Friday 24 May 2013

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The Roly-Poly Pattern Tour: Knit-style

roly poly elephant side 3

I was really stoked when my good friend Rachel from Imagine Gnats asked if I wanted a space in the tour for her inaugural pattern, the Roly Poly Pinafore.  I mean, who wouldn't want to help celebrate such a salubrious occasion?

roly poly sakura side

The pinafore has a lovely silhouette, an easy fit, cross-over panels to the back and buttons to the shoulders.  And the best bit?  Reversible.  You know how I'm a sucker for reversible.  It's suitable for cottons and cotton-blends without stretch, or if your name is Amanda: knits.

roly poly elephant back 1

You probably don't even need to be called Amanda, although I can't say for sure.  In this little number the elephants (and the flowers to the reverse) are cotton-lycra, the polka-dots are cotton interlock, and the stripes a viscose.  Not fabrics that necessarily play well together, but the crucial aspect was they were all stable.

roly poly elephant side 1

Despite it being a lovely feature indeed, I omitted the pleat at centre front because my pedantic heart didn't want to disrupt an elephant.  The only other changes I made were to place the gap for turning in the side seam rather than the hem (so it'd be easier to press press press the hem flat), and to add interfacing to the straps for the buttonholes.  Buttonholes in knits can massively distort with interfacing. 

roly poly sakura front 3

In short, the perfect top to make 'bring it on bro' arms at your mum in the garden while balancing on one foot.


13 comments:

  1. Oh gosh! Love that you used three different fabrics on one side, awesome fabric choices! What a lovely young model! Thanks for sharing, super job!

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  2. That is one cute pinafore and I too love all the reds together.

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  3. Knit! Are you kidding me! Ahhh my next project. Great job Amanda

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  4. I love those elephants!,!

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  5. LOVE THIS. Oh my gosh. I love that it's all knit. You're such a sewing rebel!

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  6. Super cute! I love all those prints!

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  7. this is fabulous! the elephants are to die for, plus the fact that this is made from not one, not two but 3 different knits (you are crazy genesis!) i was really curious about omitting the pleat in the front. Did you have to take it in a little at the top? I'm procrastinating putting mine together trying to find 3 or there about fabrics that rock it together or be boring and do two :/ ahh well I'll get there eventually, right?

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    1. What I did was place the pleat line on the fold with the same point on the hem also on the fold- so there was a triangular wedge being removed from the pattern piece. Does that make sense? If not, I can provide a pic!

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    2. I think I understand what you're saying. I know when I figure out which fabrics I'm gonna use I'll have an even better idea. if not I may ask you about it. -thanks lady!

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  8. Very cute and I would have trouble putting a pleat in the poor elephant also! Glad you mentioned about the interfacing for the buttonholes. That is a nice little tip that I wouldn't have thought of.

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