Making Palazzo Pants With Butterick and Minerva

As a Minerva Maker, there are numerous fabric to choose from basically on a monthly basis. So when I saw this gorgeous fabric in a viscose challis, I knew that was the one I wanted. I also knew what I wanted to make. Making palazzo pants with Butterick and Minerva was the perfect combination. The ease of sewing and the movement of the fabric is awesome.

This is a Minerva exclusive viscose challis fabric that is soft, has flow and is oh so comfortable to wear!

Butterick 3460

I made View E for my pants. This is an easy pattern that includes pants, shorts, and skirts in two lengths. Although the pattern is for outerwear, it can be used for pj pants or shorts (I haven’t done that). The fabric selections are offer some variety, but just think flow and movement. I would not recommend a fabric that doesn’t have any type of movement to it. So , mid- to light weight fabrics are best.

My Palazzo Pants

Because the pattern has so few pieces, it’s quick to put together. This viscose challis fabric is perfect for a garment like this. I did use a lot of pins in order to keep the layers from slipping when I was getting ready to sew.

I did serge the edges of the material to keep the fraying in check. If you don’t have a serger when working with fabric like this, then you would want to look into alternate ways of finishing your seams. For example, pinking the edges would work as well as doing French seams.

B3460 back-making palazzo pants with Butterick and Minerva

The only alteration done was to shorten the front crotch seam. Honestly, I could have shortened it more. But it is an easy wear style of pant. It can be used as loungewear or worn very casually. Here is the previous pair that I made.

This pattern, if you have it, or something similar is great for beginners. The pattern is for woven fabrics. This particular fabric is an exclusive viscose challis from Minerva Fabrics that was gifted to me by Minerva.

If you would like to check out my post that I wrote on the Minerva site, click here.

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New Projects For The New Year!

First, let me start by saying Happy New Year to all of you! I took some time to enjoy the holidays and relax a bit, and now I’m ready to get back to sewing, blogging, and vlogging. I have some new projects for the new year that I want to share. And I have thought about my goals for what I want to achieve this year.

Review

In 2021 I made 45 garments! That is a LOT for me. I have never had a year where I made more than about 20. The majority of these things were tops (19). The next largest group was pants (8). My goal is not to hit a specific number, but to sew more and improve my skills. That is always a goal of mine.

Goals

As far as new projects for the new year, one of the things I want to focus on is making the “guts” of the garments (the inside) look almost as good as the outside. It won’t happen every time, but I do want to be more aware.

Because I always want to challenge myself, I believe the best way to achieve that is to just keep sewing.

There may be some more artistic challenges as well. For example, fabric dyeing is on my list, but I don’t have the supplies to do that yet.

And because I’m sewing more, I will do more wardrobe building/planning. It’s important to wear what I make.

Quick Projects

I always like to start the year off with some quick projects. I have completed two “Minerva makes” projects. The first are these cargo pants using New Look 6055 made from a polyester twill fabric. You can read that post here.

Next is the soft and comfy striped knit turtleneck that I made using Wardrobe By Me Trudy Turtleneck pattern. That post is on the Minerva site as well. The black pants are from a Simplicity pattern I made a while ago.

Very Quick Project

This past weekend, I made these satin pillowcases. I have made these in a variety of colors and have even given them as gifts on occasion. Using a walking foot makes these come together very easily.

That’s it for now. Happy New Year and I’ll be back soon with more projects!

Butterick 6814 Made With Minerva

This is a springtime pattern (I think) that is a very easy top to make and wear. As you may know, I’m a Minerva Maker, so for this project in May, I chose to get a cotton shirting from them. Here is a link to a previous post using Minerva fabric. This Butterick 6814 made with Minerva fabric was the perfect choice for me. And the results turned out great!

I’m always concerned when I get a pattern that has a V-neck. The V’s tend to be too low for my taste and comfort level. That means more work because the neckline will need to be raised. BUT, that was not the case with this pattern.

This pattern has the perfect V-neck without alterations!

While the above statement may not be a big deal to some of you, for me it’s huge! 😂 I love the look of V-neck tops, but they sometimes involve more work than I’m wanting to do.

The blouse I made was an unintended change to the pattern. I didn’t realize when I cut out the top that the sleeves weren’t folded up to show the shorter version. Therefore, I made a long sleeve version of View A. There are plans to make this the correct sleeve length out of a cotton eyelet fabric I have. I can’t wait to get that one done!

For now, this one will do. This is the type of top that makes an outfit look more put together instantly. Isn’t it great to have those types of things in the closet? And now as things start to open back up, I might actually have some place to go (eventually).

I have a blog post the really covers the fabric (it’s lightweight, washes and dries great, and sews up beautifully). You can get to that post here.

I hope I’ve given you another idea of something to add to your wardrobe. In the meantime, my plan to keep sewing and improving my skills!