Sew-A-Long Archives - Page 2 of 7 - Patterns for Pirates

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 5 (shoulder/side seams)

March 16, 2019

The 5th day of our sew along is here. Today we sew the shoulder and the side seam, probably the easiest day of the sew along 😉 Remember to use your sewing machine for this steps and just finish the raw edge with the serger or a zig zag stitch.

TIP: If you’re doing a hemmed sleeve now would be a good time to press your memory hem. This will make it so much easier to hem later on.

The Brunch Blouse and Bitty Brunch Blouse patterns follow a 1/2″ seam allowance so be sure to not deviate from it when you sew the shoulder seams and side seams.

Watch the day 5 video below and be sure to post a picture of today’s progress in the day 5 photo comments of the BB / BBB sew along album in the M4M & P4P Sew Along Group.

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 1 (print pattern)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 2 (cut fabric)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 3 (darts and placket)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 4 (pocket/waist ties/back seam)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 5 (shoulder/side seams)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 6 (neckband)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 7 (finish sleeves/hem)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 8 (winners announcement)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 4 (pocket/waist ties/back seam)

March 14, 2019

Good morning, pirates! Today we will be focusing on the pocket(s), waist ties and back seam. The pocket and waist ties and optional so if you are skipping them, you would only sew the back seam. Easy peasy!

You can add two pockets or just one, both would look just as cute. I personally like one contrasting pocket on the left side but I also like the look of two pockets from the same fabric.

The Brunch Blouse is a relaxed fit throughout the waist so the ties will help “cinch” you in, if you are going for an hour glass look. I absolutely love the shape of the ties and that you can tie them in the front or the back.

When you sew the back seam, remember to follow the 1/2 inch seam allowance and to stitch with your sewing machine. I know temptation to use just your serger is big but remember that a serger stitch is not as resilient to wear as a sewing machine straight stitch. Use your serger, but to finish the raw edges!

Take a look over today’s video and once you finish sewing post a picture of your progress in the comments of the Day 4 photo of the BB/BBB sew along album in the M4M & P4P Sew Along group.

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 1 (print pattern)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 2 (cut fabric)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 3 (darts and placket)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 4 (pocket/waist ties/back seam)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 5 (shoulder/side seams)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 6 (neckband)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 7 (finish sleeves/hem)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 8 (winners announcement)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 3 (darts and placket)

March 13, 2019

Welcome to day 3 of our Brunch and Bitty Brunch sew along. Today we will be focusing on the darts (if you are sewing the women top or dress) and the placket.

Make sure that you transfer the dart marking from the pattern to the fabric’s wrong side. I love using water soluble marking pen because I know the lines with disappear once I stem it. Another tip I have for you when sewing darts is to press the dart before AND after you sew. Ironing it will help keep the fabric in place while stitching.

Second part of the day is dedicated to the henley style placket. This is a step that may scare first time henley makers but trust me when I say it, if you go slow and you press frequently, you will see that it is not as a daunting task as you thought. Before you get started, take a look over our Placket 101 blog. The videos I have in the P4P University blog are actually of the Brunch Blouse placket so you can certainly refer to it.

Below is a link to the Day 3 sew along video which includes both the dart and placket construction. Once you complete today’s steps, be sure to post a picture of your progress in the comments of day 4 photo of the Brunch/Bitty Brunch sew along album.

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 1 (print pattern)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 2 (cut fabric)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 3 (darts and placket)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 4 (pocket/waist ties/back seam)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 5 (shoulder/side seams)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 6 (neckband)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 7 (finish sleeves/hem)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 8 (winners announcement)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 2 (cut fabric)

March 12, 2019

Welcome to day 2 of our Brunch and Bitty Brunch sew along. Today we will be choosing the fabric, cutting it and gathering all necessary notions and accessories. You should have your pattern pieces ready from yesterday.

But first let’s talk a little about the right fabric for this pattern. As you can see in the video below I am using a gorgeous woven from Backstitch Fabrics for my Brunch Blouse. This woven is custom printed and the perfect weight. For the women’s blouse I absolutely love rayon fabric and chiffons. I highly encourage you to avoid quilter cottons because they do not have the necessary drape to make the top or dress flattering….and we all want that, am I right? You can get away with good quality quilter cotton for the Bitty Brunch though.

Backstitch SoFlo is this sew along’s sponsor too, so one of you will be getting a $50 Gift Card to the shop shop so you can treat your to some gorgeous custom printed woven fabric. Our second winner will receive a $25 gift card to Backstitch SoFlo too.

If you picked the henley style option you will also need buttons or snaps. My recommendation for buttons or snaps is smaller size ones. The placket finished width is aprox 1/2 inch so your buttons must be smaller than this.

The Day 2 video is posted below. Check it out and once you are done cutting your fabric post a picture of your prepped fabric in the comments of the Day 2 photo of the Brunch Blouse/Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL album in the M4M & P4P Sew Along group.

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 1 (print pattern)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 2 (cut fabric)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 3 (darts and placket)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 4 (pocket/waist ties/back seam)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 5 (shoulder/side seams)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 6 (neckband)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 7 (finish sleeves/hem)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 8 (winners announcement)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 1 (print pattern)

March 11, 2019

Welcome to the Brunch Blouse and Bitty Brunch Blouse

Sew Along!

Day One is reserved to purchasing the patterns, printing and cutting the size(s) you need. If you plan on sewing for yourself you can get the Brunch Blouse here, if you’re sewing for your little girl, the Bitty Brunch Blouse can be purchased here and if you’re sewing for both of you (just think of the mommy and me matching outfits!) you can get the bundle.

This Sew Along will take place in our M4M & P4P Sew Along group so be sure to join the group not only for the exclusive discount code available for the patterns but also to post your progress this week. As always all daily blog posts will be here on the blog but you’ll be checking in with your completed steps in the group.

Now that you purchased the pattern(s), print the size needed. In order to do that it is very important that you take your most accurate measurements. The Brunch Blouse and Bitty Brunch Blouse are drafted for woven fabric (no stretch) so if you need to grade for multiple sizes, please do not skip this step.

You will need your waist, hips and chest measurements in order to choose the correct blouse size. P4P has an amazing blog that gives you tip for accurately taking your measurements. You can read all about it here. If your measurements put you in a different size for chest/waist/hips be sure to check out our P4P University blog and grade to achieve the perfect fit.

Check out the day 1 video below and then comment “done” on the Day 1 picture of the Brunch/Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL album in the sew along group. We don’t allow pictures of the pattern pieces so this will count as your day 1 check in. Let’s get started!

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 1 (print pattern)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 2 (cut fabric)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 3 (darts and placket)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 4 (pocket/waist ties/back seam)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 5 (shoulder/side seams)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 6 (neckband)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 7 (finish sleeves/hem)

Brunch Blouse|Bitty Brunch Blouse SAL day 8 (winners announcement)

Grandpa Cardi/Cpt Mack’s Cardigan SAL – day 7 (winners announcement)

January 22, 2019

Thank you for joining me last week for the January sew along. We absolutely loved seeing your daily progress and your finished cardigans! Don’t forget to show them off in the main Patterns for Pirates group too so everyone can ohhh and ahhhh at them 🙂

Without further ado…the SAL winner is: Christian Muffoletto

Congratulations, Christian! You won a $50 gift card to Sincerely Rylee Fabrics and a $20 store credit to Patterns for Pirates.

We picked a second winner too. Congratulations Tiffany Heinrichs! You won a $20 gift card to Made for Mermaids.

A huge thank you to our sew along sponsor, Sincerely Rylee who provided the fabric I used for the Grandpa Cardi as well as the prize.

Stay tuned for our February sew along announcement! The Mermaids have planned an amazing SAL for you in the M4M & P4P sew along group.

G randpa Cardi | Cpt Mack’s Cardigan Sew along – Day 1 (Print & cut pattern)

Grandpa Cardi | Cpt Mack’s Cardigan Sew along – Day 2 (choose and cut fabric)

Grandpa Cardi | Cpt Mack’s Cardigan Sew along – Day 3 (pockets and elbow patches)

Grandpa Cardi | Cpt Mack’s Cardigan Sew along – Day 4 (shoulder seams and add sleeves)

Grandpa Cardi | Cpt Mack’s Cardigan Sew along – Day 5 (finish sleeves and bottom edge)

Grandpa Cardi | Cpt Mack’s Cardigan Sew along – Day 6 (collar/shawl and buttons)

Grandpa Cardi | Cpt Mack’s Cardigan Sew along – Day 7 (winners announcements)

Grandpa Cardi/Cpt Mack’s Cardigan SAL – day 6 (add neckband/shawl and optional buttons)

January 19, 2019

Ahoy, pirates!! We made it to the last steps of this sew along. What a fantastic week! All we have left to do now is add the neckband or the shawl and the optional buttons/snaps. I am adding the shawl option to my cardigan so I will have 4 pieces vs only two for the neckband option.

If you plan on adding buttons or snaps I highly recommend interfacing the front with light weight knit interfacing. In a pinch ultra light weight woven one will work too. It’s very important that you cut the neckband or shawl according to the grainline and stretch direction. Take a look over the video below to see how I attached the shawl neckband.

I decided to add buttons to my cardigan’s front to I also did a quick video of those steps. Grab your seam ripper, marking pens and let’s get started on this last finishing touch. Our P4P University – buttons/buttonholes blog post covers a lot of useful tips to conquer this somewhat scary task.

We have some fun hacks to the Grandpa cardi and Cpt Mack’s on the blog as part of the #P4Pcardiweek we had a couple of years ago. One of these hacks shows you how to add ribbon tie closures to the cardigan instead of buttons. Read all about it here.

All done!! Great work, everyone! Remember to add a picture of your completed cardigan in the day 6 comments of the Grandpa Cardi/Cpt. Mack’s Cardigan SAL photo album in the SAL group. Tomorrow is catch up day and on Monday evening we will announce the winners here on the blog.

G randpa Cardi | Cpt Mack’s Cardigan Sew along – Day 1 (Print & cut pattern)

Grandpa Cardi | Cpt Mack’s Cardigan Sew along – Day 2 (choose and cut fabric)

Grandpa Cardi | Cpt Mack’s Cardigan Sew along – Day 3 (pockets and elbow patches)

Grandpa Cardi | Cpt Mack’s Cardigan Sew along – Day 4 (shoulder seams and add sleeves)

Grandpa Cardi | Cpt Mack’s Cardigan Sew along – Day 5 (finish sleeves and bottom edge)

Grandpa Cardi | Cpt Mack’s Cardigan Sew along – Day 6 (collar/shawl and buttons)

Grandpa Cardi | Cpt Mack’s Cardigan Sew along – Day 7 (winners announcements)

Grandpa Cardi/Cpt Mack’s Cardigan SAL – day 5 (finish sleeves and bottom edge)

January 18, 2019

FriYAY! One more sewing day left and we’ll be all done. Today we focus on finishing the sleeves and the bottom hem. Both the women and youth cardigans include options for a banded or hemmed bottom edge finish as well as cuffs or hemmed sleeves. My cardigan is a tunic length with hemmed sleeves.

If you are sewing a banded cardigan your waistband lengthwise, wrong sides together before you attach it, press and steam it after too!

If you went for the hemmed sleeves all you have to do is hem them 1/2″ allowance using either a zig zag stitch, a triple stretch stitch or your coverstitch. Remember that memory hem we did a few days ago? It makes hemming so easy now.

If you chose the sleeves cuffs take a look over our Knit Cuffs 101 blog post and once again, don’t forget to press. In this video I am hemming both the sleeves and the bottom edge. Once you finish, post your progress in the day 5 picture comments of the Cardigan Sew Along album in the M4M & P4P Sew Along group.

Grandpa Cardi | Cpt Mack’s Cardigan Sew along – Day 1 (Print & cut pattern)

Grandpa Cardi | Cpt Mack’s Cardigan Sew along – Day 2 (choose and cut fabric)

Grandpa Cardi | Cpt Mack’s Cardigan Sew along – Day 3 (pockets and elbow patches)

Grandpa Cardi | Cpt Mack’s Cardigan Sew along – Day 4 (shoulder seams and add sleeves)

Grandpa Cardi | Cpt Mack’s Cardigan Sew along – Day 5 (finish sleeves and bottom edge)

Grandpa Cardi | Cpt Mack’s Cardigan Sew along – Day 6 (collar/shawl and buttons)

Grandpa Cardi | Cpt Mack’s Cardigan Sew along – Day 7 (winners announcements)

Grandpa Cardi/Cpt Mack’s Cardigan SAL – day 4 (sew shoulder seams and add sleeves)

January 17, 2019

And just like that we made it to day 4! Today we sew the shoulder seams, add the set in sleeves and sew the side seam. By the end of today your project will look like a cardigan 😉 When attaching the sleeves it is very important to match the notch to the shoulder seam, pin in place and then match the side seams and pin in place.

TIP: If you’re doing a hemmed sleeve now would be a good time to press your memory hem. This will make it so much easier to hem later on.

The Grandpa Cardi and Cpt. Mack’s Cardigan patterns follow a 1/2″ seam allowance so be sure to not deviate from it when you sew the shoulder seams RST or when you attach the sleeves.

Watch the day 4 video below and be sure to post a picture of today’s progress in the day 4 photo comments of the Cardigan SAL album in the M4M & P4P Sew Along Group.

Grandpa Cardi | Cpt Mack’s Cardigan Sew along – Day 1 (Print & cut pattern)

Grandpa Cardi | Cpt Mack’s Cardigan Sew along – Day 2 (choose and cut fabric)

Grandpa Cardi | Cpt Mack’s Cardigan Sew along – Day 3 (pockets and elbow patches)

Grandpa Cardi | Cpt Mack’s Cardigan Sew along – Day 4 (shoulder seams and add sleeves)

Grandpa Cardi | Cpt Mack’s Cardigan Sew along – Day 5 (finish sleeves and bottom edge)

Grandpa Cardi | Cpt Mack’s Cardigan Sew along – Day 6 (collar/shawl and buttons)

Grandpa Cardi | Cpt Mack’s Cardigan Sew along – Day 7 (winners announcements)

Grandpa Cardi/Cpt Mack’s Cardigan SAL – day 3 (sew pocket and elbow patches)

January 16, 2019

Good morning, pirates! Today’s sew along is all about details. We are addin pockets and elbow patches. This is the time to get creative! Use some cute accent fabric, like sequins or faux leather or go classic and match the pockets with the main fabric.

The patterns include two options for the pocket, a hemmed and banded one. The banded one is a great alternative if you’re not the biggest hemming knits fan, plus it gives you the option to incorporated some more accent fabrics too. As I mentioned yesterday, the elbow patches will add a fun detail to your cardigans. Whether you’re making one for yourself and or one for your little, add a pop of color or texture to your patches! You’ll love it!

Tip: When adding the elbow patches mark the left arm and the right arm to make sure that you will not have the pockets on the inside of your arm vs the elbow.

If you have chosen to make your cardigan with sweater knits, go over our Sweater knits blog post where I am giving you some wasy tricks to work with this fabric base.

Watch the videos below and post a picture of your pockets and added elbow patches in the day 3 photo comments of the Cardigan SAL album.