Friday, April 10, 2015

Everybody loves raglans! (or Finished Project: Simplicity 1317)

I have a couple of well-worn raglan tops that I bought from Old Navy a few years ago. They're actually made from French Terry, and I love that weight-wise, they're somewhere between a t-shirt and a sweatshirt, making them very versatile for layering. I've also been digging the trend of the past few years of raglan tops with contrast sleeves, interesting uses of lace, etc. So while I have several other projects in various states of muslin and UFO-ness, when my husband offered me a free weekend afternoon to sew as I grieved the loss of my father, I headed straight for Simplicity 1317 in hopes of a good, instant gratification project.

Simplicity 1317 - raglan sleeved top
Oops. Didn't notice that bra strap until I looked at the photos on my computer!  The pants are my second, wearable-on-the-weekend muslin of the HotPattern pant pattern that I originally muslined back in February. I can see that I need to shorten the front crotch length a touch here, but most of the wrinkles in front are just from me having sat in them all day before we took these pictures.

Pattern Drafting Notes/"Does it look like the envelope?"

I found the pattern to be well-drafted in that everything lined up as expected; however, the sleeves on this run large in the larger sizes. How do I know this? This pattern has been pretty popular on PatternReview and in the SBC for the past few months, and the sleeve fit looks normal on smaller women (say size M-L on down), whereas the fewer curiver sewists who have made this up also appear to have the baggy sleeve issue that I do. I hadn't noticed this on others' posts/reviews (it wasn't called out), but it's visible in their pictures. So, if you're sewing the size XL or XXL of this pattern, check the fit of your sleeve before doing anything semi-permanent with it. Baggy sleeves aren't usually an issue with my large arms, but there's an excess of ease there with this pattern.

As far as whether it looks like the envelope, I think it's pretty close (baggy sleeve issue aside):

Simplicity 1317 envelope

Fabric and Notions Used

  • Black sweatshirting: Cottons sweatshirt fleece from Girl Charlee ordered during one of their recent big sales around the holidays. I prewashed this several times and have washed the top twice now, and so far, it's holding up nicely. This is a nice, midweight sweatshirt fleece. No regrets about this purchase yet.
  • Black ribbing: (Used on the cuffs/bands.) Cotton ribbing from my stash. I'm not sure if this was purchased from fabric.com or perhaps from JoAnn's at some point.
  • Contrast/houndstooth print: Heavy-ish weight cotton knit from deep in my stash. No idea where this one came from. It doesn't have a lot of drape to it, and it doesn't have any stretch to it, either. This sat in my stash for years because although I liked the print, your options for a stiff-handed knit with no stretch are kind of limited.

Pattern Sizing and Alterations

This pattern is available in Big 4 sizes XXS-XXL (29"-48" bust). I sewed an XL through the neck/shoulders (based on my high bust measurement), grading up to an XXL at the armscye down through the body of the top. I commonly do this "cheater FBA" in knit tops. Additionally, I lengthed front of the top by 1", easing into the side seams of the back piece in the bust area to give me extra room over my bust without adding a dart. I think that the ease in this pattern is pretty much as you would expect, so you can probably go by your high bust/usual pattern size as a starting point.

Obviously, if you've looked at the photo, you can see that the top has a few fit issues:
  • The wrinkle between my bust indicates pulling and that I could use a tad more room in the bust.
  • The dragline that you're seeing from my bust to my butt indicates that in addition to needing a little more room in the bust, the top is getting hung up on my high hip in back, which you can see more clearly in the back view photo.
  • That wrinkle coming out from my armpit is a dart wanting to form. These wrinkles can happen when you only do a cheater FBA, and you should have done a full-on slash-and-spread FBA. I really didn't want to bother with a full-on FBA for such a simple knit top, and I did yesterday run across a possible solution to this wrinkle in a fitting book that involved transferring (but not sewing) a dart to your pattern tissue. I'm going to try that for my next version.
  • There's a ton of ease in those sleeves, and the length is a bit dowdy. The dowdy length is what I get for rushing through the project (Hey, I wanted to finish in the afternoon that i was given!) and not checking the sleeve length before serging on the cuffs. I ended up turning up the cuffs and stitching them into place--what you see here is a huge improvement over how they originally were.
Simplicity 1317 - back view
These are all pretty easy fit adjustments, so I'll make those to the pattern tissue and see how the next version looks. This version, while not perfect, is certainly wearable for a casual knit top. I sincerely doubt that the people at the grocery store are going to be pulling their spouses aside and going, "Oh. My. God. Look at her armpit wrinkle! It's so big!"

Pattern Instructions

I didn't even open them to look at them. Reviewer fail, I know. This is such a basic top, though, that most people with sewing experience probably won't need the instructions. If you don't have much experience, though, Google the pattern number and/or check PatternReview--there are plenty of other reviews of this pattern out there.

Similar patterns

Interested in a similar pattern to Simplicity 1317? The following patterns are similar designs:

Final thoughts

I'll be making this pattern again (with the proper fitting adjustments), since it's a quick and easy pattern and has a ton of stashbusting potential.

One observation: I've sewn three Simplicity patterns (all from recent releases) in the past six months--two for me, and one for Eva. Every single one of these has run true-to-size, IMO. Is Simplicity finally getting away from the "excess ease" issue that the Big 4 have been so notorious for? Or have I just gotten lucky? What have your experiences been like with their more recent patterns?

22 comments:

  1. I'll be interested to see if your FBA fix helps. I recently struggled with a Lekala raglan top pattern (struggled in the it printed out as a crop top with a ton of negative ease- not good for my plus size middle aged self!) But anyway, everywhere I read seemed to indicate that getting the raglan fit right is difficult, and most plus sized peeps get that wrinkle. Ironically I don't think I got that wrinkle, but I get a bunch of excess fabric at center front neckline.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "Too short and too tight" seems to be a common complaint for Lekala knit patterns. The common PatternReview response to this is always something along the lines of "Apparently, the Russian ladies like their clothes shorter and tighter than we do." :P

      My one attempt at a Lekala (also a knit) was so obviously a wadder that it was comical.

      FWIW, my RTW Old Navy raglan tops do NOT have that wrinkle. Outside of being a bit snug through the gut, they actually fit pretty well for RTW.

      Delete
  2. My boob wrinkles are looking forward to seeing if your fba-experiment works!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'm optimistic. I've smushed armhole darts out of sleeveless tops before to eliminate gaping, and I'd think that this is probably a related problem.

      Delete
  3. Nice top and great pants. You are working towards a fabulous outfit once you get those little alterations done.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I'm glad you are back to blogging! :) And you know I love a good raglan (I'm wearing one right now, as it happens) so of course I like your top!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks! Raglans are so fun for their design potential.

      Delete
  5. This is exactly what I needed! I wanted a raglan top pattern but don't want to pay jalie prices, even though I liked the tunic aspect of it. I'll check this out and the other two you mentioned also. I like your top alot btw!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I actually have the Jalie and made it a few times, but I never blogged it. It's a good pattern, and it's definitely worth the few extra bucks if you have any other females you sew for--it contains toddler sizes through plus sizes.

      Delete
  6. So pleased to see this post!! Love that houndstooth! Can't wait to see your next version. I'm no fit expert and have been wondering if it's possible to put a few gathers at the place the dart would be? andom places my mind dwells!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's a thought. The HotPatterns Daytona hoodie actually has gathers in that area as a design feature/built-in FBA, and maybe it's a coincidence, but I don't get that wrinkle in my hoodie. It's worth trying.

      Delete
  7. Good to see you back. Hope you're doing OK. :)

    ReplyDelete
  8. Great to see your lovely smile again. I love the top I think it looks great, very comfortable and wearable. I am sorry for your loss.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm sad for the reason but glad to see a post from you. I like a good raglan as well. I don't know if you've considered them but the jalie one is very nice and would likely fit you and your daughter.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I actually have that pattern AND have made it both for myself and my daughter. I went with this Simplicity pattern because I wanted the "sweatshirt look" with the bands, etc.

      Delete
  10. Have you thought about doing a rub off copy of your favorite raglan from Old Navy. I've done that with one of mine (not old navy) as I like the fit. I have used this simplicity pattern and had pretty good luck.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's something to consider. I can at least compare the pattern to the top.

      Delete
  11. I really like this version! I love houndstooth! I never even noticed this pattern-- probably because of the crack-tastic versions on the envelope. What is up with the fugly embellishments? That fringe is going to kill that model and one of them looks like ball fringe. WutDaFudge?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The styling on the envelope is awful. The embellishments look like something that Kristen Schaal's character on Last Man on Earth would make.

      Delete