Pattern Mash-up: Dreaming of Spring

Hi y'all, Amy here. I don't know about you but usually around this time in February I start to get a little sick of my wardrobe. The sweaters that seemed cute around Christmas are starting to feel a little stale and my eyes start wandering to floaty dresses and short sleeves. The only thing that satisfies these cravings for warmer weather is to start planning my garden and my spring makes! Since we are still in the middle of a raging pandemic here and it's tough for me to get out, I am shopping both my stash and my pattern catalogue to see what I can make with what I already have before I start looking elsewhere. So with that in mind, I am looking to the Closet Core archives to see what new Frankenstein mash-ups I might be able to dream up! It requires at least a little chutzpah to start drafting different patterns together and this process is not usually without a few bumps in the road but I'm looking for a challenge! So if you are too, follow along, we'll dream together.

PIENNY

Ok, first up I am imagining smashing together our Jenny overalls with our Pietra pants to create a cute little pair of comfy dungarees. I think the elastic back to Pietra makes them a good candidate for a mash-up that is both comfortable and stylish. To achieve this I'll start by taking the bib and straps pattern pieces from the Jenny overalls and use all of the pieces to make the tapered leg (View B) Pietra pants. I will construct the pants up until adding on the front facing. After preparing the bib I will sandwich it between the front of the pants and facing. That should ensure I end up with a clean seam on the inside.  I will then finish the straps and sew them to the inner waistband at the back of the pants before I add the elastic. I plan on making the straps the kind that tie onto a grommet since I think it would be pretty easy to just slouch them off when you go to take a wee. I want to make them out of a slubby linen, or a soft twill. I would love to find some vintage fabric or repurpose something and I might even attach some elastic cuffs to the ankles so I can make peddle pushers for RIDING MY BIKE!!! Oh gosh, starting to get excited. Next!

CIELLE

Well hello there! How cute is this little number?? With the boxy ease of our Cielo top and the pretty curved hem of our Kalle shirt this make ticks a few boxes in my spring mood board. I like a crop top in the side hem to show off high waisted pants, or my Pietra shorts, but I also like that I could also put this over leggings while it's still cool and it covers my butt. This would be a fairly simple mash-up by making the Cielo top (View A) and drafting onto the front and back pieces of Kalle (View B). You would need to remove the back dart of the Kalle piece by folding the pattern piece to create (and remove) the box pleat and lining up the side seams with the Cielo back in order to draft the two together (from the waist down). I like to trace my pieces onto a big piece of paper and then cut a whole new pattern piece rather than taping them together. Hot tip: if you don't have a huge roll of drafting paper, the white side of cheap wrapping paper works great! From there you would sew the top together, attach the sleeves and finish the curved hem with bias tape or the facing. There are lots of opportunities here for print mixing but I am craving this in a nice heavy linen solid that can get good and beat up in the garden...the garden!! Ok, now I'm squealing.

FIORNA

Last but not least, meet my girl Fiorna. She's a mix between our Fiona Sundress (View A or B) with our Fiore skirt (View C) on the bottom. This would be relatively straight ahead to combine since they both feature the button placket down the centre front. The top is very close-fitting and so there isn't much wiggle room on blending the views, you would need to measure the pattern pieces first to ensure they lined up. But the waistband would make for an obvious transition from the tight bodice to the bias cut skirt. I will use the waistband from the skirt and attach the bodice to that before attaching a facing. I want to make this in something super light and floaty for the later stages of spring into summer when I'm starting to harvest the first flowers and baby greens. Maybe a seersucker? In pink? Have I ever worn pink? WHO CARES! IT'S SPRING!!!!

Tell me, what get's your wheels turning when planning your wardrobe? Are you into mashing up patterns?