I was lucky enough to work with Chalk and Notch with the testing and release of the Women's Waterfall Raglan, a wonderful relaxed fit swing top and dress, and as you've seen over the past few days if you've been following the blog tour, you can make some super cute outfits that will you take you from play group all the way to date night, and you can even match the little girls in your life!
But today...well today is all about my favorite thing. Today is all about hacking. I looove to hack and though I may not be as adept as miss Emily, I'm always up for one. So grab your copy of the pattern, get inspired and be sure to read to the end for an Ahh-mazing giveaway to win fabric, patterns and a sewing kit!
{Also...please don't pay any attention to the fact that the sleeves and ruffle are not hemmed....I have a cover stitch machine on the way from my husband for a birthday present...and he told me about it...so I am waiting to hem anything else until it arrives:)}
This might possibly be the easiest hack ever but whatevs. I love it. And bonus, it includes basically no skills so anyone can do it! I was going for a boxy gathered top, so I needed to remove some of the swing, remove the curved hem, make the whole thing shorter and move up the ruffle. And this top creates that look perfectly because even if you remove some of the 'swing' on the sides, its still loose. So without further ado, here's how you can create this with just 1 yard of fabric, a ruler, a pen, and your women's waterfall raglan pattern!
To start - I made a size 12 during testing, but I am 5 months postpartum and the weight is finally starting to come off so this version is a 10 and I could even make an 8 if I wanted to remove more width through the bodice. You can decide how much smaller you want to go, or go with your measured size. Sizing down will still give your a loose top, especially if using a really drapey fabric like a rayon or modal.
1. Remove width: Take a ruler and pen and draw a straight line from the armpit to the hem. This will remove some of the swing in the shirt, but not all of it, because width for a swing top is added throughout the whole thing. This will just make is hang straight down on the side. Repeat this with front and back bodice pieces.
2. Shorten the front: I'm 5 foot 8 and I don't add or remove any length from this pattern in its original form. But for this hack, to make is shorter and boxy, I want a shorter, straight hem in front, so I drew a straight line where the pages are taped together (where all the letter b's meet). This may be different for you based on your height or where you want the gathers to hit. I wanted mine to hit about where my natural waist is. I actually would need to make this even shorter than I did to accomplish that, because once the gathered ruffle is on it pulls the bodice down.
Do this only to the front.
3: Shorten the back: Before you do this you need to make sure your sides of the front and back bodice pieces will meet, and at a 90 degree angle, so lay your front and back pieces on top of each other and mark the side on your back piece to it matches your front. You need to match the armpits and lie them flat on top of each other. I just seperated mine so you could see properly:)
I wanted my hem slightly longer in back so I curved the hem a bit still and just free handed it...obviously....
You can now cut your new pattern pieces, trace them on your favorite tracing paper (I use freezer paper) or just fold your original pattern on your newly drawn lines (I do this... cause...#lazy...also...#saveatree)
4. Straighten the ruffle: I didn't want the hem coming up on the sides since I was going for a boxy look, so I made the ruffle all one height, the tallest part of the pattern piece. I placed the ruffle pattern piece over my fabric, placed my ruler over the pattern piece, aligning the short edges on the fold of the fabric, and then chalked a straight line on my fabric. Then repeat and cut 2 of them.
5. Cut out all the rest off the pattern pieces normally and get sewing! I guarantee you can get any size up to a 12 out of one yard. I think I did shorten my ruffle pattern piece by an inch (folded - so 2 inches total) but that doesn't matter because we already removed a lot of width through the bodice.
A note on gathering: This fabric is double brushed poly (from So Sew English) and my sewing machine will not sew brushed poly....it just eats it and I have very little success with stabilizers, so I gathered this on my serger. Its not ideal to gather knits with a serger because it eliminates the stretch, but as this is a loose top, the stretch isn't necessary. Also, gathering on a serger is soooooo fast I love it. I have a Brother 1034D and these are my serger settings, (all other settings not shown I leave the same as regular overlocking) and a secret look at my dirty serger...who really cleans theirs?
And here is what the gathers looks like. It works really well for me. It makes the ruffle a bit too short but its easy to gently ease the gathers apart and get them the right width for the bodice.
Sew it all up according the instructions in the pattern and - viola! You're done and have a beautiful top that can be dressed up or down and worn with anything.
If you sew one up be sure to do it by February 12th and link it to the link up party here for a chance to win $50 to stylish fabrics and a sewing kit!
Day 1: Day Looks
Heidi- Handmade Frenzy | Zoe - ZowieZo Handmade | Indu- Kaleidothought | Maria - Creative Needle and Threads | Verinne - boeven bende | Mie - Sewing Like Mad | Victoria - As it Seams
Day 2: Date Night
Tami - Sew Sophie Lynn | Victoria - Very Blissful | Leslie - Threadbear Garments | Marie-Fleurine – Sew Mariefleur | Emi - Just Add Fabric
Day 3: Hacks
What a great tutorial!! I love how it turned out! Thank you so much for joining! XO
ReplyDeleteThanks for heaving me! It's been so fun!
DeleteThis is such a pretty and feminine variation.
ReplyDeleteThanks šš
DeleteSuch a cute top and you are so adorable! I've been wanting a top like this and I love that I can use one of me favorite patterns!
ReplyDeleteThanks:) such an easy hack you could do it your sleep šš»
DeleteWhatever you create always looks great!
ReplyDeleteThanks šš
DeleteLove it!!! These pics are gorgeous of you too! Thanks for the shout out. š
ReplyDeleteThanks! You're the queen of the pattern hack!!
DeleteI love your hack! It looks so pretty on you -- I so want to make one like this. Thanks for the heads up on the double brushed poly. I've never sewn with it before, but now I know that I should probably use tissue paper since I don't have a serger!
ReplyDelete