Emporia Patterns Alice Trousers

Welcome to the latest instalment in my on-going quest to add more trousers to my wardrobe. This time I've made a pair of Emporia Patterns Alice trousers, a pattern which I was lucky enough to win in a giveaway the Emporia Patterns held on Instagram last year.

The Alice trousers are a loose-fitting pair of trousers with cut away pockets, an elasticated waist and elasticated ankles. It's a fairly simple pattern that makes a nicely relaxed pair of trousers.

The pattern covers hip sizes from 38" to 50".

Alice was a nice, easy project to sew and the trousers came together quickly. The instructions are clear and I found them easy to follow, although beginners might not find them as detailed as some other indie pattern company instructions. It's a relatively straightforward pattern with no zips, buttons or any particularly complicated steps though, so there's nothing that really needs a lot of explanation.

One thing that wasn't included that I thought would have been helpful was some guidance on how long to cut the elastic for the ankles and the waist. I've used elastic in waistbands quite a bit so I had a good idea what to do there, but I wasn't sure how long to cut the elastic for the ankles to ensure that were gathered enough to look right without cutting off circulation to my feet! In case it's helpful, I cut my elastic to match the circumference of my leg at my ankles, so it ended up slightly shorter than that measurement once I'd sewn the ends of the elastic together. 

I made a size 14, which is the size recommended for my current body measurements. The only alteration I made was to lengthen the legs by 1.5" (relatively standard for me as I'm 5'9"). As the Alice trousers are designed to be loose, they're fairly forgiving in terms of fit. I'm pleased with how my trousers turned out - they're loose without feeling big and baggy.

The fabric that I used is a leopard print chambray that I bought from Dalston Mill. It's a nice quality fabric and a good weight for the Alice trousers. I think this is a good print for trousers for me - it's more interesting than a solid colour, but still kind of neutral enough (I count most blue and white prints as semi-neutral!) to be worn with lots of patterned tops. You'll be seeing this fabric again here in the not-too-distant future because I intentionally bought enough to make a matching top.

The recommended fabrics for Alice also include viscose, and I think I'd like to give that a try at some point. It would be nice to see how they work on me in a drapier fabric, and I think a viscose pair would be really great for summer.

I'm really happy with my Alice trousers. They were an easy, quick pattern to sew and they're really comfortable to wear. I'll be keeping my eye out for the right fabric to make another pair!

Emporia Patterns Cassie Dress

Here in the UK, we've just enjoyed a beautifully sunny Easter bank holiday weekend and that gave me the opportunity to wear my newly finished Emporia Patterns Cassie dress for the first time.

Cassie is a loose-fitting dress with options for a t-shirt style bodice with grown-on short sleeves, or a tie strap bodice. It has a gathered skirt that can be made with two tiers for a roughly knee-length style or three tiers for a full-length maxi dress. It's a pull-on dress with no fastenings, so it's a fairly simple project.

It's available in finished bust measurements up to 49" (tie strap bodice) or 50.5" (t-shirt bodice).

The instructions for the dress seem to be fairly easy to follow, although I have to admit that I ignored them and did my own thing. The instructions have you sew the entire front and entire back of the dress, then join the front to the back at the shoulders and all down the side seams. I decided I'd rather construct the bodice and the skirt separately and then join them together. I don't know that either method is necessarily better, the method I used is just what I'm more familiar with doing.

One thing I would recommend is to stay-stitch the neckline - this isn't mentioned in the instructions, but it will help to stop the neckline stretching out, particularly as this ends up being sewn as one of the last steps if you follow the instructions. I also interfaced the neckline facing, which isn't mentioned in the instructions. 

Personally, I also always find it better to sew two or even three lines of gathering stitches - the instructions only tell you to sew one.

I thought that the pattern/instructions were a bit lacking when it came to the measurements. They only give the finished bust measurements, with no body measurements at all and no waist/hip finished measurements. To some extent this isn't a problem because the waist and hip are loose-fitting so the measurements aren't crucial here. However, I think it would be beneficial if some guidance were given on how much ease you should aim for at the bust, and personally I would have found some extra measurements helpful.

My bust measurement is 38" and I made the size 16 (which has a finished bust measurement of 41"). 

I also made a couple of fitting adjustments. I lengthened the bodice by 2", which is fairly standard for me (I'm 5'9"). I also added two waist darts to the back bodice - when I made a toile there seemed to be too much fabric at the back compared with the front and the darts helped to fix that. I think they removed a total of about 4cm from the back waist.

As you may have noticed from the photos, I also added pockets. Because pockets are important!

The fabric that I used for my dress is a lightweight denim/chambray from Croft Mill. It's a pretty print and a really nice quality, especially for the price (£7.50 per metre). I think it works fine for this pattern, although I think I might prefer the dress in a fabric with slightly more drape (that's nobody's fault but my own!). 

Overall, I'd say that I like my Cassie dress but I don't love it - not every dress can be a favourite after all. Similarly, I think that the pattern is alright but it could be better. At the end of the day though, it's a really comfy dress and I like the floral print so it'll definitely get plenty of wear - not a roaring success, but definitely not a failure either!