fabric: Fine merino wool plaid **

**Editor’s note: To see all of our plaids, click here!

As sad as I am to see summer go, fall and winter are my favorite seasons to dress for. That may be because most of my wardrobe is made up of warmer clothing, since so much of the year is freezing up here in North Bay! Plaid is a classic staple in my wardrobe, both in garments I’ve bought as well as several I’ve made. I really enjoy working with plaid because it is so satisfying to see all of your careful and thoughtful planning and cutting match up just right!

Inspiration: Baum und Pferdgarten

I fell in love with this plaid ensemble as soon as I saw it, from the exaggerated pointed collar to the button up fly front on the skirt. I thought this would be such a great outfit to mix plaids, but it is equally fabulous all in one matching plaid. I also love how with all of the details like the yoke, collar and pockets one can play with the direction of the plaid.

Pattern Search and Alterations

When I look for a sewing pattern to make something similar to a RTW garment, I look for a pattern that has the most in common with my inspiration picture. You may be surprised to learn that the most important features to look for in your pattern are not the RTW design details; instead try to match the basic shape, cut and fit. The sewing pattern sometimes won’t look much like what you are trying to make, because things like collar, sleeves or closures are much easier to change than the basic garment shape. Also, pay close attention to seam lines and decide if you are okay with it differing somewhat from the inspiration garment.

Small changes can make a huge difference when it comes to fit. I recommend making a muslin, especially if you will be using a plaid. We will spend so much time matching the plaid that it would be a shame to have to let out or take in a seam significantly and have all that matching work go to waste.

SKIRT: Arielle Skirt by Tilly and the Buttons

I chose this pattern because it was the exact cut and fit I was looking for: ultra high waist, fitted, faced waist. Although it may not seem to be the case at first glance, changing this pattern from an asymmetrical design to a center front fly closure is quite easy!

1. Start by cutting out the right front and back pattern pieces for the short skirt version. We will be altering the right skirt pattern piece and using that for both front pieces, so we do not need the left front skirt. Just add a 5/8″ seam allowance to the center front line on the right front skirt (and either cut off, trace off or fold under the rest of the pattern piece). As simple as that, you now have a symmetrical skirt with a center front seam!
2. Optional: I added 1/2″ to the hem allowance, and turned up a 2″ hem when sewing.
3. Optional: I wanted a more A-line skirt silhouette, so starting from nothing at the hip, I flared out to 1″ at the hem on both front and back side seams. This gave the hem an extra 4″ in total. You can leave your pattern as it is, or flare out the amount that suits you.
4. At this point, I made a muslin. For such a simple yet fitted skirt, a perfect fit is essential. I tweaked the fit on myself a bit on the side seams, and I also marked where my fly would end, as well as the welt pocket placements. Keep in mind that your fly front has to be long enough so that you are able to get into the skirt. If you do not like the look of the fly being too long, you could add an invisible zipper on the side seam.
5. Now that you have your fly length determined, draft a fly facing and fly shield. I’ve attached a pattern that can be altered for button size and fly length (at the bottom of the article).
6. I chose not to use the pattern’s waist facing; instead I traced off my own from my now altered skirt pattern. I like to cut my two front waist facings long, since I am dyslexic and no matter how many times I check that I’m cutting it correctly I seem to end up with them backwards! 😂 Your left front waist facing will be the length of the skirt front waist, but the right front waist facing will be different. It will need to be the length of the waist minus the width of the fly shield, plus 1/4″ seam allowance to attach it to the fly facing later on.
7. Tweak the welt pocket placement from your muslin and trace a 1/2″ by 5.5″ rectangle. For the welt lips, just cut strips of bias 1.5″ wide. Check out Kathryn Brenne’s fabulous EOS article on how to sew the perfect pocket. You could also swap the flap welt pocket for any pocket you’d like!

❮ ❯

SHIRT: Butterick 6563

As you can see, this pattern has the perfect style lines for my shirt, but since it does not have a yoke, long sleeves, or the exaggerated point collar, it requires a bit of pattern drafting to add in those details. This is not nearly as scary as you may be thinking! Also, you may own, or find another pattern that already has a yoke and long sleeves, so if you do, you can skip or simplify these steps.

1. YOKE: First decide where you want the yoke lines to be on the front and the back and draw them in. The back shoulder has a bit of ease, but since we are adding a yoke we can remove the excess ease from the armhole edge of the back shoulder. Trace off new pattern pieces for the front and back yoke, and the lower front and back, adding seam allowances
2. SLEEVE: Trace the stitching lines around the full upper half of the bodice patterns, front and back. This is always helpful when we will be playing around with the sleeve and collar. Measure the neck and armholes along the traced sewing lines and keep a note of these measurements. Starting with the puff sleeve pattern, measure around the sleeve cap and compare the measurement to the armhole measurement. This will determine how much ease is built into the sleeve. Since we don’t want a puff sleeve, remove most of the ease by folding in equal amounts in 4 places on the sleeve. You want to leave about 3/4″-1″ ease in the sleeve cap for a regular sleeve. Now re-draw the cap into a smooth line. (Alternatively, you can pull out a regular sleeve from another pattern and compare the measurements, and just use it as your base instead). Now that we have a basic sleeve to work from, add 12″ to the sleeve length and flare out the underarm seams about 1″. I found this wasn’t quite enough fullness for the look I wanted, so I slashed and spread, starting from nothing at the sleeve cap to 5/8″ (measuring from lower edge of the original pattern) at the center slash. Then again either side of center but only 3/8″. Muslin your sleeve before cutting into the fashion fabric, and try sewing it into your armhole. Sleeves are finicky and take some tweaking to get just right. Mark 1/2″ on either side of the underarm seam at the lower edge, this will indicate where to start and stop gathering stitches, so that 1″ is flat at the underarm going into the cuff.
3. CUFF: You can still use the same cuff pattern from the envelope.
4. COLLAR: The original pattern is drafted for a convertible collar, but I wanted something with a more tailored look, so I opted for a collar and stand. I’ve attached a copy of the pattern (at the bottom of the article). Collars are so hard to get just right, I often pull out my favorite one and use it on multiple patterns. If you choose to use this collar, lower the CF neck by 3/8″ to make room for the collar stand. Now measure around the neck on the pattern and adjust the collar and stand pattern to fit, adding or subtracting from the center back. Since we are doing a collar and stand, we don’t need the center front facing going all the way to the shoulder; just go straight up instead.
5. BUTTON STAND: I never follow the button and buttonhole placement from patterns. It is much easier to do this step when the shirt is otherwise finished. Try it on and place a pin at the level of your bust point. This is your starting point. We also want to have a button on the collar stand. Now you can space your other buttons above and below these established points. They should be somewhere around 3″ apart in distance, but the second button is usually a bit closer to the collar (this allows you to play around with the button placement and find a measurement that looks best).

❮ ❯

❮ ❯

❮ ❯

❮ ❯

❮ ❯

Additional pattern pieces Download