Kicking off the new sewing year with these Soline Culottes by Staystitch Pattern Co. has been a dream start! I was lucky enough to win this pattern by participating in the My Makes of the Month challenge hosted by Lou Sheffer of Sew Much to Design. This pattern promises to be, “… your new favourite wardrobe staple! They are effortlessly chic, comfortable, and stylish.” It delivers that in spades. I love the high waisted look with the wide leg profile of these culottes. It has the elasticised paper-bag waistband with drawstring which is so comfortable to wear. I love that the wide waistband sits just above the belly button. This helps to define the waistline and create a flattering shape. It can be styled in so many ways, but my favourite is to tuck a blouse into it. When the weather cools, it could also work well with a chunky sweater partially tucked in.
Constructing the Soline Culottes was so easy and enjoyable. The instructions from Staystitch Pattern Co were very comprehensive. It’s forty-five pages long but there were a lot of extras included and many pocket options. Most of all, I loved the order of construction. As a self-taught sewing enthusiast, this sort of pattern is very educational and the way the instructions have been written could be followed and completed by someone with very little experience.
I started the make with the selection of in-seam pockets. The other options for pockets were a gusseted pocket and patch pockets but I was looking to keep the front and back panels flat to highlight the paper-bag waistband. I really enjoyed the way the inseams were constructed as everything came together so well. Putting together the paper-bag waistband was the final stage and probably took most of my time but again, instructions were well written and logical. It was fun bringing it together.
Sizing was also easy with the positive ease built into the fit. I decided to make the size 10 as my hip measurement of 38 inches was closer to the size 10 fit of 41 inches. My waist measures 33 inches and the size 10 fits 31 inches. Figuring that my slightly larger waistline will be accommodated by the elasticised waistband and seeing that the finished measurements were 45 inches and 45.5 inches, this confirmed to me that the size 10 would be a good fit.
The fabric I chose was a beautifully soft lyocell linen blend from Spotlight Stores. It comes in 55-inch (140 cm) width and the colour is Brick. It’s a brown with a reddish hue, a lovely part of the colour spectrum. It is a heavier weighted linen so it’s great for a bottom piece. The lyocell in the blend gives it a super soft feel. I used just under 2 meters of the fabric.
This ticks off a first make from my Make Nine Challenge chart under “Casual Trousers”. I’ve decided to use my make nine slightly differently this year. I’ll include more details in a future post and on my Instagram @emsewhappy. Looking forward to another year of fun, learning and sewing.
Thanks for reading and happy sewing!
X Em
Em Sew Happy Blog 