From the first murmur of a kids pattern range from our friends at Papercut, we've been eagerly waiting to get our hands on them! The Papercute range (cute!) is now available in all our stores and here online. This week on the blog, we sew up the Tula Pants in two essential cottons and paired them with the long sleeve Solar Tee in our ZQ Premium Merino exclusive colours Duck Egg and Turmeric. A big thank you to Paco (2.5 years) and Poppy (3 years) from our HQ family for modelling for us!
Pattern Review
Papercute — Tula Pants + Solar Tee
These new mini-sized versions of Papercut classics gave us the perfect chance to sew for the little ones in our HQ family!
We chose two novice patterns from the new collection, the Tula Pants/Short and Solar Tee/Sweater. Papercute Patterns are sized from 3 to 13 years, and for both Poppy (3 years) and Paco (2.5 years) we chose size 3. The Papercute instruction booklets are easy to follow, with images of the garments sewn in different fabrics throughout the booklet to break up the steps and inspire future projects! We loved their handy tips, such as pre-washing your fabric, especially as both of these patterns are pitched for beginner sewers. With six Solar Tee variations and three Tula Pant variations, and a wide range of fabric recommendations, we think these are both versatile additions to any pattern stash!
Both garments were quick to complete, and the playful frill on Poppy's Solar Tee was fun to sew. Below we've noted a few specifics about each pattern and its yields.
Solar Tee
The fabric yield recommendation was spot on for both versions of the long sleeve Solar Tee. We made the simple version for Paco which took 0.85m of our ZQ Premium Merino - Duck Egg and the ruffled sleeve edit for Poppy which needed a little more fabric, 0.95m of our ZQ Premium Merino - Turmeric. Both were sewn with a spool of matching Gütermann Sew-All Thread. We love how the fit is a little oversized, allowing fast-growing little ones to get at least a season or two wear out of it!
Tula Pants
The Tula Pant comes with a tapered leg and a wide leg option and Papercut suggests 1m of fabric for the wide leg Tula Pants in size 3 years. Poppy's pants took a little less, we used 0.85m of our Upcycled Fine Striped Chambray – Ecru/Blue and a spool of matching Gütermann Sew-All Thread. We made Paco's pants with 0.95m of Soft Cotton Herringbone - Pumpkin Spice with matching thread. For Paco's pair we added topstitching and a faux fly but this step could be easily skipped (as we did with Poppy's pair) to cut down sewing time.
You can find the Papercute range in all our bricks-and-mortar stores as well as right here online.
Fabric Recommendations
We used our single jersey ZQ Premium Merino for both Solar Tees. This fabric is knitted from ZQ-certified merino (learn more about what the means here) and produced just for us in our range of exclusive colours, like Duck Egg and sunny Turmeric featured here. It is incredibly soft, has great drape, and is machine washable and hypoallergenic, making it perfect for the little ones. For the Tula Pants, we went for two soft but durable cottons — deadstock Soft Cotton Herringbone - Pumpkin Spice and an Upcycled Fine Striped Chambray – Ecru/Blue. Both of these fabrics are non-stretch which suited the wide leg versions of the Tula Pant pattern well.
Check out a few colourful options below, clockwise from top right is Plain Weave Linen - Mango, Linen / Lyocell Twill - Ginger, Chambray Twill Linen / Rayon - Woad, Stretch Striped Linen Blend Herringbone - Blue, ZQ Premium Merino - Paprika, ZQ Premium Merino - Guava, ZQ Premium Merino - Avocado and ZQ Premium Merino - Army.
We'd highly recommend both patterns for anyone starting their sewing journey (and has little ones to clothe!), or a more experienced sewer looking for a simple satisfying project! Follow #PapercutePatterns for inspiration and don't forget we'd love to see your makes over on Instagram and TikTok!