I wanted to have a section on our blog that shows you how adaptable our pattern really are and to help with some suggestions as to the alterations and adaptations you can make at home.

After overhauling my wardrobe and clearing out what I don’t ACTUALLY wear I have focussed my mind on to the shapes and styles that I do wear more of and one is a boxy top that I can wear with jeans or wide trousers – otherwise known as a Peasblossom!

This is one of my favourites to make up in different fabrics. Now Peaseblossom is normally known as the draped or cowl neck top, but Version 2 of the pattern is just a round necked style.

My absolute favourite fabric is the laundered linen we have in the store, so what better combination!  Peaseblossom in linen!

 

A Bit of Pattern Hacking…

I did alter the pattern slightly as I wanted the top to be a more comfortable fit over my hips but not too big across my shoulders and around the neck as there will be no stretch in the fabric I’ve chosen for this project.

So I cut the size up from what I would normally cut – to make it roomier over the hips. But I closed the neckline slightly to make it a bit higher – I wanted it to have more of a traditional T shirt look.

I then drew on a box pleat 2cm wide at the centre front and back to take the shoulders back down to my usual size. This would be made into an inverted box pleat.

The top needed a bit more interest at the hem so I decided to add a bit extra on to the hem to make it deeper and included a side split. The split needed a facing to neaten it off so that led me into thinking of including mitred corners. They give a neat and clean finish to corners on hems and look great if they are top-stitched as well. So I had to add a bit extra onto the pattern at the side seams as well.

 

This is what I did…

• Drew on the original hem line
• Added an extra 5cm on from the hem line
• Drew on the side seam allowance
• Added an extra 5cm onto the side from the seam line
• Marked the split to end about 8cm or 3” from the finished hemline

 

I wanted to sew the hem by top stitching 4cm away from the finished edge to give a border to the hem and split, I thought it would look quite neat to have the split sewn with a gable (or point) above it. So I drew on the top-stitching line and created a gable over the split so the point of the gable was 4cm above the end of the split. I could then trim off the excess paper to give me the shape I needed.

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Now For a Bit of Cutting Out…

That was the pattern alterations done so it needed cutting out and making up.

The centre front and centre back went on the fold of the fabric and as there were only 2 pieces, that was pretty darn quick!

 

And a Bit of Sewing At Last!

Basic Construction

Stitch down the inverted box pleat by 5cm on both the centre front and centre back 2cm away from the fold.

Open out the pleat and press into place. Sew/baste across the top of the pleat to hold it in place. (Not shown because I forget to take a picture! Oops!)

Neaten the side seams and hems on both front and back separately.

Sew the shoulder seams and neaten.

Sew down the side seams to the end of the split and press open.

 

Hem and Split

Then I constructed the mitred corners and you can follow our tutorial on How to Sew Mitred Corners to do this.

Once the corners were completed I gave myself some guidelines for the top-stitching. I started at the top of one of the split gables so it wouldn’t notice too much.

The hem and splits once sewn need a really good press – use a pressing cloth and plenty of steam if you need to.

Neckband

Although the body of the top is a woven fabric I wanted to use something with stretch around the neck and cuffs. Luckily I had a bit of navy bamboo viscose jersey in my stash that would do nicely.

Because I had raised the neckline I needed to re-measure it to work out the length of the neckband. I’ve only shown measuring halfway around the neck in the image as it’s easier to do this then double the measurement, rather than to try and accurately measure all the way around.

Mark on the seam allowance around the neckline. Then measure out from the seam line the width you wanted for the neckband, I’ve used 2cm here.

Then I measured around the neckline 2cm away from the seamline. This will be the length of the neckband.

If you think about concentric circles we want the inside finished edge of the neck band to sit flat against the body and then the raw edges of it to stretch out to fit the woven edge of the neckline. So that’s why the neckband is shorter than the actual neckline.

The strips of neck band and cuffs are sewn across the short edges to create a circle and then pressed in half to create the double layer.

I have found the best way to sew on the neckband is to match up the centre backs and centre fronts on both the neckband and neckline and pin those with the right sides together.

Then I use my little fingers and ring fingers to stretch out the neckband and hold it in place while my other fingers and thumbs manipulate the fabric and neckband into position.

It can be a bit tricky at first, but it’s all just practice.

Overlock or machine stitch around the neckline. You can see from the image is that the inside edge is flat and the outer edge of the neckband is stretched out to fit the neckline. You can use the same method for attaching the cuffs.

To keep it all neat and tidy I used a twin needle to topstitch around the neckline through the woven fabric and seam allowance.

Give the neckband a gentle press to steam it into place if it’s stretched out a little bit in the sewing.

I was really pleased with the way this particular hack turned out, and I’m planning another one already.

Here Are Some of the Details…

This is a very straightforward Pattern Hack to achieve and I hope it shows how easy it is to adapt a pretty simple pattern to include a few interesting details.

If you decide to have a go let me know how you get on.

Jules x