Style Arc Ash Kids Anorak

French seam inside the hood. Hood edge is a double folded hem (my choice)

Pattern Background

The Ash anorak, available in kids sizes 2-8, is an unlined anorak with a snap front placket and zippered self storage pocket.

Size and Fit

My son is closer to a 2 in width (if not a bit smaller) but 3 in height. I made a 3. I feel like it’s a good fit, especially once I add layers when the weather starts to cool next month.

I made no alterations. Now that he’s out of diapers he doesn’t need the extra hip room.

Fabric and Notions

I used a 100% nylon gingham print raincoating from the outlet section of Gorgeous Fabrics. It was only $9.60 for a two yard piece. You need something lightweight and thin or else the self storage pocket won’t work.

I interfaced the welts for the front placket and front pocket using Heat N Bond fusible tricot interfacing from Wawak. I don’t particularly love this interfacing (the non-fusible side feels so plasticky to me) but it is good for lightweight, stable fabrics that just need a bit of reinforcement.

Snaps are from KAM.

The zipper is a #4.5 handbag zipper from Amazon. It is one of those that come on a roll that you cut to length and then add the zipper pull to.

Construction

Ever work on a project that just seemed to fight you every inch of the way? That was this project for me. I stayed up way too late both nights I worked on it because I refused to be defeated. Ironic, because I specifically chose this pattern over the Jalie Maxime jacket thinking the Style Arc Ash would be a quicker, easier sew. I had spent several hours last weekend fixing my 10 year old Rowena steam generator iron so my available sewing time was less than I had initially planned.

This fabric was awful to work with. Very difficult to mark (and finally the chalk I used ended up being hard to remove), very difficult to fuse anything to, horrible to press, and completely unforgiving when sewing. It reminded me of how I hate working with waterproof/water resistant fabrics. There’s some puckering around where the hood attaches to the body and after carefully unpicking and re-sewing some sections I decided to just let other imperfect sections go. After all, it is an anorak for a three year old, not a wedding dress.

As noted on the Style Arc website, this is an archive pattern so instructions are minimal. This wasn’t a huge issue for me, but I do recommend either printing out the instructions on a color printer or viewing the instructions directly on an electronic device. I printed this out on a black and white laser printer. Which is normally fine, except the illustrations for the zippered pocket in the front were nearly impossible to decipher correctly because the colors in the diagram for the zipper and the welt were so similar when printed out in grayscale.

After too much time spent both trying to transfer the markings, fuse the pocket welt, and get the zipper pull onto the zipper, I realized that I had messed up along the way. When faced with the prospect of unpicking and trying to redo this work I decided it was better to just chuck the front piece and recut the front and pocket welt and try again. (I had plenty of fabric to left over to recut.) Even so, the fabric was just irritating to work with and my welt is still far from perfect because I couldn’t get the nice fine marking lines I needed. (The key to good welt pockets is precision in both marking and sewing.) I spent an embarrassing amount of time trying to get it right and in the end it still isn’t great.

I messed up again when doing the front neck placket. I didn’t sew the hood to the rest of the jacket when I was supposed to, instead realizing my mistake only after I had the front placket done and edges finished with serging and topstitched in place. I realized that the hood would look sloppy when attached to the body if I serged the seam like I did for the inner seams, so I made a self fabric binding, sewed it to the seam, and then topstitched it down. Similar to how you would do the neck binding of a hoodie. Even though it technically isn’t correct and adds some stiffness, I think it looks good and functions well enough.

Of course right after I added the last snap at the top I noticed I had not lined it up correctly when marking, so it’s a bit uneven when snapped. I was so over this project by the time I finished I just sighed and shrugged it off because it’s just a play jacket for a three year old.

I still have some confusion about the cuffs. Even if you turn back a double hem to make a casing for the cuff elastic, it is still far too wide for the 1/4” elastic noted in the supply list. It seems like it should be for 3/8” or even 1/2” elastic, depending on how you chose to sew the casing. (I would probably try 3/8” first because I edgestitched the upper edge of the casing to make things stay in place better when sewing the bottom of the casing.) Not sure if this is a mistake or if this is some sort of design choice but I’m thinking of redoing just this tiny section with wider elastic because I just know that elastic is going to roll and twist, plus the gathering doesn’t sit quite right.

I didn’t have a reversible zipper pull on hand, let alone one that would match my green zipper. So I used one of the normal handbag ones that came with the zipper coil. It makes zipping and unzipping the anorak into its pouch slower and more difficult, but not impossible. I added a self fabric zipper pull to help make it a bit easier. Instead of sewing right sides together then turning it out I folded it like binding and then edgestitched where the folded over edges meet. I should have done this for the pouch loop too, it’s much faster than turning that tiny piece out.

Conclusion

Even though my workmanship on this particular garment isn’t the best and I struggled more than I should have, I do think this is a valuable piece to have in my son’s wardrobe. It is loose fitting enough to wear over a sweatshirt in the fall and the fact that it folds into its own little pouch makes it easy to have on hand in my giant bag for sudden rainstorms. I really how the front pocket is fully functional for storage (he likes to pick up rocks and store them in his pockets when he plays outside) as well as for storing the actual anorak itself. Plus I think he’s really cute in it!

While I struggled more than I should have, I don’t feel there is something innately wrong with this pattern. It was more my inability to mark this fabric with the precision I needed, and the fabric just being rather inflexible and unforgiving.

Some Tips for Knits

Below are some tools and techniques I’ve used over the years for getting more professional results or just making things easier on myself when sewing with knits.

Design Plus Stabilizer Tapes

These are some of my most-used notions for knits.

I hate using clear elastic. I am not sure if it is my machine or just me, but seems like it always wants to wander off in one direction, with the fabric wanting to go in the other. There’s also the fact that I’ve had issues with the longevity (I have had it fall apart when stretched after a few years in my stash.) The superfine straight tape is 3/8” wide and great for stabilizing shoulder seams. It is very very lightweight and thin, with a bit of give to it. Since it is fused to the fabric before sewing it gives you so much more control. There’s also a superfine bias version, but I find the straight is just more useful.

The Ultra Soft double sided tape is also 3/8” wide and awesome for holding seam allowances in place. You first fuse it with the paper against the iron and fusible against the fabric, then carefully peel off the paper, stick the fabric to it with your fingers, and then fuse it again with your iron. The paper makes a great guide when folding over 3/8” hems, like for the Jalie swim shorts. I’ve also used it for folding over and holding the edges of wrap dress skirts in place before stitching. It works well on both natural and synthetic fabrics and is so lightweight won’t affect the stretch much.

Elmer’s Washable School Glue

When I need to hold something in place without using pins, like a pocket flap or patch pocket, I sometimes use tiny bit of Elmer’s Washable School Glue on the seam allowance. It is cheap, easy to find, and will wash out when you launder your garment. Just make sure to be careful to use a tiny amount because otherwise it will soak through the fabric and make a mess. Sometimes using a paint brush can help control the application.

I’ve also used glue sticks. I find they don’t give quite the precision of the tip of a bottle of glue, but they dry a lot faster.

Press Hem Allowances Before Sewing Seams

Pattern instructions will tell you to press hem allowances in place after sewing the seam. I often press them in place before. I don’t actually stitch the hem yet, I just press up the hem allowance and then proceed with sewing the seam. After sew the seam I will sometimes give a little touch up again to the folded edge with the iron before hemming. I like doing this because it’s often easier and faster to work with a flat piece of fabric instead of turning up, measuring, and pressing it in the round after it’s sewn. Spraying Best Press while turning up and pressing the hem often helps the fold stay crisp.

Hem From the Inside

You do not need a machine with a free arm if you’re hemming small openings, like those on leggings and children’s shirts. I just turn the garment inside out and then work from the inside.

For very tiny openings like the sleeves on baby clothes, turn up the allowance and hem it before stitching the seam. Then take it to your regular sewing machine and tack the seam allowance in place with a straight stitch for about half an inch. They do this all the time with RTW – just check out a bound neckline edge around the shoulder seam sometime.

Taming Knit Edges that Like to Roll

When working with cotton/lycra jerseys and other knits that like to roll, I often use Best Press. Just lightly mist and then apply dry heat with your iron. In addition to helping the edges stay flat it also has the advantage of making sure any pressed edges stay crisp, and also gives a little body for extra stability during cover stitching.

Use a Regular Sewing Machine for Tricky Parts Before Serging

I do this a lot for things that require a lot of precision, like attaching the band to a V neckline at the center front, or making sure the edges stay lined up when sewing a seam that has been hemmed first. I don’t do the entire seam, just the first inch or so of those very specific sections. You can see below how I stitched an inch or so with darker thread outside of the V on my latest Jalie Tina before using the serger. If I had just done it with the serger it would have almost certainly shifted and I wouldn’t have gotten a nicely centered and crisp V shape. I just use a regular length stitch and not a long basting stitch because sometimes (like below) I don’t quite hit the seam allowance accurately during serging.

Awls

Awls are great to have in the sewing room. I use mine all the time for feeding a strip of binding into a binding attachment, pulling the threads to the front before cutting when ending a coverstitch in the round, or manipulating fabric under a serger presser foot. I also find them useful for things like lining up the center front seam of a V neckline band with the center front of the shirt because they’re sturdier and easier to hold than a pin, but will still poke through the fabric enough so you can see what you’re doing.

Compensating Feet

I find I get a much better finish when I sew down neckline bands with a 1/8” compensating foot on my Juki than I do with a guide foot on my regular machine. Compensating feet have a spring and one section of the foot higher than the other, so I find it stays in place better than a guide foot.

The only downside is that I’m not sure compensating feet are available for domestic machines.

Clear Feet and the Adjustable Seam Guide

I’ve been significantly happier with the results from my Janome Coverpro 2000CPX since switching from the standard metal to clear foot with guide and using the adjustable seam guide. If I remember correctly the clear foot with the guide was about the same price as the regular clear foot without the guide. The guide is removable so there’s really no advantage to the regular clear foot. Just leave off the guide during ordinary hemming and put it back on when you want the guide for something like topstitching a sweatshirt neck band in place.

Style Arc Delta Cargo Pants

I made these pants with the intention of them being lightweight outdoor work pants. I help out a lot with yard work at my parents’ house now and weed whacking is a perilous task with shorts. So I wanted something full length that would be lightweight, breathable, and comfortable to wear in the heat. The Delta provide plenty of range of motion despite the non stretch fabric so I’m pretty happy with them.

Shown with one of the several Jalie Tina t-shirts I’ve made recently.

Pants hem. Lots of double row topstitching throughout these pants.

Pattern Background

The Style Arc Delta is a relaxed fit cargo pants pattern. There’s back patch pockets, faux front fly, and slash side pockets along with side cargo pockets with flaps. The elasticized waist is cut to be just slightly larger than the body hip measurement, which allows you to get them on while eliminating bulk at the waist as much as possible.

As you can see from the back leg piece, the leg is slightly tapered at the hem rather than being a true wide leg from knee to hem. I actually prefer this as it makes for a more controlled silhouette, and you don’t have to worry about your hem dragging the ground or getting soaked when it rains.

Size and Alterations

I made a size 20, with the following alterations:

Lengthened the legs 1”
Added 2.5” height to the back crotch curve, tapering to 1” at the side seam and then to nothing at the center front
My finished measurement for the waist elastic ended up being 34.25”, which is between size 16 and 18.
Since I made these to be summer outdoor work pants and the fabric is fairly thing for pants fabric, I added another layer of fabric to the knee area for more durability.

Fabric and Materials

I used the same 100% cotton Robert Kaufman fineline twill fabric from Fabric Mart that I used for my Jalie Denyse shorts.

Note: even though Style Arc only gives the yardage estimate for 58” fabric, I was able to use 44” wide fabric. My size 20 with a few length alterations and doubled up knee fabric took 3.25 yards.

For the waistband elastic I used some 1.5” non-roll Stretch-Rite elastic I had in my stash. It comes in a small retail package so I must have gotten it from Joann’s at some point.

The thread is Gutermann Mara 100 from Wawak.

The interfacing for the pocket flaps is Pellon Shape-Flex from Wawak.

Construction

I constructed these entirely on my Jukie TL-2010Q. The standard foot on it is fantastic for a project like this with the double row of topstitching because you can use the very inner edge of the foot as a guide for the first row of stitching so it is 1/16” away from the edge, and then switch to using the scant 1/4” outside as a guide against the first row of stitching. Eyeballing it works great, no need to switch out for guide feet.

When I did the waistband I wasn’t sure what my finished elastic measurement would need to be since this non-roll elastic is stiffer than my usual knit elastic. To better manage this I used the same method as my Jalie shorts where you sew the center back seam for the waistband but leave a 1” opening inside, then use that to thread the elastic through and trial it before trimming and sewing it. Then I hand stitched the opening closed.

Comparison to the Jalie Denyse

These two patterns seem similar, with similar finished measurements, but the drafting is actually quite different. I would say that in general the Delta is a trouser style draft and the Denyse is more of a slacks style draft. An explanation of trouser vs slack vs jeans crotch curves can be found in this old Pattern Review post. Just for reference, the Jalie Denyse is size CC and the Style Arc Delta is a size 20. These are the corresponding sizes for a 48.5” hip.

Overall the Style Arc Delta has a much higher rise than the Denyse: about 1.5” in the back and 2.5” in the front. The back crotch curve of the Delta is also straighter, with a more scooped out back crotch curve. The Denyse is definitely more angled, with a shallower crotch curve. In the photo below I’ve overlaid the Denyse on top of the Delta. They are actually really similar measurements from hip to center back seam, but the Denyse has it shifted more towards the side so the back crotch curve ends more angled.

Here’s a comparison with the Delta on the left and the Denyse on the right.

Now for the front crotch curve comparison.

The Denyse rise is 2.5” lower in the front than the Delta.

Unfortunately the Delta crotch curve paper got a little crumpled but you can see how the Delta is much shallower and taller compared to the shorter, more scooped out curve of the Demyse.

Here they are overlaid, with the Denyse on top of the Delta. (Note that the Jalie Denyse has inseam pockets and the Delta has front slash pockets, so that’s why the top of the Delta is a lot smaller than the Denyse.) As with the back piece the distribution of the pants is so the fabric is shifted to the side seam, so you get the same amount of width across the hip despite it appearing smaller in the photo below.

Now heres the front view of the Denyse and Delta respectively. Keep in mind they’re the exact same fabric.

So despite appearing to have similar style and ease, the drafts for these patterns are actually quite different. The Jalie Denyse feels and looks a bit slimmer than the Delta. To me neither one is better or worse. It depends on your body type and what look you are going for. For me, the Delta flows over my hips better. You can see how there’s no diagonal lines from the elastic to the my hips. But it also has a bit more excess fabric around the center front, which does correspond more to a trouser style crotch curve/fit. With the Denyse I definitely have more under butt wrinkles than the Delta, but again this corresponds to the Denyse having more of a slacks draft. (This is why you need to think carefully about the intended draft of a pants pattern before trying to remove every single wrinkle under your butt.)

In general I would say that Jalie is drafted more for straight hips and Style Arc is more for curvier hips. You can even see this in their size chart where the Jalie waist measurement is two centimeters (about 3/4”) larger and the hip one centimeter (3/8”) smaller than the same size would be for Style Arc. That doesn’t necessarily mean you should avoid one or the other, just be aware of it and alter accordingly.

Jalie 4672 Tina T-Shirt

Not the best quality photos…was rushing to get them taken this morning before working on pizza dough and a birthday cake for my son’s birthday party this weekend. Plus assembling his new sandbox. He’s turning three, and he’s been a total lunatic this entire past week because he knows something is up!

The shorts are the Jalie Denyse.

Pattern Background

The Jalie Tina is a basic t-shirt block for knits with at least 50% 4-way stretch. It comes with cap, short, and long sleeve lengths and crew, scoop, mock neck, and V necklines options. There is an add-on that came out not long ago which allows you to convert this into a dress.

I made the cap sleeve V-neck version. I’ve also made the crew neck short sleeve version for my son.

Size and Alterations

Based on my bust chose a size Y, extending out to a BB for the hip. I lengthened the top 1″ because I’m about 5’9″ and its just a tad too short for my taste when wearing shorts and pants. I also added about 3/4″ width to the sleeves.

Fabric

I used a 4-way stretch cotton/lycra jersey from Emma One Sock. Even though the description says it is only 30% stretch, I found after washing and drying it was actually about 50% stretch.

I stabilized the shoulders with Design Plus Superfine straight stay tape. I highly recommend this notion if you’re like me and despise working with clear elastic.

Construction

Very straightforward and quick to sew. If you’re doing the V-neck version you do have to take your time when sewing the point of the V to the neckband, but once that’s done it is smooth sailing, especially if you’re able to use a serger for construction. The V neckline is deep enough that you can use an ordinary straight stitch to topstitch the neck band in place without having to worry about the stitches popping when taking it on and off.

Conclusion

I’ve made several of these. They’re great for wearing alone as well as for layering under something like the Ottobre zipped hoodie. I really like the Amazon Essentials women’s slim fit V-neck t-shirts and the Tina allows me to make something very similar but with a custom fit and in better colors than what Amazon offers.

Jalie 4347 Denyse Shorts

Pattern Description

The Jalie Denyse is a pull-on wide leg pants pattern for non-stretch woven fabrics. It comes in shorts, cropped, and full leg lengths. (Note that for cropped and full length you need to extend the length yourself. Jalie has a table of measurements for guidance on how much to extend it.) There’s back patch pockets and front inseam pockets. The elastic waist is cut slightly narrower than the hip, which helps reduce bulk at the waist.

My shirt is the Jalie Tina.

Fabric and Materials

I used a lightweight Robert Kaufman cotton twill from Fabric Mart. Unfortunately I don’t appear to have taken a screenshot when I purchased it, but it is lightweight and could almost be used for a heavier weight shirt.

I am not entirely sure where I got the 2” elastic. It may be an old Fashion Sewing Supply purchase. If not Fashion Sewing Supply then Wawak or Mandala Crafts on Amazon.

Alterations

I started with a size CC, which is slightly larger than my current hip measurement. My fabric has zero stretch/give and I’ve had some weight gain lately (the relentless demands of caring for my young and wild son and elderly stroke victim father this year is taking its toll on me) so I felt like it was better to just size up.

I added a total of 2.5” to the center back height, tapering to nothing at the center front. Technically I could have probably gotten away with just 1.5″, but I prefer my back waist to be higher than the front because I want to be fully covered when sitting or bending over.

Since my waist is smaller than my hip size I used the size Z elastic measurement.

Construction

These went together pretty quickly. I was able to get them cut and sewn and finished in about 3-3.5 hours.

I liked the construction for the waist. You see one side seam normally, but leave a one inch opening when sewing the front and back waistbands together at the other side seam. Fold and press the seam allowance for the lower edge in place. Then attach the waistband to then pants with the right side of the waistband facing the wrong side of the pants. Then you press, flip it over, and sew that edge you folded over earlier to the right side of the pants. It gives a very neat finish from the right side while fully containing the wrong side.

Conclusion

I find these shorts much more comfortable for my pear shaped figure than the Jalie 3243. My fabric has no give to it and I didn’t feel uncomfortable at all in them during the day, not even when I was squatting and sitting on the ground outside today assembling my son’s new sandbox. The wide elastic waistband is very comfortable to wear, and the 6″ inseam length of my size CC makes me feel comfortable with the amount of coverage provided. (For this reason I think it would make a really good woven shorts pattern for little kids as well as adults.) The only thing is that due to the elasticized waist combined with my “bubble butt” and narrower waist, particularly in the back, the back pockets tend to gape. This isn’t a dealbreaker for me because my shirt covers it, but something I thought I should mention as a caution to anyone with a shape like me that is considering making these.