I think that I came across this pattern under the ‘teensewing’ tag (or similar) on Instagram.  I thought that it was a little bit unusual and very cute.  Clare agreed.

That sleeve detail! It’s so effective! And rather fiddly and definitely time-consuming, let me add. Not difficult, but it does require some patience and attention to detail.

The pattern is the Bixby Creek Pullover, by Phat Quarters.  They describe this pattern as follows: The Bixby Creek Pullover is as versatile as it is unique with a relaxed fit for comfort & style. The criss-cross sleeves can be sporty or beautiful based on the fabrics and color-blocking you choose. This option can be made in the 3/4 length or long sleeve. The tutorial includes a pattern piecing template for accurate strap placement and a polished finish. The Bixby Creek Pullover can be made as a simple sweater with a short sleeve, 3/4 sleeve, or long sleeve with or without a puffed sleeve-cap. The athletic scoop back with strap details is intended as a cover-up layer for after a dance class, karate class, a swim meet, or a long day at the beach. With multiple sleeve length options, criss-cross sleeves, athletic scoop back, or simplified style lines you can create countless looks and combinations for all seasons. Suggested Fabrics are knits with 2-way or 4-way stretch, structured weave and some an element of drape. Specific suggestions include Cotton Jersey, Cotton Lycra, Cotton Spandex, Pique, Pointelle, light-weight Sweater knits, Thermal knits, or Hacci Sweater knits.

As you can see, we chose the criss-cross long sleeved view, and the regular back (for which I don’t have a photo that isn’t pretty much entirely covered in hair).

The fabric is a printed double brushed poly that I bought from Sewing Australia. It is NOT actually the blue colour that it appears in these photos; it’s actually much more of a greenish teal colour. This photo from the Sewing Australia website shows it much more accurately.

I have only sewn with double brushed poly once before. It’s marvellous to wear, as it’s super soft and stretchy, but I found that it was a bit ‘sticky’ to sew – it sticks to itself a little bit. Most construction was on the overlocker, with some topstitching on the overlocked. The sleeves were finished with doubled cuffs and the hem with a doubled band; this is my favourite easy way to ‘hem’ garments. I did twin needle around the neckband to secure it in place.

Clare really liked this top, and I love it on her (it goes so well with her stretch corduroy pants too) but she rarely wore it! She says that it’s actually too cold to wear it in cooler weather, because of all that sleeve ventilation. Definitely a garment for the transitional seasons.

So, here is Stella in her three versions of the Modkid Shelby pattern!  Firstly, I sewed her a cropped, short-sleeved top.

This is sewn from cotton/spandex – fairly typical t-shirt fabric. For Stella I sewed size 10, with the length of size 12.

This size combination appears to work fairly well for Stella. She’s grown so much taller over the past year – actually, despite the two girls being four and a half years apart in age, they’re now only around one clothing size apart, and are very similar shapes.

Hems were finished with a simple small zig-zag throughout. The finished length is just above the belly button, which she seems to like. This top has had a bit of wear since I made it, as has the next version that I sewed.

This time I sewed the long-sleeved version with tie front overlay. The stretch jacquard knit is from Super Cheap Fabrics.

I had attended an overlocking class shortly before I sewed this top, and took the opportunity to practice my rolled hemming skills on the edges of the front overlay pieces that tie together. This actually made for a nicer tie than the conventional turn and stitch, as the rolled hem resulted in minimal bulk.

This fabric was softer yet with more recovery than the blue knit that I used for Stella’s first top, and I think it gives a very pleasing result. She’s worn this one quite a bit over winter.

Finally, I sewed her a dress! This is in lightweight scuba that came into my stash from a friend, possibly originally from Spotlight. Once again I sewed size 12 length with size 10 width.

By this stage I’d sewn this pattern quite a few times, and I can now zoom up one of these garments very quickly. I used a straight stitch to secure hems, and due the fabric thickness I narrow hemmed the front overlay tie edges rather than trying a rolled hem.

Lightweight scuba type fabric can be quite satisfying to sew. No ravelling, very little shifting, some soft structure. Yes, they’re polyester central, but they definitely have a place. They also tend to be very smooth to touch, so Stella quite likes the way that they feel.

It’s often challenging to sew for Stella because she is very particular about what she does and doesn’t like. She was consulted at every step of the process when I sewed these garments, and fortunately it’s worked out well, as they’ve all had quite a bit of wear. We’re currently in the process of deciding what she’d like as her grade 6 graduation dress. We’ve finally identified a couple of patterns, and I’m going to give them a go in some stash fabric to see if she’s happy with the finished product. I never know until the final fitting! Fortunately, this dress was a winner over winter.

Once again, these three garments are good examples of how different fabric types affect the sewing techniques that you use and the finished effect.  For more details on the Shelby pattern and to see the three versions I sewed for Clare, see my earlier blog post.

I’m going to condense three garments into one blog post!  Back I summer I came across the Modkid Shelby pattern.  There are a number of tween/teen patterns in the Modkid range now, which I really like.  There’s so much around for younger girls, and for those with fully developed bodies, but the inbetweeners (who also vary greatly in height) tend to miss out.

From the website: Shelby is a stylish crop top or A-Line knit dress with an optional tie-front panel and three different sleeve lengths. SUGGESTED FABRICS: Light to medium weight knit fabrics with at least 50% stretch and good recovery, like Cotton/Lycra Jersey, Double Brushed Poly (DBP), Rayon Spandex, Stretch Velour or Stretch Lace. This pattern comes in sizes 10 (tween girls) to 18 (teen).

First I sewed Clare the Shelby top in the short-sleeved version with tie front panels (worn here with the Modkid Mara mini skirt).

Then I sewed a long-sleeved and lengthened version of the top, without the tie front panels.

And after that, I sewed a long-sleeved dress.

Each was sewn in a different type of knit fabric, so I’ll talk about them one at a time.  The first one, in purple, was sewn in a cotton/spandex knit.  You know, classic t-shirt fabric.  I seem to have multiple different shades of light purple knits in my stash at the moment – and I never wear that colour!  This first tee was sewn as a wearable muslin, that actually turned out to be extremely wearable.  I haven’t made any notes on sizing but am guessing that it’s size 14 length with size 12 width.

That sizing looks pretty good to me! It’s a cropped top, and ends right at the waist. The instructions have the edges of the ties narrow hemmed by turning twice; I figured that would be much too bulky and just turned the edges once and zig-zagged them right on the raw edge to secure and neaten. The end point is nicely finished with a mitre.

The blue top – which is actually much more teal green than the blue that it appears to be in these photos – was sewn from a thicker spongy knit remnant that I picked up at The Cloth Shop, Ivanhoe.

This knit has great texture. I sewed the same size, but considerably lengthened so that it could be tucked into tops for winter to keep her middle warm. Not that I actually remember her wearing this top a great deal over the past winter – must ask her why not. I secured all edges with a simple straight stitch on the machine, which appears to have an adequate amount of stretch for this top to get on and off.

I think I’ve mentioned before that I love a V-neck with a centre front seam. It makes it so easy to get a super crisp V! The neckline is finished before the centre front seam is sewn up. You do need to be careful that it lines up nicely at the top – yes, I use a few pins – and then voila, lovely neckline.

With the dress I decided to make a feature of the seamlines and do some topstitching. This fabric is designer end of roll scuba/double knit that I found at Eliza of Sunshine. I wish that I had more(the girls haggled over who would get a dress from it). It’s not quite as stretchy, and initially it was too tight under the arms, but too loose through the body.

I did some on the fly alterations that improved the fit. I should have added doing a swayback/short back waist alteration to that list! Either way, I think that the end product is rather lovely. But it hasn’t been worn much over winter either! Maybe it won’t be long before Stella gets her wish and this dress migrates from Clare’s wardrobe into hers….

So there you go, three versions of the one pattern for the teen! And guess what, later I have three versions of it for the tween to show you.