As months fly by, the day is quickly approaching that we won't need our stash of baby wraps anymore. I have some older ones, that haven't sold, and some that I intend to keep for memories and the problem arises what to do with them beyond wrap form. So far, I've got one thats been cut in three and sewn together for a blanket, I've got a wallet, some stuffed animals for the kids, cushion covers for the couch, scarves, shawls and cowls and a bag in the works. I also have had a dream to make some clothing for me and maybe a quilt for one of the kids.I've played around with ideas on clothing for a while, saved some photos from online, kept an eye out on patterns. Nothing exactly that I wanted came along that was ready to use, so while my parents were visiting and I had some extra help watching the kids, I decided to just make my own. Here's a quick story on how this shirt came to be.
I started several months ago with saving photos from random places on my desktop to use as inspiration on what I wanted to make, and what I might possibly find a pattern for. For patterns I actively tried searching for cool hoodie patterns high and low, but didn't really come across anything.
From all the searches, this was the one, at the end that I liked, that I thought that I might be able to figure out how to do.
The wrap material is non-stretchy, so I figured for the garment to be even remotely fitting it would have to either have a zipper, or need some sort of stretchy fabric in places. I've never put in a zipper for a hoodie, so decided to go with stretchy panels for the sides and underarms. At first I tried making a muslin pattern on my dress form, but after about 10 min figured, I have no idea how to make a sleeve like that, so decided I need to use an existing pattern an modify it.
If you've never heard of Ottobre and like sewing, its an awesome magazine. The normal monthly editions are for kids clothing, but twice a year they have a womens issue which I love. I've bought several loose numbers and after thinking of my options settled on this sporty coat from the Womens winter 5/2014 issue. Click on the picture and you can see the magazine cover and all the patterns in it.
Why I chose this one? This one already had the seam on the side of the coat that I wanted to use in my shirt and the sleeves were the style I wanted.
How did I change the pattern?
1- I omitted the zipper, just put the front pattern piece on a fold on my fabric
2- I took away 2" on both sides of the sleeve and made a middle panel from the
3 - cut away 2 inches from the back pattern piece and added it to the side panel, to make the side panel wrap around more.
4- make the collar piece super wide (didn't want as bulky of a collar as in the inspiration picture either),
5- take off couple inches from the sleeve and make a 5" long piece of stretchy fabric (I don't know what its called in english, sorry) to be the sleeve cuff
6- add one more stretchy fabric piece for the bottom so that I could wear it with tights and cover my bum bum.
7- add a pocket in the front.
I measured myself and cut at about the biggest size for me. (Im a sporty fit, with shoulders, waist and hips being close together, so I got a sz 42 for me at the biggest size.) After cutting the pattern out, I cut out pieces from scrap fabrics that I didn't mid using, some jersey and a woolen fabric, similar in weight and stretch as my final fabrics and made a mock up. It fit pretty well on the top, but was huge on the bottom, so i knew i needed to make my pattern a little slimmer across the bottom. I was pretty happy with it otherwise, so decided to get the wrap fabric out and make a "real" shirt. The wrap is Oscha Chiisai Knots Gentian. I think the small pattern works really well in a shirt.
With the little changes I cut out pieces and put the second shirt together. The stretchy fabric is from Joann. I believe its called sweater fleece, and looks like knit fabric on the top and a brushed fluffy texture on the underside. As far a how much wrap I used, the pattern pieces just barely fit upright on the wrap, so I actually didn't use up that much fabric. I started with a long sz 4 and ended up with a generous ring sling piece after all the pieces were cut. The only unforeseen hitch came with the bottom. The fit of this is obviously a little different than the inspiration picture, I'm not that curvy, and with a non stretchy material it needed to be a little looser anyways. So when I added the stretchy fabric on the bottom ( I wanted to save on materials and didn't put it on my trial one) it kind looked like a mushroom top the way it bulged out. To fix it, I ended up sewing the hem up an inch, so now there is a lip of fabric where the wrap ends at the bottom, then is sewn up about an inch, so the stretchy fabric than comes down like a second layer little mini skirt. I like the look and it is loose enough to stay down when I move about, and covers my butt, which was the function I wanted it to have. So heres what it looks like finished:
Now this was actually still a trial one, I didn't have the balls to cut up my expensive wrap yet, I wanted to do this with Oscha Orion Lumina sz3 that I have. I've been wearing it out and about today, and its super comfy, with picking up kids and working around the house. so when I get another chance to sew again, I'll try to make the real one. I always love feedback and if you decide to make something similar its always fun to share pictures and stories.
