Ottobre Magazine Archives - The Finished Garment

Ottobre Zip Hoodie for Orange Shirt Day

Tomorrow is the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation. The day honours the children who never returned home and survivors of residential schools, as well as their families and communities.

It’s informally known as Orange Shirt Day, inspired by the accounts of Phyllis Jack Webstad, who had her orange shirt confiscated in the residential school system.

In honour of the day, I decided to make myself an orange hoodie.

This is the Ottobre Women’s Hoodie. Ottobre normally sells fabric and sewing magazines, but they make a small handful of patterns available for download on Etsy. This pattern was originally in the autumn/winter 5/2007 edition of the magazine (now sold out).

Ottobre is based in Finland and is probably best known for its children’s patterns, but its adult patterns are quite nice, especially its athleisure designs.

Ottobre Magazine places its patterns overlapped on a few pattern sheets, double-sided, without seam allowances. I was hoping the download would be simpler, but nope, it was also overlapped without seam allowances. That means that after taping your home-printed sheets together, you’ll still need to trace out each pattern sheet and add seam allowances. Still, it was worth it.

The drafting is excellent. It’s a longer, fitted hoodie, a bit more of a yoga hoodie, and not boxy at all.

The instructions call for a lot of flatlock stitching – which is best accomplished on a serger. I don’t have one, so I used my regular sewing machine. I could have used a decorative stretch stitch, but after testing, I decided I liked the monochrome look.

This pattern includes ribbing on the cuffs and around the pockets, and seam binding on the neck seam, which gives it a very professional finish.

I forgot to put the grommets in, so no drawstring for me, but the pattern has a very cute drawstring I’ll add next time.

This pattern, like most Ottobre patterns, comes in a large size range (34-52), and it’s designed with a C-cup, and adjusted for extra curves at the larger sizes, which means I didn’t need to make any adjustments.

The fabric is deadstock from Our Social Fabric. It’s a poly-cotton French terry with matching ribbing, and yes, it’s very bright! The pattern calls for fabric with 30% stretch, and this has a bit more. The elastic gross-grain I used to finish the neck seam came from the same place.

The trickiest part was getting the zipper in. The pattern asks for “fusible stay tape, Vlieseline® Formband, width 12 mm”. That’s not easily found on the North American market. I used Heat’n Bond Soft Stretch. The main difference is that this is a double-sided tape. Basting was key!

As usual with Ottobre, the instructions were detailed, but brief, and not illustrated. I wouldn’t recommend the pattern for a beginner. But for someone with a couple hoodies already off the machine, this pattern is excellent.

I’m super happy with this hoodie and I can’t wait to wear it tomorrow.

Summary

Pattern Review: Ottobre Women’s Hoodie, available in sizes 34-52 EU. I made size 46.
Fabric: Deadstock poly-cotton French terry in orange blaze from Our Social Fabric. Cuffs are a rib in the same colourway.
Fibre content: 68% cotton, 28% polyester.
Notions and Equipment: Separating zipper, Heat n’ Bond Soft Stretch.

Size: 46
Cost: Pattern: $$10.54. Fabric: $33.80 (though there is enough for another project). Hardware: about $5.
Sewing Level: Average.
Modifications: Accidentally skipped the drawstrings.
Results: On point!

Cozy in Flannel

When you haven’t been sewing for a while, it’s nice to start off with a nice easy project. Flannel pyjamas definitely fit the bill – or so I thought!

A photo of an Ottobre magazine pattern sheet.

The first challenge was finding a pattern. My youngest are tweens now and finding a pattern in that size range is tough. Most Big 4 patterns stop at size 12, and tend to be a little “young”, while women’s patterns often start too large, the fit is off for tweens, and the look can be a bit “old”. Ottobre Magazine to the rescue!

The Zen pyjama set from Ottobre Magazine.

The two great things about Ottobre magazine are 1) the size range (50-170) which covers tiny infants to about age 14-15, and 2) the styling. The styles are age appropriate and fun, but cool enough that my kids will actually wear the clothes.

Of course, you need to trace out each pattern piece from the cryptic pattern sheets onto tracing paper. You might want a cup of coffee before getting started!

Ottobre patterns come on double-sided sheets of paper – each about 60 cm by 100 cm. This issue comes with three of these. They include all the pattern pieces for all the garments in the issue, in multiple sizes. You trace out only the pieces you need.

The cut of the garments is always great, and the instructions are good, if brief. There are some tutorials online for plaquettes, cuffs, etc.

Once you get the hang of it though, it’s worth the effort! It’s also a good value, since you get 40 patterns in this issue. And even if one is a rectangular scarf, the others more than make it worthwhile. More recent editions have about 25 patterns.

OTTOBRE design® kids WINTER 6/2011 which includes sizes 50-170 (EUR pattern sizing system). This issue includes a section on sleepwear.

So the next challenge was the flannel. I love sewing with flannel. The fabric sticks to itself, in the best way, making it unnecessary to pin much.

Of course, my kids suggested solids, but it seemed so boring.

Two types of flannel and some bamboo jersey.

Me: “Don’t you want a colour, or something fun?”
Also me, but later: “Wait, this is a window pane and a wobbly stripe! &^%@#!”

Anyway, I got a perfect pattern match on the window panes and a close-to-perfect match on the stripe.

I made a couple of modifications. I lengthened the boxer short to a pant, and I added a really wide hem at the bottom – maybe 5 cm/2″. I really like this look, but it also lets me lengthen the pants when the kids grow.

It’s tough to see, but these pants have a super wide hem.

I remember how amazed I was when I learned that most men’s pyjamas come with pockets, so I was determined to add some. I just copied the pocket from Vogue V8964, which I’ve made previously and trimmed it down a little.

And I added ribbon to the back of the waistband so you can tell which way they go.

A ribbon in the waistband for sleepy pj wearers.

For the top though, they wanted bamboo jersey. This fabric has an incredibly soft hand – amazing to sleep in. But of course, it’s slinky.

I finished the neckline with fabric bands, and used a double needle to hem the sleeves and bottom.

This pattern also had some modifications. I made a short, cap sleeve. I also lowered the neckline by about 2.5 cm/1″. I found the neck was really high, and not great for pyjamas with this slinky fabric.

I have to say the sizing from Ottobre was perfect! And my kids love these pyjamas and insisted on wearing them immediately. I had to wait until clean laundry day to fish them out to photograph them.

Summary

Pattern: Zen t-shirt/pajama top (38) and Green check boxer shorts (37) from OTTOBRE design® kids WINTER 6/2011 which includes sizes 50-170 (EUR pattern sizing system). This issue includes a section on sleepwear.

Fabric: Ivory bamboo jersey, and two types of cotton flannel from Fabricville. The cat pattern was one of their in-house prints.

Size: 158 (about a kids’ 14).

Cost: Magazine $13.50. Fabric: About $70 ($35 per pair)

Sewing Level: Beginner.

Modifications: Top: Lower neckline, shorten sleeve. Bottom: lengthened pyjama pant, removed the fly, wide cuffs, added pockets.

Results: Great. Great fit and very comfortable, I hear.

Meetup Loot!

I don’t know about you, but for me, this summer has been crazy!

There is just so much going on that I can’t possibly keep up. I have three kids getting ready for back-to-school. Sniff! They are getting so big! I’m off maternity leave and back to work (sigh!). And I’ve been sewing up a storm. Now all I have to do is catch up with my blogging.

So I thought I would start by showing off some of my summer loot.

Last Saturday there was a Montreal Sewing Blogger’s Meetup, this time hosted by Vicki of Another Sewing Scientist. It was loads of fun. We started with lunch, then had an amazing swap.

The meetup was organized for CarmencitaB‘s trip to Montreal. And she brought us all gifts! Such a sweet thought! I got a ring pin cushion, some French bath gel and a new tape measure (the last courtesy Jalie patterns). And that was before the swap.

Loot from the second Montreal Sewing Blogger's Meetup. — Loot from the second Montreal Sewing Blogger’s Meetup.

The swap was amazing! I have a bit of a project backlog at the moment, so I didn’t take any fabric except the quilting scraps. But I left with two amazing pattern magazines. I grabbed the Ottobre magazine because it has a great dress pattern, but there is also a cute pattern for pyjamas I’d like to try. I also got some fun trim, some cute kids’ belting and some d-rings. We did go shopping afterwards, but I’m on a bit of a fabric budget. I did get few fat quarters from Effiloché though.

The very best part was seeing everyone’s sewing creations in person. Carmen wore this dress, Vicki wore this skirt, Caroline wore this dress (and is organizing the next meetup in September), and Rachel wore this dress. All very beautiful! I have probably forgotton someone and their sewing. Sorry! I cheated and brought my baby with her new bonnet. I had grand plans to sew something in time, but there are only so many hours in the day. Next time.

All together we were Vicki, Carmen, Caroline, Katherine, Renée, Rhonda, Tammy, Rachel and Julie. Have I missed anyone? Thanks everyone for all the fun!