It's Thrifty Thursday here at Amelia Lane Designs which means 30% off (and codes stack!) the featured fabric. This week's feature is the Sawyer fabric. It's a hacci (sweater knit) in a vintage-y looking blue with gray stars. I used two free patterns (hence the Thrifty in Thrifty Thursday) to make my husband and I matching outfits.
I participated in the Rebecca Page Freedom of Summer Blog Tour with these items. I posted on my blog kittymakesit.com/freedom-of-summer. You can read my thoughts and see who else is participating in the blog tour. I bet you'll see some familiar #ALDfamily faces!
This post is also a DOUBLE FEATURE! I made not the usual one, but two free patterns using the Thrifty Thursday fabric this week! First up is the Toronto Tee for me.
The Rebecca Page Toronto tee is free on the Rebecca Page patterns website. (You might remember that Lisa made herself one in each Salem and Catalina during a past Thrifty Thursday).
It's a basic short sleeve tee, so you know, a total wardrobe staple! It's a relaxed fit, something most things in my wardrobe aren't, so it's a nice change. A little freedom for my waistline!
I decided to go ahead and lengthen into a dress since pants aren't really my thing. This is a REALLY simple hack (if you even call it that).
Step 1: Assemble the pattern pages as you normally would, do any grading or lengthening for your height. I add 1" above the waist for my height. You want to add the height where it belongs so that the waist hits you where it's intended. In this case, the relax fit would mean it doesn't matter, but it's a good habit.
Step 2: Measure from your shoulder seam to where you'd want your dress to hit, add 1/2" hem allowance.
Step 3: Add paper to the bottom of the pattern until the length from the shoulder to the hemline is your desired length including hem allowance. Do this for front and back. Make sure you get the side seams (opposite the fold) the same length so they'll line up.
Since it's a relaxed fit, you don't really need to flair the skirt out, just straight down will be fine.
Optional Step 4: And since I can never leave well enough alone, I went ahead and gave my skirt a little high low. I left the back as-is. On the front bodice, I raised the center hem (the fold side) up a few inches and smoothed that down to keep the side seam equal to the back.
Step 5: Cut and Sew as normal !
In addition to the Sawyer Hacci for the dress, I used a little bit of the two tone black solid DBP for the neckband. I got this solid in a scrap pack and it's SUPER soft. It has plenty of stretch and recovery so it makes for a good neckband over my big head :-) I have solids in just about every color thanks to the scrap packs from Amelia Lane Designs so I'm always able to coordinate my neckband.
Keeping with the theme of free patterns, I decided to try out the Anything But Basic tee from Do It Better Yourself Club. This is a free pattern that comes in all sizes. Mya sewed up one using the two tone blue fabric during a previous Thrifty Thursday.
I didn't do any mods on his tee, just graded out one size larger hips than chest to fit properly. I also used the Sawyer hacci and the two tone black solid neckband for him. I enjoy dressing us to match. Or maybe I just enjoy seeing how much I can get him to humor me with stuff like this!
He's also wearing the 5oo4 Men's Swim Trunks that I made without the inside liner so that they're just easy summer shorts. I used the steel athletic brushed polyester so they're very comfortable for doing working outside in hot summer temps.
Link disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links. Clicking the link doesn’t change the product or price you’re shown, but I might get a small percentage towards materials for my next project. If you found this post helpful and are planning to purchase the pattern anyway, I’d really love for you to use my link.
Great job with both of these! Everything looks so nice! 🙂
Thanks for the super tutorial, Laura!