This pattern is for yet another variation on a knit tshirt, by French company Ready to Sew. The exciting features include raglan, 2 part sleeves, detail pintucks on the front sleeves, and two hem options both including godets.
The instructions are in English and are pretty decent as far as translation goes. For some reason their theme for patterns is to use men's names starting with the letter J. Though I see now they've expanded to a few female names too.
I made this in red merino last year, in version 2 with the hem band. I made the size 36. That seemed like a small size to me but it was way too big. I gave it to a friend. In a heavier weight material the size might have been ok but in the merino it was just very long and drapey. Seems like the sleeves were pretty long too. I didn't take very good notes before I gave it away!
So I had few notes, no photos to inspect, and decided to take the leap and go for a size 34.
The pattern pieces are interesting. You have the option to not cut off edges, but to abut them. This is great. I don't much like the cutting. However the result is that there are wide margins without any lines on them - you have to extrapolate the lines there.
The first time I printed the 36 with all the layers, it was impossible to tell which were the pintuck lines and the marks for my size because they are only differentiated by colour not by the shape of the line. For the 34 I only printed the layer for my size and although the pattern looked a bit naked, it seemed to have all the marks...except 1 of the 4 pintuck lines, which was lost in between pages!! So these pdfs are not as straightforward as average and make me hesitate to consider this company for more complex patterns (I was in love with the Joseph coat when I discovered this company, but I've hesitated to make it.)
I was also really jumping in the deep end - I cut straight into this gorgeous scuba that I bought sometime last year. It was a ridiculous purchase; I think I bought it while I was in Nepal because I saw it on somebody on Instagram. It shipped to my parents and then I just petted it for awhile and thought of all the things I could make. So now it's here, and soon I won't be sewing much, so now seemed like a good time!
I barely followed the instructions because anyway, it's like a tshirt. My borrowed sewing machine seems to be generally miserable. One entire bobbin was catching and not stitching well even after changing needles - magically fixed with the next bobbin of thread, but means that I flipped it over and redid every seam. And I made this right before dinner and was both desperate to make a work of art, and desperate to hurry on to dinner!
So:
sleeves are a tiny bit short. But ok
and otherwise I love it!!!
I top stitched the sleeves and the raglans. I left the hem for now as I thought anything I did would mess it up - I was thinking of leaving it raw but after wearing it I think it would be better to have the weight of a hem. I might still shorten it an additional inch or two.
The light weight fabric means that the godets kind of flow. It would have a lot of volume in a heavier weight fabric and I can see why sweater knits are recommended. I can actually see this being nice in a pretty heavy sweater knit. I didn't like it in merino, though I think now that I have the correct size it would work better. I think in sweatshirting or other fabric with a lot of body, I would find annoying how much it would stick out and create a bell shape.
Of note, it has a high low hem, and if you want to shorten it, because of the godets, you have to use the lengthen-shorten lines (which are provided). Version A is fine the way it is but I recall the version with the hem band was really really long - because you have the full length plus a band. I would probably shorten it 3 inches. I'd be tempted to do that above the godets. I don't remember where the shorten lines are in the pattern, seems like they might be through the godets, which seems like too much work.
While I was obsessively trying it on I thought another very cool variation would be to not use the godets at all, but to add about 2" to the front and back at the sides and overlap them. It would be a tunic with high cut sides - almost like a sari top....
The instructions are in English and are pretty decent as far as translation goes. For some reason their theme for patterns is to use men's names starting with the letter J. Though I see now they've expanded to a few female names too.
I made this in red merino last year, in version 2 with the hem band. I made the size 36. That seemed like a small size to me but it was way too big. I gave it to a friend. In a heavier weight material the size might have been ok but in the merino it was just very long and drapey. Seems like the sleeves were pretty long too. I didn't take very good notes before I gave it away!
So I had few notes, no photos to inspect, and decided to take the leap and go for a size 34.
The pattern pieces are interesting. You have the option to not cut off edges, but to abut them. This is great. I don't much like the cutting. However the result is that there are wide margins without any lines on them - you have to extrapolate the lines there.
The first time I printed the 36 with all the layers, it was impossible to tell which were the pintuck lines and the marks for my size because they are only differentiated by colour not by the shape of the line. For the 34 I only printed the layer for my size and although the pattern looked a bit naked, it seemed to have all the marks...except 1 of the 4 pintuck lines, which was lost in between pages!! So these pdfs are not as straightforward as average and make me hesitate to consider this company for more complex patterns (I was in love with the Joseph coat when I discovered this company, but I've hesitated to make it.)
I was also really jumping in the deep end - I cut straight into this gorgeous scuba that I bought sometime last year. It was a ridiculous purchase; I think I bought it while I was in Nepal because I saw it on somebody on Instagram. It shipped to my parents and then I just petted it for awhile and thought of all the things I could make. So now it's here, and soon I won't be sewing much, so now seemed like a good time!
I barely followed the instructions because anyway, it's like a tshirt. My borrowed sewing machine seems to be generally miserable. One entire bobbin was catching and not stitching well even after changing needles - magically fixed with the next bobbin of thread, but means that I flipped it over and redid every seam. And I made this right before dinner and was both desperate to make a work of art, and desperate to hurry on to dinner!
So:
sleeves are a tiny bit short. But ok
and otherwise I love it!!!
I top stitched the sleeves and the raglans. I left the hem for now as I thought anything I did would mess it up - I was thinking of leaving it raw but after wearing it I think it would be better to have the weight of a hem. I might still shorten it an additional inch or two.
The light weight fabric means that the godets kind of flow. It would have a lot of volume in a heavier weight fabric and I can see why sweater knits are recommended. I can actually see this being nice in a pretty heavy sweater knit. I didn't like it in merino, though I think now that I have the correct size it would work better. I think in sweatshirting or other fabric with a lot of body, I would find annoying how much it would stick out and create a bell shape.
Of note, it has a high low hem, and if you want to shorten it, because of the godets, you have to use the lengthen-shorten lines (which are provided). Version A is fine the way it is but I recall the version with the hem band was really really long - because you have the full length plus a band. I would probably shorten it 3 inches. I'd be tempted to do that above the godets. I don't remember where the shorten lines are in the pattern, seems like they might be through the godets, which seems like too much work.
While I was obsessively trying it on I thought another very cool variation would be to not use the godets at all, but to add about 2" to the front and back at the sides and overlap them. It would be a tunic with high cut sides - almost like a sari top....
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