I am delighted to be part of the blogging team for Maeve at Dressfabrics and chose this gorgeous khaki tencel, which Maeve provided, as I am a fan of natural fabrics. The tencel has a beautiful drape, feels soft and quite luxurious, and is a nice medium weight. To take advantage of the drape of the fabric I decided to make a pair of culottes using the By Hand London Holly trousers (included with the Holly jumpsuit pattern) and following the hack on their blog to add pleats and slanted pockets  https://byhandlondon.com/blogs/by-hand-london/55184773-sewing-the-trends-how-to-make-a-pair-of-culottes but this time eliminated the back zipper and for comfort added an elastic band  in the back half of the waistband following this tutorial https://helenscloset.ca/2018/05/04/winslow-culottes-hack-elastic-back/ I love this detail as it’s practical especially for weight fluctuations but keeps the polished detail of the pleats at the front.

I hadn’t sewed with tencel before but it behaved very well. I thought it might be slippery like viscose but found it didn’t move around much in cutting, perhaps due to the medium weight, and it was lovely to sew. I had no problems with movement at all. I used a regular needle in my machine and overlocked to finish as it was prone to some fraying after handling, similar to linen.The only slight issue I had was I left it a bit too long after pre washing before hanging up to dry so there’s a few lines in it from that. Next time I’d put it on a reduced spin also. I probably should have looked up the washing instructions!

I love that this is a natural fabric, and thus breathable. It’s feels very nice to wear against he skin, and I think it would be very comfortable in summer. I’m planning an Ogden cami in tencel, once the weather is a bit warmer. Maeve has this in a lovely blue which I think would be stunning in a dress like the Colette Penny (version with the gathered waist belt), but next I’d like to make the Winslow Culottes by Helen’s Closet in navy as I this pattern was made for tencel! They have bigger pleats and more ease than the Holly trouser version. I know I’d get lots of wear out of a  navy pair for work, perhaps worn with a stripey Agnes top.

I’ve paired the culottes here with my Tilly and the Button Agnes tee made from black cotton jersey. They also go great with my black Seamwork Astoria sweater in the black Angora knit fabric, which is perfect for high-waist trousers like these. 

Maeve kindly provided the fabric and thread free of charge, but all opinions are my own.