Hands up if you’ve ever panic sewed before a vacation?

Me, I had no intention whatsoever of doing so. My sewing machine was all neatly packed away.

I knew there would be no more sewing for a few weeks, until after a little family vacation.

Then Fiona Parker shared a blog post about her Megan Nielsen Flint Shorts. I have had that exact same fabric, a checked yarn-dyed slubby linen from The Fabric Store, in my stash for a few months.

And, as soon as I saw her shorts, I thought: “She’s right. That fabric needs to be shorts. And they need to come on vacation with me”.

That was the day before we were leaving on vacation. I was sitting at my desk at work and would be stuck there until 6pm.

Now, I’d made the Megan Nielsen Flint pants a few times. It’s a quick pattern to sew. I figured, OK, I’ve got this.

The magpie strikes again!

Then at some point between 10am and hometime, I started thinking…

Maybe I could sew a new pattern…

I saw how Fiona had expertly pattern matched the fabric’s check across the pocket and thought, there’s no way I can do that! With just one night to work with!! So I started to think about patterns which wouldn’t require such pattern matching genius skills.

I’d been eyeing off the Winslow Culottes by Helen’s Closet for a while now. A stressful day at work got the better of me and, for that hit of stress relief, I clicked ‘Buy’.

But, it’s pretty ineffective stress release when it now means you have to assemble a PDF and sew a new pattern in one evening!

My friend Helen…

I don’t actually know the lovely Helen of Helen’s Closet. But here’s the thing, I kind of feel as though I do.

Hope that doesn’t sound too stalker-ish.

I am an addicted listener to the Love to Sew podcast and I feel that after hearing her natter away about sewing for the last year, as well as through being a long-time reading of her blog, that she’s a sewing ‘buddy’.

But even though I’ve been a long-time Helen fan, this is the first time I’ve actually sewn a Helen’s Closet pattern. I actually like them a lot, but nothing has come along at quite the right time for a hole in my wardrobe.

So these Winslow Culottes are a new-to-me indie pattern designer, which is always fun.

And, I have to say, the experience was wonderful.

Please instruct me

The Winslow Culottes instructions’ have some fantastic attention to detail, without being too long and wordy. These instructions are soooo clear, guys! Best in the business standard.

There were a few features of the instructions that I totally loved. They include a handy little tip that if you want to save paper, you could print about half of the pattern and then draw some additional lines to get the longer length versions of the Winslow culottes.

Brilliant!

She also includes great little sketches with ideas about hacking the Winslow culottes, again, a really endearing touch.

She includes cute little details that give a personal touch to the instructions. When she describes how to ease the culottes into the waistband, she writes that she used 33 pins to pin hers in! Such a great little touch.

I used only 23, which is why I’m a lazy sewist, I guess.

She also often explains why you should do something a certain way, instead of just telling you to do it. This is great as  form of sewing pedagogy and helps stop you from second-guessing perfectly sensible instructions. Which is kind of a bad habit of mine!!!

Ahh, duh!!!!

Also, even though this is a basic pattern, I totally learned a new tip. The extra attention to detail in the Winslow Culottes’ instructions made me realise how to more easily finish edges when attaching in-seam pockets. 

I have to confess that I would generally finish the straight edge of the pocket. Then I would attach it to the skirt or pants piece. Then, I would sew the side seam all around the pocket and finish that side seam. But that always left the little piece of the skirt or pant pieces that attached directly to the pocket straight edge unfinished.

Which I would kind of forget until the end and be like, ummm, yes, this problem again, what can I do now…

Cue the last resort pinking shears.

I learned from the Winslow Culottes’ instructions something that should have been bleeding obvious to me. Once you have sewn the pocket piece to the leg piece, you can then finish the edge  separately for each individual leg piece, including along the pocket, prior to then sewing the side seam.

Duh!

I love those little lightbulb moments in sewing!

My Winslow Culottes

I sewed a straight size 12, although I did add a couple of centimetres extra to the waistband, after having checked out the finished measurements.

I cut and sewed view B. Once sewn, however, I then shortened the length to what would have been view A.

The Winslow Culottes are a straighforward and enjoyable sew. I started making these (including assembling the PDF) at 8pm when the toddler went to bed. They were finished, ready for vacation by 12:15. It was a sweaty, messy, rushed 4 hours or so, but I got there!

I’m really satisfied with the finished pattern. I feel breezy and cute in them.

But, I don’t wear shorts!

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. This is the first pair of ‘shorts’ I’ve worn in about 20 years. It’s usually just not that hot in the Netherlands to justify them and it’s never been a favourite garment for me. It sounds soooo stupid but I still remember the feeling I had when I was like 14 and a ‘friend’ said to me “it’s like you’ve got no knees, they’re so fat”. WTF, why do we hold on to these stupidities?

Pretty much since that moment I’d decided “I don’t wear shorts”.

So that’s how much seeing Fiona Parker’s version, combined with the 2018 summer heatwave, have inspired me, jolting me out of my non-shorts existence!

I will definitely make more Winslow Culottes in the future! I’m fantasising now about a full length dramatic black wool pair.

I have to confess though, that I am yet to meet a pair of culottes which doesn’t give me a bit of a wedgie. These ones included. My Tania Culottes do the same thing. I’m not sure if this is an inevitable side effect of shorts or whether I can modify my way out of this. I think I’ll try to scoop out the seat a little next time and see if that makes a difference.

But for now, I’ve  got the ‘shorts’ to rock summer vacation!

And photo time!!

Regular readers of the blog may notice that this is the first time I’ve taken blog photos in front of something other than a blank white wall. You see, it was really starting to bother me that my blog home page looked really inconsistent. The plain white wall I always used appeared distractingly different, depending on light conditions, shadows (i.e. time of day) and my inconsistent photo editing skills!

Moving photography outdoors isn’t an option. No way can a 3 year old be dragged around for photo shoots on weekends. And our balcony looks out over a really ugly grey building! And, being a massively shy introvert, I simply can’t fathom doing something that might attract as much attention as posing for photos in public. Not to mention the fact that I’m already trying hubby’s patience to take photos indoors – imagine if I told him he needed to change out of his pyjamas!! Aghhh the plight of the ‘other half’ of a blogger!

So, I initially thought I’d concentrate on working on the editing side of things.

After reading my way through the Better Pictures Project blog series, I really wanted to try using Lightroom for simpler, more consistent editing and better results. Only to discover that my computer’s OS is too old for it. After then spending hours unsuccefully trying to update my OS, I admitted failure. Seriously, I know I will sound like an old woman ranting here  (perhaps because I am an old woman ranting) but since when did a 4 year old computer become obsolete?

With lightroom not an option, I decided to take a different approach. I have always loved how Katie of What Katie Sews takes all her blog photos in front of actual things in her apartment. It creates such a consistent look over time.

So, I’m experimenting with taking some photos in front of different backgrounds in my apartment. This way, if my lighting is always going to be patchy and inconsistent, at least the backgrounds might create cohesion. At least in theory…  

But, the value of my blank wall was that it was the place in my apartment with the most light!!! So, since the trade off for a background is somewhat less light, so we’ll see if this works.

So keep an eye out over the next few blog posts for these new not-in-front-of-a-blank-wall photos. And please tell me what you think! Whether it’s ‘yes’  or ‘put that baby gate away and get back in front of your white wall, woman’, I want to hear it!!

Oh and, finally, a little P.S! If you like to get your blog hits through Bloglovin’, feel free to follow me over there: you can find me here. And you can find me on Instagram here.