If you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments below.
If you have any question, feel free to ask!
Watch the video in Youtube.
I’m so glad to finally introduce the new pattern: the Aldaia dress! I’ve been working on it for the past 3 months and was waiting for the Paris fair to release it.
View A: cotton spandex jersey – Girl Charlee Fabrics UK
View B: knit fabric – Henry & Henriette (not available – similar here)
View C: ponte milano – local shop (similar to Cousette)
The 27 different options…
And as I’ve said before, feel free to mix’n match the options: how about a wrap bodice (view B) with short sleeves (view C) and short skirt (view A)? Anything’s possible!
Here is our new pattern, the Serra jacket. Does it ring a bell with its double pockets? It’s an adult version of our kid’s coat, designed for our first Mini collection last February. Many of you asked for an adult version of the jacket, so we made it! We have taken the shape and details of the Mini coat to develop the first “version” of Serra (view A): an unstructured, unisex jacket – we wanted it to be perfect for you and your man as well! – raglan sleeves, fully lined, with all the Mini coat details… But we didn’t stop there! We’ve been talking about making new patterns with multiple possibilities for a while, like the Aldaia dress you love so much (all the variations have make it our best-seller!).
The Serra jacket was the perfect example to try the multi-purpose versions: with its simple shape, we have worked on different lengths and details to propose a 3-in-1 pattern. Three views for three different styles and uses. We are delighted to show you the result of long months of work!
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A mid-thigh jacket inspired by the Pauline Alice Mini coat and the traditionnal breton raincoat.
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A short jacket with hood, athletic style.
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A knee-length jacket with trench coat details.
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More than three versions of the same pattern, these are three unique jackets designed from the same base with lots of possibilities. In the next post, we’ll talk more about the details of each view. In the meanwhile, I hope you’ll like the Serra jacket pattern (or at least one of the view!). My favourite is the athletic View B whereas Lucile is in love with the city version of View C. What about you? We are curious, let us know which one is your favourite!
Technical details
There you go… another year has gone by! So fast I didn’t see it coming! I’ve been busy last year but I can’t say it was work related (baby and work definitely don’t go together). So in order to enter 2019 with the right foot, here are some personal and professional goals:
Find my work routine again, but no pressure. Last year, I can’t say I’ve worked a lot and Lucile had been doing all the heavy lifting alone. I’ve felt guilty over not working as much as before or as much as I would have liked but at the same time, I’m so happy I was able to see Mael growing during his first year. So now that he’s a little bit older, I’m quite happy with our new routine : work during the morning when he’s at kindergarden and spend the evening with him.
Take our time to pause and design new patterns. We are working on a new release calendar and changing to season collections (Spring/summer and Fall/winter). Before, we were releasing patterns without following the seasons very much but with design and printing delays, it was starting to get complicated. So we have been working on our organization to get everything more fluid. We have one pattern at the printer right now (release date is coming soooon!!!) and then we’ll take a break to prepare carefully and peacefully Fall/winter (but don’t worry, we’ll prepare a surprise for Spring).
Organize events to meet you. One of our best time of the year is when we go to Fairs. Not for economic reasons (flying from Spain to France and sending all our stock is not cheap!) but for human reasons. We work on our computers all day so it’s always a treat to meet you in real life. And we love when you tell us that it’s your tenth Aldaia dress, or that as a beginner, you were able to sew Lliria thanks to the video tutorial. And we also love when you tell us that we could add this or that, change a detail or instructions. We hope to see you more this year: let’s organize some workshop in Spain or in France.
Sew for myself. Last year, I sew almost nothing. Apart from the patterns tests, I’ve only made a Mini overall for Mael, 3 Cordoba sets from Ikatee for Mael and his cousins. Nothing for me. Oups, I forgot, I’ve made a dress for myself, a variation of the Lilas dress from my book “Robes”. So this year, no pressure but I want to make a few things. Since being a mum, my style has changed quite a lot. I don’t wear as much dresses as before, I’m more comfortable in trousers and tops (anything that buttons or opens easily as I’m still breastfeeding – 15 months going strong!) I want to try the Make Nine challenge but I’m already changing it to a more realistic Make Six. I’ll let you know all the projects later, but I’m already super excited about that.
Spend time with my family. That’s my priority this year ! Maybe my work will be slower, mails won’t be answered during the week-end and the Instagram account won’t be very active but that’s ok. Let’s spend quality time with our loved ones.
And I would like to add to these lines : I wish you all a very happy new year ! I hope 2019 will bring you joy, health, sewing… and knitting, some crazyness, adventures, laughs, warmth (or cold depending), and above all… lots of love!
About two weeks ago, Deer and Doe released its new Fall collection and was very lucky to review one the new patterns, the maternity Givre dress.
First, I’d like to thank Éléonore and Camille for asking me to review their pattern, that was very thoughtful of them. If you could think there is a cold competition between pattern designers, I’m sorry to disappoint you: what I’ve witness is respect and admiration for each others’ works. So thank you girls and congratulation on a beautiful collection!
But now about the dress I made: the Givre dress pattern is a knit dress pattern with many versions. You can make it as a dress, a t-shirt, with long sleeves or sleeveless, and as a normal size or maternity dress. Obviously, that’s the version I’m reviewing!
It’s exactly the kind of dresses I wanted to wear during my pregnancy. I feel put together and comfortable at the same time (just need to make sure that you have the appropriate underwear as the dress is quite bodycon!). The best detail for me was the possibility to choose between to special sizing: a 3-6 months or 6-9 months belly! I am still wearing my Aldaia dresses, with the waistline gathered above the belly, they fit but it’s very clear they are not made for pregnancy so it’s a great change to have the perfect amount of ease and gathers like this pattern. As size goes, I chose a 38 based on my new bust measurements. It’s a good thing I did as my fabric doesn’t have the stretch amount required.
I had this black bio cotton jersey from Les trouvailles d’Amandine in my stash, it only has about 25% stretch but that was the only black jersey I had and I wanted this dress to be black. I made a few modifications to the pattern: I combined view A and B to add sleeves to the seamless version and scooped the back neckline and redrew the neckline band to match.
It sews very easily and fast. Instructions for the gathers are great and everything went together nicely! I wanted to make more but as I have only over a month left, I might wait and make the “normal” version instead 😉 But if you’re pregnant and looking for a nice dress pattern, I highly recommend the Givre dress.
Today I’m writing a special post: how to adapt your Pauline Alice patterns when you’re expecting!
You may have noticed (or not) that I’m expecting a baby for Fall (thanks to everyone who congratulated me!). My closet is quite limited right now as most of my clothes are fitted and high waisted, so I need new outfits more adapted to my growing belly. I thought it would be nice to show you how to adapt non-maternity patterns quite easily with pretty illustrations and diagrams:
This is a very easy modification: you just have to shorten the front and back bodice pieces of the Cami dress pattern.
I would then remove the back darts and replace the front ones by gathers. To make the dress easier to put on, I would remove the side zipper and cut the front skirt piece in half and continue the bodice buttonband on the skirt. As the waistline is now under the bust, I would remove the pockets but they can also be lowered if you wish to keep them.
In the Carme blouse Sew-along (see it here on youtube), I had already shown how to make a maternity version.
You just need to add fabric on the bodice centre front that will later be gathered and stitched to the front yoke as the original version.
The Port short is a model that will ask for a more complex modification.
You’ll need to add a jersey waistband to the short. You need to redraw the front pieces (front and pockets). Draw a curve from the side to the center front (the seat is shortened by about 15 cm – this measure will vary depending on your belly, make sure to make a toile before). You won’t need the zipper fly pieces as the shorts will be pulled on, fly will only be decorative. Place the pockets (view A or B) over the new front piece and draw the curve on the pockets as well.
For the jersey waistband, we’ll cut two front and two back waistbands (size is to be adapted to your belly). The bottom edge should measure the same as the short’s new waistline with the cruve. Stitch the front and back waistbands at the sides and then both waistbands together at the top edge. Turn with the right sides out and stitch a line about 2 cm below the top edge to created a channel and insert an elastic. Stitch the waistband to the short. You can now pull the short on and the jersey waistband will be very confortable all the way through pregnancy.
No need to change anything on the Malvarosa dress as it’s loose shape makes it perfect for maternity.
That’s the first dress I thought of hacking : if you move the elastic waistband up, you’ll have the perfect maternity dress, from the first to the third trimester.
You need to shorten the Eliana dress bodice front and back pieces, without removing the 3 cm seam allowances at the waist. For the skirt, no need to change the waist but you might want to lengthen it a little bit. As the waistline is now under the bust, I would remove the pockets but they can also be lowered if you wish to keep them.
No modification needed for the Reina shirt thanks to the loose shape and gathers around the bust. But I want to lengthen it and try to make a dress out of it.
By replacing the fold on view B of the Xerea dress by soft gathers, you’ll get a pretty maternity dress that you’ll also be able to wear after baby’s arrival.
The Denia blouse pattern doesn’t need any change. It will be perfect for summer temperatures.
Just as the Port short, the Rosari skirt will need a jersey waistband to be worn as a maternity skirt.
Check out the Port modifications above. You don’t need to make the buttonholes, as the skirt won’t be opened, you can stitch the buttons directly over the buttonbands. Pockets will nedd to be lowered slightly.
The Aldaia dress is designed for jersey fabrics, perfect when your belly is getting rounder every day.
I would shorten the bodice pieces (all three views are compatibles) under the bust and remove the back darts. For the skirt, I recommand using view B, without seams, and lengthen the skirt at the waist. Make sure you choose a fabric with enough stretch ad why not add some soft gathers on the front around the waist?
This is my Pauline Alice maternity wardrobe! I don’t know if I’ll have the time to test all the variations but this is definitely my summer sewing plan. I’m about to start the Cami dress in white cotton, I’ll let you know how that works out.
What about you? What’s your favourite maternity pattern? Which of these do you like the most?
One week after releasing the new blog, it’s with great pleasure (and a hint of nervousness) that I introduce you to the new shop!
I’ve been working on this new page for a couple of months, to propose a new design that represents Pauline Alice more accurately, a site more user-friendly and with more options.
Here are the main changes you’ll find on the new shop. I hope you’ll like the page and that you’ll enjoy using it. And please, don’t hesitate to send me an email at info@paulinealicepatterns.com if you have any question, as I would be surprised if the new shop launch went smoothly ?
After an extended leave and hard work, I come back with many things to tell you. I kept silent during two little months… Yes, I know it´s quite a long time… But I was working on my new blog – that I invite you to explore now – and my new online shop which will be ready next week!
For quite some time, I’ve been thinking of bringing a new focus on the blog and the shop. I started the blog 6 years ago, and didn’t make any change until now. I think it was long overdue! You can now find a simple, practical and functional blog.
I hope that you will enjoy this new Pauline Alice blog!
As you can see, the blog is still available in English, French and Spanish. One of the new feature of the blog is the possibility to access the Pauline Alice patterns gallery. On “my sewing patterns”, you’ll find all the patterns and every post ever written about it.
There’s also some new categories: tutorials and techniques, or Extras including all the pattern hacks made from Pauline Alice sewing patterns and free patterns.
All these major changes require some organisation…
During the migration of all individual accounts on the new shop, you won’t be able to access your PDF patterns library on your account. I invite you to download and save all your PDF patterns files (you have until the new shop release next week). All my apologies for the inconvenience. Do not hesitate to contact me at info@paulinealicepatterns.com in case you need more information.
While waiting for the new patterns release next week (and also the restocking of Aldaia, Xerea and Rosari patterns), I hope you’ll enjoy the new blog!
Best!