P4P University – Armbands Tips and Tricks

February 10, 2021

P4P University – Armbands Tips and Tricks

I’m going to spend a little time today showing how I get the best finish on my armbands. They can be quite tricky to get right and people often struggle with ‘bubbling’ over the shoulder, which can ruin the look of an otherwise perfect neckline.

The pattern I will be using to illustrate how I sew my armbands is the Youth Essential Tank. There are many different cut lengths, from shirt to dress length and the option for a regular tank or a racerback cutline. Today I will be sewing the shirt length tank option for my daughter, ready for the summer weather which we are all desperate for right now!

The first thing to remember is that there are pattern pieces for you to use for the neckband and armband options and these are calculated at 85% of the opening, but the fabric you use may need you to make some adjustments to those pieces to get the perfect fit. A fabric like a 100% cotton interlock won’t have as much stretch as you may need and you will probably want to add a little length to your bands, perhaps recalculate at 90%. Something like a ribbing/cuffing has lots of stretch and that could be cut at 75 or 80% to get the same look. Either way you will want to ensure that you sew the shoulder and side seams of your garment at the full ½” seam allowance or you will find that the bands won’t be long enough, as not using the full seam allowance will make your neck/arm openings wider than they were drafted to be.

If you prefer a video, I filmed the process of making my Essential Tank here:

Sew your shoulder seams and then prep your neckband by sewing the short sides, right sides together to form a loop. Fold your fabric wrong sides together around the long edge and then place a clip at the joining seam. Place another clip at the other end of the band by stretching the band a little to find the centre point opposite the joining seam. Unlike a regular neckband, we won’t be quartering the neckhole and the neckband, just halving. Find the centre front and centre back of your neckhole and place clips. You should have this.

Next, evenly stretch the neckband until it fits the neckhole and clip the neckband to the neckhole at the shoulder seam (this won’t be the normal quarter point as the shoulder seam will be further towards the back). Then also place clips 1 inch either side of the shoulder seam NOT STRETCHING THE NECKBAND BETWEEN THESE THREE CLIPS. (If making an adult sized tank I wouldn’t stretch for 2 inches either side of the shoulder seam), then ease the remaining neckband in between the clips either side of the shoulder seam and the centre front and back clips.

Sew the neckband on, making sure to use the full seam allowance, and remembering not to stretch the neckband over the shoulder seams. This reduces the tension on the neckband here and helps to stop the ‘bubbling’ we spoke of earlier. I prefer to sew with the band uppermost as it helps me keep an eye on the seam allowance. I also like to start sewing just before the shoulder seam as this is the area we will NOT be stretching as we sew. It is easy to forget about this if you come to it at the end of sewing the neckband on, so I like to do this part straightaway so I don’t have to worry about forgetting about it later.

TIP – If you have difficulty managing the three layers when sewing the neckband on, or if your fabric has a tendency to curl badly, I recommend sewing the neckband together around the long raw edge before attaching it to the bodice. You can either use your overlocker/serger without trimming any seam allowance off, or do a zig zag stitch with your sewing machine right at the edge (you may need to stretch the neckband slightly as you sew round, just to make sure it will still fit in the neckhole after sewing this temporary stitch). It just keeps those two layers together whilst you are sewing it onto the bodice, then you simply trim if off with your serger blade when you attach it, or trim with scissors if using a sewing machine.

Press with steam and then topstitch. You can either use a chain stitch as I have here, or a regular 2 or 3 needle coverstitch. If you have a sewing machine then you can choose a twin needle, long straight stitch or zig zag/stretch stitch of your choosing.

Next we move onto the armbands which are sewn in the same way as the neckband. First sew the short ends to form a loop, then fold wrong sides together and mark the seam and opposite point on the band with clips or pins.

The armbands are a little easier because more often than not you find the shoulder and underarm seams are opposite one another. I like to put the armband seam at the bottom of the armscye, for comfort and so you cannot see it when it is worn, then clip in place. Next clip the opposite end of the armband to the shoulder seam. Again, clip the armband to the armhole WITHOUT STRETCHING for 1 inch either side of the shoulder seam (again for a larger sized adult tank, I would not stretch for 2 inches either side of the shoulder seam), then ease the rest of the armband into the armhole between the other clips. The idea behind this is that it should allow the armband to run flat over the shoulder seam, but then the added tension around the bottom of the armband will encourage it to flip up and sit snug against the side of the body at the bottom and sides.

Sew, using the full seam allowance, then press with steam and top stitch as before.

Finish the rest of your garment as usual, and you’re done.

I hope you found this tutorial helpful and don’t forget if you have any questions we have a large community on our Facebook page who are always happy to help.

Happy Sewing!

Dana x

Protected: FABRIC FOR PIRATES :: February 2021 REVEAL

February 3, 2021

Cozy Wrap Sew Along – day 7

February 3, 2021

The wait is over! I’m here to announce the two winners of our Cozy Wrap Sew Along so let’s get to it.

Congratulations Celeste Wright! You are our first winner! Celeste won a $20 gift certificate to Patterns For Pirates and a January Fabric For Pirates Box (fabric and swag).

Our second winner is Debra Moyer! Congratulations! Debra won a $20 gift card to Made for Mermaids and a January Fabric for Pirates box (fabric and swag).

Thank you so much for joining me last week! I throughly enjoyed sewing the Cozy Wrap along side you. Big thank you to Judy for providing the Fabric 4 Pirates prizes too. If you haven’t checked out the subscription, do that here! It’s so fun!

Up next, the Mermaids are taking over the SAL group. See you back here in March!

Cozy Wrap SAL day 1 | Cut fabric

Cozy Wrap SAL day 2 | Sew shoulder and side seams

Cozy Wrap SAL day 3 | Add bottom bands

Cozy Wrap SAL day 4 | Add neckband

Cozy Wrap SAL day 5 | Add sleeves

Cozy Wrap SAL day 6 | Add waist tie

Cozy Wrap SAL day 7 | Winners announcement

P4P University Color Blocking Tips and Tricks

February 1, 2021

Hello, fellow sewing friends! I’m super excited to talk to you today about color blocking. As long as I’ve been in the sewing world color blocking has always been really popular. A lot of patterns even include it! But what if your favorite p4p pattern doesn’t have any color blocking options? Well, today I’m going to teach how to easily do it yourself! If you aren’t familiar with color blocking, it’s basically just adding interesting unique blocks of different fabrics to your pattern without altering the fit. It’s a great way to spice up a regular t-shirt, use up some scraps, and make for some fun visual art. You can color block anything from sleeves, front bodice, back bodice, legs, hoods, if it has a pattern piece- you can color block it. Now, let’s get started!

First, you’ll want to pick your pattern and print out your chosen size. (If you are using a projector you can do it but I highly recommend printing whatever piece you want to color block. For my example, I color-blocked just the front bodice so I printed that and then used my projector to cut the rest of my pieces. ) Now if you plan on doing any “angled” color blocks and your pattern piece is on a fold- I recommend tracing the mirror image and attaching it to your piece so you have the “full piece”. I used The Basic tee for my son and chose to only block the front of the shirt.

Now the fun part- Choosing your color block! Honestly, you can really do anything so just start drawing! I use a straight edge to make sure my lines are nice and tidy (easier to sew that way). The only thing I would avoid is really complicated shapes or anything like a floating “v-point” that doesn’t reach an end (you can see my example below in the red no box). If you are new to this technique I’d start simple to get the hang of it and then you can expand from there. This is what I drew out and what will be the final “look” of my shirt.

Once you’ve drawn your color-blocked lines you’ll want to cut them all out and these are your new pieces. Decide which fabric you want for what piece and it’s time to start cutting.

Now here’s the most important part- You’ll need to add seam allowance to those pieces. You can choose whatever amount but I usually go with 1/4 inch. Now you can either do this by laying your new pieces on a piece of paper and adding it to that piece so it becomes part of your pattern piece.

Or what I do is simply use my quilting ruler while cutting to add it to my piece. So for the cut part of my piece that needs seam allowance, I just line my quilting ruler 1/4 over my cut paper line and then use my rotary blade to cut that line instead of my paper line.

Make sure you add seam allowance to every place that you cut out a color block line on your pattern piece.

Now it’s time to sew! If you decided to do any intersecting lines like this one I did. You’ll want to sew those pieces together first. So line up your piece edges right sides together and sew with the seam allowance you chose. You’ll then want to topstitch your seam allowance down.

(Tip- if you are using a coverstitch I like to do a reverse coverstitch on the seam allowances with a fun color to add some extra “pop” to my color blocking).

Now repeat this with your other pieces until they all come back together. It should finish at the same size as your initial pattern piece before you added color blocking.

Finally, you can sew your garment together as recommended by the pattern. The only difference is you have a cool color-blocked piece instead of a plain piece!

Yay! All done!! Can’t wait to see what you all create!

Happy Sewing,

Michelle

Cozy Wrap Sew Along – day 6

January 30, 2021

We did it! We made it to the last day of the sew long. Today we create the waist tie and show off our Cozy Wraps.

You should have 4 pieces left in your pile. You’ll be creating the “main” and “lining” of the waist tie by stitching two short ends right sides together. You only have two long pieces now that you are stitching wright sides together, along all 4 raw edges. Don’t forget to leave a 2-3 inch opening to be able to turn the tie right side out. Top stitch all around, or be lazy like me and just close the opening.

Give your tie a good steam press to reduce any waviness. Slide the ends of the tie through the tie openings of the side seams from the inside out. You can see this process in today’s video linked below.

What an amazing job you did this past week! I’m so proud of you all! Here is my finished tunic Cozy Wrap, I absolutely love it! Don’t forget to post a picture of your finished project in the comments of day 6 photo of the Cozy Wrap SAL album. We will choose the winners from that thread!

Cozy Wrap SAL day 1 | Cut fabric

Cozy Wrap SAL day 2 | Sew shoulder and side seams

Cozy Wrap SAL day 3 | Add bottom bands

Cozy Wrap SAL day 4 | Add neckband

Cozy Wrap SAL day 5 | Add sleeves

Cozy Wrap SAL day 6 | Add waist tie

Cozy Wrap SAL day 7 | Winners announcement

Cozy Wrap Sew Along – day 5

January 29, 2021

Welcome to day 5 of our Cozy Wrap sew along. Today is probably my favorite day because I get to make those cute, trendy gathered sleeves. The pattern includes a banded short sleeve, a cuffed regular sleeve and a gathered one.

If you opted for short sleeve, you will create the bands by sewing each one right sides together to form loops. I highly encourage you to pre-press the cuffs wrong sides together before creating the loops. Just like we did the past few days.

The standard long and gathered sleeves are attached in the round. That means you are sewing the side seams of the sleeves first. Matching the armpit seam to the sleeve side seam, attach the sleeves to the opening. If you opted for the gathered sleeves, you need to run a gathering stitch or two at the wrist. Pull the gathering threads so that the opening matches the cuff. I personally love gathering with my serger. Our P4P University Gathering blog covers a few gathering methods.

To attach the cuff, simply match the cuff seam to the sleeve seam and sew right sides together. We have a tips and tricks P4P University cuffs 101 blog that I encourage you to check out.

We are so close to finishing! All we have left to do is create the waist tie tomorrow. You can see today’s video below. Check in with your progress in the comments of day 5 photo of the Cozy Wrap sew along album.

Cozy Wrap SAL day 1 | Cut fabric

Cozy Wrap SAL day 2 | Sew shoulder and side seams

Cozy Wrap SAL day 3 | Add bottom bands

Cozy Wrap SAL day 4 | Add neckband

Cozy Wrap SAL day 5 | Add sleeves

Cozy Wrap SAL day 6 | Add waist tie

Cozy Wrap SAL day 7 | Winners announcement

Cozy Wrap Sew Along – day 4

January 28, 2021

Welcome to day 4 of our Cozy Wrap Sew Along. Easy day today! All we have to do is add the neckband…the very long neckband. You should have two narrow long strips of fabric (do not mix them up with the tie pieces!) Sew them right sides together on one end so you have an even longer neckband.

Fold the band wrong sides together and give it a good press…just like we did yesterday! Unfold it and fold each end right sides together, sew and re fold wrong sides together. You should not have a neckband with no raw ends anymore. Time to pin it to the neckline and front raw edge. I recommend pinning the center seam to the center back of the neckline first. Proceed with pinning each front raw edge to the band, right sides together, without stretching the band. The only part of the neckband that will be slightly stretched to fit it’s between the two shoulder seams.

After you serge the neckband on, you need to finish the serger tails. I cover a few ways to do that in this P4P University blog.

You can see in today’s video how I attach the neckband to my tunic Cozy Wrap. When you finish adding the neckband, give it a good press and add a picture of your progress to the comments of Day 4 photo.

Cozy Wrap SAL day 1 | Cut fabric

Cozy Wrap SAL day 2 | Sew shoulder and side seams

Cozy Wrap SAL day 3 | Add bottom bands

Cozy Wrap SAL day 4 | Add neckband

Cozy Wrap SAL day 5 | Add sleeves

Cozy Wrap SAL day 6 | Add waist tie

Cozy Wrap SAL day 7 | Winners announcement

Cozy Wrap Sew Along – day 3

January 27, 2021

Good morning, pirates! What a wonderful start to the sew along it has been! Today we add the bottom bands. All Cozy Wrap lengths have the same bottom finish. The most important tip I can give you for today’s steps is to start by pressing all 3 bottom bands. Fold them wrong sides together along the length and give them a good steam press! This will help tremendously when you attach them to the bottom raw edge.

Unfold the back band and sew each side folded right sides together. Turn the band out! See how easy that was now that it was pressed. You’ll repeat this steps for the two front bands, except you will only be sewing on one of the sides for each, not both.

The bottom bands are cut at 1:1 ratio to the raw edge of the top so you will not be stretching them to fit. You can sew these steps with a sewing machine or a serger, just remember to keep a constant 1/2″ seam allowance. All you have left to do is give your stitches a good steam press to reduce any waviness from sewing.

You can see today’s steps in the video below. Remember to take a picture of your progress and post it in the comments of day 3 Cozy Wrap sew along album.

See you back here tomorrow!

Cozy Wrap SAL day 1 | Cut fabric

Cozy Wrap SAL day 2 | Sew shoulder and side seams

Cozy Wrap SAL day 3 | Add bottom bands

Cozy Wrap SAL day 4 | Add neckband

Cozy Wrap SAL day 5 | Add sleeves

Cozy Wrap SAL day 6 | Add waist tie

Cozy Wrap SAL day 7 | Winners announcement

Cozy Wrap Sew Along – day 2

January 26, 2021

Let’s start sewing! Today we stitch the shoulder seams and side seams. If you are making the midi length and your fabric has lots of vertical stretch I encourage you add clear elastic the shoulder seams. It will help prevent any stretching during wear. I am using a waffle knit with minimal vertical stretch for my tunic Cozy Wrap so there is no need for shoulder reinforcements.

Once the shoulder seams are done we sew the side seams. Yes! This Cozy Wrap pattern has the sleeves added in the round so we will do that in a couple of days. For the side seams you must use your sewing machine as well. Remember, the whole pattern can be sewn with a sewing machine (using stretch stitches). If you chose to use the serger, like I have, you do need to stitch part of the side seams with the sewing machine to ensure a nice clean finish. You can see in the video below achieved a beautiful side seams going between my two favorite machines.

Once you finish today’s steps, post a photo of your progress in the comments of the Day 2 photo of this sew along’s album. You can find the album (and lots of new sewing friends 😉) here, in the SAL group.

Cozy Wrap SAL day 1 | Cut fabric

Cozy Wrap SAL day 2 | Sew shoulder and side seams

Cozy Wrap SAL day 3 | Add bottom bands

Cozy Wrap SAL day 4 | Add neckband

Cozy Wrap SAL day 5 | Add sleeves

Cozy Wrap SAL day 6 | Add waist tie

Cozy Wrap SAL day 7 | Winners announcement

Cozy Wrap Sew Along – day 1

January 25, 2021

Welcome to the Cozy Wrap Sew Along!

Happy New Year! I’m so excited to start our 2021 sew alongs with the Cozy Wrap top. The pattern comes in Youth and Adult and you purchase the bundle and save. Don’t forget the Cozy Pants if you’re looking to pair your top with a new bottoms. If you are still undecided which style to make, our Round Up blog will give you an overview of all options included, from sleeve styles to top lengths. You can also use the Easy Hacks blog for added options.

Let’s start by taking the measurements needed for the best fit. P4P has an amazing blog that gives you tips 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. Our most recent patterns include videos as well. On page 3 you will notice an active button that will take you to the video about adding or removing length. Please refer to it if you are taller or shorter than 5’5″.

Still debating which knit type will work best for your desired look? Take a look over our P4P University Knit Types blog. We also included a cheat sheet that you can print. If you are like me and sometime are just keen on using a specific print for a specific pattern, read our Different fabric, different fit blog post before you cut your fabric.

The Cozy Wrap patterns includes a shirt, tunic, knee and midi length as well as short sleeves, long hemmed sleeves and gathered sleeves. This pattern is drafted from light to medium weight fabrics with 20-30% stretch. The Cozy Wrap can be worn both as a wrap or as a cardigan. For my Cozy Wrap tunic I will be using January’s Fabric for Pirates. Fabric for Pirates is this sew along’s sponsor so our winner will get to enjoy their very own January box!

Day 1 video is posted below. I have used the projector file . Once you cut the fabric, post a picture of your pretty pile in the comments of DAY 1 photo of the Cozy Wrap album in the M4M & P4P Sew Along Group.