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!

 

Learn From Mistakes- MINE!

I thought that I would do a series of  posts on making clothes using pdf patterns available for free on the Internet.  My aim is to try to find less well known ones- most sewists know about the Sorbetto top by Colette or the Orla dress by French Navy or  the Plantain tee by Deer and Doe  so I searched for patterns that I had not seen before with the criteria that the pattern had to be something I wanted in my wardrobe, that I could make using fabric that I had in my stash already and that I thought might appeal to other dressmakers.

I came across French blogger Sophie Blossom and was attracted by her free pattern for the Laurel Blouse.  
 I was looking for a top with sleeves in a style suitable for the currently hot weather.  I liked the small Mao collar, V neck and over sized sleeve openings fastened by a cuff that extended into ties to be knotted into a large bow.  If you stay true to the original version there are no zippers or other such fastenings and all you need is fabric and thread. It seemed to have the potential to be worn over skirt or trousers or tucked in, to be simply casual or more dressy with a statement necklace in that V neck.  My version, shown below, deviates slightly from the original as you will learn if you read on.

Here is Sophie modelling her pattern.  I wish I looked that chic.

The blog is in French and my standard of French is that of someone who learnt it a very long time ago at school and has not used it much since.  Fortunately Sophie has produced a video, showing the simple construction of this blouse, that I believe could be followed by non-French speaking sewists.

So far, so good - BUT
This pattern comes in a large size range, listed as 34 to 52.  But what did these French sizes mean?  I searched the Internet for the equivalence between French and British sizes, there was a variation in answers but the majority seemed to say that size 38 was equivalent to a size 10 (the size 10 used by the commercial dress pattern companies) and this is the size that I used.  This was my first mistake.  I should have explored Sophie's blog further and then would found the menu option "FAQ Patrons" before I printed out the pattern and cut out size 38.  The FAQ told me exactly what the size measurements were and this meant I had cut out too large a size.  It also informed me about variations, according to the printer used, in printing out and assembling the pattern.  It told me why there was a gap in the pattern at the edge of the individual sheets and knowing this would have saved me much time and head scratching trying to work out how the pattern should be pasted together.  The reason was that the printer I was using would not print without margins and to remedy that I found that I needed to connect the small gap in the pattern lines, simply by connecting with a pencil line, once I had abutted the A4 sheets up against each other.
Of course I was cross with myself for not taking greater care to make sure I had read all the instructions (who hasn't been there?) but I decided to carry on with size 38, hoping to adjust it if necessary and thinking that a loose top would be no bad thing in the present heat.

IN ADDITION
I displayed another example of not thinking ahead and did not change the printer from "Print in Black"- the different pattern sizes are indicated by differing colours of line. Luckily I had only printed out the first 2 pages before realising this and changing to "Print in Colour".  However I forgot to check the levels of the colour cartridges and had printed out all the pages before realising that some colours were not printing at all and I had lines that were completely missing or very hard to distinguish. Thus I had to print it all again!**!- after changing the cartridges.

I had noticed that, as a coda to her blog on this pattern, Sophie had indicated that the back shoulder should be extended by 1 cm and the front shoulder reduced by the same amount- at least, this is how I translated it.  I proceeded to do this on the body pattern pieces.

NEVERTHELESS
I failed to register that I would need to adjust the front and back facing pieces as well.  Mostly I followed the order of construction demonstrated by Sophie in her video but I deviated from this by attaching the facings before I sewed up the side seams as I think it easier to sew the facings on while the garment can be laid out flat.  This is the point at which I realised my error in not making an adjustment to the facings.  I could have cut another set of facings but I confess to bodging it so the inside to the garment is less than beautiful- but it worked.  You should be aware, if you decide to tackle this blouse, that the notch on the sleeve head to match up with the shoulder seam also may need adjusting  but I found this was not a problem.  At first I was puzzled that there were no notches on the sleeve head to indicate front and back of the sleeve head but I then perceived that there was no difference between the front and back.

Sophie uses the flat sleeve method of inserting a sleeve.  In the video she demonstrates gathering the sleeve head before inserting but I found this was not necessary and and I could ease the sleeve into the armsyce with a little manipulation over my fingers and a small quantity of pins.  After the debacle of the facings all went smoothly.
I did make changes to the design.  I loved the over sized openings to the cuff  but I was not so enamoured of the dramatic bows to tie the cuffs, chiefly because I am clumsy, and get things like that entangled in the wires of supermarket shopping baskets or caught on door handles, and also because they would be a faff to tie without someone on hand to help.  So I came up with my own version.  I made some traditional cuffs, closed with a snap fastener. 

I used fusible interfacing on the inner cuff as I was not finishing the sleeve with ties.
I then made some faux bows out of rectangles of fabric sewn into a circle, folded in half and top stitched plus a strip sewn right sides together and then pulled right side out.

Above is an example of the circle of folded and top stitched fabric, the same pressed flat and the strip. The flattened circle is gathered in the centre.

And a piece of the strip cut off and wrapped around the gather and stitched to secure.

The intention was to stitch this bow to the top cuff thus-

However, when I did this, I did not really like it and, if I make this again, I would make smaller bows to attach or revert to Sophie's design of having ties but make them smaller, just long enough to tie into a knot and not a full bow.  At the beginning of this post I have shown the blouse with the bows I made pinned on the cuffs.  As I was not keen on this I did play about with the bows and I quite like the look achieved by attachng one bow at the bottom of the neck.

Unfortunately the dark navy colour of the background and the busy floral motifs of the material make details hard to discern.

Here is the neckline without the bow.  What do you think?

MY BIGGEST MISTAKE
was thinking that I could adjust the pattern as I went along.  In the photographs I have displayed it on a dressform adjusted to the measurements of the size that I made up.  I have narrow, misshapen shoulders  and cutting a size too large was not a good move.  I tried to reduce the width of the shoulders slightly by putting a small amount of gathering in the centre of the shoulders.  This is not noticeable due to the pattern of the material  and the minuscule amount of gathering but it did reduce the width very slightly but not enough to prevent the shoulder seam drooping down my arms.  The bust point was far too low and the depth of the V neck dangerously near to exposing my bra.  The sleeves were too long for me - this is a frequent problem for me with sewing patterns.  So, for me, this blouse gets classified as an unwearable toile  and it will end up in a charity shop unless I can find someone to whom I can give it.  This is a shame because I like the pattern and will be attempting another version  but making sure I thoroughly check out the following first by measuring the pattern- actual finished bust size, bust apex, shoulder width, sleeve length, neckline depth.

WHAT I GOT RIGHT
was my choice of fabric, which was left over from a make in July 2016.  This is a cotton, not as light as a lawn but finer than a standard dress weight cotton.  Sophie advises not to use a stiff fabric, her original choice of a red cotton sateen was too firm.  She also warned that you may need to put fusible interfacing on the collar if you make it from a fabric with a lot of drape.  You need to strike a balance between too stiff and too floppy.

LESSONS LEARNT
1. Read all the instructions- and then make sure you have read them all.
2. Pick the right size.  If not making a toile and you don't have the finished garment measurements then make sure that you measure the essential parts of the pattern and compare them with your body measurements to see the sort of fit the pattern will give.
3. If a pattern needs an alteration at one point then make sure that this does not have consequences for some other section/s of the pattern, which may need altering as a result.
4.  When printing out a PDF pattern make sure that your printer will deliver what you want and you have it at the correct settings for the task.