Pattern Hacks Archives - Page 8 of 10

How to lower or raise a neckline

January 6, 2017

We have seen a lot questions about raising or lowering the neckline of various P4P shirts or dresses. On the blog today I show you how easy it is to alter the neckline to achieve the look you want. For this tutorial I will use the Sweet Tee pattern in a beautiful viscose rayon (dress option lengthen 3.5″) but you can apply this technique to either one of the shirt patterns.

Start by printing and cutting your pattern in the size needed. The only piece we will be altering will be the front of the shirt (or bodice).

For lowering the neckline you will need to mark on the center fold where you would like the new neckline to be. I usually lower my Sweet Tee neckline 1.5 inches. Using a French Curve (or going slowly) draw a curve similar to the original one from your mark to the inner shoulder point.

Cut your fabric using the new front pattern piece. The rest of the pattern pieces will remain the same. The only other change you will need to make is the length of the neckband or binding.

To raise the neckline you will need to grab your front bodice piece and a blank piece of paper. Align the center fold of the front pattern piece with the side of your paper and glue them together.

Mark a point 1-2 inches above the original top center depending on how high you’d like the neckline. Using the French Curve draw a curve from the center point to the inner shoulder point. Cut the new front using this modified pattern piece and the rest of the pieces as in the original pattern.

The only additional modification you will need to make is to adjust the neckband or binding length. You will need to make it longer or shorter depending on the new neckline. I like to calculate the new neckband length after I sew the front and back pieces together at the shoulder. To find out the new neckline circumference lay the neck opening along a ruler and multiple it by 2.

Your new neckband length will be 85% of this circumference plus 1 inch to accommodate the seam allowance. (C * 0.85 +1 ). Cut the new neckband/binding using the new length but keeping the width suggests in the pattern. All you have left to do now is sew the shirt or dress according to the tutorial and you have just made yourself a custom outfit. Easy peasy…right? 🙂

I can’t wait to see your creations in the Pattern for Pirates group.

Happy sewing, pirates!

Sew, what do I wear? Holiday Edition

November 19, 2016

We teamed up with the Made for Mermaids ladies and have been sharing some great inspiration pieces to add to your holiday wardrobe; whether it be for family photos, dinners, or parties. You can usually find me in some SOS Pants and a Sweet Tee or Mama Bear Joggers and a Boyfriend Tee but we have some fun holiday parties and a trip to Las Vegas coming up so decided to go all out and use some sparkly and luxurious fabrics. My three little ones keep me pretty busy and if you’re anything like me, I tend to wait until the very last minute to sew up my items and am left running out the door, trimming my last thread. So, with that, here’s my take on our ever famous Peg Legs and Pumpkin Spice Dolman, two of the quickest and most beginner friendly patterns, to make them party worthy.

First, let’s talk about Peg Legs. If you haven’t heard what Pegs legs are…Check out this blog post: Peg Leg 101. My drawer is full of basic pegs, but I didn’t want just any old pair so I decided to use stretch velvet. While the fabric does meet the minimum stretch requirements, I opted to take a slightly smaller seam allowance just to ensure that they wouldn’t end up a little sheer at the booty and looking more like tights. I also used supplex for my waistband since I wasn’t sure if the velvet would cause the waistband to slip too much. Changing the type and texture of the fabric took my “mom-iform” pants to luxurious!

Now on to my top. I’ve recently made a few Off -the-Shoulder Raglans using our raglan hack from a few weeks ago and am really liking the look so I thought it would be a perfect addition to the Pumpkin Spice Dolman to take it up a notch. I was also limited on my fabric and ended up using two front pattern pieces so I could use it for both the front and back. The back pattern piece of the PSD is wider since naturally our curves (our booty and shoulders) need the extra ease but I was ok with slightly slimmer fit through the hip that I would end up with by using the same pattern piece for the front and back.

To create the off the shoulder look, I widened the neckline at the shoulder seam by removing 2″. I also turned the edge 1/4″ and hemmed it rather than adding a neckband.

I hemmed the bottom and sleeves as well. To be honest, my serger hated the sequins and I ended up having to do most of the construction on my sewing machine. The blade was able to handle them, but with the combination of the speed, my needles kept breaking. So just as a cautionary tale, if you decide to use sequins, go slow! Even with my serger issues though, I was still able to complete my entire outfit in just over an hour…yes, you read that right; an hour! Now, run and grab all the sparkly fabric you can find and shine straight into the New Year!

Don’t forget to check out all the amazing ladies and their makes, if you haven’t already! There is sure to be something that inspires you! Have you joined in on the fun and made a P4P or M4M holiday outfit? Join the Facebook Group and share away. We’d love to your creations.

Nov 14 – Wild & Wanderful/ What Does She Do All Day?/ My Creative Room

Nov 15 – Sew A Piece of Joy / Red Stitch Blue Stitch/ Sewn Of A Stitch

Nov 16 – MaMoose / Rebel & Malice / On Wednesdays We Sew

Nov 17 – It’s Liesel / Stitching and Making / The Kisses Co

Nov 18 – SewSophieLynn/ I’m Just Like Mommy/ Lady and the Gents / The Crunchy Mommy

a cool way to add reinforced knees to the Captain Comfort Jeans

November 15, 2016

As a mom of young kids I am always looking to make them cool clothes that are not only on trend but can withstand their active lifestyle. In today’s blog I will show you how to take the already cool Captain Comfort Jeans to the next level and reinforce the knees in a modern new way. If you’re looking at the Cpt. Comfort and need some tips on sewing jeans we’ve done a blog post all about it here!

Start by printing the pattern and cutting your fabric. I used an old pair of jeans I had saved for upcyling. (Here is a blog post about using an old pair of jeans for this pattern!) I find denim fabric by the yard to be pretty costly so I save all usable jeans pairs that my husband and I don’t wear anymore. You can make any style Comfort jeans with this hack, including the lined version.

Take your front piece pattern and measure 4 inches down from the top of the inseam, mark it on the pattern. Now measure and mark 6 inches from the bottom of the hemmed option cut line. I made a size 5 but I think these measurements would work well for sized 4-6. You will need to mark higher or lower depending on the size you need and how big you want the knee patch.

Draw a horizontal line from the two markings. Using a blank paper trace the knee patch between the two lines you just drew. Now you will draw another line parallel to these two 1/2 inch above the top line and 1/2″ bellow the bottom one. You just made the patch pattern piece.

Cut two jeans patches using the pattern piece you just created. Don’t forget to mirror the pieces!! Measure the inner and outer leg part of the patch and divide it by 3. Grab your fabric marker or chalk and draw a one inch line perpendicular to the sides of the patch at the markings.

Using a your sewing machine and denim needles sew a small dart that starts 1/4 inch away from the marking. Repeat the process for the remaining 7 small darts on the two patches .

Press the top dart up and the bottom darts down. Top stitch them in place. I love jeans thread for topstitching, It adds a nice touch to the finished look. Take your patches to the ironing board and press the top and bottom edges 1/2″ wrong sides together. Stitch in place 3/8 inch from the fold.

Place the patched on the front pieces (wrong side of the patch to the right side of the leg piece) making sure to match the right leg patch to the right patch and the left leg patch to the left leg. Sew the patches on about 1/8 inch away from the folded edge.

There you go! You just added cool knee patches to the Cpt Comfort Jeans. Continue sewing the pants according to the pattern and don’t forget to show them off in our group.

Happy sewing, pirates!

Alex

Easy Bear Jogger Hacks

November 11, 2016

The Mama Bear Joggers were just released and are packed with options. I have already made myself a few pairs so I was browsing Pinterest for styling ideas (don’t we all?). I came across a cute pair of joggers that had a tuxedo stripe on the side so I just had to make myself a pair like that. In today’s blog I’ll show you how I did the tuxedo stripe and an accent slat pocket band.

Start by printing and cutting the pattern in your size. (I grade mine in for the waist that’s why you’ll see two lines instead of one). Don’t cut the fabric just yet. If you’d like to do just the accent pocket band you’ll nee to place the pocket lining over your front piece and remove 1 inch from the curve. That can be done easily if using a French Curve.

Now take your measuring tape and measure the new pocket opening. You will be cutting your accent band to be 2″ by 95% of the opening.

Fold the band wrong sides together and give it a good press. Sandwich the folded band between the right side of the front of the pants and the right side of the pocket lining. You will be stretching JUST the band slightly. Sew the 4 layers together.

Turn the pocket over so its wrong side is on the wrong side of the front leg. You can now top stitch along the curve. Tadah! You’ve added a decorative band to the slat pocket. If you do not add the side strip proceed with sewing the joggers according to the pattern tutorial.

If you add the stripe, we will be making some pattern alteration prior to cutting the fabric. Place your pocket lining and back on top of the front of the pants matching the top and side lines. We will be removing 1.5 inches from the side of the front of the pants. Following the side curve draw a line parallel to the side, 1.5″ away.

Cut along the new line. Now grab the back of your pants and repeat the process on the side. You now have 4 new pattern pieces, front and back, pocket and pocket lining. We will measure the new side length with a measuring tape because it’s flexible. The tuxedo stripe will be 3″ by the new measured side. See? That wasn’t so bad.

Add the pocket according to the tutorial. We will now sew RST the front piece with one side of the strip. Then attach the other side of the strip to the back of the leg, right sides together. Repeat with the the other leg.

That’s it! Those are the only changes we made to the pattern. You can now finish your joggers according to the tutorial. You can add the strip to either one of the leg options, cuffs, elastic or rolled.

Get creative with all these joggers hacks and as always post your pretties in the group.

Alex

Let’s face it- everyone loves a jogger and the Patterns for Pirates Joggers are perfect! One of the things that I love about joggers is that there are so many different ways to style them. One of my favorite looks is the addition of a moto patch. This simple detail can add an extra bit of edge and flair to your joggers and help take an already awesome look to the next level! So let’s get started…

Creating Patch Piece

To start with, you will need to determine how far down to attach the patch. You will want to measure from your inseam to the top of where you want to attach the patch. As you can see in the picture below, mine measured 9.5″. Draw a line across your pattern piece at this measurement. Next, you will draw the bottom line for your patch- your next line should be 7″ down from this line (your finished patch will be at total of 6″). Using tracing paper, copy this section of your pattern to create your moto-patch.

Quilting the Patch
You will need to cut out two mirror image pieces. Next, you will trace your quilting lines on each piece (make sure to do mirror images!). Begin by marking both the horizontal and vertical centers of your piece (if you don’t have a quilters ruler- this mod is a GREAT excuse to go purchase one!!). After marking centers, draw lines every 2 inches in both directions. The final markings will be on the diagonals- connecting your squares. Repeat on the other patch.

After completing your markings, stitch across all of the diagonal marks only. Then, take a few minutes and admire all of the hard work you just did— Ok! Moment over, because now you get to repeat all of that beautiful stitching on the other patch!

Finishing and Attaching Patch
Press both the top and bottom of your patch, using a 0.5″ allowance to create a finished edge. Taking your front leg piece, place patch piece 0.5″ lower than original line (to account for your pressed seam… ex. Mine was at 9.5″ and I placed the patch at 10″ down) and pin in place.
Using a 0.25″ seam allowance, stitch the top and bottom into place. Then stitch over the horizontal lines only to finish creating your quilted look. You can now complete your Joggers by following the pattern directions.

And if you needed a few other ideas for you patches, you could also…

Cut your patches at angles
Place patches on thighs
Mix and match fabric patterns
Use fabrics that are already quilted (Yes- They exist and would be a huge time saver for this!)

I can’t wait to see how your patches (and joggers!) turn out. Make sure to share all of your creations on the P4P Facebook page!

~Erinn

I have been eying up all the adorable woven joggers that seem to be everywear this season and as soon as I saw the new P4P joggers I thought hmm, I wonder if then could be done in woven and guess what, they work great in woven for the baby bear joggers! I sewed up this pair for my daughter in a rayon challis remenant that I found and they are just too cute on her and super trendy right now! I didn’t alter anything while sewing but if your child has thicker calfs or ankles you may want to grade out one size to give a bit more room or take a smaller seam allowance from the calf down. These have the elastic waistband but as I had some 1 1/4 elastic in my stash Idecided to use it instead of doing the 3 rows of elastic. I inserted my elastic into the waistband and then basted the seam allowance before attaching the waistband to the pants. I did the elastic casing cuff which worked great the rolled cuff may be a touch to tight thou for wovens. No other changes to these and my girl has adorable woven joggers! I can’t wait till spring to make her a pile more!

I love the little shorties or bloomers look for my Baby Girl. Show off those rolls on her legs that I love so much! It’s very simple to use the new Baby Bear Joggers to create this cute, trendy look!

I determined the inseam by estimating how wide I would need it to cover her diaper. I made hers about 1″ before bands…they could’ve used another 1/2″ really though. I marked this on the inseam of back and front pieces. The side seam length I determined by thinking about how long I needed it to cover the diaper. I curved the bottom hem up towards the outer leg seam by about 2″ on both the back and front pieces.

I sewed the pattern up per the directions. To finish the bottom hem I added thick bands. I made them finish 1.5″ matching the waistband thickness. So, I cut 4″ by slightly shorter than my leg opening. You want to stretch the bands to fit the leg openings so that your bands are snug to their thighs.

Fold the bands in half width wise with right sides together (I wanted the “wrong side” to show on my bands.

Fold the band in half lengthwise with wrong sides together.

Align raw edges with raw edges of shorts and stitch, stretching band only as you sew all three layers together. Then flip band down with seam inside shorts.

I think they’re so precious! My Baby Girl has been sick and wasn’t really up for pictures, but we snapped just a couple to show them a bit.

Flannel Kimono with pockets

October 28, 2016

It is officially fall! The crisp morning air should make its appearance soon and what better way to embrace it than by treating ourselves with a cozy flannel top. For my blog today I’ll show you how you can take the Summer Kimono into fall and I’ll also give you some tips for working with flannel.

You will need your printed and cut kimono pattern pieces. You can chose any of the styles, I went with the curved hem because it’s my favorite. 🙂 Now grab your Grandpa Cardi pattern and print just the pocket piece. It’s on page 22-23.

Sew your pockets according to the instructions. I opted for the band pocket but you can certainly use the non banded option too. Remember to press the bottom of the pocket too! You’ll now stitch them on to your two front pieces. Placement it’s a matter of personal preference so I’ll show you where I stitched mine on but you can certainly move them higher or lower. I placed the pocket about 4 inches from the center and about 2 inches from the bottom (remember the bottom is not hemmed yet). Sew the pockets on the front pieces.

You will now start assembling your kimono according to the instructions. Something very important to keep in mind, especially if you are sewing sizes L and up is that most flannel fabrics are 42-44 inches wide. Your fabric may not be wide enough to cut the entire length of the sleeve so in this case you have a few options. You can either do what I did and just shortened the sleeves length by 2.5 inches or so and either add the sleeve band (as per the pattern) or just hem it. The other option would be to attach additional fabric to the selvage and cut the pattern pieces as they are. You could use the same fabric as the main one or even coordinating/contrasting fabric for a colorblock look. Get creative!

TIP: When sewing a curved hem on woven fabrics I like to first serge the raw edge, making sure I don’t cut any of it with my serger knife. This will basically give me the 1/4 inch mark and make the fabric more stable. Press the 1/4 inch hem, and then press again another 1/4 inches and sew in place. Wasn’t that easy? That’s the magic of serging the raw edge first.

I know a lot of you have asked in the Facebook group is the Summer Kimono can be made with flannel fabric so now you know it can…and it’s pretty cozy on top of that! As always, don’t forget to show off your creations and tag me if you have any questions!

Alex

P4P Raglan Week: Off-The-Shoulder Raglan Hack

September 24, 2016

Did you start your fall sewing, pirates? Even though it doesn’t look like fall outside I like to tell myself cooler weather is coming. One of the staples in my fall/winter wardrobe is the raglan tunic. It is perfect for wearing it with Peg Legs (and we all know peg legs are practically fall uniform) and SOS pants. For my blog today I’ll show you how to get an “off the shoulder” look using the Relaxed Raglan. You can certainly use the Slim Fit Raglan if you prefer. I just am going for a looser, more casual look so I used the Relaxed Raglan pattern.

First off, select your size, print and cut the pattern pieces according to the instructions. Don’t cut the fabric just yet! We’ll now make some small hacks to the pattern to get a wider neckline. Take the front pattern piece and measure 3 inches down on the center fold and mark that spot. Then measure 3 inches down on the sleeve part and mark that point too. Using a french curve (or just going slowly) and following the original pattern, draw a curve line between the two points. Repeat with the back and the sleeve pattern pieces.

Once you drew the new cut line, remove the top part and cut the fabric following the new pattern pieces. At this point you will have a front, back and two sleeve pieces plus and additional cuffs or waistband you may need depending on the style raglan you chose. Do not cut the neckline as per the original pattern suggestion. If you do, the neckband will be too small for the new neckline.

Sew the raglan according to the instruction, leaving the neckline as is. Once sewn, take the shirt/tunic, lay it flat on a table and measure the neckline opening circumference. You will calculate the new neckband based on this measure. The new neckband will be 85% of the opening plus seam allowance. So you will do Opening X 0.85 + 1 (for SA). You now have the new length of the neckband. The width stays the same as the pattern.

You’re almost there. All you have to do now is cut the neckband and attach it to the shirt. Tadah! All done, you have a cool new off the shoulder raglan.

I can’t wait to see what you create. Don’t forget to show off your raglan in the group and keep an eye out for all the surprises during this Raglan Week.

If you’ve hacked a sexy off-the-shoulder look of a raglan during P4P Raglan week, we would love for you to share it with us! Head over to the Facebook Group or share on Instagram. And be sure to use the tag#P4PRaglanWeek so we can find you!

Curious about what else has been happening during our raglan-loving week of fun?

Just take a look at our schedule!

Monday, September 19: Jolly Roger Raglan Pattern Update + Jolly Roger Add-On Pack Pattern Release

Tuesday, September 20: JRR Woven Fabric Hack

Wednesday, September 21: JRR Animal Faces Add-On

Thursday, September 22: Contrast Band Hack for Kangaroo Pockets

Friday, September 23: Women’s Keyhole / Scoopback Raglan Hack

Saturday, September 24: Off-The-Shoulder Raglan Hack

Sunday, September 25: Adding Stripes to Your Raglan Sleeves

P4P Raglan Week: Keyhole/Scoopback Raglan Hack

September 23, 2016

The classic basic silhouette of a raglan makes for a great base to play with fabric pairings and adding extra details to change them up a bit. I often look at boutique style for inspiration and the keyhole, scoop back has been a popular request among members in the P4P Facebook Group so we thought we’d share the how-to. I used the Slim Fit Raglan for my example, but this could easily be applied to any of the raglan patterns.

Print and assemble your pattern as usual.
Decide how low you would like your key hole and measure from the nape of your neck to desired length. I wanted the keyhole to sit just above my bra-line so went with 8″.
Draw your keyhole curve, starting 1″ inside the edge where you would attach your sleeve down to the length you desire. I didn’t have a french curve handy, so actually used the curve from the armscye of the sleeve pattern piece as a guide. Cut out keyhole.

Construct your raglan as usual.
We are going to bind the keyhole with the traditional knit binding method but you could also do a t-shirt band (like the neckband in the pattern) as another option. Measure the keyhole length then multiply by 90% (this is your width measurement) You will stretch the binding just ever so slightly to fit the opening. This will help keep the keyhole from gaping and lie flat. Binding = 2″ x width.

With right sides together, pin binding to keyhole, matching raw edges. Stitch with 3/8″ seam allowances.

Press seam allowance up and fold binding down towards raw edge. Fold again, enclosing seam allowance.

Alternatively, if using a thicker fabric for your binding, you can skip the first fold and just fold the binding over enclosing the raw edge.

Top-stitch with your favorite stretch stitch.

For the neckline, we will use the same binding method as shown above for the keyhole but need to take a few measurements to determine the length of binding you will use for the neckline only.

Measure your neckline. Pictured: shirt on the fold so my neckline is 2 times the length.

Neckbands are typically smaller than the neckline to bring it in and prevent gaping. To determine the amount of the binding for the neckline, multiply the length by 85%. Neckline = 24″ (it looks like 23″ but actually measures 12″ on the fold) so my binding length for the neckline is about 20.5″. Total Binding = 2″ x 58″.

Fold your binding in 1/2 to find the center point. My neck binding length is 20.5″ so we will measure out 1/2 to each side of center point. (or 10.25″ for my example). Mark end points.

With right sides together and aligning raw edges, match center point and end points of neckline and binding. Stitch with 3/8″ seam allowance from endpoint to endpoint to endpoint (neckline only).

Press seam allowance up and press binding down towards raw edge. Fold again, enclosing seam allowance.

Continue folding towards the end of the tails.

Top-stitch with your favorite stretch stitch.
Tie a bow and your done!

If you’ve created your very own version of a Keyhole, Scoopback Raglan during P4P Raglan week, we would love for you to share it with us! Head over to the Facebook Group or share on Instagram. And be sure to use the tag #P4PRaglanWeek so we can find you!

Curious about what else has been happening during our raglan-loving week of fun?

Just take a look at our schedule!

Monday, September 19: Jolly Roger Raglan Pattern Update + Jolly Roger Add-On Pack Pattern Release

Tuesday, September 20: JRR Woven Fabric Hack

Wednesday, September 21: JRR Animal Faces Add-On

Thursday, September 22: Contrast Band Hack for Kangaroo Pockets

Friday, September 23: Women’s Keyhole / Scoopback Raglan Hack

Saturday, September 24: Off-The-Shoulder Raglan Hack

Sunday, September 25: Adding Stripes to Your Raglan Sleeves

P4P Raglan Week: Contrast Bands Hack

September 22, 2016

Say you bought this really pretty cotton interlock with zero stretch recovery and you just had to use it for a raglan with a kangaroo pocket. The things is, you know your darling little rock collector isn’t going to understand that she can’t actually use her pocket or the openings will get stretched out. The solution? Stretchy bands on the pocket openings.

If you haven’t bought your Jolly Roger Raglan and Add-ons, go do it now.

I’ll wait while you buy, print and glue.

Perfect. Now, cut out your kangaroo pocket, mark and cut off a half inch from each pocket curve. I marked on the back with the ruler and a fine tip washable kids’ marker.

Next, you want to measure your curve by carefully, without stretching, pulling the curve straight along the ruler. Make sure you measure the curve after you’ve trimmed off the extra half inch.

Subtract half an inch and cut out bands that length by 2 inches wide. If you don’t have a rotary cutter and mat, you need one. Trust me, it makes a whole world of difference cutting out bands.

I’ll wait while you go buy one.

There, wasn’t that easier??

Press bands in half lengthwise.

Pin band to the right side of the curve by pinning each end first and then stretching to fit.

Serge or sew on, stretching to fit the pocket curve. Do not stretch the pocket fabric.

Press the bands back.

Now continue with the pattern tutorial to complete your shirt.

Now put it on your adorable child and snap pictures to share with us on Facebook!

– Patty Hamm

If you’ve hacked a kangaroo pocket of a raglan during P4P Raglan week, we would love for you to share it with us! Head over to the Facebook Group or share on Instagram. And be sure to use the tag #P4PRaglanWeek so we can find you!

Curious about what else has been happening during our raglan-loving week of fun?

Just take a look at our schedule!

Monday, September 19: Jolly Roger Raglan Pattern Update + Jolly Roger Add-On Pack Pattern Release

Tuesday, September 20: JRR Woven Fabric Hack

Wednesday, September 21: JRR Animal Faces Add-On

Thursday, September 22: Contrast Band Hack for Kangaroo Pockets

Friday, September 23: Women’s Keyhole / Scoopback Raglan Hack

Saturday, September 24: Off-The-Shoulder Raglan Hack

Sunday, September 25: Adding Stripes to Your Raglan Sleeves

P4P Raglan Week: Animal Faces

September 21, 2016

I don’t know about anyone else, but my daughter is completely obsessed with animals. Lucky for me, she also loves the Jolly Roger Raglan- so it was a natural choice to put an animal face on a raglan for her. Raglans are an essential piece of her fall wardrobe and such a great style on girls or boys and now with the Add-on pack you have so many more options but it’s still fun to add some character to the front. The shape of the raglan sleeve are perfect for fun details like animal ears so we have created 2 different ear options and 5 animal faces for you- a kitty, panda, fox or deer, and pirate puppy! You can find the face file and ear pieces here.

Here is a quick tutorial on what to do!

First we are going to cut 4 of whatever ear option you are choosing (2 pieces for each ear). You can mix and match as you choose, we had quite the discussion on what ear belongs to which animal and we are still undecided on if a raccoon has rounded or pointed ears so we are going to leave it to you to decide! I used a fairly heavy weight cotton lycra on my ears but if you are using a thinner knit you may want also want to use interfacing on your ears (if so, cut your interfacing and iron it on now). Next we are going to take our ears and place right sides together, then sew with a 1/4 inch seam allowance around our ear leaving the bottom straight edge open. I like to trim my seam allowance down with my pinking shears but you can also make tiny clips around your curve. Turn your ears right side out and press them well. You can top stitch your ears if you would like, I chose not to top stitch mine.

Next we are going to take our front piece and line up our ears. I placed the edge of the kitty ear 1.5 inches down from the top of the shoulder on a size 5. With the rounded ear I would move it farther down just a tad, I placed my panda ear at 1.75. You may want to move your ear up a bit on the smaller sizes or down a bit on the larger sizes, do whatever you like but be mindful of the 0.5 inch seam allowance on the neckband as you don’t want to place your ear too close to the top and sew it into your neckband. Once you have your ear placed on your front add your sleeve pin or clip in place and repeat on the other side. Sew your sleeves into your front piece and continue construction as normal. TIP: before your attach your neck band iron all your seams, you want your seams where your ears are placed to point towards the shirt and not the sleeve, it makes a huge difference on keeping your ears standing up! Once you’ve finished your shirt, if your ears are wanting to fall forward just tack them in place on the top of each ear. I just pinned them in place and did a couple stitches on my machine. Or you could stitch them all the way around onto your sleeve, completely up to you.

Now you just need to iron on your vinyl! This again, is a personal choice. I like my face fairly high on the shirt but others like it lower. Don’t have a way to cut vinyl, that’s OK! You can cut the pieces out of fabric and applique them on, add buttons for eyes, rick rack for whiskers… just have fun with it!

Go sew a bunch of animal faced raglans and let your inner animal out! Happy sewing and as always post your creations in the Patterns for Pirates Group- we are excited to see what your create! Don’t forget to tag your posts #p4praglanweek

P.S. Another quick tip, the kitty face raglan below is more of a tunic length, but you will see that is not an included option in the pattern. A quick way to achieve a tunic length for girls is by adding the band to the hemmed length! Quick, easy and gives you one more cute option.

If you’ve created your very own adorable animal version of the Jolly Roger during P4P Raglan week, we would love for you to share it with us! Head over to the Facebook Group or share on Instagram. And be sure to use the tag #P4PRaglanWeek so we can find you!

Curious about what else has been happening during our raglan-loving week of fun?

Just take a look at our schedule!

Monday, September 19: Jolly Roger Raglan Pattern Update + Jolly Roger Add-On Pack Pattern Release

Tuesday, September 20: JRR Woven Fabric Hack

Wednesday, September 21: JRR Animal Faces Add-On

Thursday, September 22: Contrast Band Hack for Kangaroo Pockets

Friday, September 23: Women’s Keyhole / Scoopback Raglan Hack

Saturday, September 24: Off-The-Shoulder Raglan Hack

Sunday, September 25: Adding Stripes to Your Raglan Sleeves

P4P Raglan Week: Woven Front Hack

September 20, 2016

Welcome back for Day 2 of P4P Raglan Week! Now that you’ve all grabbed your copies of the Jolly Roger Raglan and the Add-On pack for it, I’m here to share an easy “hack”!

I love being able to make fun shirts for my son. However, I don’t always love having to spend the money for fancy knit prints, or having to search high and low for something that is geared toward the interest of my 6-year old. How to do I get around it? With fun, WOVEN cotton prints, from my local fabric stores! They are money savers and tend to have a million fun prints that are loved by my little guy. Want to know how I manage to mix a woven fabric into a knit pattern? It’s so simple!

No adjustments are needed for the pattern pieces itself. Out of your knit fabrics cut your neckband, sleeves and back panel as the pattern calls for. And for the front, simply opt in your woven print instead of a knit! It’s as easy as that! Because of the way raglan sleeves are attached, they still provide enough ease, stretch, and room for the shirt to fit over your little’s heads. And the Jolly Roger Raglan has enough of a relaxed fit that there isn’t any need to add extra space in the body. Easiest hack ever, am I right?

Create your raglan as the pattern calls for. I always use a serger to finish the bottom hem of my woven-front raglans, but you don’t have to. I just like having that serged piece for a sturdier grip when I’m turning the edge under 1/4″ and then another 1/4″ before I edge stitch the hem. You are welcome to finish the bottom edge however it suits you the best.

Be sure to press your fabric and then have your child wear it (to distract them while you make a million more).

If you’ve created your very own woven-front Jolly Roger during P4P Raglan week, we would love for you to share it with us! Head over to the Facebook Group or share on Instagram. And be sure to use the tag #P4PRaglanWeek so we can find you!

Curious about what else has been happening during our raglan-loving week of fun?

Just take a look at our schedule!

Monday, September 19: Jolly Roger Raglan Pattern Update + Jolly Roger Add-On Pack Pattern Release

Tuesday, September 20: JRR Woven Fabric Hack

Wednesday, September 21: JRR Animal Faces Add-On

Thursday, September 22: Contrast Band Hack for Kangaroo Pockets

Friday, September 23: Women’s Keyhole / Scoopback Raglan Hack

Saturday, September 24: Off-The-Shoulder Raglan Hack

Sunday, September 25: Adding Stripes to Your Raglan Sleeves

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