Another Mélilot shirt and a Hudson hack!

Hello sewers!

I am back, a mere blink of the eye later, with another Mélilot Shirt! 

After my trouble with the Charlotte Skirt, and some fairly typical running-before-walking behaviour with regards drafting my own patterns, my first Mélilot was a real confidence-restorer. I've focussed mainly on dresses since I began sewing, but lately have been wearing separates much more. They are also easier for sewing in my limited space, and shirts will be an excellent way to use up some slightly questionable prints I bought earlier on in my sewing career.

Enter this new guy! I've even named it: it's The Big Top, AKA Send in the Clowns Shirt. I love it! 

Both fabric and buttons are from The Cloth House in London. The buttons are lovely glass with whorls in the middle. After a bit of deliberation, I used the "wrong" side of the cotton. The black is slightly more faded on this side, which makes this shirt feel more Barnum & Bailey than Cirque du Soleil! And I topstitched the pockets in red which I think looks jaunty.

I also made these trousers. I have seen lots of stylish women wearing short, wide legged trousers this summer. There was a pair in American Apparel which I really liked, made, I think, out of cupro. This fabric is sadly not cupro - I thought it'd be sensible to make a toile before spending more money - so this is some fairly foul synthetic fella from Classic Textiles on Goldhawk Road. It clings like billy-o, all round my front, and I try not to think about what it's up to round my backside. 

The pattern is a Hudson Pant hack. Well, barely a hack, really - I sized it up two sizes from my size in stretch fabric, making it a 12, as suggested by Kelli in the tutorial for converting the Hudsons for wovens. Then I widened the legs from the pockets down in a fairly freestyle manner. Everything else was the same as regular Hudsons. I do like them though they are a bit bodge and the fabric is longing to burst into flames - given half the chance it probably will. Just before I'd embarked on these, Kelli released the Emerson Pants, which I really like the look of. So that may be a treat further down the line!

Thanks for reading! Until soon!