Sew yourself an early winter cozy capsule wardrobe with just a few sewing patterns and a mix of cozy knit and wool fabrics.
I selected ALL of these from stash – pattern and fabric – but I’ll tell you where I got them so you can get them too:
Pants: I have the Paula Set from Ukranian (now German) designer Dudas Patterns (they emigrated to Germany during the Ukraine war last year). These are a wide leg, high waist, paperbag waist pattern designed for knits. I’m making it in some else’s stash French Terry with a donegal look pattern. You can find similar fabrics at Nature’s Fabrics online.
I am also going to make a Wave Set (ME 2033) in black/black herringbone reversible knit fabric pair of pants. I love this set and want to make it in a knit fabric for winter.
Tops: I have the Mile End sweatshirts from Closet Core and I plan to make the crewneck with gathered front and the hoodie from an organic fleece and organic French Terry all of which I got at my local fabric store Seams Fabric.
I am also making this curved hem quarter zip top from Vogue Patterns V1833 out of the donegal french terry as well.
Vest/Cape
The MimiG cape (NL6768) has been on my list all fall, you’ve seen it before if you’ve read the blog but I’m really going to try to get it done early winter.
I also sketched out this Tremont vest from some boiled wool scraps I’ve saved, see how well I got it from sketch to mid-construction last night. I do want to add another black shape on the back (it’s mostly cream right now) so I won’t show that til I am done. I am also going to add sleeve facings to the vest as well, just to make it more stable. I will not be finishing the mitered / hems, just cutting the pattern seam allowances off since it’s boiled wool.
How to: trace off another copy of your pattern, draw the shapes/lines on it, cut those apart, remind yourself to add seam allowances on the parts that connect (a neon sticky note on those sides of the new little cut out shapes works well). You won’t need to add SAs to the outer edges of the original pattern piece, just the parts where the blocks connect other blocks. I sewed them right sides together, pressed them to the cream side and then topstitched. The cream boiled wool is thinner than the black so this worked well. This is really a thick collar band, and I could have split it and used a piece of cream on the inside, but I”m going for stable on this and probably will have to be creative with a closure since it’s very thick wool!
This early winter cozy capsule will take me through work from home, to kid sports travel, hockey rinks (I spend so much time at hockey rinks). I can “dress” up any of these outfits with the Tremont arty long vest and pair it with boots, but in the end, I’m still wearing a sweatshirt and knit pants!
The cape tops everything and with the milder winters we’ve been having lately, this probably will work just fine for me this winter on the days where it’s above 40 degrees. Which, with this winter, probably will be a lot of them!
I’m really leaning into sewing for the life I lead now, and wearing the things I’ve made for everyday is really wonderful. As I type this, I have on my cozy quilted double gauze Hovea jacket at my desk. it’s so wonderfully snuggly and I wore it on a client zoom call with a V-neck sweater under it. It feels like a blanket but is stylish enough for Zoom!