Separates Made With Minerva

I was gifted this fabric from Minerva.com recently. It’s a stretch cotton sateen. It washes and dries well and is super easy to sew. I enjoy using fabric like this for outfits like what you’ll see below, because it’s a medium weight that makes garments look fantastic! The patterns used for this outfit are out-of-print (OOP), but you can easily achieve a similar look with a button up shirt and a skirt. So, this post is about my separates made with Minerva.

Top: McCall's 2094
Skirt: Vogue 8295
Separates made with Minerva fabric

What I wanted was the look of a dress, but achieved with separates. Although I do plan to make a shirtdress (and I considered it for this fabric), I wanted more options. With a print this bold, I figure I will give myself the opportunity to break this up.

Top: McCall's 2094
Skirt: Vogue 8295
Belted separates Minerva fabrics

In the photo above I am wearing this belted. That’s a good way to break up the print and add some visual interest to the outfit.

M2092, V8295 top and skirt belted (wide), minerva fabrics separates

In the photo above, I’m wearing this with a wide belt. It’s just a different look rather than the other leather belt.

If you’ve never used this type of fabric, it has a bit of stretch but I think it stitches up beautifully. It’s great for things like this because it allows the garments to have some structure.

McCall's 2094 top made with Minerva fabrics

This shirt pattern is pretty much my go to for this style of top. It has 8 variations, including sleeveless.

Vogue 8295 skirt made with Minerva fabrics

I love the wide band on this skirt pattern. It has some length variations as well. There are also options that are more decorative. Here is a previous time I sewed up this pattern (you might need to scroll down to get to the picture of the skirt). Overall I’m very happy with how this turned out. I love the versatility of this outfit. I can wear it belted or unbelted, tucked in or out, and split the whole thing up! If you want to add some options to your outfits, especially if you want the most from your sewing time, you might want to consider sewing this way. I hope you enjoyed this post on separates with Minerva fabrics. I’ll leave another link below if you want to look at this fabric (or any others they have).

Minerva Jardin Cotton Sateen — https://www.minerva.com/mp/1247273/jardin-stretch-cotton-sateen-fabric-blue&variant=1247262

McCall’s 6796 Made With Minerva

This is an out-of-print pattern, but it is such a classic style. This is the second time I’ve made this sweater and I just enjoy it so much. For this version, I made McCall’s 6796 with Minerva fabric that I was gifted.

This is a slub sweater knit in burnt orange. Here’s a link the fabric if you’re interested. The fact that this material is lightweight and orange, reminded me of the cover photo on the pattern envelope. With that in mind, I figured that these two would be a good match.

I did not add buttons to this sweater because I wanted this to have a more casual look. This fabric is soft and comfortable.

Because the fabric is light and somewhat sheer, I would line it if I were to use it for a dress or skirt.

This color is definitely the bright spot I needed in my life! While many people are afraid to sew with knits, I LOVE having a knit memade wardrobe. The comfort and ease of care is almost unmatched. And, you can find a knit for almost any occasion. I have found that most knit fabrics are very easy to sew.

The exception to that might be some of the more “slippery” knit fabrics.

This is the previous sweater and blog post I made using this pattern…

Woman wearing orange sweater made with M6796

I hope you will give this pattern a try if you have it. It’s a lovely classic style and quite versatile.

The Perfect Pinstripe Pant

I’ve been wanting to make myself a classically tailored pair of pants for a while now. When I saw that this brown and pink pinstripe wool blend suiting was available, I knew that this would make the perfect pinstripe pant.

*I was sent this fabric by Minerva.com to make something and write about it.

The Project

For this project, I used a pattern I’ve had in my pattern collection for a while. It’s Simplicity 2562. I’ve found myself going through my pattern stash lately (maybe it’s because of the pandemic). It’s been a terrific way to jog my memory about what I actually have.

Do you ever go through your pattern stash?

You should. You might be surprised to find some hidden gems right in your own collection! And let’s face it, while buying more is fun, it’s not always necessary. I’m sure that I have a style of pattern for just about anything I would want to make.

This is a stretch wool blend that is washable (cold water, dried on low heat). The pattern I chose is a wide leg pant that I made some alterations to. I made a muslin for fitting since it’s been quite a while since I last made this pattern. I did narrow the leg somewhat. The cuffs weren’t added (there’s an option for that in the pattern itself).

It’s interesting that every time I make dress pants (not jeans), I rarely have to make adjustments. I did not need to adjust the seat or crotch seam. Everything fit fine there. I just altered the legs as mentioned above. Here’s the old post I wrote about this in 2011 (don’t laugh… actually, go ahead. I did!). My skill, ability and confidence have certainly grown since then.

This is a good fabric for the weather here in Maryland. During the Fall season, we can go from warm days to cold days and nights pretty readily. This fabric is not too thick or too light. I love how this wool blend moves with me. It’s not stiff and it’s very comfortable to wear.

Woman seated wearing Simplicity 2562 pinstripe pants

The Fabric

Even though we haven’t been going out, I have been focused on adding classic pieces to my wardrobe. Something like this can be easily worn for a small holiday gathering or whenever I want to wear something other than sweatpants.

The thing that really intrigued me about this fabric was the color combination. Pink and brown aren’t what I’d normally think of when considering pinstripes. But this works! The brown is a grayish brown so the stripes a rather subtle. In fact, I think it’s hard to tell the that there’s pink in the pattern until you inspect it up close. While I don’t have a picture here, I lined the pockets with some pink fabric I found in my stash.

Woman wearing Simplicity 2562 with pink shirt

Because the fabric does have the stripes, I wanted to use a pants pattern without too many design details. This pattern allows the fabric to be the star.

*Here’s a link to Minerva.com so you can check it out for yourselves here.

It might be worth your while to go through your own pattern stash to see if you have something that you might want to try. If you’re anything like me, you will find plenty of options!