The pattern is the Adventurer Raglan by Waves and Wild (formerly known as Made by Jacks Mum). The pattern itself comes with a great selection of options to create different styles of Raglan Jumper. It also has a great age range - tiny newborn to 12 years.
I have made the basic raglan several times for Ezra and Iris, the raglan sleeve makes it a great beginner pattern, and if you own an overlocker then it’s an even quicker make! As you know children grow fast, and can get through clothes quite quickly so I really love that the pattern is simple. I also find that my two prefer to wear jersey over woven - Iris has quite sensitive skin - so another reason that this pattern is a favourite.
Now the thing that really makes this my number one pattern - pattern hacks that have turned this raglan into an even more versatile pattern. First of all you can hack this into a basic t-shirt. You will need to shorten the sleeves and remove the wrist cuffs, then length the front and back bodices to to account for removing the waist cuff. When sewing use a single fold hem on the sleeves and bodice to finish instead of the ribbing that you would have used for the sweater.
I have also hacked this into two dresses for Iris, and they are definitely her most worn garments in her wardrobe. First up is the A-Line dress. Take your front bodice pattern pieces, decide on the length of the dress and how wide you want the hem to be. You then need to draw a straight line from the underarm out to the side seam edge of the hem. Repeat this with your back bodice so it is the same length and hem width as the front bodice. I find the easiest way to get both front and back the same length is to overlay the pattern pieces with the shoulder seams matching. See the diagram below for the before and after pattern pieces.
For sewing you create it the same as the raglan sweater, but instead of sewing ribbing to the bottom of the dress you sew a single or double fold hem.
Next is the gathered skirt dress. For this dress I shorten the front and back bodices - just like the A-Line dress they need to be the same lengths, for this I like to measure from the underarm seam, or you can overlay them at the shoulder seam and trim them both down to size at the same time.
Next you need to create a new pattern piece for your gathered skirt. Chose the length you would like the skirt to be. Next chose the width of your skirt pieces, you can have as much or little gathering as you like for this, but I like the width to be double the width of my bodice pieces. I cut the skirt out on the fold, like you do with the bodice piece. I have made the width of my skirt piece double the width of the bodice pattern piece, you will then need to cut out 2 skirt pieces on the fold.
For sewing the gathered skirt you create the bodice like you would for the raglan sweater. You then sew the two skirt pieces together at the side seams. Next you need to sew gathering stitches around the top of the skirt pieces. Then you attach the skirt to the bottom of the bodices. Finally hem the skirt with a single or double fold hem.
For the sleeve of the dresses you can either leave them as they are with the wrist cuffs. You can lengthen them slightly to create a sleeve with no cuff - you will need to account for the length you would have gained from adding the cuff. You can also go for any length in-between by shortening the sleeve - for example short sleeves or 3/4 lengths.
You could also add side seam pockets to this pattern, or what about trying a 2 tiered skirt. I would like to have a go at making a sleeveless dress as some point too.
For fabrics you can also use different weights to create different styles of dresses, a sweat shirting or French Terry would be great for an autumn/winter dress. Cotton jersey’s are great for warmer weather or with layers for the cooler months.
The raglan style sleeve makes it a perfect pattern for colour blocking and using up any remnants, I really like using a contrast sleeve. For the neck ribbing you can also opt to use jersey instead of a ribbed fabric, I tend to like making my neckband a fraction longer if I’m not using ribbing as the jerseys don’t have the same amount of stretch.
For these garments I have used 1 metre of the Jungle Green cotton Jersey fabric, and 1 metre of Bright Flowers Blue Cotton Jersey and a coordinating plain jersey, as always they are of a beautiful quality. I love the designs and both children have already received many compliments, which is always nice to hear! (Especially the extra surprise when you say you’ve made them yourself!).
Our jersey colour bundles are perfect for creating these garments. Check out some below or visit our “Colour Bundles and Sewing Kits” section and save 10% compared to purchasing the fabrics separately.
Colour Bundles - Summer Flowers Blue with Essential Chic Jersey
Colour Bundles - Jungle Organic Cotton Jersey Fabric
Colour Bundles - Tropical Fruits with Orange Essential Chic Jersey