Trying Out a Free Pattern- Earn Your Stripes Breton Tee (dress hack)

This is a free downloadable pdf pattern, designed by Claire-Louise Hardie, available from Love Sewing magazine website.  The pattern is for a fairly loose fit tee shirt with an option of ¾ or full length sleeves.  It has dropped shoulders and a neckband.  I chose to use the pattern as a basis for a dress. The fabric required is a jersey fabric with at least 20% stretch.   The link to download  this pattern  here.

There are no making up instructions with this pattern  but it follows the usual method of sewing together for this type of tee shirt. I have given very brief instructions in the Making Up section below.

Printing and assembling the pattern. The only option for printing out is using A4 format and it takes 18 sheets for the pattern itself (see below).  The sheet illustrated shows the order of assembly of the pdf.  It is necessary to trim the sheets where indicated to fit the pattern together.

The test square is on sheet 1, the finished back lengths of the tee shirt on sheet 7 and the finished bust measurements on sheet 9.  Seam allowances are included in the pattern.

Sizes and Alterations.  This pattern comes in 8 sizes from  32" to 46" bust (pattern size 8 to 22), the pattern ease is 3 inches on all sizes.  Hip size is not given as this pattern is for a top.  My bust size falls between 8 and 10 and I opted for size 10 as I wanted a loose fit. There is a lengthen and shorten line on the front and back pieces and to turn this into a dress I just extended the line of the pattern straight down from here until it reached my desired length.

Making Up.  This can be sewn up on an overlocker or a sewing machine with a zigzag stitch or stretch stitch capacity.  I used a sewing machine.  The order of construction is (briefly) -  1. Sew the shoulder seams, I added stay tape to the shoulder seams as I usually do with a stretch fabric. 2. Join the ends of the neckband and fold it in half and attach to the neck with a 1 cm seam allowance.  The neckband seam sits at the centre back. and you use the quartering method to fit the neckband to the neck. If you don't know the quartering method here is a short video about it plus a tip on reducing bulk at the back seam of the neckband. 3. Attach the sleeves by the flat method and sew up the side seams.  Helen's Closet has a tutorial on her blog for this method here.  4. Hem the sleeves and bottom of the garment  using a twin needle or zigzag stitch.

Verdict.  This was very quick and easy to make.  With hindsight if I make this again (and I may well do so) I will make the size 8 as I needed to take in the side seams of the bodice and upper arms but I am rather flat chested and have no biceps to speak of.  I also have no curves to my hips and extending the top straight down to create a dress worked well for me but those with more curves to the hips may want to flare the shape out a bit more.  I used some jersey fabric that I got in Brighton at the Fabricland closing down sale last year and it was perfect for this, soft, light and cosy.  I could certainly wear this during three of the four seasons with additions of thick tights and a cardigan when the cold demands it.  I added an extra 2 inches to the long sleeve length of the pattern so I could pull the sleeves down and keep my hands a bit warmer but can push the sleeves up if I don't need this.  I might make a tie belt and blouse the dress over the belt for a shorter length in the Spring but, at the moment, I want to wear it long.

And so to finish with another picture of myself being blown by the wind and trying to keep my hair out off my face - -

Trying out a Free Pattern - Low Rise Knickers in Woven Fabric

 

This is a free downloadable pattern from a rather strange website sew-ing.com/make

 It appears to be Japanese in origin and the translation into English is not very good but is adequate.  There are instructions for making some unusual items, including a Strawberry Cream Cake in Felt  and cat lovers should check out the Cat Pouch.  If you explore the website you will find different varieties of patterns for knickers, mostly for women but some for men and children, in both woven and stretch fabrics.  The link to the pattern for the type of knickers (or panties if you prefer) that I made is here 

The reason behind my trying out this pattern was that I wanted to find a pattern for items that I actually needed that could be made with small (i.e. under a metre) left over scraps from dressmaking projects .  This pattern was designed to be made using a man's size handkerchief 43 centimetre square  but can be made with any light weight cotton.  There are a number of free knicker patterns available for use with suitable stretch fabric, such as light weight cotton t-shirting, but I didn't have any such left overs that were not already earmarked for clothing for toddlers.  I did have lightweight woven cotton scraps so I was looking for knicker patterns using woven fabrics .  I have tried to make a pair of knickers in cotton from an independent commercial pattern but my sewing of the elastic directly on to the fabric, by stretching the elastic to fit the fabric as I sewed, left a lot to be desired and was uneven.  I was therefore delighted to find this pattern, designed for woven fabric,  where the elastic was threaded through a channel at the waist and legs but, if you wished, there was no need to put elastic on the legs.  This latter was the option that I went for.  

 

Printing and Assembling the Pattern.  There are only two pages to print out on A4 paper.  However you should be aware that the pattern is scaled at 96% and so comes up very slightly smaller than actual size.  I couldn't work out any way of printing it out at 100% with the equipment I had available. You have to add seam allowances yourself, 1 to 1.5 centimetres is recommended for the waist and 0.7 to 1 cm for the other seams and edges.  If you want to add elastic to the legs then I would suggest allowing at least 1 cm here. 

Sizes, Alterations and Style Options. The pattern only comes in size 90 cm hips because they are designed to be cut from a large men's size handkerchief and you cannot cut a size larger than that from the handkerchief  However you can use any suitable weight fabric and I went for my first pair to some cotton left over from making a child's sundress.  

 The photograph above shows the amount of fabric that I had compared to a man's handkerchief. The knickers can be made smaller, as I did, by shaving the necessary amount off the side seams.  To make them larger you could add to the side seams or follow the suggestions on the website to insert some lace or add side ties.  It is suggested that you cut the pattern pieces on the bias, which will allow some give to the fabric.  If you are using a handkerchief then you have to cut on the bias but, if you wish, you can cut on the straight grain.  I opted to cut on the bias. 

You have two basic style options.  You can cut the front all in one piece in which case your pattern pieces will look like this when you have cut them out, a front and back piece and a gusset and gusset lining.

 The second option is to cut a central panel for the front on the straight grain so that you can insert a   trim, use a contrast fabric or play with cutting the pieces in different pattern directions.  For this option you need to create a centre panel by cutting on the lines marked on the front pattern piece and remember to add seam allowances to the resulting panel and the side pieces.  Your pattern pieces will then look like this.

 Making Up.  I had some cotton lace insertion left from trimming a blouse so I used this to trim this pair.  Here's how the front looks after sewing the front pieces together sandwiching the insertion between the seams.

Sewing together is very easy.  Just sew up the side seams, I used french seams.  How to sew the two gusset pieces to the front and back is shown clearly on the sew-ing website.  The raw top and leg edges are then finished by overlocking or zigzag stitching, and the edges turned over to form a channel and stitched down leaving a gap where necessary to thread the elastic through.  As you can see from the first picture on this post I chose to embellish the legs of two pairs with lace.  With the blue spotted pair I had a small amount of narrow pale blue lace, it fitted the bill so exactly that I had just 2 centimetres left after sewing it on.

Verdict.  I am, once more, pleased with the result from a free download.  These knickers are exactly the same shape as some RTW ones that I have.  They are very comfortable to wear and I think they look attractive.  Only a small amount of fabric is required, you could even cut each piece in a differently   patterned fabric of the same weight if you wanted to use up your smallest scraps.  I shall certainly be making some more of these, in fact I already am!