Raglan vs. Dolman vs. Set-In: Sleeves for Everyone

Knit garments are another factor in our garment sewing revolution and renaissance. The quality of knit fabric and the amazing new patterns by our featured Indie Pattern Companies are fueling our quest for Me Made garments! Tee shirts have become an important part of every Me Made wardrobe. With all the high quality knit fabric we have, now we can make our own custom garments using the many new patterns from women-run Indie Pattern designers around the world. Knit fabric can be made of cotton, rayon, and specialty fibers - all perfect for your next project!

A lot of experienced sewists sort of hit the brick wall when we come to the sleeves of a top, especially if they are the traditional set-in sleeve and even more so if the fabric is woven with little give.  Let's face it, putting in a sleeve takes patience and care, lots of pinning and sometimes even basting.

We've showed you in past posts of one of our favorite summer tees, the Lark Tee by Grainline Studios. This knit tee's set-in sleeves don't require a lot of easing at the shoulders and in the armhole, so as set-in sleeves go, they're pretty straight forward.

Sewaholic's Renfrew tee has set-in sleeves as well.  They, like the Lark Tee pattern don't require a lot of easing at the shoulder and in the armhole, mainly because they are both designed for knit fabrics.

But if you remain intimidated by the set-in sleeeve, why not try a tee pattern with a raglan or dolman style sleeve?  Jalie patterns have both of these styles and working the sleeve areas is pretty easy in both patterns.

Jalie's T-shirt Raglan (#3245) is a "baseball tee", especially if you use two different colors - one for the sleeves and neck binding, and another color for the body of the shirt.

  

We chose to make our tee using the same fabric for the entire shirt, mainly because we fell in love with this cotton and lycra celestial print. The sleeves are 3/4 length, perfect for a cooler summer evening. Raglan sleeves are attached to the bodice by sewing from the neck down through the bottom of the armhole in both the front and back.  After the bias binding is attached around the neckline, the sleeve seams are sewn together with the sides of the top, all in one piece.

Laurel's been playing with her machine's twin needle, so the the stitching around the neckline is very professional looking.  She used the same technique to hem both the sleeves and the bottom. Don't you just love this heavenly cotton/lycra knit? We still have some if you are interested or take a look at the other print options up on our Stonemountain & Daughter website.

One of our newer patterns from Closet Case Patterns is the Ebony T-Shirt pattern, which also features a raglan sleeve.  This top can be super easy to make, depending on the knit you choose - cotton knits would be a snap.

Wearing my Ebony tee in a reversible rayon knit with Heather Lou, the designer and owner of Closet Case Patterns! We just got more in of this reversible rayon knit with the dots and stripes - it's the perfect top!

Laurel and both loved this adorable rayon knit in a cactus pattern - I made a Briar Tee from Megan Nielsen and Laurel chose the Ebony.

HOT TIP:
Raglan sleeves are not difficult in the slippery knit, but we chose to beef up the sleeve hemline with a Design Plus Stay Tape. Lighter knits tend to roll at the edges and the stay tape make it easier to hem this really stretchy knit. (We also used this on the Briar sleeves and hemline - this stuff is magic!) This is a must have for your sewing tool kit!

After applying the tape, Laurel serged right over the top of it, but you don't have to - just hem!

      

Remarkably similar, these two tops.  Laurel's Ebony (raglan sleeve) is on the left and my Briar (set-in sleeve) is on the right.






















The Dolman sleeve is even easier to whip up. as the sleeve is just part of the bodice - no seams at all. Jalie's Dolman Tops pattern (#3352) and be made with 3/4 length sleeves or simply short!

The short sleeve version of this top only requires one yard of 60" knit fabric, so it's a great stash buster and a very quick make. Since I'm on a roll with celestial themed knits, I chose this black and white cotton and lycra knit. What a breeze to make!

There's that even stitching again.  Love that twin needle. Hint: Use wooly nylon in the bobbin!

The Jalie Dolman Tee shirt pattern has a longer curved hemline in the back.

Laurel's raided her stash for this cotton knit from several years ago...nice Dolman!

And of course if you really want to challenge yourself, try a fancy set-in sleeve in a woven pattern.  Here's a little sneak peak at the Dove sleeve, from Megan Nielsen patterns.

We have dubbed this the "Summer of Love", so why not a silky rayon tie-dye print? We were inspired after attending the Hippie Modernism exhibit at BAMPFA her in Berkeley. Many of the photos and exhibits took us right back to the 60's, even though a couple of us were seeing reminders of this era for the first time.

What we loved most about this exhibit is the reminder of how important sisterhood is...sharing lives, dreams, and hopes for the future over lunch, laughing at some of the get-ups that the "flower children" wore, and just being together for an afternoon in sisterhood is what we all crave.

Let's all come together for our Sewing Summer of Love at Stonemountain - Join our challenge and community and share what you are creating. "Fabric really brings us together, and sewing gives us a chance to slow down, take a breath, and create something with our own two hands.  With social media, we now have the opportunity to connect with other sewists around the world.  We may not all be converging on Haight and Ashbury, but we can come together this summer to celebrate creativity, community, and of course, love!"

Peace, Sisters.

Wishing you health, joy and great fabric you can feel good sewing!

SuZan Steinberg
Owner, Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics
Downtown Berkeley California

Buy Local! Buy Berkeley!

Thursdays with Laurel! Wrapping Up Another Year of Indie Patterns!

Wow what a year 2016 has been! With all the social turmoil and challenges, I am so grateful for my Thursdays with Laurel. Once a month, we meet at Stonemountain & Daughter Fabrics in Berkeley to dream with the fabric, patterns, trends and the valuable feedback from everyone in the store.

Our intent has always been to inspire and show you and our growing community what these patterns look like on a real person and give you tips to find the confidence to sew your own clothes.

Our Thursday timings have been going on for over 3 years now with more than 230 garments made! It has become a tradition in my life which is enriching and one of the sweetest times I have to look forward to! Laurel and I love to look through the fabric and all the patterns first and then we go out to lunch. There are so many fine places in Berkeley to eat!

What tradition surrounding fabric would you love to create more of in 2017? The sanctuary at Stonemountain is there for you to create your own traditions with friends and family!

Way back in January of this year, we proclaimed 2016 as the Year of the Indie Pattern. We wanted to celebrate all of the amazing independent pattern designers out there and share their great work. Do you remember this awesome list we put together? We carry all of these independent pattern companies and more on our website. You can shop them here or in our store.

Well, we've been super busy this year working through our collection of incredible independent patterns. This year alone we've made dozens of garments for the Fabric Lady blog. We are having so much fun sewing with you and we hope to bring even more inspiration and fun into 2017!

Below you'll see just some of the patterns we've made up this year. Looking back, we've maintained a pretty good balance between dresses and separates. I love looking back knowing that every piece was made with love and in Stonemountain fabric!

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 Cabin Dress and Top by Blueprints For Sewing

Both Laurel and I have made this great top several times (also a dress, which is below). The Cabin can be made using any type of fabric. This zebra polyester crepe is wonderfully flowing, but the dress that Zan is modeling was made from one of our 100% cotton double gauze fabrics.

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 Marianne Dress by Christine Haynes

We've made so many pieces this year, it's been hard to keep up with the blogging! While we haven't gotten a chance to blog about this one, we do love the Marianne Dress from Christine Haynes. A great knit alternative to a woven shift dress, this piece is comfortable like a t-shirt, with length of a dress. Great paired with leggings or alone.

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 Ginger Jeans by Closet Case Files

Ginger Jeans have a modern and flattering cut with subtly shaped back pockets, slimming side seams, and a higher back rise to prevent "peekabooty." They are designed for stretch denim, so we chose a beautiful soft indigo denim with Lycra. (You can browse our bottom weight fabrics—stretch and non stretch—here.) And just to be uber creative, we topstitched our jeans in neon blue thread! Check out our selection of neon topstitching thread here! It's details like this that make the garments we create that much more special.

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 Three's A Charm Jacket by Decades of Style

Our new favorite indie pattern from April is again from Decades Everyday, the Three's a Charm Jacket, featured in our sewalong. This unlined crop jacket is the perfect companion to short-sleeved and sleeves dresses, tunic and tees. The sleeves are three-quarter length and the front closure is a single button. It is fast and simple, and yet the styling does allow for some customization in the stitching, sleeve length, and or adding trims, etc. Read about our sewalong here!

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 Arum Dress by Deer and Doe

We love this pattern for its easy style and bonus: it looks great on all body types. Laurel used one of our heavy ponte knits, even though the pattern calls for a woven fabric. I love the detail of the faux leather patch pockets - she just used a pocket pattern from another pattern and added them to the sides. Suzan's version is in a flowey rayon. It looks polished while having that secret pajama feel.

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 Old Mexico Dress and Top by Folkwear

Folkwear is a pattern line we have carried for years - one of the original indie pattern lines! I haven't chosen a garment from them in recent years, so I thought it was time to add the Old Mexico Dress. It the perfect little top to wear with jeans, and giving a nod to my ethereal/hippie side, I chose a soft Liberty Tana Lawn print filled with suns, moons, and near east images. The top is super easy to make and I know my astrology friends are going to want one as well.

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 Lark Tee by Grainline Studio

One of our newer t-shirt patterns is the Lark Tee from Grainline Studio. There are sixteen different ways to make up this simple tee-shirt with its modern, slim styling. With something as simple as a t-shirt, it's all about fabric choice. The simple lines of the Lark Tee allow you to be the designer, making the t-shirt uniquely you. The fabric I chose was a bold, graphic rayon knit with a huge border and repeat of the design.

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 Linden Sweatshirt by Grainline Studio

The Linden Sweatshirt is everywhere! It seems like they're constantly popping up in our Instagram feed, on sewing blogs, and even in the store! This pattern is designed by Grainline Studio, one of our indie pattern lines here at Stonemountain. You will find it made out of sweater fabric, sweatshirt fleece, every type and weight of knit fabric, not to mention a few woven flannel versions. It's deliciously simple to whip up and that must be why it's such a favorite! Don't you love the peplum change we made?

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 Morris Blazer by Grainline Studio

The Morris Blazer is another favorite we haven't blogged about yet. We made it last year in a textured knit and loved it's versatility so much. This time around, we chose a white ponte knit, which will be great with tops and dresses and adds some lightness in spring and summer.

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Lela Tunic and Blouse by Green Bee 

The Lela is a great pattern; it's easy and fast to work up. You could easily add length to the hem and use it for an "apres-pool" dress...and of course the blouse length would be perfect with jeans or crop pants this summer. you could also shorten the sleeves by leaving off the band.

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Pilvi Coat by Lotta Jansdotter 

We are always looking for great books and magazines to inspire us on our sewing journeys. Sometimes it's just a photo of a dress in a catalog or fashion magazine that we wish we had a pattern for, and other times we find a sewing book with a photo of a cute pair of pants to be made. When we first got Lotta Jansdotter's new book Everyday Style, we knew we had to make something!

Thumbing through the beautiful pages filled with stories of real women and exotic travels we found the Pilvi Coat, a simple design for either a coat or a shorter jacket.  It's perfect for the beginner (look out for a sewalong!) because it is unlined, with raglan sleeves and no closures. Suzan chose a beautiful boiled wool-viscose for her first Pilvi.

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Sudley by Megan Neilsen

We chose Megan Nielsen's Sudley Dress & Blouse pattern. We love it because of the variety of looks that you can achieve with just this one pattern. An added bonus it that the back is the same as the front, so the keyhole opening can be worn both ways!

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 Draped Front Cardigan by Pamela's Patterns

This is such an easy and quick layering piece to make. If you can set in a sleeve and sew a straight line, you can whip this one out in no time. Laurel did not even put a finish on the edges of this knit - that maintains the flat effect on the seams and down the front, much like a soft sweater. I can wear this cardigan with everything - would be great in an array of neutral knits, too!

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 Ultimate Shift Dress by Sew Over It

The Ultimate Shift Dress in this floral rayon was great for spring and summer. This versatile pattern would look equally great made up for a special occasion. With multiple options for neckline, collar and length, this is another great pattern you don't want to miss. We love the vintage style with modern lines.

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Bettine by Tilly and the Buttons

I love this dress. Let me say that again. I love this dress. The fabric is soft and drapes beautifully - who doesn't love all the gorgeous rayons by Cotton + Steel? It's not that difficult to make either. I had to laugh when Laurel (who you know is an accomplished seamstress) sewed the entire skirt on backwards and had to rip it all off and start again. Nobody's perfect!

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Dress No. 1 and Pants No. 1 by 100 Acts of Sewing

We are having a ball seeing the diversity that can be achieved with one classically simple pattern: Dress No.1 from Sonya Philip's indie pattern line, 100 Acts of Sewing. The drawing is deceptively simple, but just like her Pants No.1 pattern that gets our rave reviews. This dress pattern is as versatile as it is simple.

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 Renfrew by Sewaholic

Sewaholic's Renfrew top features three different neckline treatments and three different sleeves. Many times sewists will want to keep the basic shape of a pattern design but make some changes to the pattern to make it their own. The Renfrew top does it for you!

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Betty Dress by Sew Over It

For our Lizzie House garment, we chose to bring a little "Betty" into our wardrobe. Sew Over It, one of our new indie pattern lines, seemed to be channeling a little style from the ladies in the hit series Mad Men. We loved Betty Draper's on screen spirit and the chic 50's vintage look she inspires.

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 Camas Blouse by Thread Theory

Enjoy the unrestricted comfort of a t-shirt and the put together elegance of a blouse. This blouse is designed to be COMFORTABLE and can be sewn in knits or stretch woven fabrics. It features shoulder and back yokes, elegant gathering, and a flattering curved v-shaped neckline placket.

The gathers create a flattering shape that is loose enough to float over the body rather than cling to it. The delicately curved hem can be tucked into trousers and skirts or can be left loose to float over skinny jeans. The slim sleeves end just below the elbow to create the perfect multi-season blouse. Instructions detail how to create a variety of closures - learn how to add buttonholes to a knit placket, add snaps or create a pull over blouse and skip button holes entirely. Fabric requirements are included for both a color blocked blouse and a blouse made from one fabric.

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Tendril Dress by A Verb for Keeping Warm

The Tendril is a bias cut dress which shares the common characteristic of wrapping itself around the body, clinging to our curves in the most flattering of ways. It's no accident that the most luscious of silk nightgowns we love are cut on the bias in this same manner.

The Tendril is an easy pattern, with only two pieces, but as the designer suggests, you will learn a little about French seams and sewing on the bias of the fabric.

With love and blessings,
Suzan Steinberg & the amazing ladies of Stonemountain & Daughter

I would love to hear about what you are inspired to make. If you have a moment, please leave me a message here to let me know that you are finding this information helpful and inspiring.

Check out the Stonemountain Blog for our favorite notions, patterns and fabrics of 2016! 

Mad Crush on T-Shirts!

We have a mad crush on t-shirts here at Stonemountain, so whenever one of our independent pattern companies comes out with a new tee, we have to try it out! And since summer is just around the corner, the casual styling of a t-shirt is the perfect match for many of our new summer knits. We might also point out that most of the t-shirt patterns available don't take very long to make, even for our beginning sewists!

One of our newer t-shirt patterns is the Lark Tee from Grainline Studio. There are sixteen different ways to make up this simple tee-shirt with its modern, slim styling.

Four sleeve lengths and four necklines!

I chose the v-neck and the three-quarter length sleeves for my shirt.  Because I try to avoid deep necklines, Laurel, my seamstress, cut the v-neck a little higher.  This is a simple adjustment that you can make, especially when you're using a knit fabric.  Otherwise, we used the pattern as directed.

With something as simple as a t-shirt, it's all about fabric choice. The simple lines of the Lark Tee allow you to be the designer, making the t-shirt uniquely you. The fabric I chose was a bold, graphic rayon knit with a huge border and repeat of the design. Understandably, it took Laurel a bit of time deciding on the best utilization of the print's graphic patterns.

We initially thought that the "plain" sections of the fabric would make the best sleeves, but when we tried placing the tee-shirt front on the bold graphics, it looked a little skeletal, which was not the biker chick look I was going for.  We ended up using the plain part of the design for the front and back of the tee and the bold pattern on the sleeves.

The sleeves, using the bold graphic sections of the fabric.

One way to work with a fabric like this is to layout and cut your pattern pieces one layer at a time.  In that way, you can kind of design as you go.  Here's the final design we settled on, being careful to match the graphic designs as best we could.

The v-neck line is finished with a neck band, so Laurel used the graphic lines in the fabric to add great detail to the neckline.

The finished Lark Tee looked great on Zanikan, and it fit me like a glove!  I love that it's longer than most tees for a very flattering silhouette. And isn't that the most important part of wearing a t-shirt, besides being oh so comfortable?

Keeping to our emphasis on Indie patterns, we wanted to give Sewaholic's Renfrew Tee a spin around the sewing machine. This t-shirt is a fitted top that features banded hems on the sleeves and hemline.  Like the Lark, the Refrew has several variations of sleeves and necklines.

I chose a rayon knit, using the short sleeves and the v-neck styling.  Again, Laurel adjusted the deep v-neckline to suit my preference for a higher look. (It's not that I can't appreciate a pretty décolletage, but I'm constantly hovering over desks, cutting tables, and low shelves at work and the world doesn't need to see mine!)

The bands on the sleeves and hemline add a nice styling element ordinarily.  But I have to say that because of the print on this knit, they don't show off this detailing as much as a solid colored knit might. You could easily color-block this design as well, making the bands a totally different color or print.

If you look at the finished inside of the Refrew, you can see the bands on the sleeves and hemline.  Laurel finished the edges with her serger, making for a clean seam finish. She used a stretch stitch for sewing the seams and a "Jersey" machine needle (#80).

When you add a mitered bias neck facing, be sure to stay-stitch the "V" at the center front first!

Slouchy or form-fitting, graphic or plain, the t-shirt continues to be one of the most enduring pieces of clothing in our wardrobe. T-shirt trends go in and out of style as quickly as hemlines, but the simple, classic t-shirt is as essential to our everyday dress as hangers are to our closet.

I hope that this has inspired you to leap forward and sew up your own custom Tee! I know they can be inexpensive to buy ready made, but the feel of wearing one you have made out of great quality fabric cannot be beat!

Sending each of you my gratitude,

Suzan