Dreaming of Fall with Striped French Terry

I’ve been dreaming of this shirt since shortly after I received this super soft and stretchy French terry in a Girl Charlee KnitFix last spring. After I got past the “I just want to pet this fabric cause it’s so soft” stage, I decided that it would be too warm for the summer and so I shelved it (quite literally) until fall arrived. Every time I looked at it, though, I just knew it would make a super cozy Kymy’s Dolman Top!

Now that the weather is cooling off, I decided it was high time I make my cozy dolman. When I pulled out my pattern for Kymy’s Dolman, I noticed my color blocked pattern copy next to it from when I made my “t-shirt surgery” top. Inspiration struck and I decided to use that hack to get creative with the stripes.

I also chose to add some length because I wanted to be able to comfortably wear my top with leggings (which, for me personally, means having my hem several inches below my butt). I added about 6 inches to the hem of the View D pattern piece. I increased my elastic length by 2 inches so the ruching (which I started 2 inches up from the bottom hem) wouldn’t be too short on the side seam.

Before cutting, I checked that my fabric had 4-way stretch (meaning it stretches well both with the grain and against the grain). I wanted the majority of my stripes to run vertically on my shirt, so I cut the bottom half of the front and the whole back against the grain. This only worked because of the 4-way stretch. Then I laid out and cut the top half of the front so that the stripes would meet at a 90 degree angle. I sewed that angled seam together carefully, making sure the stripes matched up the whole way, and decided to skip topstitching the seam allowance down for aesthetic reasons.

I love my new Kymy’s Dolman Top, but after looking over my pictures I think I’m going to go back and cut off an inch or two from the length. I paired my shirt today with ballet flats and my red ‘Get Moving’ Leggings from last fall.  I need to get some more full-length leggings made so I’ll have more options as the temperatures drop!

Happy Sewing!!  ~  Joelle