Striped Double Gauze Outfit for Stylo

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I want to walk you through each of the four Cotton + Steel outfits I designed for the latest issue of Stylo in a bit more detail here on the blog, starting with this one:

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The garments in this outfit were made with Bespoke Double Gauze, part of the Fall 2014 Cotton+Steel lineup that will be in shops early next year. I was looking for something new and different to feature my patterns in the Stylo spread, so when I contacted Melody Miller to ask about using Cotton+Steel garment fabrics for the shoot, I was thrilled to hear they were going to have a line of double gauzes. I believe I have mentioned in the past that wearing double gauze is like wearing pajamas. I selected a couple of quilting cotton fabrics for the shoot as well, but the double gauzes are definitely the main attraction here, and I love how they worked with my patterns.

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Charlie Tunic with handstitching

I’d never made a Charlie Tunic out of double gauze before, but now I’m wondering if I’ll ever sew it out of anything else. Making this one made me fall in love all over again with the Charlie pattern. It’s so comfortable and cute, especially when sewn out of a fabric so soft and easy to wear. Since I designed the pattern a few years ago, I’ve noticed that I’ve started streamlining the construction a bit by using just one button loop, skipping the side vents, and flattening the bottom of the front placket which makes for a more minimal, modern look. In addition, this version features the neckline placket on the inside instead of the outside, so the Purl Cotton stitches which hold the edges of the placket in place became the visual interest of this piece.

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Moon Pants

I originally intended just to make a few pairs of Parsley Pants to coordinate with everything, because that pattern is just so gosh-darned versatile. But as soon as I had the double gauze in hand, I wanted to design something more dramatic, less practical, and so the these harem pants were born. I’m so excited about how these turned out, and how much Clementine loves them — they are super comfortable and roomy. I made two versions of these pants for the shoot; the other one has a separate cuff and a pocket shaped like a crescent moon (I’ll show you those soon!!), so that’s where the name “Moon Pants” came from. For those of you who love to hack patterns, I’m not gonna lie, you could definitely hack Parsley or any other basic pant pattern for that matter to create this style by adding width, cuffs or elastic casings. But I’m starting to realize the value of offering a new pattern ready-made, and so I’m planning this for my next children’s pattern release. I’ve realized that many people (including myself, often) just don’t have the time or patience to figure out modifications for everything, so I hope there will be people who will appreciate this new pattern.

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Headband

This headband was a rectangle of double gauze, sewed together along one long side and then turned right-side out. Then I tucked the ends in and pleated them around a strip of fold-over elastic, which I top-stitched in place. Voila, new headband to match! I have to say, it makes me want to cry a little at how BIG Clementine looks with her hair pulled back. Waaaaaaah!! Where is my little baby girl!??!

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OK! That’s it for this outfit — feel free to post any questions you might have to comments and I’ll try to answer them all. You can see the entire spread, complete with the other outfits I designed, in Stylo Issue 3 (my spread starts on page 99)!! Thank you so much to Tashina and Karen for their help sewing up these looks, and to Jess and Celina for their amazing work on this issue!

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