Dotty Spotty Josephine

My wardrobe is pretty short on casual tops, and I thought the Sloppy Josephine from Papercut Patterns looked really promising. Described as a "perfect tee for slouching around in, or for tucking in to your high waisted jeans or skirts for a feminine look". I don't own any high-waisted jeans but I am the queen of slouching around!!

If you haven't checked out Papercut Patterns already, do it!  The patterns come in the cutest packaging...their own cardboard box...with a hanger, how cool is that?  The pattern pieces are on sturdy brown recycled paper, and the instructions come in a booklet!

I cut the medium and whilst I really like the fit and it is super comfortable for slouching around in, I feel the neck is too wide. It keeps falling off my shoulders and needs a tank underneath, unless you are happy showing off your bra straps 80s style of course!  When I make this again (and I will) I will take a couple of inches out of the centre front & back, tapering out to the bottom as the next sizes down won't bring it in enough.

Aside from this, this top sewed up super fast, from cutting to finishing was about an hour and a half max including some distractions from Twitter!  I sewed all the seams on my overlocker and finished the hem with a twin needle.

I made a couple of minor adjustments:

• I didn't bind the neckline as suggested, instead I cut a strip of fabric 2" wide and a couple of inches shorter than the neckline and stretched it on
• As I am pretty short, I took about 3" off the length

This is a good basic tee pattern that is easy to make up. It's very comfy and I already wear it a lot. With a narrower neckline, I feel this will be my new go to tee for spring!

Pattern - Papercut Sloppy Josephine

Fabric - 1m Cotton knit from Mood

Noir Coppelia

Finally I am getting around to blogging this, for followers you many have noticed it pop up on a couple of posts, but I have never posted it in detail before now. 

The Coppelia by Papercut Patterns is a lovely ballet style wrap around cardigan with long ties. Now I am not going to lie, these patterns are pretty expensive, in fact I think this is the most I have spent on a pattern. But, they come in the most adorable packaging, a cardboard box with a photo on the front and its own built in hanger! The patterns are printed on fabulous sturdy recycled paper, and of course you are supporting an indie designer.  On top of that, to put my parochial hat on, they are based in New Zealand - so what could be better than that?!

I was drawn to this pattern over other wrap cardigan patterns out there as I really liked the raglan sleeves and thought the style would wear better and provide a better fit.

I made this up in a medium weight NZ merino knit and cut a size medium which in hindsight is a little big for me and would cut the small next time.  I found it was too big across the shoulders and the sleeves were too wide. I have taken the sleeves in by 1.5" but as you can see in the pictures they are still roomy.  I feel the neckband is too long and doesn't quite pull it in the way I would like. I would recommend taking 2-4 inches off to enable it to pull in a fit better.  The waist ties are also super long, in fact I can wrap mine around the back, to the front and then to the back again!

Even though it is a little big, I just pull it a little tighter and it is all good and cozy. This is a great silhouette with A-line skirts and circular skirts and I love it with my Hollyburn, as seen in my meetup with House of Pinheiro's Rachel.

I have another of these on by work table right now in the smaller size, and already I can tell the fit is better.  All told, this is a great pattern that goes together easily and is easy to adjust to fit if needed.  Give it a go and hang the cost, it's one of those patterns you would use more than once so it gets cheaper the more you make it!

Have you sewn any of the Papercut patterns? I'd love to hear your experiences :)