Suki Robe and Arenite Pants with Indiesew

Disclosure: The fabric for my pants and the Suki Robe pattern were provided to me by Indiesew in exchange for this post. All opinions are my own.

Hello! Today I’m back with my third post as part of the 2019 Indiesew Blogger team. Just now I realized that all of my Indiesew posts have somewhat of a “something old, something new” theme. In each one, I’ve shared a previously sewn pattern and a new to me pattern. It’s a fairly true reflection of my sewing practice as it’s never simply one or the other. There’s a feeling of calm and comfort that comes from knowing a pattern inside and out whose only rival for my attention is the excitement of beginning a new project. Today’s contenders are the Sew Liberated Arenite Pants and the Helen’s Closet Suki Robe. I’ve styled them together, separately, and brought in some reinforcements from previous posts to give them each fighting chance.

Arenite Pants

Styled with an Archer Button Up (from this post), clogs, and my current favorite hat, these slim hack Arenite Pants are ready to put their best foot forward (or would it be leg in this case??).

Fabric

The moment I saw this Tencel Jacquard in Olive Green (also available in Icy Blue) posted on Indiesew’s Instagram grid (this post), I knew it had to be mine. Tencel, texture, and green? Sold! I was not disappointed when it arrived at my doorstep a week later. It’s buttery soft with a fluid drape and dreamy texture. As per usual, I demanded my husband feel the luxury of this fabric and he described it as his perfect blanket. He was not wrong. The light weight of the fabric combines with the texture to make it feel simultaneously cool and cozy. I’m seriously considering ordering 1.5 yards, hemming or binding the fabric, and using it as a lightweight throw blanket in my living room. The only caveat? It does shrink slightly as expected with the fabric content. The fabric is 53″ wide. After washing I measured it at 48″ wide. It’s not recommended to dry Tencel in a dryer but, I always do.

Sizing, Alterations, and Construction

Combining all these aspects here because I’ve blogged about this pattern before and you can click here to read my previous Arenite Pants post. Just as last time I sewed these pants, I used the Arenite Pants “slim” hack that Meg of Sew Liberated (@sewliberated) has detailed in her Instagram story highlights. Again, I used a size 6 with all the same alterations detailed in my last post. My only extra changes here were moving the pockets up an extra 1″ and taking in the ankles an extra 1/8″ seam allowance (for a total of 3/4″ SA). This removed a total of 3/4″ from the width of the ankles for a slightly slimmer look.

Construction was quick and easy. Again, I opted to forego the felled seams and simply stitched, then serged and topstitched them. They still feel plenty secure. Without felled seams, the pants took most of an afternoon to construct.

Suki Robe

While a newcomer in today’s battle of the sewing projects, the Suki Robe is ready to give the competition a wake up call. In order to shine, this robe prefers to stand on its own. This means that for the five minutes we took these photos, I was wearing just my underclothing and a robe in a public park, so um, you’re welcome?

Fabric

This fabric “Lillium” was designed by colorful creative, handmade hustler, and Sew Fancy Pants co-conspirator, Katie Kortman for D&H Fabrics. Both Katie and Tammy of D&H have been great friends and supporters over the last year so when I had the chance to support both of them by purchasing this lovely fabric it was a no-brainer. The fabric is a rayon poplin with great drape and a silky hand.

Sizing and Alterations

I chose to sew the mid-calf length and selected a size medium based on my measurements. My only alterations to the pattern were made out of a desire to fit it onto a smaller than recommended amount of fabric (that was also directional) and not actual necessity. I had 2.5 yards of this print and didn’t want any of the flowers to be upside down so I had to get creative with pattern placement. In the end, I removed 1.5″ from the mid-calf length and 1″ from the waist tie length to make everything fit. Neither made too much difference in the final fit so I decided I could do without the extra length.

Construction

Sewing this Suki Robe took about double the time it took to sew the Arenite Pants. While somewhat time consuming, the construction wasn’t terribly difficult and something that can be achieved by either the intermediate/advanced or beginner sewist. Helen’s directions include beginner friendly options for the sleeve bands and collar or more advanced methods with enclosed seams in the those areas. Since I’ve been sewing regularly for about a decade, I’d consider myself somewhat of an advanced sewist and chose the enclosed collar and sleeve bands. The end result was a well-constructed robe of which I can be proud.

Final Scoring

Okay, okay, the truth is: my handmade clothes and the patterns used for them feel a little like children. I don’t love the older one any less just because a newer one came along. They’ve each got qualities that make them unique while not diminishing what makes the other special. I can’t decide between them so I’ll lay out a few categories and let you do the decision making. (Just for clarification, if I ever had more than one actual child, I would not encourage strangers on the internet to vote for their favorite. ) The categories are: Fabric Use, Versatility, and Construction Time.

Fabric Use

Both my Arenite Pants slim hack and Suki Robe used almost exactly 2.5 yards of fabric with almost no useable scraps left.

Versatility

The Arenite Pants will only ever be pants but, can be styled for outdoor wear year-round. They pair well with a tee shirt as lounge pants or with a dressier top as an outfit for wearing pretty much anywhere.

The Suki Robe is something I only envision wearing outside of the house in fair weather. During the summer it would make a great swim cover up and I love the idea of it as a light layer for cool evenings. However, it will likely get almost daily use as a house robe year-round. This is the first robe I’ve made and I just didn’t know how much I needed one for daily wear until now.

Construction Time

My Arenite pants came together in a flash (just over 3 hours). However, if I had felled the seams as the pattern directs, they likely would’ve taken twice as long.

The Suki Robe was a semi time consuming project for me. It took part of one evening as well as a good chunk of one day. If I had to guess, I’d say it took about 7-8 hours to sew.

There you have it. Do you have a winner in your mind? Are you team ‘Something Old’ (Arenite Pants) or team ‘Something New’ (Suki Robe)? Feel free to cast your vote in the comments section.

Thanks for reading!