Ankara Reynolds x Peppermint Loungewear Set

Hot on the heels of the coordinating set that I shared last week, here's another! Although I think we can agree that this week's combination of Ankara fabric, a strappy top and less swishy trousers have quite a different feel about them to last week's blue viscose creation.

I've been wanting to try sewing with Ankara/African wax print fabric for a while now and was finally given the push to order some by Ankara appreciation week, which was hosted on Instagram recently by Lena King and Juliet Uzor. Thanks to their inspiration, I found this lovely print at Ankara Shop - I really liked the colours and the fact that the print was bold but slightly smaller scale than some other Ankara fabrics. 

I wasn't disappointed when it arrived! The colours are just what I wanted, and I love the fact that the background colour is dark navy rather than black. It's quite crisp and doesn't have a lot of drape so you need to consider that when choosing patterns to make with it, but unsurprisingly for cotton it's very easy to work with so once you've picked the right pattern the sewing itself is plain sailing.

When it came to picking patterns, I knew that this time I wanted to use the new Helen's Closet Reynolds as the top. I was fairly confident that the cropped top version of Reynolds would work well with this crisp cotton, and thankfully I was proved right.

I like the top so much that I'm actually making a Reynolds dress this week so I'll write another post talking about the pattern in more detail once that is finished. If you want the abbreviated verdict though - it's a great pattern with good instructions and the sizing seems accurate. More to come in the not too distant future hopefully!

As for the trousers, I originally intended to make the culottes that are featured in the book Sewing with African Wax Print Fabric by Adaku Parker, but when I came to trace them out it struck me that the overall shape of the pattern is actually fairly similar to the trousers from the Peppermint Loungewear set which I made recently. Being as I had that pattern traced out already and knew that it fit me, it seemed sensible just to use that. So I'm possibly taking the concept of secret pyjamas a bit too far by wearing a pattern that's intended to be loungewear as actual trousers, but that really doesn't bother me!

I think that the finished set works really well together - it's definitely a good combination of fabric and patterns. I also really enjoyed working with the Ankara fabric, and there's still a fair amount of the 6 yard precut that I bought left so I'm looking forward to finding something to sew with that. And I'll definitely be using more Ankara fabric in future!