Erin Dungarees Sewalong: Preparing Your Pattern & Fitting

Making the Erin dungarees and looking for a few tips on fitting? Welcome to the next step of the Erin dungarees sewalong, supported by Janome. Erin is our latest Tilly and the Buttons sewing pattern and it's an extra special one because it's our first sewing pattern to be printed up to a size UK 34! 

Are you following the Erin sewalong? By this point, you'll have been introduced to Erin and will have gathered your supplies and seen our dreamy sewing inspiration boards. Now it's time to get ready to start your project and make any fitting tweaks. 

Erin is designed to be loose-fitting, with a lowline waist and crotch, and adjustable straps which allow for a flexible fit - so hopefully any changes you want to make will be minimal - yay!

In this part of the Erin sewalong we'll cover:

• Choosing your size 
• Lengthening or shortening pattern pieces 
• How to combine pattern sizes 
• How to make common trouser fitting adjustments 

Follow the Erin sewalong!

Choosing your size 

Erin is the first TATB printed pattern to include all 15 sizes in our range. The updated sizing merges our former UK 6-24 and UK 16-34 size patterns to make one pattern in sizes UK 6-34 (US 2-30 / EUR 34-62 / AUS 6-34) that is available in both print and PDF formats. 

Sizes 1-6 (UK 6-16) and 7-15 (UK 18-34) have been drafted, fitted and graded separately to create a better fit. For this reason, you may notice the proportions change in the measurements chart and the shaping is slightly different on the pattern pieces – sizes 7-15 include room for a larger bust (10cm/4in difference between high bust and full bust, as opposed to 5cm/2in difference on sizes 1-6) and a bit more room at the waist.

To find your size, measure your bust, waist and hips, by which we mean:

- fullest part of your bust

- waist where you bend at the side

- fullest part of your hips and bum

Make sure you're holding the tape measure parallel to the floor all the way around.

Circle your nearest measurements on the measurements chart in the pattern instructions. If all fall into one size cut that one… But it's totally normal to fall into different sizes - you can create a bespoke shape for you by “grading” between sizes, which we will come onto in a minute.

Bear in mind the style of the pattern is loose-fitting, so grading isn't always essential. Take a look at the finished measurements chart above to understand how Erin will fit when it's finished. 

Erin Dungarees Sewalong: Gather Your Supplies & Sewing Inspiration

In need of some inspiration for sewing your Erin dungarees or overalls? You've come to the right place! Welcome to the first part of our Erin dungarees sewalong, supported by Janome. This blog post is jam-packed with fabric possibilities and inspo for your Erin makes. 

In this part of the Erin sewalong we'll cover:

• What supplies you'll need for your dungarees
• What fabrics are suitable (stretch and woven options)
• Sewing inspiration from the high street
• The fabrics we've used for our Erin samples

Follow the Erin sewalong!

FABRIC & SUPPLIES

One of our favourite things about Erin is that the dungarees can be made in both woven and knit fabrics - the sewing pattern dream! We bet you have something in your fabric stash right now, perfect for a pair of Erin dungas.

It works well with a wide range of fabrics, from medium-weight soft woven fabrics such as needlecord, linen and soft cotton twill, through lighter-weight drapey wovens such as viscose (rayon) or Tencel (lyocell), to low stretch knit fabrics such as French terry and ponte roma. The range of fabrics makes it great for year-round wear! 

Your choice of fabric will affect how the dungas look and feel when you wear them - see how the linen shorts sample we made holds its shape, while the leopard viscose blend gives a softer silhouette, the pink terry gives a snuggly vibe, and the mustard cord is cosy and strokeable! I would avoid anything that feels too stiff, as it could make the dungas a bit uncomfy to wear.

If your fabric is on the thicker side, like needlecord, use something lighter weight like a cotton lawn for the bib lining. You can also use this for the pockets if you like - just bear in mind this fabric will peep out a little at the pocket openings, so it's up to you whether you want it to show or not.

If you're using the same fabric for the outer and lining, add the lengths together on the fabric requirements chart to get the total length.

You'll also need to get your hands on some interfacing. We like woven as opposed to the papery kind. If you're making Erin in a terry or ponte knit, ideally you would use a knit interfacing but it's not the end of the world if you don’t have any - regular interfacing should work fine as the fabric isn’t very stretchy. 

Now let's get onto the fun stuff, some design inspiration for your Erin dungarees...

Join the Erin Dungarees Sewalong! Sponsored by Janome

Want a helping hand with your next make? We're teaming up with our friends at Janome to bring you a FREE Erin dungarees sewalong! You read that right, a FULL step-by-step sewalong (with videos) breaking down every step of making your own Erin dungas or overalls sewing pattern, including:

• Supplies needed, plus some gorgeous sewing inspiration
• Common fitting alterations you might want to make 
• Preparing your fabric (Erin can be made in wovens and knits!)
• ALL the Erin sewing steps - with videos
• Plus team makes from TATB and Janome, along with how to share yours!

Get excited, sewists! Here's what's in store over the coming weeks...

Grab your pattern

The oh-so-cute and comfy Erin dungarees sewing pattern is our first pattern to be printed in all 15 sizes, from UK 6-34 (US 2-30 / EUR 34-62 / AUS 6-34).

ORDER ERIN HERE

Meet the Erin Dungarees - Our 1st PRINTED UK 6-34 Sewing Pattern!

Welcome to our most exciting sewing pattern launch to date! Meet the Erin dungarees sewing pattern - cute, contemporary and oh so comfy. Not only are we releasing a gorgeous new design, but Erin is also our first Tilly and the Buttons sewing pattern to be printed in 15 sizes up to a UK 34! 

ORDER ERIN HERE

Grab a cuppa and get comfy, because we've got SEW MUCH exciting info to share...

• Read about the inspiration behind this cute and comfy design
• Take a look at the limited edition free gift with printed pattern orders from our shop (while stocks last!)
• Get ready for the full sewalong, supported by Janome
• Find out what fabrics work well with Erin - from wovens to knits!
• Check out the sizing and formats of our first pattern printed up to UK 34

THE INSPIRATION

Tilly was inspired to design the Erin dungarees after she wanted something practical, cosy and comfortable to wear that also looked and felt great. And we think she got it just right! The Erin dungarees are absurdly comfy. Seriously, once you make a pair, you won’t want to wear anything else! The whole TATB office is obsessed with Erin. We’ve made six pairs between us so far, and this number is rapidly increasing...

They're also simple to sew, and extremely versatile, with multiple versions and wide a variety of fabrics to choose from, including knits as well as wovens (yessss!).

Coming Soon: Printed Sewing Patterns in Sizes 6 - 34

Exciting news about our next sewing pattern release, which is coming next week – the printed pattern, as well as the PDF version, will come in 15 sizes from UK 6 to 34!

Until now, Tilly and the Buttons patterns that come in sizes UK 26 – 34 (US 22 – 30 / EUR 54 – 62 / AUS 26 – 34) have been available in PDF format but not in print. For our next release, as well as for future printed patterns and reprints of our existing designs, we are delighted to be offering these sizes in print too. The body measurements go up to 152.5cm (60in) bust, 134.5cm (53in) waist and 155cm (61in) hip.

To make this happen, we have combined our two size bands (UK 6 – 24 and UK 16 – 34) into one (UK 6 – 34). The benefits of this approach are:

• a wider range of sizes in print as well as PDF
• a more diverse range of bodies on our printed pattern covers
• no distinction needed between two size ranges in our communications
• a wider range of pattern sizes will be available to buy from fabric shops and department stores around the world

Hooray!

To create a better fitting pattern than if we were to simply size up and down from one shape or “block”, we are still putting the extra work in to draft, fit and grade the lower and upper sizes in the range separately to account for different proportions.

How to Sew Buttonholes on Knit Fabric (with video!)

We've tackled buttonholes in detail before on the blog, if you've read through our Tilly Tips For Perfect Buttons post we're sure you'll be feeling confident facing any sewing project featuring any pesky buttons. But this time we want to show you how to sew buttonholes on knit fabrics, such as jersey, ponte or sweatshirting. 

Sewing buttonholes on stretch fabrics might sound rather intimidating, but here at Tilly and the Buttons we're lovers of sewing with stretch (Tilly wrote a book all about it don't ya know?) and we want to show you sewing buttonholes on your comfiest clothes can be straightforward too, with the help of these tips...

1) Interface the area

When sewing buttonholes on knit fabrics it's important to stabilise the area with interfacing so your buttonhole doesn't stretch out over time and unfasten when you least expect it! Even though you're sewing a stretch garment, this is one small area that you don't want to stretch.

Sewing Stories: Team Button's Rhi on Learning to Sew Knits

Hello! It's Rhi - the Marketing Manager at Tilly and the Buttons, here to talk about my experience of learning to sew knits. It’s fair to say that I have the least sewing experience of Team Buttons - I’m still on my sewing journey, having only started sewing in November 2020. 

My machine isn’t high end - a Singer Confidence 7463. I was so fearful of sewing with stretchy fabrics - having listened to the rumour that knit fabrics are difficult to handle, or that you need an overlocker. But *spoiler alert* this is a myth!

I hope my experience will help any other stretch sewing newbies out there and motivate you to tackle that project you've been avoiding... Here are the stretch sewing projects I started my knit sewing journey with: