Was there ever a more perfect time for a matchy-matchy lounge set than in the season of social distancing and stay home orders? I would say no. So here I am, serving isolation chic.
When I chose this fabric, I made sure to get enough fabric that I could make the Hudson Pants that I had in mind, along with a matching sweatshirt of some sort. I wavered between the Linden Sweatshirt and the Kyoto Sweater, and ultimately chose to go with the Linden. The more simple silhouette was perfect for displaying this bold bug print!
I’ve been crazy about this print for awhile, and a luxurious velvet knit seemed like the perfect substrate for it. A couple of notes about this fabric – the right side of the fabric is screen printed on, so the wrong side is plain white. My particular cut of fabric must have gotten stuck and folded beneath the printer, because I had a funky little area where the fabric ended up plain white on the front and some print along the edge of the backside. This led to the white stripe up the outside of my left leg, which I will refer to from here on out as a design detail. 🙂
The nap of the fabric, or the direction in which the velvet lays, is the opposite of what I felt to be intuitive. If you run your hand down from the head of the bug to the end of the wing, which I feel is the natural direction you want to rub your hand, you get the short, rough feeling edge of the velvet. The soft and smooth feeling comes when you run your hand the opposite direction, from bug bottom to top. This is totally fine for me, as the only time I really find myself rubbing the fabric is when I play with the fabric on the top of my thighs when sitting down, and in that case, I’m typically going from the knee to mid-thigh, the soft direction. My husband, however, cringes each time he tries to rub my back or touch my arm, as he usually runs his hand from top down and unexpectedly catches that awful rough feeling!
I’ll be honest – I feel like a ridiculous, wacky, luxurious couch potato in this matching set. While I am absolutely fond of lounging around the house and trying to get my husband to feed me grapes while I lay lazily on the couch in the full matching set, I feel a little too extra wearing it together on a regular basis. So normally, you’ll catch me in one piece or the other, paired with other pieces from my wardrobe. My favorite pairing right now is a Kyoto Sweater I made in 2018 paired with the bug pants.
When I cut out the pieces for my sweatshirt and pants from this fabric, I ended up with a good bit more fabric leftover than I imagined. I was able to use the remainder as I tested the True Bias Rio Ringer Tee, so I actually have two different matching tops that I could be pairing with these pants, if I really wanted to. You can check my post about that tee out here, and then hop on over to the Minerva Blog to read some more details on the Linden and Hudson Pants!!
PS – these photos were my first attempt at indoor blog photos back in April, as we all adjusted to social distancing measures. At that time, I was leaving the house only for work and for runs through our neighborhood. We didn’t have anyone else in our social distancing bubble, and were pretty nervous about potentially running into people if we left the house even for outdoor photos, so my husband helped me with a fancy little indoor setup. I was also in a pretty funky place with my hair, hence the Hagrid vibes you may be getting here. While 2020 will go down in the books as the first year I haven’t had my hair cut or colored since I was in the 5th grade, I can confidently say it is not quite as nesty today as it was in these photos!
Sweatshirt: handmade by me
Fabric: Minerva – Lady McElroy Bees Velvet Knit Fabric Black Multi
Pattern: Grainline Studio – Linden Sweatshirt
Sweatpants: handmade by me
Fabric: Minerva – Lady McElroy Bees Velvet Knit Fabric Black Multi
Pattern: True Bias – Hudson Pants
Key Ingredients:
Brother XR9500PRW Sewing Machine
Brother 1034D Overlocker
Schmetz Jersey Ballpoint Needles
Dahle 36×48 Self-healing Cutting Mat
Heat & Bond Soft Stretch (Lite)
Though the fabric used in this post was generously provided to me by the awesome team at Minerva, all words and opinions expressed are my own, as always! Links provided throughout this post may be affiliate links – if you choose to purchase any products through these links, I may receive a small commission, at no cost to you. This simply helps me justify the costs of my sewing habit and the time it takes to share it with you!! Happy Sewing!
- XX Elizabeth
