Member of the haystack pack, Jojo, wrote about embracing loungewear of the snuggliest variety! I particularly like the mountain puns and the fantastic fabric find.

Who doesn’t love loungewear?

We all own some in some guise or another. In some cases they may not be the height of sartorial elegance, but there’s no arguing… loungewear was one of the biggest bywords of 2020 and a concept that we all got very (literally) cosy with.

Planning for this wonderful two-fer started back in December 2020 with the unexpected addition of the Millie jumpsuit from Workshop patterns, as a little festive bonus on top of the main pattern in the last haystack pack of the year. I was more excited for the gift than I was for the actual pattern! Not that the Gin and Tonic dress isn’t gorgeous. I was just definitely in a cozy, comfy frame of mind at that point and knew that I was going to make the Millie up with a coordinating slouchy cardigan or dressing gown. Next came the fabric shopping…

Now, I have a sizeable fabric stash, but I didn’t have enough of any one stretch fabric to make this up. My stash is literally floor to ceiling along an entire wall of my craft room, 90%+ of Mount Fabricmore and Kiliman-jersey-o is destash ebay finds, vintage fabrics and fashion industry deadstock. So I hit ebay. It took a few weeks but I found a listing that didn’t have the best pictures. They were kind of blurred and not very clear. The listing read “yellow stretchy fabric with circular design. Feels like cotton but can’t be sure. We think there is 9m but it’s difficult to be accurate because it’s difficult to measure” with a £10 starting bid (+ P&P). Worth a punt, I thought, I won the auction with that starting bid.

It arrived and I was blown away by how lovely it is: a beautifully mellow butter yellow tone with a shimmery muted gold metallic print of solid circles, each connected by a vertical pinstripe. A burn test confirmed it was cotton and there was just over 10m, making this fabric just £1.50 p/m! Perfect fabric, and by the time that arrived and I had pre-washed and dried it (no easy feat in a tiny two bed mid-terrrace house in winter!), February’s pack arrived and imagine my joy when I read the title “Lounge”.

I felt as if the pack had been curated especially for me, mostly thanks to the wonderful way Kate draws you in, and reading the pack each month really does feel like sitting down with a good friend and having a catch up and general sewing natter over a coffee… blissful. A moment of calm in a fraught period in history. The pattern featured was the Capsule Patterns robe. It was like an amazing planetary alignment for the perfect loungewear sewing project…

I got to cutting out and sewing the jumpsuit while I awaited the A0 printed robe pattern to come back. I made this entire project on my overlocker and everything went together like a dream, both jumpsuit and robe were pleasurable, straightforward sews and I LOVE THEM. I made both garments a couple of sizes up on what I could have gotten away with, but was looking for the ultimate slouchy, baggy, oversized loungewear. I also change the silhouette slightly sometimes by taking the tie belt from the robe and tying it around my waist when wearing the jumpsuit and leaving the robe open.

I’ve been a pack member for less than a year but I love it dearly. I look forward to its arrival at the beginning of every month and am very hopeful for a return of the recent run of menswear packs. My hubby was very impressed, though I still “owe” him the hoodie!). I wasn’t sure initially that a digital subscription would be right for me but it fitted with my trying to be more sustainable and create less waste. Digital packs means no packaging to contend with and a very much lower carbon footprint with no delivery or transportation costs. I love that.

Now, I just need to work out what I’m going to make with the remaining 6m of fabric. Answers on a postcard…

Jojo x

You can find Jojo here, and try out the haystack pack for yourself here.

This is the Millie jumpsuit and this is the Capsule Patterns robe which comes in two size ranges.