Tag Archives: make your own basics

Make Your Own Basics: The jackets

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Make Your Own Basics: The jackets

Some of you wanting to really stretch your sewing skills for this year’s Summer of Basics might be considering outerwear. We’ve talked before in Make Your Own Basics about coats and trench coats, but there are still a few archetypal jackets and patterns left to be considered:

THE JEAN JACKET: Audrey by Seamwork is a true classic (For more of the work-jacket version, see Ottoline)

THE ANORAK: Kelly Anorak by Closet Case Patterns hits all the notes

THE BIKER / MOTO: B6169 by Liesl Gibson is a somewhat fitted, pared down take on the look (For the full lapels, see Melissa Watson for McCall’s M7694; or for a knitted cardigan see Elsie, and sweater-vest version, see Harley)

Do you know what you’re making for Summer of Basics yet? You can survey the entire Make Your Own Basics series at Pinterest if you need something to spark ideas!

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PREVIOUSLY in Make Your Own Basics: The coat

Make Your Own Basics: The coat

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Make Your Own Basics: The coat

I’ve gone back and forth about whether or not to top off (har har) the Make Your Own Basics series with an entry about coats, but for anyone with a goal of eventually having an all or mostly handmade wardrobe, eventually you do arrive at the coat question.  And when my friend Jen at Grainline put out the coat pattern she’s been teasing the world with for so long, it pushed me over the edge — and might even be the one to get me to tackle a coat one day—

TOP: Yates Coat by Grainline Studio is a modern classic with notched lapel collar, hidden welt pockets and boxy shape

NEXT: Cascade Duffle Coat by Grainline Studio is a spot-on version of one of the most enduring and iconic of coat types

THIRD ROW LEFT: Oslo Coat by Tessuti is a lovely shawl-collared wrap coat

THIRD ROW RIGHT: Lisette/Butterick B6385 is a longer coat with waist shaping, vertical welt pockets and three collar variations that each give it a very different look

BOTTOM: Ellsworth Coat by Christine Haynes is an always-chic little double-breasted shape designed for jacket-weight fabrics such as canvas or denim, plus a lining

For a knitted option, I’m partial to the Polar Coat by Regina Moessmer, but be cautious about your yarn choice to keep it light enough to be wearable!

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PREVIOUSLY in Make Your Own Basics: Mittens and mitts

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Make Your Own Basics: Mittens and mitts

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Make Your Own Basics: Mittens and mitts

The thing I love most about “basics” — i.e. a simple, hardworking pullover, or stockinette hat, or a mittens pattern like this one — is that they’re the perfect blank slate, begging to be personalized. Mine might be plain as day, while someone else’s might be purple or striped or covered in Fair Isle motifs or any textured stitch that matches pattern gauge. Pretty much every pattern I’ve featured in Make Your Own Basics is immensely adaptable, which to me is the whole point. The mittens pattern above, Knits for Everybody Mittens by Jenny Williams, is written for two weights (worsted and fingering) and 12 sizes, and would not only lend itself to whatever you want to do in terms of color and fiber, but would also be very simple to convert to fingerless mitts: Just stop short of the shaping for the fingertips — on both the hands and thumbs — and work a few rounds of ribbing before binding off. Same goes for Purl Soho’s free Arched Gusset Mittens, which also includes toddler, child and adult sizes.

(For even simpler handwarmers, see my Super Simple Mitts and Stadium Mitts — free patterns.)

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PREVIOUSLY in Make Your Own Basics: The hat

Make Your Own Basics: The hat

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Make Your Own Basics: The hat

In the realm of hats, Purl Soho’s pattern collection (mainly free patterns, a few not) has most of the basics bases covered. Their Basic Hats for Everyone pattern alone (top) covers myriad expressions of the worsted-weight stocking cap: with or without ribbing, a pompom, earflaps; mix and match as you please. Knit 4″ of ribbing instead of 1″, fold it up, and you’ve got your classic Watch Cap. Purl also has a cabled gem in their Traveling Cable Hat (bottom),  the aran sweater of beanies. For a timeless bit of 2×2 ribbing, might I suggest my own Stadium Hat (middle left, free pattern), with or without the marl and/or stripe. And if you’re more of a beret person, try Churchmouse’s Cashmere Beret (middle right) or Felted Shetland Beret.

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PREVIOUSLY in Make Your Own Basics: The shirt dress

Make Your Own Basics: The shirt dress

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Make Your Own Basics: The shirt dress

In addition to the “little black dress,” I think every closet is well served by the inclusion of a good shirt dress (or shirtdress, if you prefer), whether it’s the ultra-classic knee- or calf-length button-front shirt or any of the million variations thereof in the world. Here are a few good sewing pattern options:

TOP: I’m sure you can find a super standard shirtdress pattern from one of the big companies, or you could lengthen your Archer (the very first MYOB). Grainline has posted a couple of tutorials for Archer+Alder mashups: a super simple one merging Archer on top with Alder on the bottom, or a more involved one fitting the Archer sleeve into Alder’s more tailored bodice (pictured)

MIDDLE LEFT: The Reeta Midi Shirt Dress from Named has a ’70s-safari vibe and drawstring waist

MIDDLE RIGHT: The Factory dress from Merchant and Mills is a popover with a hint of war-era flavor

BOTTOM: And Closet Case Files’ Kalle Shirtdress pattern is a bit trendier box top/shirtdress hybrid

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PREVIOUSLY in Make Your Own Basics: The ski sweater

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Make Your Own Basics: The ski sweater

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Make Your Own Basics: The ski sweater

This a funny installment to fall at the start of summer, but there’s still one more sort of archetypal sweater I think every closet could benefit from and thus want to include in Make Your Own Basics. For the sake of being able to give this entry a label — and taking a mainstream-consumer-historical point of view (as opposed to a knitting purist’s POV) — I’m going to classify it simply as “a ski sweater.” That’s a term that has for a long time been very loosely applied to a woolly, generally brightly colored sweater with some form of colorwork patterning either on the yoke or all over, which was common outerwear for the slopes before the high-tech outdoorwear craze — look at this vintage chic-ness with the matching hat — but which, more importantly, is a useful part of any wardrobe. Colorwork sweaters have roots in many different knitting cultures of the world, but are most closely associated with Fair Isle and the assorted Nordic traditions. As far as knitters go, I definitely think everyone should knit one of one sort or another!  And hey, if you want it in your fall/winter closet, summer is the time to cast on.

There are thousands of great patterns to choose from, but here are a few good options:

TOP: Dalis by Dianna Walla features Fair Isle-style bands of stranded motifs

MIDDLE LEFT: Dalur by Hulda Hákonardóttir is a fairly ornate Icelandic lopapeysa

MIDDLE RIGHT: Star Jumper by Oddvør Jacobsen is in the Faroese tradition

BOTTOM: Sigla by Mary Jane Mucklestone is sort of a pared-down lopapeysa with geometric punch

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PREVIOUSLY in Make Your Own Basics: Loungewear

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Make Your Own Basics: Loungewear

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Make Your Own Basics: Loungewear

I’ve been thinking about pants with regard to this Make Your Own Basics series and have decided that while “pants” are obviously a wardrobe building block, there’s really no single shape or length of them that is arguably always in style — it’s more a matter of what are you interested in right now. (I should acknowledge while saying this that there will definitely be some of you willing to argue the point — please do!) I’ve included jeans in our rundown of the basics, but with the broader category of pants, there are just too many variables. It’s like trying to say “tops” or “bottoms” are a wardrobe basic. Yes. But to get any more specific than that feels impossible to me.

With these noble and notable exceptions: the Sweatpant and the Pajama Pant. Which brings us to loungewear—

SWEATPANT: Hudson Pant by True Bias would be even more classic if you were to swap out the cuffs for elastic

PAJAMAS: Carolyn Pajamas by Closet Case Files are the ultra-classic, equally suitable for pajama-inspired daywear

SHORTY PAJAMAS: Lakeside Pajamas by Grainline Studio came up before as a camisole option, but deserve their rightful place here

With that, I think we’re headed into accessories, underwear and outerwear.

And don’t forget Summer of Basics starts in 2 days!

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PREVIOUSLY in Make Your Own Basics: The camisole