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Pirate Kalle

Pattern: Kalle by Closet Case
Fabric: Lost At Sea Navy Blue Viscose Fabric from Guthrie & Ghani (1.2m)
Little Bits: 100m Gutermann sew all thread, interfacing, buttons

Size: 8
Version: View A
Mods: Lengthed front & back of view A by 10cm

I absolutely LOVE my first Kalle and before I’d barely even worn it I was already making plans for this one.

When I saw this fabric on Guthrie & Ghani I immediately knew it needed to be a Kalle. A lovely, billowy Kalle with pirate ships on it! Ok, so maybe they are just supposed to be normal ships but I always think pirate ships when I see them…

Pirate Kalle - Fabric
Pirate Kalle – Fabric

Like a good sewer, I prewashed my fabric and interfacing. The latter I slightly regretted because I remembered to do it AFTER I’d cut out all the dried fabric pieces and had to wait until the interfacing had dried to iron it on for step 1! I suppose it’s better, in the long run, to make sure the interfacing won’t shrink. It’s so frustrating when you just want to jump on the sewing machine!

Initially, I lay my pieces out as suggested by the pattern. I then sit and rearrange them until I’ve made the absolute best use of fabric I can think of. It’s a nice little sense of achievement to end up with a single larger piece leftover rather than scraps. I did start to wonder, what am I going to do with all these leftovers that are piling up… So I thought, hey, I’ll be clever and order less this time. Turns out 1.2m for a lengthened view A (which calls for 1.8m before my extension) is a wee bit of a stretch.

Pirate Kalle - Pieces cut out
Pirate Kalle – Pieces cut out

Somehow I managed to make it work with the scariest, smallest amount of leftovers I’ve ever had. I needed to ditch the full collar I’d originally planned and swapped in the band collar but I still managed my full hidden button placket! My hidden button placket was the last piece to cut out and I was fully mentally prepared to somehow cut it using two pieces of fabric and sew them together but my last piece ended up being EXACTLY the length it needed. No joke, I didn’t need to trim any off the top or bottom, it was the perfect length.

Would I try this again with 1.2m, probably not no… maybe 1.3m or 1.4m 🙂 That’s another thing I love about buying from Guthrie & Ghani, they sell in 10cm increments so you aren’t forced to buy a full metre when you don’t need it.

1 thought on “Pirate Kalle

  1. […] remember now. If I had to guess I think it is a viscose because it feels very similar to my Pirate Kalle material. I can remember that it was on sale for £8/metre which made my 3.2m purchase a very […]

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