps with that too – after all, if I’m going to use a print, I want to make it a feature item!

I used a stretch cotton sateen from Spotlight. This is the perfect fabric for these pants. which are designed for a stretch woven. The sateen is a good weight for pants, it has a nice sheen to it, and wears well. Spotlight had these fabrics on sale recently, I had a hard time choosing which print to go with though, because I didn’t want a white background – I have small children and white just doesn’t work with little hands grabbing at me all the time.

I also didn’t want a print with too much empty space between the details. This photographic rose print was perfect, the colours are really nice and the pattern is random enough that I didn’t need to do any careful pattern matching to avoid anything weird looking at the seams. Especially at the back.

The Fit

These pants look good on everyone – the cut is just universally flattering, I haven’t seen a bad pair anywhere. The pattern comes in a huge size range: AU/UK 6-26, US 2-22, EU 34-54. And it suits all different shapes and sizes.

I have very little knowledge when it comes to fitting pants, and would consider myself a beginner at that – its quite different to fitting a bodice. But I didn’t need to worry with this pattern, it just works, first time!

Designer Stitch 1st Anniversary Celebration!

Designer Stitch is currently having a storewide sale to celebrate the 1st Anniversary – everything in store is 50% off! This sale will only last until 12th June – so make sure that you get in quick!

Also make sure to check out the Designer Stitch Pattern Support Facebook group to be among the first to know any new and for a bit of show’n’tell.

And, of course, visit all these awesome bloggers to be inspired by their Designer Stitch makes this week:

Thanks for reading!